As Lukas waited for his father’s return and watched over the library, his level of cultivation had reached Master level of the Source Opening tier. The once shallow pond of Source in his chest now had a deep color as it grew bigger.

He had practiced control over Source, manipulating them with his will. It transformed in his palm form fire, a frigid wind, flashes of lightning, a wisp of pale energy… overall Source seemed to be limitless in Lukas’s hands.

“Eh- excuse me sir..?” A soft voice cuts through the fascination Lukas was under.

He looked up, it seemed to be a girl maybe a bit younger than he was by a few years. She had cheap garments and somewhat messy hair, a look that was quite common with poorer families from his observations.

[Incredible talent found! Suitable to learn Source magic.] The system interrupted.

Lukas squints his eyes at the girl, who took a step back in response.

“Oh sorry, I was just daydreaming. What can I do for you, miss?” He says in a friendly tone.

“W- what was that in your hand? It looked pretty.”

“Oh this?” A small, blue snake-like figure appeared around his hands and flew around as if swimming through the air. The girl’s eyes widened, the light of Source reflected off them.

“This is the natural energy of the world- Source!” Lukas introduced it in a grandiose way.

“Though you can just call it magic. It was dormant in this world for a while, but I think it’s waking up again.”

The girl still looks in awe at the writhing energy which has begun to dissipate into the air. As it does, she breaks her stupor and seems to have realized why she was here.

“Um- I wanted to ask mister if I can borrow a book from here?”

Lukas now noticed the book in her hands. “Oh sure! Sorry for making you wait… Um, do you have to pay for that or how does this work? I’m also kind of new to this job. Hahaha.”

In his defense, his dad never actually showed or explained to him how the whole library worked. Even searching through Eliott’s memories, there wasn’t any know-how on the front desk operations of this place. He had always worked in the back or helped his dad organize the books.

“Are you sure you work here? Where’s the uncle that is usually here?” The girl looks back in doubt.

“Ah, that's my dad, Gareth. I’m Eliott, Eliott Hearthrom, his son!”

“Well.. I’ll just wait for uncle Gareth to come back then. C- Can you show me more magic then?” The girl seems to have settled somewhat and is less wary than before.

“Actually, I think you have some talent with Source. I can feel it hovering around you.”

Lukas can feel the untamed Source energy in the air hover around the girl like a group of birds, graceful. He’s quite interested in what kind of magic will manifest from her.

“I can teach you how to accept Source into your body and use it like I do.” He didn’t want to come off in a bad manner, but Lukas saw no other way about it. The girl seemed interested anyway, there shouldn’t be any harm, he thought.

“But, you never introduced yourself. I also want to thank you for helping keep the library busy.”

The girl still seemed to be in shock at the idea that she was talented enough to be able to use magic, much less that it was around her. She was looking around her before she turned back to look Lukas in the eyes.

------

“My name is Merletta, but most people and the uncle here call me Merla for short.” She introduces herself with a small bow.

“Can you really teach me how to use magic?!” Merla had run up to the desk and leaned forward in amazement. She was fascinated by the weird things she had seen in the span of a few minutes.

She was the daughter of a hunter and mainly stayed in the town to help her mother with the chores and taking care of the animals they had. Merla felt her life changed when she had stumbled into the library and found all the books lining the shelves.

Each one was introduced to her by Uncle Gareth as doors into history, other realms, or the lives of others. It had allowed her to expand her horizons to the point where she could be considered intellectually gifted if compared with the noble children that occasionally passed through.

So seeing the new man on the desk with things flashing in his hands. It was impossible not to be interested. It was something never mentioned in the books or by anyone she knew.

Merla had decided at this point that Eliott was a trustworthy person. He even shared some facial features with Uncle Gareth, the wise eyes were definitely the feature that sealed the deal. There was also the fact that she was pretty sure Eliot was a bit slow and was confident in herself getting away if things didn’t turn out well.

He raised a finger and the blue energy made its way to the point, becoming a ball of gentle, blue light.

“Are you ready?” Eliott asked her.

Merla nodded excitedly. This thing called magic seemed to be comparable to the miracles made by the churches written in the books. The fact that she was presumably talented in it intrigued her. Maybe she could help her family more if it was as powerful as Eliott described.

Eliott’s finger extended towards her forehead and tapped it.

CRACK!

A whirlwind of energy suddenly made itself known around her. Merla kept her eyes closed. Not because of the commotion, no, it was because of how good it felt. The energy, Source, Eliott had called it, was seeping into her body. The fatigue she had felt from work and the journey over to this portion of town, was slowly being washed away by a cool refreshing feeling.

Amidst the feeling of comfort she felt like she was weightless and flying. Like the birds in the sky or those that her father told her about that ruled forests.

Next to her ears, she heard the flapping of great wings and the calls of various birds before everything once again fell to calmness.

Merla opened her eyes. She was still in the library, book in front of her on the desk, with Eliott sitting down on the chair seemingly admiring the afternoon light coming through the windows and door of the building.

“Are you feeling okay?” Eliott asks in a gentle tone.

“You’ve been standing there for an hour now. I think you should head home before your family gets worried and take the book with you, my treat for listening.”

He pushes the book forward with a smile.

“Welcome to a new world, Merla! I hope to see you progress in this world of magic.”

She felt amazing.

“Thank you mister Eliott! Can I come back here tomorrow to learn more about this magic?” Merla asked. This guy definitely knew more than what he told her. He seemed too calm about this energy and everything that happened to her as if he’d seen it all before.

“Of course you can. Do read the book though, it might answer the questions you have.”

She looked at the book in front of her, it was different than what she had originally brought forward. Source: The Beginning was written on the cover in gold font, she was instantly enamoured by the possible contents of the book.

“Thank you again mister Eliott! I’m going to go home now. Please say hi to Uncle Gareth for me!” She says as she bounds out from the library, excited to get home to start reading the book.

------

Lukas was surprised at how well Merla had taken to the idea of magic. Moreso there were a lot of phenomena that happened when she started her intake of Source. The images of birds flying around her, their calls, and she even started floating at one point which scared Lukas at the idea that someone else might walk in. Luckily it didn’t last long.

[Congratulations host! The first native magician of the world has been born! You have been rewarded with 10x copies of Source: The Beginning.]

[Source: The Beginning. A book talking about the natural origins of Source. Any new magic practitioner reading this would benefit significantly!]

The two notifications appeared before him after Merla had finished assimilating the new energy. With the new reward, he decided to let her have one. So he was confident in her involvement in the future of Xerveres.

Now though, he still had a pressing issue. His father still hadn’t returned. How long did it take to request a ladder anyway?

Lukas felt that something happened to Gareth and as it neared the evening, he felt more and more worried for the old man. Using his newly found magic, he closed the library with a few flicks of his hand. All became dark and quiet.

On the streets towards the direction of the woodworkers’ shops there was a shadow of a scholarly looking youth, it was Lukas. He was indirectly walking to the Grizzly Birch tavern just across his destination.