Saryn sat down on a stool and dragged several single tables together, giving himself a wider workspace.
He heaved a deep breath, enjoying the feel of the abundant echoes in the surroundings revitalising his body.
Dozens of books, which weren't picked out at random, lay on the tables in front of him, along with a few cubic storage artifacts containing various kinds of materials used for executing rituals.
Before this, Saryn had skim read a range of books from the "Sources of Power" and "Ritual Engineering" sections, and once he realised how slowly he would move forward if he just kept flying past books one by one, he instead took his time to take a collection of books from each section, and laid them out in order of what he should read first, being the most important books for his current situation, to what he should read afterward, being less significant to him in his current state yet still valuable information.
"Quite the collection, Saryn." Marduk's voice erupted from his left, as Saryn turned his stool rather than his head to face him.
"I have come with a slight aid." Marduk spoke as several torn pieces of paper and a book flew out of the section labelled "Marduk and the Trial-takers' shared information".
The pieces emitted a slightly cold air as a cyan glow encased them, pulling them through the air toward Saryn.
"These pieces may seem quite tattered and useless, but I'm sure they will be of support to you."
Saryn plucked two pieces out of the air with his arms as the rest of them along with the mysterious book laid themselves quietly onto the tables in front of him, separate from the rest of his exquisitely ordered pile.
Saryn looked at the two torn pieces of paper in his hands, a sharp glint flashing in his piercing cyan eyes.
'Notes taken by the previous candidates… they wanted the future trial-takers to see them yet they decided to hide the pieces behind the books?' Saryn chuckled at their stupidity, as Marduk glanced at him with an expectant gaze.
"Helpful, no? That section will help you the most in this room, leaving that bookshelf unscathed would be the single most foolish act you could commit, Saryn.'
Saryn nodded approvingly toward the notes in his hand, before turning toward the mirror, its pieces already on the ground after the mirror collapsed on itself.
"Huh, what? What did you say…? I wasn't paying attention. Hello?!" Saryn yelled, before noticing the fruitlessness of his attempts, drawing his focus back toward the notes in his hands.
Yet he felt as if he had missed out on important information.
'Forget it, eighty percent of the time that hag is just spitting gibberish, so much for being four thousand years old…'
Saryn thought to himself, as he began reading the first of the pile of notes.
This place is so boring! A gazillion billion bookshelves but no romance novels?! Seriously? At least the food wasn't bad in the last room…
- Sarah
Saryn stared at the contents of the notes helplessly, feeling ashamed of sharing the first three letters of his name in common with this retard.
'A "gazillion"? I can't tell if she was actually sober when writing this or not.' He thought.
Saryn's mind was flooded with the insanity he had succumbed to in the fourth room, remembering the minimal mental capacity of most of his predecessors.
He sighed, ripping up the note and tossing it to the side, saving future eyes from the pure stupidity which cursed its words.
'I suppose I could give them credit for having legible handwriting, unlike the runes which dotted every stage and Marduk's own notes.' Saryn thought, before picking up another note from the desk.
He shot a quick glance at the name written at the bottom, which read "Ren", who was the supposed genius swordmaster from the memories he had learned from.
Expecting genuinely handy information from this note, considering Ren's combat prowess, Saryn began reading with a sort of giddiness painting his expression.
The other floors were pretty easy, but I don't know what I'm doing here. Martin didn't even tell me what to do specifically, and looking at all these books around me is hurting my brain.
I guess I'm more of a fighting dude than a learning dude, haha…
Uhh this book about phoenixes and shit is cool as hell, I guess ill read this for a bit then fuck off to the next room.
Holy shit, there's an arena?! Why didn't Mister Martin tell me?
- Ren
…
A still quiet washed over the room as Saryn's complexion paled while reading the note. His body went stiff like that of a skeleton's, as he tried extremely hard to hold his emotions back.
'Genius swordmaster my ass…'
Marduk eyed him curiously from the mirror on Saryn's right, which he had repaired in order to catch Saryn's attention.
Saryn suppressed his urge to cry out in a fit of laughter, as he turned toward Marduk ever so slowly.
"Don't." Marduk raised his finger at Saryn.
Saryn ignored the gesture, his crumpled face straightening out as he opened his mouth to speak.
"Don't what, Mister Martin?" Saryn finally spoke before succumbing to the stupidity of a nickname Ren had given to Marduk.
He broke out in a fit of laughs and cries, as the stool wobbled beneath him.
Marduk, on the other hand gritted his teeth in annoyance, before pulling his finger back downwards, causing the stool to slip from beneath Saryn's bottom.
He tumbled down from the stool, slamming into the cold stone beneath.
"Hey! "Mister Martin" isn't that bad a nickname…" Saryn spoke while looking at the mirror.
Marduk crossed his arms, resisting the urge to throw Saryn across the room. The mirror shattered for the second time as his image disappeared.
'I was lying… "Mister Martin" is a horrible nickname.' Saryn thought as he patted himself down, returning to the stool.
He took one final look at Ren's note, disappointed at how dumb this person really was.
'I'm guessing anybody who reached this room was just somebody with adequately strong combat skills, yet possessing only an adequately advanced mind.'