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Levi's eyes lingered on the book for a moment before he turned away. "Come. You'll need somewhere comfortable to read."
He walked forward and the void responded. Stone materialized beneath his feet with each step, forming a path deeper into the infinite space. Celine followed carefully, stepping exactly where he did.
They walked through drifting shelves and floating lights. Distance felt meaningless here. Time moved strangely.
Levi stopped.
"Here."
A reading alcove floated before them, suspended like a small island. An obsidian table sat at its center, its surface smooth as glass. Two chairs upholstered in deep blue velvet faced each other across the table. Floating lanterns drifted around the space in lazy circles, casting soft amber light. Above it all, a canopy of captured starlight formed a protective dome.
The space felt sacred. Private.
Levi gestured toward the far chair. "Sit."
Celine moved carefully, treating the space with reverence. She pulled out the chair and sat. The velvet was softer than anything she'd felt before.
She placed the book on the table. It settled there as if it had always belonged.
Levi remained standing, hands clasped behind his back.
"Before you start reading, there are rules you need to understand."
Celine straightened, giving him her full attention.
"First, you cannot damage the books. Not by tearing pages, not by spilling liquids, not by any means. If you try, the Library will respond. Trust me, you don't want that."
She nodded.
"Second, you cannot remove books from the Library. What you read here stays here. You can take the knowledge with you, the lessons, the insights. But the physical book remains."
Another nod.
"Third, no fighting inside the Library. No combat of any kind. The Library doesn't care about self-defense or justified reasons. Violence is violence, and it will retaliate." He paused.
"I learned that one the hard way."
Celine's eyes widened but she didn't ask.
"Fourth, and this is important: you have forty eight hours per visit. No more. When the time limit hits, you'll be ejected back to the entrance automatically. The Library enforces this without exception. Plan accordingly."
"Understood," Celine said.
Levi nodded. "Good. Now, would you like something to drink while you read? Coffee? Tea?"
"Tea, please. Milk tea, if that's possible."
"It's possible."
Levi raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
The sound echoed through the void like a bell.
The air shimmered.
A figure materialized from nothing.
Celine's eyes widened.
The golem stood nearly seven feet tall, its body carved from obsidian. Brass joints connected its limbs, intricate and mechanical. Its head was smooth except for two eyes that glowed with soft blue light.
It moved with disturbing grace, each motion precise and fluid.
The golem bowed.
"Milk tea for the patron," Levi said. "Nothing for me."
The golem bowed again, this time to Celine, then walked away into the void. Its form faded gradually until it disappeared completely.
Celine stared at the space where it had been. "That was..."
"Golem One," Levi said. "There are several throughout the Library. They maintain order, serve guests, and handle tasks I'd rather not deal with personally."
"It seemed polite."
"They're programmed that way." Levi pulled out the other chair and sat across from her.
"But don't touch them. They're not hostile, but they're also not pets. They have specific functions, and interfering with those functions tends to end badly."
Celine nodded slowly. "How badly?"
Levi held up his right hand, wiggling all five fingers. "I lost a finger once. Got it back, obviously. But it wasn't pleasant."
Celine decided not to press further.
They sat in silence for a moment. The floating lanterns drifted around them. Somewhere in the distance, pages turned with soft whispers.
Levi's gaze drifted to the book on the table.
An idea formed. Maybe If I ry…..
"There's a tradition here," Levi said. "In the Library. Before a patron begins reading, they're supposed to recite the book's title aloud. It's a way of acknowledging the story. Showing respect."
Celine blinked. "A tradition?"
"An old one." The lie came easily. "Most people don't bother anymore, but for a book like this, for your first real reading as a patron, I think it's appropriate."
He watched her carefully, his expression neutral.
Celine looked down at the book, then back at him. "Alright. If it's tradition."
She placed her hand on the cover. It pulsed once beneath her palm.
She opened her mouth.
"The book's title is—"
The words that came out were clear to her ears. But to Levi, they were noise. Corrupted, garbled, meaningless. Like listening to someone speak underwater while machinery screamed in the background.
He couldn't understand a single syllable.
Then a familiar blue window appeared in his vision.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Nice try.
Did you really think a fake "tradition" would bypass my restrictions?
You can't hear the title. You can't read it. You can't learn it through clever loopholes.
The book's content is FOR HER EYES ONLY.
Stop trying to cheat.
:)
Levi's jaw tightened beneath his carefully maintained expression.
Fucking cunt.
At least now I know that what she see and what I see is different. What kind of mind fuckerly is this shit.
The System window vanished.
Celine finished speaking and looked at him expectantly. "Was that correct?"
Levi exhaled slowly. "Yes. Perfect. The tradition is satisfied."
He stood, pushing his chair back. "I'll leave you to your reading. Take your time. Focus on understanding, not speed."
Celine nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Levi."
"Call me if you need anything. The Library will know."
He turned and walked away. The void swallowed him gradually, and within moments, he'd disappeared into the infinite shelves.
Celine sat alone in the alcove.
The golem returned a minute later, carrying a delicate porcelain cup on a matching saucer. Steam rose from the tea, fragrant and warm. It placed the cup gently beside the book, bowed once, and left.
Celine looked at the tea, then at the book.
She reached out slowly.
The book felt like stone and wind and memory all at once. Solid but somehow intangible, real but dreamlike. Warm, almost alive, pulsing gently against her fingertips.
She could feel it recognizing her.
Accepting her.
She took a breath and opened the cover.
Light exploded from the pages.
Pure, blinding, all-consuming light filled her vision and erased everything else. The alcove vanished. The table disappeared. The void itself ceased to exist.
There was only light, warm and welcoming, pulling her forward.
And then she was falling.
.
.
.
No pain.
Just warmth and silence, like sinking into water that held no weight.
Celine felt her body dissolve, not violently but gently, like smoke dissipating in wind. Her thoughts scattered and became part of something larger, something vast and ancient that she couldn't name.
Then awareness returned.
She hung suspended in midair with nothing beneath her feet and nothing above except endless sky.
Celine's eyes opened.
Mountains of jade and gold rose from clouds below, piercing the heavens like the spines of sleeping dragons. Their peaks glowed with soft light, wrapped in mist that moved like living silk. Waterfalls poured from floating islands, their waters cascading into the void and vanishing. Spirit bridges made of condensed light connected distant peaks, shimmering with power that hummed through the air.
The sky itself was layered with colors she'd never seen: violet bleeding into amber, streaked with veins of silver that pulsed. The air tasted sweeter, heavier. It filled her lungs with a vitality that made her dizzy.
Scrolls drifted past, their surfaces covered in symbols that glowed and shifted. Bells chimed in the distance. Cranes made of pure white light soared between peaks, leaving trails of dust in their wake.
The realization settled over her. This wasn't her world of knights and castles and Western magic. This was something else entirely.
The book injects the information into her brain. A new knowledge about the world of cultivation. A realm where warriors could split mountains with will alone and ascend to immortality through meditation and combat.
She looked down at herself. Her armor was gone, replaced by simple white robes. No sword at her hip. No weight of steel or duty.
Just her, suspended in this impossible sky.
Then she saw the woman.
Far below, standing alone on the highest peak of a distant mountain, a figure waited in perfect stillness.
The woman's presence was overwhelming even from this distance. Not loud or aggressive, but undeniable. Like standing before an ocean and knowing you could drown. Her hair was long and silver, flowing down her back in a cascade that caught the light. White robes wrapped her tall frame, layered and elegant, moving with wind that touched nothing else.
A sword rested at her side, sheathed in white jade.
The woman didn't move. Didn't look up. But Celine felt her awareness like pressure against her chest.
Celine began to descend.
Her body moved on its own, drawn toward the distant peak. The floating islands blurred past. The spirit bridges flashed beneath her. The world rushed by in streams of light and color until her feet touched stone.
She stood ten paces from the woman.
Up close, the difference was even starker.
The woman was beautiful the way glaciers were beautiful: cold, eternal, untouchable. Her face showed no expression. Her eyes, pale as winter sky, stared out at the horizon. Every line of her posture spoke of control so absolute it had become nature itself.
Celine opened her mouth to speak, but the words died.
She knew this woman's name.
Not because anyone had told her. The knowledge simply existed in her mind, placed there by the book itself.
Zhao Ling'er.
The Ice Empress.