Since the Suppression Bureau left it alone, the Secret Histories Research Society's slightly unusual Sunset Ritual naturally caused no further trouble. All was peaceful under heaven.
And Pan Long finally waited until Natalia came home from work.
He had waited four days for that.
He spent most of those four days at the Suppression Bureau, though not keeping watch in the Telegraph Hall. Instead, he sat in the reading room.
The Suppression Bureau had a library full of books on the Invisible Arts. He had stumbled upon it while wandering around and happily settled in, browsing all manner of hidden records at his leisure.
What interested him most were not the books on spells or rituals, but those on history and how this society worked.
The spells of the Invisible Arts were, frankly, nothing to write home about. Either you invoked the Hours and borrowed their power, or you performed a ritual—which still meant borrowing power from the Hours.
Spells cast through one's own power made up only a tiny fraction of the whole. You could practically count them on your fingers.
...After all, with the power of the mighty Hours available to borrow, only a lunatic would study the feeble power of mortals!
It reminded Pan Long of his previous world. Once humanity had ventured into the sea of stars, it had not produced the "super martial arts" that blended technology with hand-to-hand combat. Instead, remote-controlled robot fighting had become a hugely popular sport.
At the end of every year, the Federation's regions—including several regions of space—joined forces to hold an enormous remote-controlled robot fighting tournament. Its spectacular bouts left spectators dazzled and spellbound. The competitors who operated the robots were respected throughout society as sporting stars.
Ordinary human fighting competitions continued as well.
Even though... dozens or even