Iver, Hypatia, and Lily sat at the table and waited. Before long, Hypatia finished making three cups of coffee and brought them over.
She looked so young that it was hard not to worry whether she could even carry three cups of coffee.
"Did Pure White explain the rules to you?"
Standing on a small step beside the table, Hypatia distributed the coffee to the three of them as she asked.
"I know the basics. There's a time limit... right?"
Iver confirmed, "But you can tell them again."
Hypatia nodded and looked directly at Sherlock, who was also on the Path of Wisdom. "Starting from the first sip of coffee, you'll be able to see another world, as well as those hidden mystical texts. Once you drink the coffee, you won't be able to speak with anyone else.
"Each cup remains effective for about an hour. One cup costs five hundred gold coins. You can stay here as long as you don't finish it, but leaving the shop counts as the end of the transaction. You can wait for the illusion to end before taking another sip, and use the breaks between visions to recover and take notes. Or you can drink it all in one go and have one continuous hour. During that hour, you can read as many books as you like, or choose to copy them down."
The young elf proudly puffed out her chest. "None of the grimoires and mystical texts here can be bought outside. As for finding a book, that's easy... just follow your instincts. Once you enter the hallucination, the book most compatible with you will glow in your eyes."
At that, Sherlock first turned his head toward Iver.
After Iver nodded, he drank a sip of coffee without hesitation.
Sherlock covered his