The Descent Rite had no harsh requirements; it didn’t even need a sacrifice, just a specific diagram. It was possible the octopus had made things easier for her on purpose.
Looking at the big picture, there was only one difficult hurdle: finding a way to create a Mental Sanctuary.
***
The Balor Academy Library sat atop a jagged cliff to the east. The rock had been leveled to serve as a foundation, though the surrounding area retained its original, craggy stone fences.
It was one of the few wooden structures in the academy.
The building covered eight hundred square meters and stood eight meters high in a flattened circular shape. The curved walls were composed of floor-to-ceiling glass, pillars, and crossbeams, all held together by tight mortise-and-tenon joints that were both exquisite and elegant.
At its crown, curved brackets resembling dragon bones were arranged in a dense, radial pattern. Like stars surrounding the moon, they supported a massive, thin sheet of transparent crystal over sixty meters in diameter.
Moonlight filtered through the crystal, falling into the central reading area. The light became slightly hazy and silky, creating a dreamy, mist-like atmosphere.
Although there was only one floor above ground, a vast and complex catacomb lay deep within the limestone below. This subterranean palace consisted of reading rooms and corridors of varying sizes, housing countless books.
To enter the underground reading rooms, one required specific authorization and had to pass through three heavy iron gates.
First-year students were only permitted to read on the ground floor.
This was because the content of some books was a potent source of Mental Pollution. Some knowledge could drive a person mad, and certain spells or runes could backfire on the caster if used improperly. Only those with sufficient cognition and strength were granted the right to touch these forbidden mysteries and truths.
The iron gates were there to ensure that if a reader’s mind was corrupted, they wouldn’t be able to escape and harm others.
Wang Yue pushed the door open, and the pleasant scent of paper wafted over her. She had come to the library specifically to find a way to construct a Mental Sanctuary.
The keyword was “shielding.”
During the demonology class, she had noticed that the baffles on the dissection tables could block Mental Pollution. Based on that, she analyzed that if Mental Pollution was a manifestation of mental power, then a box constructed from those “baffles” should qualify as a Mental Sanctuary.
When she asked Professor Tone about it, she was told there was a type of witchcraft called “Black Box” that could block spiritual forces. While the effects were similar to the physical baffles, using witchcraft would save her some money.
The school library was magnificent—better than any library she had ever visited on Earth.
Crossing the hall, she exited through a door on the eastern side to find a curved balcony suspended over the abyss. Looking out into the distance, she felt the biting wind like iron against her skin. Under the dark canopy of the sky, the stars twinkled brightly.
In the central reading area, the moonlight cascaded down like a waterfall. It was so bright that no lamps were needed.
The library was incredibly quiet; she was the only one there. This was because the upper-class witches were buried in their studies underground, and the freshmen rarely bothered to visit.
She flipped through an old index catalog on the entrance counter and located the section for Mental-type witchcraft. She headed straight there, searching for the “Black Box” rune.
Moving in her young body was somewhat inconvenient. Because of her height, she had to stand on her tiptoes and stretch her arms as far as they would go to reach the books on the higher shelves.
Finally, her fingers brushed against the spine of the thick, heavy volume on the fifth shelf: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Volume VIII.
The book was massive, at least the size of a large ledger. Its hardcover was wrapped in reddish-brown leather over five millimeters thick. The leather was rich in color, classically beautiful with a natural grain, and decorated with shimmering gold-leaf lettering. The parchment inside was smooth and delicate.
Wang Yue carefully blew the dust off the top edge. She flipped open the cover, her finger reaching for the title page, when suddenly, a translucent little head popped out from within the book!
She gave a small shudder. Her hair stood on end for a moment before slowly settling back down.
The little thing wasn’t human, nor was it an animal. It looked like some kind of spirit. It was a glowing, transparent entity outlined with simple lines, possessing two long, narrow ears and round, gentle eyes.
The transparent creature swam out from the book, floating and stretching its long, soft torso. Its belly was slightly rounded, making it look like a snow-white, translucent silver fish, while its tail curled like that of a seahorse.
Whiskers, much like those of a catfish, were distributed evenly along its sides. Its entire body emitted a faint, ghostly light, with a color somewhere between moonlight white and pale green.
