Ryuk only needed a little more than 20 minutes before exiting the bathroom, this time donning the white hoodie shirt and trousers.
Morgaine sat on the fluffy sofa in the room, her hands scrolling on the device, but she soon raised her head to him, pausing in shock as she looked at him dumbly for a long while.
’How... how handsome.’
Right now, the boy before her was devastatingly handsome, with fluffy white hair that was blindingly white, every strand shimmering with clarity under the light.
His eyelashes were also covered in the same white, contrasting with his pair of ruby-red and blue gemstone-like eyes, creating an even more baffling and mysterious aura around him.
The Fallens were known for their beauty, and she had truly met hundreds of Fallen males—the best amongst them—who had tried to gain her favour.
But none, none came close to the beauty of Ryuk.
His aura of cute naivety made her want to pinch his cheeks.
Ryuk couldn’t help but pause as he slowly turned his head behind him, wondering if there was a ghost, but he found nothing.
The reaction finally jerked Morgaine back to reality, as a slight shade of pink appeared on her face, disappearing just as quickly as it came.
"Your hair, it’s whiter than before. And what’s with the white eyelashes?"
Ryuk moved his hands to his eyelashes, brushing them, feeling cracks of ice rain down before they quickly condensed once more.
[A side effect of obtaining Frost Manipulation, just like how Host’s body oozed snow after the first stage of obtaining the ability.]
[Perhaps, it’ll clear away soon.]
The system thoughtfully explained as Ryuk shrugged his shoulders. He opened his lips only for cold, white air to ooze out.
Pointing to it, he said, "Well, ice is my ability, so it makes sense, no?", while walking to the window.
Morgaine had already seen Ryuk’s battle with Ignatius, and he had revealed his Ice control ability with the use of Frost Veil.
So, it somehow made sense to her, and she nodded.
Both of them suddenly called out at the same time before turning to look at each other with raised eyebrows.
"Go on first," Morgaine said as Ryuk asked,
"I was wondering, is there some sort of library here in the castle?"
"A library? What do you need that for?" she replied, raising a curious eyebrow at Ryuk.
"Not much. I’ve just been stuck at the Plane of Origin for a long while now. Seems like I’ll need to learn how to form something called the ’Apex Realm’ before I break through to the next stage."
"I need a book explaining the formation of the Apex Realm, and I was wondering if the castle library would have one."
Ryuk explained as Morgaine nodded, a bit of disappointment flashing in her eyes.
’I already had plans for us, you goof!’ she thought but explained,
"Yes, there’s a library. My mom is a nerd, you see, so she has this crazy weird hall just right down the steps below. You can’t miss those large golden doors unless you’re a dickhead."
She explained, not forgetting to rub a bit of it on Ryuk’s face, but his skin was already thick enough for that, and he headed out of the room.
"Tch, dickhead! He didn’t even ask what I wanted to say," Morgaine said with a huff as she locked her gaze onto her device, browsing through interface after interface.
Just like Morgaine had said, it didn’t take long for Ryuk to find the gigantic golden gate down the castle hall.
It stood close to the ceiling, about seven meters in height. It was grandiose and was surprisingly the only structure in the entire hall that didn’t have Fallen guards standing before it.
Pressing a hand on it, a ripple of golden energy swam up the door, and then—
With a very loud noise, it opened up as Ryuk stepped into the hall.
There were gems all over the walls and ceilings, filtering the entire room with a glow of golden and white.
They were pure streams of Mana that moved across the room, tingling against Ryuk’s skin and calming his heart.
All over the walls were large rows and rows of shelves, holding books that were strangely free of dust.
Rows of seats covered the middle area of the library, about a couple dozen, leaving much space in the hall.
Every step of Ryuk resonated through the entire hall, golden energy spreading like a ripple into the distance, causing the floor to brighten a bit with each step he took.
"I can’t believe it. Such a design in a library..." Ryuk mused under his breath as he walked towards one of the shelves, his hands brushing through various books.
There were tags on every one of the bookshelves, such as:
[Rune Craftsmanship] [Domain Expansions Records] [Fallen Origin] [World Exterminations] [Artifact Creation] [Artifact Records].
The books on the insanely titled shelves numbered close to thousands, making it a bit overwhelming to Ryuk. But surprisingly, after just three minutes of walking, he found the shelf he wanted.
[Beginning Cultivation Records].
A little browsing, and his eyes caught a title. He moved his hand upwards, standing on his toes and successfully picking up the book.
Its title was all that Ryuk needed to confirm he’d found what he was looking for, and it was none other than:
"THE APEX REALM COMPENDIUM ."
Quickly, he found a random seat in the library, taking his place and exhaling loudly as he cleared away his thoughts.
The entire world seemed to fade away once Ryuk stilled his mind, and calmly, he opened up the page, ready to allow comprehension to flood his mind.
And quickly, the book dove into its subject:
"What is the Apex Realm?"
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In and Out_SnowySmoos.