Anything that failed to kill him could be called a minor episode. If he could savor it afterward, it could be called an interesting minor episode.
Ruger had always thought that way, ever since his earliest days of going hungry.
With the orders issued by the new family head, Phyllis, and the passage of time, the members of the Vango Family and the people in the castle had gradually grown used to the strange Wizard in the Library, who had taken over the entire room.
This large Library was different from the others: it was the one the Vango Family used most often.
The family head had ordered that no one disturb him. All eligible members of the Vango Family were barred from borrowing books, let alone entering in person.
The Library had become Ruger's territory entirely. He was like a fierce beast entrenched there.
Creak!
The Library door was pushed open.
As though he had noticed nothing, Ruger continued reading the book in his hands. Surprisingly, it was a rare, semi-autobiographical book about Foul-Smelling Skin.
It told of a Wizard Apprentice bold enough to permanently embed Foul-Smelling Skin in herself, the clever solutions she devised to address the resulting problems, her advancement to Formal Wizard, her thoughts on the future, and her choice of Ascension Ritual.
Ruger read with great interest. He felt that if his exceptionally high compatibility had not led him to see that skeletal hand as enormous as a towering tree, he would probably have taken much the same path as her. Reading what emerged between the lines of her semi-autobiographical account was like looking at an imagined version of himself.
There was also the helplessness of a Wizard Apprentice at the bottom of the ladder. She was someone who refused to waste even the slightest