The Royal Library smelled of dry parchment, lavender wax, and silence.
It was a cathedral of knowledge—three stories of towering oak bookshelves connected by spiraling iron staircases. Dust motes danced in the shafts of amber light filtering through the stained-glass windows.
At a large table near the back, Itsuki Haruma and Riku Kamishiro were building a fortress of books.
"This is bullshit," Riku muttered, slamming a thick leather-bound tome shut. Dust puffed out, making him cough. "Five hundred pages on 'Mana Theory' and not one diagram. It's all poetry. 'The river flows through the soul.' What does that even mean? Is it a liquid? A gas? A particle?"
Itsuki didn't look up from his own book. He adjusted his glasses, his expression calm. "You are approaching this like an engineer, Riku. You want mechanics. Magic here seems to operate on intent and visualization."
"Intent doesn't power a lightbulb, Itsuki," Riku argued, leaning back in his chair. He spun a quill between his fingers. "Look, we've been here a week. We know we have stats. We know we have skills. But why? Why does the world look like a video game interface to us?"
Riku gestured to the air. "I see a blue box that says [Artificer]. Do the locals see it? Does the King see a HUD when he wakes up?"
Itsuki paused. He closed his book—The Annals of the First Era—and looked at Riku. "That is... a valid question. The books mention 'Appraisal,' but they treat it as a high-tier spell, not a default state of being."
"Exactly," Riku said, leaning forward. "We're asking the questions the audience would ask. Question one: The System. Is it a biological implant? A hallucination? Or is this world actually a simulation?"
"I found nothing on 'Blue Windows' in the texts," Itsuki admitted. "However, I did find something on Mana Regeneration. Chapter 4 states that mana is 'ambient energy filtered through the breath.' It suggests that meditation increases recovery speed by 200% compared to sleep."
"Okay, so breathing exercises. Like Yoga. Useful," Riku noted. "But what about the Moons? Have you looked outside? One of them is broken. shattered. You don't just crack a moon without messing up the planet's gravity. The tides should be chaotic. The weather should be apocalyptic. Yet, it's 75 degrees and sunny."
Itsuki frowned. "I searched the Astronomy section. It was... surprisingly empty. There are maps of the stars, but the history of the shattered moon—they call it 'Lua'—is missing. The pages were torn out."
"Torn out?" Riku's eyes narrowed. "Censorship? In a Royal Library?"
"Or perhaps dangerous knowledge," a smooth voice interjected.
Riku and Itsuki jumped.
Prince Valerius was standing at the end of their table. They hadn't heard him approach. He wore a casual navy vest over a white shirt, holding a thin book in his hand. He looked less like a Prince and more like a scholar.
"Your Highness," Itsuki said, standing up to bow. Riku followed suit, albeit a bit slower.
"Please, sit," Valerius said, waving a hand. He pulled out a chair and sat down with them, placing his book on the table. "I overheard your debate. You ask dangerous questions for foreigners."
"We're just curious," Riku said, his guard instantly up. "Cultural exchange."
Valerius smiled. It wasn't the warm smile of his sister, Princess Elara. It was a sharp, intellectual smile. "Let us answer your questions. The 'Blue Windows' you see."
Riku blinked. "You know about them?"
"We call it the Gift of the First," Valerius explained. "Legends say the First Hero—the one who sealed the Demon Lord—found our magic too chaotic to understand. So, he cast a spell upon his own soul, and the souls of those who followed him. A spell to 'Order' the chaos."
Valerius tapped the table. "You see numbers, yes? Stats? Levels?"
"Yeah," Riku nodded.
"That is not reality," Valerius said softly. "That is your mind translating the infinite complexity of the soul into a format you can comprehend. To us, power is a feeling. To you, it is a spreadsheet. The System is simply a lens."
Itsuki nodded slowly, absorbing this. "A User Interface for reality. That explains why our growth is so rapid. We are optimizing numbers while you are fumbling with feelings."
"Precisely," Valerius looked impressed. "You are the Sage, yes? A fitting title."
"And the Moon?" Riku pressed. "Why is it broken? And why aren't we dead from the tidal forces?"
Valerius's smile faded. He looked out the high window at the pale, shattered crescent of Lua hanging in the day sky.
"That," Valerius whispered, "is the corpse of a God."
The air in the library seemed to drop a few degrees.
"A thousand years ago, before the Demon Lord Kaelthar rose, there was a war between the Gods," Valerius recounted, his voice low. "The God of Order, Aion, struck down the Goddess of Chaos, Lua. Her body shattered and became the moon. Her blood fell to the earth."
Valerius looked at them. "That blood is what we call Mana. Magic is not a natural resource, Riku Kamishiro. It is the lingering radiation of a dead deity."
Riku stared at him. "We're breathing... god blood?"
"Essentially," Valerius shrugged, returning to his calm demeanor. "The shattered moon remains in the sky, held in place by Aion's remaining power—the 'Atmospheric Barrier' you likely noticed. It stabilizes gravity and tides. If the Barrier were to fail..."
"We all die," Riku finished.
"Correct," Valerius nodded. "Which is why the Demon Lord is such a threat. Kaelthar seeks to break the Barrier. He wants to finish what the Chaos Goddess started."
The Prince slid the thin book he had brought across the table.
"You seek to understand this world," Valerius said. "This is a primer on Elemental Theory and Mana Circuits. It is advanced for first-years, but I suspect you two will find the standard curriculum... boring."
Itsuki took the book. "Why help us?" he asked bluntly. "We are tools for your war. Why do you care if we understand the history?"
Valerius stood up, smoothing his vest. He looked at Itsuki, his blue eyes cold and calculating.
"Because blind weapons break," Valerius said. "My father believes in faith. Sir Valdorn believes in strength. I believe in competence."
He walked toward the exit, pausing once to look back.
"Study hard. The world is far more fragile than it appears."
As the Prince left, Riku exhaled a breath he'd been holding. He looked at the book Valerius had left.
"He's smart," Riku muttered. "And he knows way more than he's saying."
"God blood and UI filters," Itsuki murmured, opening the book. "At least we have a working theory now."
"Yeah," Riku leaned back, looking up at the shattered moon through the window. "But if magic is radiation... what happens if you absorb too much of it?"
Riku thought of Sora. The boy with Zero Mana. Zero radiation.
Is he immune? Riku wondered. Or is he just empty?
"Hey, Itsuki," Riku said, standing up. "I'm going to the workshop. I have an idea for a gadget."
"To help Ren?" Itsuki asked.
Riku smirked, spinning the quill. "To help us survive the radiation. If this world is a game, I'm going to figure out how to mod it."