(Outskirts Of New Atlantic City)
(Castle Eden- Palace Library)
After scouring the library for two hours Mary was only able to find one more book written in relatively readable English.
She let out a heavy sigh as she glanced upwards and saw at least two or three hundred more books to check through.
Although this section of the palace library was relatively small compared to the others… it still contained quite a lot of books.
Maybe she should stop for now…
There really wasn't a rush and truthfully, she was beginning to feel a little bit hungry and tired.
The beefy jerky strips in her bag had long run out and now her stomach grumbled softly in protest.
Mary walked over to a nearby table and sat down. She opened the new book and began to browse its contents with furrowed brows.
This book contained a technique called 'The Golden Pupil Art'. Mary was intrigued at the strange name and turned the pages to learn more about the technique.
This technique involved storing the energy from the sun into one's pupils. It would allow their vision to be greatly enhanced over one hundred times over.
In addition, the practitioner would gain the ability to see in the dark which was incredibly helpful when hunting down vampires since they usually operated in the nighttime.
It may not be as eye catching as the 'Visha's' Transformation Art' that provided the practitioner with longevity but according to this book it was a technique suitable for beginners.
Mary gently turned the page and saw a series of illustrations showing different diagrams and pictures of what looked like strange pathways in a human body.
Just like mana paths…
Mana paths?
Mary furrowed her brows as, yet another blurry memory surfaced in her mind and then disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.
She continued to read the book for about fifteen minutes before closing its cover and leaning back against the chair.
The young woman covered her mouth and yawned sleepily as she glanced at the watch on her hand.
Okay… now the time was about seven o' clock in the morning.
Vampire hunting techniques all had one thing in common and that was that they required the sun in order to practice.
Wait… then how was she going to learn how to use them in the library?
Mary looked up at the ceiling and unsurprisingly not a single ray of sunlight could penetrate the thick glass ceiling.
How did Camilla expect her to learn these techniques from inside the castle?
No… there must be somewhere that she could practice…
The young woman got up from her chair and began to wander around the library searching for any hidden doors or passageways.
There was a small temptation in the back of her mind to simply leave the library and look in other parts of the castle, but she pushed that urge down.
Camilla had an unnatural ability to track her location even when she was out of the vampire's direct line of sight.
Mary suspected that it had something to do with blood magic and the fact that this castle was her personal territory.
Her suspicions only intensified as she glanced down at the library's floor and saw tiny specks of what appeared to be blood that formed peculiar patterns.
The library was incredibly vast and with all the knowledge stored inside, Mary estimated that it would take her several centuries to read through it all.
Well… first she would have to learn some more languages in order to understand the contents written inside the books.
She hummed a soft tune as she held the 'Golden Pupil Art' in her right hand while searching the library.
Finally, Mary discovered a small wooden door in the corner of the room that was partially hidden away behind a bookshelf.
With a great deal of effort, she was able to shift the massive bookshelf to the side to get a better look at the door.
There was a handle and lock on the door, but it was open. Mary turned the doorknob and hesitantly stepped inside.
She found herself standing in an empty room no bigger than a small dorm bedroom. There was no furniture, and the floor and walls were made of stone.
A single ray of sunlight shone down in the center of the room through an intentional hole carved in the ceiling.
Mary stepped into the ray of light and her lips gently curved upwards.
After living in the castle for several weeks… it had been quite some time since she had experienced the light of the sun.
But now was not the time to get nostalgic.
The young woman closed her eyes and carefully recalled the images and illustrations that she had seen in the book.
"Embrace and absorb the sunlight," Mary muttered quietly to herself as she visualised pores opening up around her body.
She could feel her body slowly getting hotter and hotter as if it was absorbing the single ray of light that shone into the room.
Carefully Mary directed this strange energy towards her pupils using the pathways that she had read in the book.
Her eyes began to painfully burn as tears ran down the sides of her cheeks. Mary winced but continued to channel the energy to her eyes.
She coughed violently as more energy flooded her body. She felt her fingers tremble ever so slightly as her nails pierced the underside of her palms.
Tiny drops of blood dripped down her injured hands as she slowly opened her eyes and saw that the world around her had changed.
Mary's eyes were now completely golden, and her pupils shone with a luster that would hypnotise anyone that saw her gaze.
She could see better than she had ever seen before.
The room had once been empty but now she could observe the microscopic specks of dust floating in the air.
The young woman stared in wonder as she gently touched the corner of her eyes using her trembling fingers.
This was amazing.
Mary stepped out of the sunlight and felt the energy rushing into her body cease. There was still some energy stored inside the pathways inside her body, but they lay dormant.
She focused on cutting off the energy flowing towards her eyes and soon her irises returned to their normal piercing green colour.
The young woman reached into her pocket and pulled out a few bandages which she then used to wrap up her hands.
It was fortunate that there were medical supplies inside the castle otherwise she might have been in for a rough time.
Especially considering the number of times that hungry vampire wanted to feed…
Mary blushed slightly as she absentmindedly touched her lips. She walked out of the room and headed for the library's exit.
Now that she had accomplished her mistress' first task, Mary planned to make herself some breakfast and then call it a night.
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