Well, I did look forward to dinner, but even more to what comes afterwards. For the first time, I'm heading for the library to actually study. The opening hours apparently run between the Time of Illumination until an internal bell announces the closing time. Really, timekeeping in this world could be improved greatly with just a sundial, as Senka said before.

Of course, Hestia and Kamii are with me, and while I believe that the former might actually have something useful to do, the latter is most likely just there to be by my side. In fact, I doubt she can even read, considering how she was a slave for as long as she can remember. No education, no warmth from parent figures for all her conscious life - what a sad life. I won't ever let you go through something like that again. But I can't get tempted to read a fairytale book to her now... Stay strong, me!

The library is simply impressive. On my tour through the academy I came here once before, but only got a glimpse at it from the entrance area. Now that I'm walking through the rows of shelves, I can begin to get a picture of just how many books are in here. There are quite a few people in the designated reading areas, but many can be found standing or sitting in the aisles between shelves, too.

The majority are adults who seem more like researchers than actual students, with very few model student-looking ones in my age range. I never gave people an impression that I could be counted among them, so coming to the library may seem a little suspicious. If asked, I'll say that not being able to meld elements or control the flow is frustrating, so I want to improve myself. That's actually the truth, albeit not all of it.

As expected, there is a restricted area in the library, which require a teacher's permission before it can be entered. Furthermore, even within that area there is one more that can only be accessed with the principal's signature. I'm really interested about that one, but I can't make any suspicious moves for the time being. By the way, all books on dark magic are in that area...

Luckily, the other two superior elements are accessible to all students. After all, if someone doesn't have the affinity, it's useless for them to try and learn it anyway, and those who have the affinity are more than welcome to improve themselves. Thus, I carry a stack of books on melding, flow control, elemental strength and weaknesses, and most importantly, space magic, and sit down on one of the reading couches.

Kamii immediately flops down on my lap and leans into me. Well, as long as she doesn't want to play with me, I guess it's fine. Hestia sits down right next to me with a book on wind magic, and leans against me as well. Is this what you call drowning in-

Let's start with space magic right off the bat. I'll have to work out the correlation between flow control and how it affects teleportation later, but for now I need to learn the basics. As far as I could tell from maou-mama sending me to the Dark Continent, she used a transportation circle etched into the ground, but where I arrived, there was no hint of one. But when Mithra, the court magician, sent me here, he seemed to need a pre-constructed one for the destination. Maybe it does come down to the cup size - and I'm pretty sure that maou-mama's cup size is immense.

What I didn't expect was to find that space magic includes gravity manipulation. Basically, it can be used like telekinesis, to move objects through gravitational pull. I now understand why space, light and dark are called superior elements. They can achieve the true form of what nature elements try to mimic. Wind magic, with great control, can achieve a similar effect to telekinesis, but it will remain an imitation and is very easily detectable by those nearby because of the breeze it creates. Same for water magic being used for healing, which manipulates the water inside the target's body to achieve something like regeneration - at the cost of energy expenditure from the target itself. Light magic is true healing, enhancing self-regeneration to the maximum without any drawbacks for the target.

So the grand ritual the demons used to shoot the original Crawling Chaos into space was most likely a gravity spell. I did learn in the Theory of Rituals class that only the principal mage in the ritual needs to have the affinity, while everyone else involved basically act as amplifiers. In other words, a grand ritual for light magic could be cast with thousands of mages, but it would only require one with the light magic affinity. That's a pretty scary thought, considering how strong the spirit spear alone already is.

I pet Kamii's hair absentmindedly while reading through the principles behind space magic and the three main branches of it. Transportation is the one I'm most interested in, gravity is something I want to learn eventually, and the last is space manipulation - which I don't really understand. Isn't everything within space magic space manipulation?

Looking through its description, I get a better picture of it: It's the creation of pocket space, and the addition and subtraction of space. In other words, I can create a stash with infinite room, huh? But that's what I already have within my body, it seems, although I never tried its limits. Wait, don't tell me that's why I have the space magic affinity? Maou-mama has it, too, so maybe all Crawling Chaoses have it.

But I'm here for the transportation branch. The book doesn't go into much detail regarding how it's cast, but apparently there are two ways to do it. One is using a preset transportation route, a magic circle on both ends. This is the one used by Mithra. The other is to not rely on any set coordinates and teleport to a place you have been to before. I feel like that may have been what maou-mama used to send me to the Dark Continent, but now that I know her history, I wonder when she ever went there since ascending to the throne.

Picking up another book on space magic, I skim through it quickly. This one specifically speaks about the gravity branch, so it's not very useful for me right now. I'll remember it for later, though. There's one on the history of transportation circles, so maybe I can glean some locations from it, but it doesn't specify how to use them, either. Another on space manipulation... this is all good and interesting, but why is there none on transportation? Don't tell me it's in the restricted area? But I can't go asking for access right after learning of the conspiracy...

I lift Kamii off of me and move towards the superior elements section once again. The books on space magic are contained to only a single shelf, so my suspicions that the rest is in the restricted area might really be true. Going over the spines of the books, I can't find any on transportation.

This means I'll have to sneak in at night. I hope there aren't any countermeasures in the restricted section like the books growing faces and screeching loudly. For now I'll read the books on melding and flow control, since that's something I need to work on as well. Even though I don't intend to fight a magic battle anytime soon, it's always good to be prepared.

We leave the library with the sound of the bell. I think it's pretty late, since the moon is already halfway up in the sky. On our way back to the dorms I play around with Kamii and Hestia, to appear normal on the surface. Once in our room, I immediately undress.

"Wha-?" Hestia makes in shock. However, her expression quickly changes. "I-I have not prepared my heart for this right now, Onee-sama~" It's obviously not one of aversion. She's actually really looking forward to it...

"That's not what I have in mind." I turn to Senka, but from the corners of my eyes I see a disheartened expression from the angel girl. "I need to do a little experiment."

"Hey, that expression... you're scaring me..." She says and tries to back away. But I grab hold of her and hug her to my bare body. I'm sure that for a second both Kamii and Hestia will look on in envy, but not when they see that I'm pulling her inside my body. "Wait, what are you-" Her mouth becomes submerged and her voice disappears. Of course I put her in the storage section where she won't be dissolved. Now, for the actual experiment.

I stand in front of our bathroom door and put my finger in the keyhole. Concentrating my entire body into it, I push myself through the tiny hole and into the bathroom. This is the first time I've tried this, and I'm already doing it with a semi-living being inside me. Well, she's immortal, so she should be fine. I grow myself on the other side of the door and then immediately collapse the empty shell that I leave behind outside, before pulling it into my body through the keyhole.

It was actually really easy to do, although the action should have sounded completely absurd to the me of my previous life. I'm inside the bathroom now, without a hint of the door having been opened. As for Senka... I take her out from inside me and she's fully intact. In fact, the moment she resurfaces, she struggles and punches me weakly. Yeah, I kinda expected that level of strength with that tiny body, but it's still surprising.

"Why did you do that?" She's really angry. I apologize, hug her and give her a kiss on the forehead, and she immediately calms down again. Wow, that was effective. But now she's sulking a bit and looks away. How cute~

"Now that I think about it, I didn't have to take off my clothes... I could have just pulled them inside my body as well." But the experiment was a success. I can now sneak into the library without even having to pick the lock, like I did when I freed Kamii from her cage. "In either case, I can bring you along tonight. We'll have some quality time, just the two of us." I nudge Senka's cheek and she looks at me, before averting her eyes with a pout. Is she the legendary kuudere?

"Onee-sama?" I hear Kamii's and Hestia's worried voices from outside. Oops, I didn't consider how it'd look to bystanders, and not warning them beforehand wasn't the best move either. Without giving a signal that it worked from the other side, of course they'd get worried. I open the door and step out in one piece, with Senka in my arms.

"Tadaah!" I make as I emerge.

"What did you do?" Hestia asks in astonishment. Kamii looks at my finger with a wondrous expression, most likely unable to grasp what I just did. Well, up until last night I had thought that my body's actual appearance was a mass of tentacles, but after hearing about maou-mama's origins, I understood that I'm completely amorphous.

"I just learned that my species are natural talents at space manipulation." Whatever's inside my body is like in a separate dimension, so no matter what happens on the outside, it won't affect the inside. The matter of fact is that I pulled my entire body through a hole into which my finger barely fit, and Senka was completely unaffected. "In either case, I'll be going to the library with Senka and stay there for the night."

Of course, it was hard to convince Kamii not to come with me, since it'd be the first time that we'll be separated during sleep time - not counting that one night with Hestia, which she didn't notice. I'm sure she won't be able to sleep until I'm back, either way. But at least she's not alone...

"Where do you think you're going?" Ninlil's voice stops me at the dorm entrance. I already expected to be spotted by a teacher or someone else from the staff. She's looking at Senka with suspicious eyes, but doesn't notice anything about her, it seems. "There's no curfew, but what are you going out to do at this hour?"

"I am going for a walk under the stars. There is something about the night, I simply cannot fall asleep."

"Be careful. Your position is quite unsafe because of what you did to Hestia. We have students from the empire here." She warns me, although I don't really understand. I pity the fool who attacks me away from prying eyes, though. I wouldn't mind eating some humans again.

"I understand. Thank you for the warning." It was unexpectedly easy to convince Ninlil to let me go out. Then again, she did say there's no curfew, so I guess they don't really care when students wander about the academy grounds at night. I'm sure guards are posted at all entrances and exits to the citadel, so it's not like someone can just up and leave.

"What did she mean by students from the empire?" I ask Senka after we take some distance from the dorms. I'm walking across the field and moving towards the wall, to first see if there are any people following me.

"The Empire of Terminus is filled with zealots. They have this new religion with a single god, and all other gods have been relegated to be either his subordinates or avatars." She explains. "It's also mighty convenient that Fatas are their neighbors and look exactly like this god's messengers are described in their holy scriptures. Since Fatas are so pure and refined, and lead very secretive lifestyles, people can actually believe that." Her cynicism is almost tangible. "It's become the empire's narrative in the past century, and history was rewritten to fit it. After all, two centuries ago they were at war with each other."

She's a treasure trove of knowledge, as always. So the Fatas Triarchy was at war with the humans from the empire, huh? I can't imagine humans with their current level of technology fighting against an enemy with clear air supremacy. Considering they all have the light affinity, they should be able to rain down spells on the earthbound humans while their maneuverability would put them out of range of any counterattacks.

On top of the wall I look back and scan the surrounding area. It's an open field and I have night vision, so if there's anyone following me, I'll be able to see it. I make sure there isn't, before I take Senka inside me and transform into a dog-sized version of the Vularen. This way, I can move on top of the wall and hide from view behind the battlements. The library is located near the outer wall, so I can get quite close to it before having to come down again.

Making sure that there aren't any people watching, I descend the wall by letting myself down through prolonging my arm. It's like a dam broke when I squeezed through the keyhole, that I now have no qualms about using my body in ways that would have seemed really creepy or strange to me before. At the bottom, I transform into the small Vularen again, to stay close to the ground, and rush to the library's outer wall.

I peek inside and see that the lights are off. The librarian has left after finishing up everything, and there's only darkness inside. I round the building and move to the back door, which is locked and never used. It has a keyhole even bigger than the one in my bathroom door, so I easily get inside. I take Senka out straight away.

"Ugh, I really don't like this means of transportation..." She mutters with a disgusted expression. I pick her up and carry her along, since in an emergency I have to put her back inside me and hightail it out of here. "Cue infiltration music~" Well, her mood is good enough to make such jokes, so I think she's not too unhappy right now.

My destination is the restricted area, which is on the third floor, at the very back of the library. Climbing the staircase, I make sure to be careful in my steps. I've pulled my shoes inside my body and actually grew Vularen paw pads to deaden any sounds my feet could make. I'm really thankful for that short trip to the Dark Continent, since I gained such a useful template.

As I walk through the main aisle, suddenly from around a corner, a person holding a lamp crystal walks out and we collide. Crap, someone was here! I immediately drop Senka, put my palm on the other's mouth and push her against the shelf. I realize it's a girl because of the bulges in the chest area that boys obviously lack. The lamp crystal falls to the ground and I hiss "Bice" to switch it off.

Then the girl melts away under my grip. What??? Her form comes back together beside me and she runs off. Huh, what just happened? Another Crawling Chaos? No, it felt more like water...

"Vitalis?" I call out to her and she stops dead in her tracks.

"... Onee-sama?" Hnnng, my heart!