“What’s wrong?” Shia asked, taking a step forward and blanching as the divine barrier finally appeared to her as well. “Broken branches, are you serious?!”

  “What, some sort of guardian or…” Scule trailed off, finally discovering the bubble of golden energy for himself. “…welp, she was a good ghost. Can’t be all that hard to find another one, right?”

  “This doesn’t change anything,” Vin said through clenched teeth, his entire body shaking slightly as he stared at that familiar golden notification. The memories of the insane Relic Guardian cutting off his arm and backhanding him with enough force to liquify his organs danced within his mind, refusing to get shoved back down.

  “Vin, this changes everything,” Scule argued, glaring up at him. “You guys spent most of your time staring at statues, but I spent nearly an hour dodging attacks by that sword wielding maniac, all while listening to him prattle on about how much he hated the Gods. If there’s another high-level crazy person trapped within this bubble, we’re all going to die!”

  “No… It shouldn’t be the same,” Shia said slowly, gears turning in her head. “Think about it. The Relic Guardian was only insane because he’d refused to accept the handouts from the Gods and had been subsisting entirely off of monster flesh for months. Not only that, but we know people have gone in and come out of this Divine Sanctum; at least two according to Madam Trebella. Don’t you think they would have mentioned it if they'd been attacked by some sort of deranged guardian?”

  “I don’t know, don’t you think they would have mentioned it being a demon-blooded Divine Sanctum?!” Scule countered, getting louder as he argued. “The last time we didn’t know any better, but do we really want to risk all our lives on a maybe?”

  “Scule, I understand. I’m the one that lost the most from the last Divine Sanctum we went in. But Alka-” Vin stopped talking as Reginald crawled out of his pocket, tapping him twice on the chest with his tail as if asking for a chance to speak. Jumping down, the rat walked over to Scule, giving the Rogue a determined look and squeaking a few times. Rolling his eyes, Scule argued with his animal companion.

  “I know she’d do the same for us, but it’s-”

  Squeak squeak squeak squeak.

  “Are you kidding me? You’re like three years old, don’t you go-”

  Squeak squeaaaak squeak squeak.

  “Oh, that’s some big talk coming from you. You really think-”

  Squeak! Squeak squeaak squeak! Squeak!

  “Fine, have it your way!”

  Grumbling, Scule crossed his arms, deflating as if he’d lost the will to fight. Turning to Vin, he nodded. “…Alright, I’m in.”

  “Seriously? Just like that? What did Reginald even say?” Vin asked, staring at the proud rat in awe.

  “A load of demoncrap if you ask me,” Scule muttered, earning himself a smack on the back of his head via Reginald’s tail. “Hey, don’t push it!” He snapped, actually getting an apologetic look from the rat who leaned over and nuzzled the petian lovingly. Sighing, Scule patted the rat on the head, glancing fearfully at the library.

  “Whatever, let’s just get this over with. The plan still stands. I’ll need a few hours to get the golem, so once you get your hands on the mana stones, make sure to wait until you hear from me. I’ll have Reginald find you or something.”

  With the plan firmly in mind, the four of them all shared one last encouraging look before walking through the barrier at the same time, setting foot within their second ever Divine Sanctum. Vin held his breath, waiting for some crazed monster to rush out of the library and try to bash their heads in with a particularly heavy book. When none did, he sighed, trying to calm his racing heart.

  “Well… Let’s do this.”

  Vin led their group across the island over to the library entrance, which consisted of two grand doors nearly three times as tall as he was. Without Alka’s stats enhancing his strength, Vin wasn’t actually certain if he’d even be able to get them into the library, let alone steal from it.

  But as they approached the entrance, a sudden noise stopped them in their tracks, and each of them dropped into a combat stance at the unexpected sound. It wasn’t until they realized the sound was just the large doors slowly swinging open of their own accord that they relaxed.

  Slightly.

  Peering inside, Vin gasped at the two small mountains standing on either side of the entryway. Two golems, each one at least twenty feet tall and clad from head to toe in shining armor, stood guard. They held shields the size of a door and swords longer than Vin’s entire body, and it wasn’t hard for Vin to imagine how much damage even one of the two golems could cause.

  He was so distracted by the giant golems, that he completely missed the small elven woman standing there until she spoke, her voice seemingly devoid of emotion and feeling.

  “Welcome to my library.”

  Vin flinched back at the sudden voice, cursing himself for being so jumpy as he finally looked at the librarian herself. The woman was clearly an elf based on her pointed ears and sharp features, but she didn’t have the same jagged teeth that Shia’s people did. She wore a simple, ordinary white dress that seemed ever so slightly too large for her, if the hem dragging along the ground was any indication. While Vin took her in, the librarian stared at them with idle curiosity, as though she’d discovered a strange looking bug walking across her windowsill.

  Still, that was a distinct improvement over open anger and hatred, which was a huge step up from their last Divine Sanctum in Vin’s opinion.

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  “Hello,” he said, giving the librarian a small bow. “We are travelers from far off lands that heard wonderful tales about your library. We’d hoped to come view your magnificent collection for ourselves, if you would be so kind as to allow us entrance.”

  Vin could feel his heart beating against his chest as he spoke, but he did his best not to let his nerves show as he pleaded their case. After all, if the librarian didn’t allow them to enter, their plan to steal one of her golems was going to get very complicated, very fast.

  Thankfully, after a few seconds of silence, the librarian merely nodded. “Naturally. A library exists for others to come read.” Motioning for them all to follow her, the librarian turned and began walking, her dress dragging silently along the marble floor. Sharing a strange look with his friends, their group followed after the librarian, and Vin tried not to notice how the large doors closed behind them on their own after they passed, sealing them inside.

  The librarian led them through what looked like some sort of massive entrance hall, and Vin’s heart sank as he realized the entire thing was lined with massive golems similar to the ones by the front door. There had to be at least two dozen twenty-foot-tall golems standing guard, each pair wielding an entirely different set of weapons.

  Whatever their plan ended up being, one thing was for sure.

  Once they got their hands on a golem, they weren’t leaving out the front entrance.

  Just as he was mustering up the courage to ask the quiet librarian a question, they came to the end of the hall. Placed immediately before another grand set of double doors was a large square tile on the ground.

  “The three of you are welcome to peruse the library at your leisure,” the librarian explained, still speaking in that unnatural, inflectionless tone as if reading from a script. “My only requests are that you make no efforts to interfere with the golems I have assisting you, that you make no attempt to remove anything from the library, and that you first step onto this device before heading inside. Follow those three rules, and you are welcome to stay here as long as you’d like. Additionally, if you ever wish to return to the library, I ask that once you leave you do not mention the fact that it is located within a Divine Sanctum to anyone. If you do, you will not be allowed future reentry. Who is first?”

  “I’ll start us off,” Scule said, stepping forward and gesturing to Reginald. “Does he need to go on the tile as well?”

  “Yes, he should accompany you at all times,” the librarian nodded, her eyes seeming to glow faintly for a moment as she paused. “All animal companions, mage familiars, trained pets, bound spirits, angelic guides, demonic advisors, polymorphed beings, and creatures under the effect of varying shape shifting curses are to be held to the same rules.”

  “Oookay,” Scule said slowly, stepping onto the tile with Reginald at his side. He shot Vin one last glance that screamed look what you got us into, before the tile began making a worrying, rumbling sound. Concerned, the petian looked down at the tile as the noise steadily grew, meaning he was entirely unprepared when the magical tile erupted in a sudden and violent burst of light.

  While Scule stumbled forward, cursing and rubbing his tear-filled eyes, the librarian’s eyes glowed again, and she nodded.

  “Level 24 Determined Rogue. Petian. Highest skills are Poisoncrafting, Advanced Herbalism, and Animal Expertise. I would recommend checking out the third floor of the fourth tower, and the first floor of the eighth tower.”

  “What the hells?” Scule shouted, still rubbing his eyes and staring at the librarian with a mix of fear and anger. “How can you read my interface?! Not even the divine warriors of the citadel could do that!”

  “Please step inside and direct any questions to the golem assigned to you,” the librarian said calmly, her voice still utterly devoid of any emotion as she waited for Scule to follow her directions. “As you are a Rogue, I will remind you once more of the rule against removing anything from the library. Please note that this is not discrimination, but a warning backed by centuries of historical data.”

  Giving her one last wary glance, Scule followed her directions, walking into the library proper as the doors opened just enough for him to pass through before closing.

  “Who is next?” The librarian asked, staring at the space directly between Vin and Shia.

  “I’ll go,” Shia said, gripping her staff as she stepped onto the tile. Remembering what happened with Scule, she closed her eyes and looked up when the rumbling started, and after a few seconds, another powerful flash went off.

  “Level 26 Wild Druid. Unrecognized subspecies of elf. Highest skills are Runecraft, Hunting, and Advanced Horticulture. I would recommend checking out the fourth floor of the sixth tower, and the second floor of the eighth tower. Please step inside and direct any questions to the golem assigned to you.”

  Nodding, Shia gave Vin an encouraging smile before walking through the opening doors. This time, they opened enough that Vin was able to get a glance at a massive hall filled from top to bottom with books of all shapes and sizes, but the doors quickly closed once more before he could get a good look at the interior of the library.

  “Please step onto the tile,” the librarian said.

  Taking a deep breath, Vin did exactly that, waiting to hear the rumble before closing his eyes and looking away. To his surprise, he was actually able to feel the flash, as a sensation almost identical to that strange pulse he’d felt travel through him at levels 10 and 20 swept through him from the ground up, before returning down into the tile.

  “Level 26 Magical Explorer. Human. Highest skills are Runecraft, Introspection, and Resistance. I would recommend checking out the fourth floor of the sixth tower, and the fifth floor of the third tower,” the librarian said, as if reading from a cue prompter. “Please step inside and direct any questions to the golem assigned to you.”

  “Thank you,” Vin nodded, going to head inside. Right before he walked through the opening doors however, he paused, shooting another glance at the motionless librarian waiting for him to follow her directions. The woman was certainly… weird. But she didn’t exactly come across as murderous or particularly dangerous. It was a risk, and he wasn’t going to come right out and tell her their plan, but Vin figured it couldn’t hurt to at least try and work with the woman before stealing from her. Clearing his throat, he gave her what he hoped was a friendly smile.

  “Your golems are really impressive,” he said, nodding at the giant ones lining the entrance hall. “Is there any chance we could commission you to build us a small, human sized one? Or trade for an old one you may have lying around, or something? Like your tile said, I'm a Magical Explorer that has travelled from fragment to fragment on this new world. I've even been keeping all my notes in this journal,” he said, pulling it out of his bag and holding it out to her, silently pleading for her to take it. "I'm sure there's information in here the likes of which you've never seen!"

  Vin waited, praying for just a simple nod. If the librarian would just agree to a trade and give them what they needed, then there was no need to go through with this risky plan. It sounded like she had hundreds of golems working under her, he highly doubted giving one away would hurt all that much.

  But of course, life was never that easy.

  “Thank you for the compliment, but I have no need of your journal," she said, not so much as even glancing at his offered book. "I will remind you once more of the rule against removing anything from the library,” she added, finally fixing Vin with her impassive stare as if she somehow knew exactly what he was now planning to try and do. “Please step inside and direct any questions to the golem assigned to you.”

  “Right. Can do.” Shaking his head, Vin tucked away his journal and turned back toward the now fully open doors. Leaving the strange woman behind him, he stepped forward and walked into a world of books beyond anything he could ever imagine.

  He’d done what he could to save Alka without hurting anyone else. Seeing as that failed…

  Looks like he had a library to rob.

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