Grimoire Store

"Anyway, it's not too far off now," Judy pointed towards a corner ahead. "Take a turn there and you should find one of the best spell book shops in the city."

The group casually walked in the direction that Judy pointed out, and after taking the turn Leo soon found himself face-to-face with a luxurious building decorated with symbols and illustrations of various magic spells. On a board displayed above the entrance was a sign that read "Grimoires for Beginners and Masters" in golden letters. Despite the extravagance, however, the shop was quite small in appearance.

After finding it, the team decided to go into the store together despite Leo's protests.

"You guys don't have to come with me," Leo spoke out after turning to face them. "I can afford to shop on my own."

"Who says we aren't here to browse for ourselves?" Judy raised her eyebrows. "We've also brought our own money for this occasion."

She took a small pouch of coins out of her pocket before walking forward to open the doors.

Leo looked sheepish after the realization but still continued along after her. Behind him, Alex was striding forward in light steps while Sarah was walking at the side; the latter was humming a melodic tune to herself as she strode to the entrance.

As soon as he entered the store, Leo immediately sensed a shift in the air. Looking around at the interiors of the shop, he noticed that the size of the place was much more vast compared to the outside.

'Spatial magic, and probably the most advanced I've ever seen,' Leo stared around in awe. He estimated that the store's interior can fit several Adventurer's Guilds and still have room to spare. 'I wonder who's the owner here? A place like this can't be cheap to maintain.'

Observing the surroundings, he spotted several enormous shelves that occupied nearly every area, extending several meters into the extremely tall ceiling. There were also erected signs accompanying them that indicated specific classifications of different magic systems.

A large desk similar to the one at the guild was situated beside the entrance, with a seated group of mages who were likely the workers that dealt with people's purchases.

"Impressive, right?" Alex walked to Leo's side and whispered, "This place is frequented by just about every mage in the city. There's even a training hall in the center of this store for practicing spells. It's the perfect place for people to study magic."

Leo nodded in agreement as he slowly moved in awe towards the nearest shelves.

Seeing that Leo was doing okay, Alex decided to follow the same direction Judy was headed towards. As for Sarah, she simply chose to wander around and observe everything.

As Leo got closer to the shelves, he noticed a sign that indicated that these books contained magic spells that were recently developed in the current year.

Picking up a thin spell book with a plain design, Leo opened the cover and read the first page's description.

'Spell: Center of Balance

'Level: Low

'Description: A buff-type spell that can only affect the mage casting it. It influences the gravity around the caster and his/her possessions to achieve perfect stability and footing on any solid surface, regardless of elevation.

'A person can feel that they are standing on flat ground even when they are situated on top of a plane at a perverse angle.'

On the same page with the description, there was an image of a simply drawn human being drinking from a wine glass while standing upside-down on what appeared to be the ceiling of a bedroom. The liquid in the glass did not fall onto the floor, and the human's form appeared to not show any signs of dangling.

"Hmmm, interesting," Leo commented while attempting to read further.

However, as Leo tried to flip through the book, he discovered that some of the pages were stuck together as if they'd been glued. Suspecting that it was a prank, Leo tried to split them apart with his fingertips but found that there wasn't any gap he could use to pry into. Eventually, he stopped his efforts, afraid that he might tear the pages.

"What is this?" Leo was about to go to the front desk to request help from the mage workers before he spotted a shiny plaque on the edge of the shelf.

The plaque was outlined in large letters that read: "Specific pages have been sealed. Do not split them before you buy the book!".

'Ohhh... I see,' Leo understood. 'I should have known that it would be against the rules to simply read these books without paying first.'

Although most mages wouldn't be able to learn a spell after reading it once, certain people could still attempt to copy and record the information they've read before secretly storing them away. The method of sealing the pages together is a good counter to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Leo would also wager that there may even be other types of seals hidden around the store to prevent further wrongdoings.

'It's likely that only the workers of this place can release the seal.'

After making his conclusions, Leo switched his attention back to the spell book's description section and found it to be quite intriguing. He had mostly read the texts written by the teachers from Halo Academy, so he rarely possessed access to any of his own personal spell books. Despite the fact that [Center of Balance] is only a Low-level spell, it seemed to be quite handy to learn for travelling across difficult terrain, especially mountain areas. While not every location would have flat surfaces, Leo could transform them using other spells.

"I'd like to purchase this one please," Leo spoke after heading over to a mage in uniform who was leisurely reading a novel behind the desk.

"Hm? Oh yes, right away sir," the mage hurriedly closed his novel shut before receiving the coins that Leo handed out.

Afterwards, the mage took out a special-looking stamp and pressed it onto the front cover of Leo's book before withdrawing it.

"You can read it now. Have a good day and come back again soon!" the mage replied.

"Thank you very much."

After confirming his guess about the seal, Leo walked away while looking for his friends. He recalled the direction that Alex had followed Judy, and guessed that they may be heading towards the center of this store. Wanting to find join up again, Leo walked across several bookcases in an attempt to reach them.

During this time, Leo decided to take the liberty to read a few of the pages that were recently just sealed away.

'The principle of this spell is quite simple,' Leo analyzed [Center of Balance] while instinctively attempting to keep track of where he was going. 'It merely focuses on altering the direction of the force that causes a person to fall.

'Hmmm... Why does this seem familiar?'

Leo felt that he had once observed a similar effect, though he suspected that the phenomenon was still different to the spell he was currently studying.

'Wait a minute.' Leo paused in his steps as he reread some of the texts. 'There was that dome in the shape of a sphere during one of Mephys' tournaments... I think it was said to have been built by the Belmonts and fairies?'

Thinking back to that event he watched at the academy with Austin and Jeffrey, Leo started to remember the magical effect of an enormous sphere that would alter the direction people could fall in once they've entered it.

'That weird invention of the Belmont family caused every competitor in that tournament to float in the air, so it isn't exactly the same as this spell. But it's very likely that the same identical principle was involved--'

"Careful not to read between the shelves!" a voice called out as Leo stood in contemplation.

"Eh--!?"

His thoughts interrupted, Leo jumped in fright and swiftly turned around to see the figure of Sarah approaching him from behind.

She recently walked aimlessly around the store before spotting Leo staring intently at his newly bought spell book.

"You could get in trouble for that," Sarah continued her warning.

"Why? Uh, is there a rule that says we can't read here while in the middle of the shelves?" Leo asked, startled.

"No, it's simply gonna invite trouble," Sarah spoke seriously. "I've noticed that many mages like to read while walking, and they usually end up crashing into each other because they aren't paying enough attention to their surroundings."

"Huh?"

'Is that it?' Leo wanted to ask that question but he held himself back. Among the new friends he gained on his first adventure, he felt that this elegant-looking priestess was going to be the most difficult for him to communicate with.

Sarah tucked a length of blonde hair behind her ear as she directed her eyes behind Leo.

"You want to find Alex and Judy, right? I can help take you there." Sarah suddenly changed the subject without any regard for their recent conversation.

"Um, alright," Leo responded cautiously as Sarah immediately walked past him.

She traveled between the shelves without looking back, as if she wasn't worried whether Leo was going to follow her or not.

Feeling at a loss, Leo quickly chose to catch up before she went out of sight.