Getting to the area known as the Abyssal Library was easier than Raze had thought. This was because the guards were actually stationed in two areas. One was between the staircases that split the areas.
The other was on the large hanging chains that acted as shortcuts between individual rooms. However, Raze and Rayna had already taken an additional shortcut when heading to the Vault.
This allowed them to bypass nearly all of the guarded areas anyway, and it was actually part of the shortcut that Dame originally knew in getting to the library; he had just forgotten about the perfect jumping point, and it wasn't something one wanted to guess because then they would head right to the bottom floor.
Not that Dame wouldn't survive a fall from that far, being at the stage he was, but more so, the bottom floor was reserved for the master and Elders, and they were only meant to be present when being called.
It would be a difficult thing to explain and couldn't be excused with a simple "I slipped," not at the level someone like Dame was at.
In taking this shortcut, they had entered the large cavern that was filled with rows of martial arts techniques. It was larger than even the treasury they were in before. In terms of people, there were only around twenty or so, since the higher-ranked martial artists were allowed to come in here whenever they wished.
However, the lower-ranked ones could only come at set intervals, somewhat similar to the Pagna Academy.
This was because there were so many techniques. Different techniques suited different people. On top of that, there were some techniques that were too hard to learn and needed one to establish a foundation in another technique beforehand.
There were only a few with knowledge of the vast amount of techniques to help the lower-ranked Clan members, which was why they would come down with an instructor.
"There are so many books and techniques here; do you know all of them or what they do?" Raze asked. "I mean, I would expect this type of thing from an academy, but from just one single Clan, isn't it too much?"
"You're actually somewhat right," Dame replied. "You see, a lot of techniques in here are neutral techniques that work well with any type of Qi. Other than that, what you see here could be considered failures."
"Failures?" Raze replied, confused. If they were failures, then why let others study them? Unless the word meant something different in the Pagna world.
"Martial arts from Clans, they have an absolute martial arts that they teach most of their members. What Clans will often do is go through a demonstration. This is when a member of the clan has learned another art or tried to advance the current art.
"It's a fight of sorts, and in the end, one art bests the other. The art that manages to best all the other arts comes out as the Clan's art that they teach most of their pupils. For us, it's the Abyssal Fist Art.
"But you see, in this library, you will find arts made from the Neverfall Clan that tried to deviate, maybe creating a sword art of some kind or creating another variation of fist art.
"Masters and Elders that have tried to come up with a more supreme art than the complete art. For a while now, nothing has bested the Abyssal Fist Art, and my father continued to advance it further as he knows there are others trying to create better variations of the art. So this room is filled with those variations as well as different arts related to it.
"They're not all necessarily weak, but they just weren't able to best the Abyssal Fist Art, which is why they are deemed failures."
It was quite interesting to learn that Clans did this, their way of learning and keeping the failures was more scientific than he imagined. The mages went through similar methods but just did so less through duels and such.
"I see, you don't throw them away, as there might be another member that resonates with another art that deviated from the current one, and there is a chance that he can advance it even further," Raze replied.
"Exactly. Take my sister, for example; she is strong and knows the Abyssal Fist Art, but she finds it more natural to use a sword. In the library, she found a sword art that deviated from the Abyssal Fist. She has learned everything in it and is currently trying to progress the art even further so it can even top the current art.
"If she does, then she will have every right to be the clan head."
The two arts that Raze had learned, the Descending Steps, was an art belonging to the Whole Demonic Faction. There was no origin of that and was rarely used due to its difficulty. As for the second art, the Three Devils Formation, that was something that was taken from here as well.
However, Raze did remember that he stated it wasn't the best technique, so it was most likely just a neutral technique.
While talking, the two of them were heading up and down aisles, with Raze picking out books. Each time he did, Dame would explain a bit about each book.
What fascinated him was he knew about nearly every technique that was in here. It would have been impossible for someone who wasn't studious. On the outside, he was a relaxed and chilled-out person, but was that really the case?
Was there a side to Dame that he didn't even show others?
"What are you looking for, are you trying to find a new sword skill?" Dame asked nervously. "I could point you in the right direction. In my opinion, it would be the same sword skill that my sister learned, but if you started to use the Neverfall Clan's skills back in the Dark Faction, people would really start to ask questions."
Hearing Dame explain this, something had clicked in Raze's head at that moment. "Wait, didn't you say you found the Noctis Clan's skill in here? The Martial arts that belonged to the Dark Faction Founder. Do you mind showing me where you got it from?"
Dame had no issue with this, and he started to head to a different section of the library. It wasn't an area where skills were displayed, but instead large scrolls. There were large scrolls that were hung up on the wall, and by their side, holes in the wall filled with rolled-up scrolls as well.
"I was bored and started to look at these scrolls, and one day, when I went close to one of these scrolls I noticed something." Dame then lifted one of the hanging scrolls from the wall, and behind it, there was a square space. It wasn't very deep, and inside there were two books.
"I honestly didn't quite know what it was at first, but when I pulled out the book..."
Dame pulled out the worn old black book that had the words written in Pagna, "Noctis Clan Sword Techniques."
Handing it over, Raze started to flip through the pages. Even though it was in Pagna, he understood it, and he could see some of the diagrams. Although his knowledge was limited, as there seemed to be things in here he didn't quite understand.
"It's written strangely, right? Kind of like a kid tried to write it," Dame said, looking at Raze's expression. However, that wasn't why he had his strange expression.
Not noticing it, Raze took another look at the book, and he noticed, the language was written in a broken way. The words, when describing the techniques, were missing many connective words. It was almost as if a person from a foreign land had written the book.
"I did my best to learn the techniques, but honestly, I'm not even sure they're right. It did feel slightly weird as well, but in the first place, it's a technique made for the Dark Faction, so I assumed it's because I was using Demonic Qi it didn't feel right. Not that anyone would know if I was doing it right or not anyway." Dame chuckled.
Because all of the Noctis Clan members were dead, that was why he was semi-confident in showing the skills if need be.
"Honestly, I think if you need to, you can just take that book. I'm not sure why it was placed here, and I might be the only one that knows about it. People hardly come to look at the scrolls. This is more of a collection thing that one of the Elders has a hobby about," Dame explained.
Raze was thankful, but also a little disappointed. He thought there would be more that the Dark Faction Founder would have left behind. He just had to hope that there would be more on the device he had taken before.
"Oh wait, if you're taking that, you might as well take the second book that was there as well." Dame lifted the scroll and took the book. This one was hard-bound and was just as worn as the first book.
"Although, it seems to just be a bunch of scribbles in there, so I don't know how much use it would be."
When the book was placed in Raze's hands, the text was written as clear as day on the front. He could read it even easier than the last book because this book wasn't written in Pagna, but it was Alterian writing, and it had a different title.
[Dark Edge Magic Sword Arts]