Villanelle massaged her dizzy head and let out a long sigh. Three or four books were spread across the long oak table in front of her, but the paper meant for notes only held a few lines.
The quill rested on its stand, its tip long dry.
There were no classes this morning, so she had naturally returned to the library. This time, she didn’t dare enter the Forbidden Books Area.
Professor Hiram had made an exception to raise Villanelle’s borrowing privileges, so she could now freely enter and leave the Limited Access Reading Area.
Villanelle felt she should look for relevant titles in the limited area first; she could return to the Forbidden Books Area in a few days.
However, more than 2 hours had passed since she entered the library, and she still hadn’t found much.
*Basic Monster Ethology: From Branding to Obedience* and *Military Magic Creature Breeding Standards* — these books could only provide a bit of theoretical support to add some polish to her thesis so it wouldn’t seem so empty.
And… these books were filled with a high-and-mighty indifference from beginning to end.
“The fledgling period is the critical window for establishing absolute authority. Any sign of weakness will result in a loss of control in adulthood…”
“Standard pain tolerance training must begin within 72 hours of hatching to establish a conditioned reflex…”
“Black Dragon subspecies generally possess high aggression and a tendency toward Abyss Energy affinity. Additional Mental Binding Runes must be applied…”
Every word was about control or pain tolerance training. Her relationship with Ignis was nothing like that.
Villanelle’s ice-blue eyes turned to an illustration. A Black Dragon, roaring ferociously, took up the entire page.
The little guy would growl too, but only when truly threatened. Most of the time, his throat emitted pleasant, friendly purrs.
‘Forget it, I should put these back on the shelf first.’
Villanelle struggled to pick up the books, returned to the shelves, and found their original spots to put them back one by one. Then, she walked deeper into the Limited Access Reading Area.
Rows of wooden shelves were lined up there. Compared to the textbook section, it was clearly neglected, with a thicker layer of dust. The books on the shelves didn’t have uniform covers; they varied in size and thickness, and the gold-leaf titles on the spines were mostly dull and peeling.
This area was specifically for local gazetteers, exploration notes, folklore collections, and various “miscellaneous books” not certified by the Imperial Academic Committee.
In the eyes of professionals, a significant portion of these books was no different from fantasy novels, being either highly subjective or lacking reliable evidence.
Villanelle hadn’t considered the books in this area at first, but she was out of options.
Since normal books didn’t have what she wanted, she might as well try her luck with the miscellaneous ones. Even if she couldn’t find suitable reference material, she could treat it as a pastime.
Villanelle walked slowly along the shelves, her fingertips brushing the rough spines.
*Records of Northern Snow Wonders*, *Strange Tales of the Southern Swamps*, *Transcript of Eastern Ranger Ballads*… most of the titles were tied to specific regions.
She carefully pulled out a copy of *Border Ranger Notes (Fragment)* with fragile, yellowing pages. She skimmed through it, skipping the parts about monster hunting and treasure seeking until a passage caught her eye:
“…Old One-Eye said he once saw an elderly Cragback Dragon deep in the Dragon Spine Mountains. Not only did the old dragon remember the hunter who had released it from a trap 20 years ago, but it also used its claws to dig through the snow and rescue him when the hunter was later trapped by an avalanche…
Though it sounds like nonsense, One-Eye swore it was true, and the story is widely circulated on the border. Perhaps some ancient beasts, after living long enough, really do possess a bit of human nature?”
How was this different from a folk legend? Was she really going to put something like this in her thesis?
Villanelle closed the book and shoved it back onto the shelf.
She then found an *Illustrated Guide to Lost City Creatures* with exaggerated illustrations. Inside, a “Starlight Beast” was painted with cheap, bright pigments. The description read: “This beast’s body is like the starry sky. It can communicate directly with a pure heart, sharing joys and sorrows. It is the guardian spirit of the lost city, Slasha…”
Villanelle put it back before finishing.
This one seemed even less reliable.
She needed more systematic records, not this kind of unofficial history that couldn’t even be cited.
Villanelle’s gaze landed on the upper shelves. On a spine wrapped in thick, dark blue cloth, the gold-leaf words *Examination of the Covenant between Ancient Elves and Natural Beings* were faintly visible.
Elves were considered a race that lived in equality with all things in nature. Their records might provide her with some help…
Villanelle stood on her tiptoes to take the book, preparing to return to her seat. As she passed a long table piled with a large stack of books, her elbow accidentally hit something.
At the top of the pile, a book with its sharp corner facing outward went flying.
“Oh!”
With a short cry of surprise, a petite girl stood up from behind the mountain of books. Behind thick, round-rimmed glasses, a pair of light brown eyes widened slightly in shock.
Emily von Zephyr, Villanelle’s classmate, was privately called “Miss Bookworm” or the “Human Library” by other students.
On the table was a large chart, but unfortunately, the fine, smooth lines had already been stained into a blob by overturned ink.
Villanelle instinctively turned her head, only then realizing what she had done — she had accidentally knocked over a book with her elbow, and that book had toppled an ink bottle.
“I-I’m sorry!” She hurriedly placed her book on an empty table nearby and rushed over, her heart filled with apology.
She caught a glimpse of the contaminated chart.
It wasn’t a common map or magic circle diagram, but a star chart that looked exceptionally complex.
The positions of various stars were marked with extreme precision, but the annotations next to them weren’t the names of the stars or their mythological symbols. Instead, they were simple sketches of magical creatures, with the stars connected by extremely fine ink lines.
Small words were written next to the patterns and stars, but they weren’t clear, and most were covered by the spreading ink.
“It’s all right. I didn’t close the ink bottle properly.” Emily’s voice quickly returned to a calm state, as if she weren’t too upset about her hard work being ruined.
She adjusted the glasses that had slid to the tip of her nose, first carefully setting the ink bottle upright, then pulling out a staff from the side and waving it.
Several translucent blue threads extended from the staff’s crystal, reaching toward the large ink stains on the chart like tentacles.
The ink that had already seeped into the paper was pulled away from the page bit by bit along the threads. It gathered into a ball in the air before dropping precisely back into the ink bottle.
Only after finishing this did she look at Villanelle. The latter clearly breathed a sigh of relief and retrieved her book from the empty table.
“*Examination of the Covenant between Ancient Elves and Natural Beings*?”
Emily recognized the book’s title at a glance and blurted it out.