Chapter 520: Minerva at the station
The unlock conditions for Formweaving had been sitting on the panel for over half a year, but Richard had yet to find a suitable lost spellcraft.
He noticed that the librarian had said "borrow a book," not that he would give him an original text.
In that case, his plan to ask for a precious original codex and absorb its aether would not work.
Then again, even a copy that slipped through a Magister's fingers might be a curio old enough to hold plenty of aether.
Just handling it should let him skim a little.
"Have you decided which book you want to borrow?"
Richard rested both hands on the edge of the counter.
"Sir, does the library have any books on Branch-Breaking Spellcraft?"
He was being a little greedy. He hoped the book he borrowed would not only meet the urgently needed unlock conditions for [Reasoning];
it would also deepen his understanding of "Branch-Cutting," allowing him to achieve full proficiency sooner and perform [Shadow Reversal].
The librarian murmured in acknowledgment. "Branch-Breaking Spellcraft. Its current inheritor should be Hector McPhee."
"Branch-Cutting has two problems: the strokes you cut away grow back, and the strokes you cut away remember who wielded the knife.
The first people to carve words with knives were already aware of this problem."
Richard nodded. "Most ancient books in outside libraries are abridged versions. The ones in your library should all be complete.
"Yes, and every scholar who read them seriously left annotations in the margins. Those all became appendices."
Richard's eyes lit up. Sometimes the appendices were worth more than the original text.
The librarian took four cards from a drawer and laid them on the counter: "Book of Ballymote," "Book of the Dead," "Emerald Tablet," and "Mahabharata."
"If you