The rusted iron hinges groaned under Raziel’s hands.
He pushed the heavy vault door open and stepped into the underground darkness.
Dust fell from the stone ceiling and coated his tunic.
He held the brass key Brother Thomas gave him hours ago that proved his new Quintile title and granted him access to the shadows.
Lucian walked in behind him holding a lit oil lamp.
This was the Quintile’s Library of St. Celeste.
It sat three levels beneath the main archives and shared zero connection to the ancient runic chamber in the East Basent.
The Church built this specific vault to hoard knowledge they refused to burn but deed too dangerous to teach.
Thousands of heavy books and bronze scroll tubes lined the towering wooden shelves.
The sheer volu of restricted information overwheld the senses.
Over three thousand texts rested in the gloom.
"We made it," Lucian whispered. "My father ntioned this place once. He told the Church keeps the true history of Phaedra locked down here."
"Then let us read so history," Raziel answered.
Raziel walked down the central aisle and scanned the brass plaques nailed to the wooden shelves.
The Church categorized the restricted texts into specific sections.
He found rows dedicated to uncatalogued magical variants.
The Inquisition branded those specific variants as heretical mutations but preserved the research.
He saw entire shelves containing pre-ecclesiastical history and fragnted accounts of the Ancient Pantheon.
The censors redacted the nas of the old gods but left the rituals readable.
He found a section dedicated to the internal records of St. Celeste.
He needed a specific text.
He pulled the leather journal from his inner pocket, the book from the hidden room during the Phase Two evaluation.
The journal belonged to the Founder of St. Celeste and ntioned six extinct Gifts sleeping beneath the stone foundation.
Raziel dragged his finger across the cracked leather spines.
He found a massive to bound in dark brown hide, faded gold lettering marked the cover.
Complete Taxonomy of Gifts Uncensored Edition.
Raziel pulled the heavy book from the shelf and carried it to a reading table in the center of the aisle.
Lucian followed him and set the oil lamp down on the wood to illuminate the pages.
Raziel opened the heavy cover and flipped past the introductory Chapters.
The standard Church taxonomy taught in the upper classrooms listed seven categories of acceptable magic.
Combat.
Healing.
Protection.
Perception.
Inscription.
Summoning.
Prayer.
He reached the center of the book and found the uncensored index.
The original taxonomy listed thirteen categories.
The Church erased six entire branches of magic from public existence.
These were the six extinct Gifts ntioned in the Founder’s journal.
Raziel ran his finger down the restricted list and read the detailed descriptions out loud for Lucian to hear.
First was Architectural Inscription.
The user writes permanent runes modifying the physical and magical reality of the environnt.
Raziel already scratched the surface of this discipline in the East Basent with Zorya.
Second was Soul Resonance.
The user communicates between consciousnesses without requiring a mana dium or spoken words.
It functioned as pure telepathy without the need for vocal cords.
Third was Bond Forging.
The user creates permanent unbreakable connections between living beings or physical objects.
This power allowed the creation of living artifacts and bound souls to weapons.
Fourth was Chronoperception.
The user perceives echoes of the past and calculates probable futures based on environntal variables.
This differed from oracular prophecy because it relied on math and mana residue instead of divine visions.
Fifth was Anchor Blood.
The user burns their own blood as a volatile fuel source to seal away or unleash massive physical power.
Sixth was Devourer.
The user absorbs and repurposes the Gifts and mana cores of other living beings for their own use.
Raziel stared at the sixth entry on the parchnt.
The Shadow Parasite resting inside his fused core throbbed.
The entity recognized the final Gift on the page and responded with a low hungry vibration against his ribs.
The blue interface materialized in his vision and confird his suspicion.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: CORE ANALYSIS]
[UMBRAL PARAGON CLASS: Compatible with all 6 Restricted Gifts.]
[NOTE: Each Gift requires individual mastery and specific physical triggers to unlock.]
[ESTIMATED TI TO MASTER ALL 6: YEARS.]
[CUMULATIVE COST TO HUMANITY: UNKNOWN.]
Raziel read the notification and closed the interface.
He did not have years.
He had eleven months before Ayres burned the continent and Zion destroyed the ga board.
But he finally knew what weapons existed in this world.
Lucian leaned over the table and read the restricted list over Raziel’s shoulder.
The oil lamp illuminated the noble’s face and highlighted the tension tightening his jaw.
"Six Gifts the Church wants to pretend do not exist," Lucian stated.
"They know they exist," Raziel corrected him. "They just want to make sure no one else has them."
"What is the difference?"
Raziel tapped his finger against the sixth entry on the parchnt.
Devourer.
"That Gift allows the user to absorb the magic of others," Raziel explained. "If soone managed to ta that power..."
"...they could strip the Church of its Gifts," Lucian finished the sentence.
Lucian turned pale and took a step back from the table.
He processed the massive political implication.
"That is why they banned it."
"They banned it because it terrifies them," Raziel looked up from the book and t Lucian’s eyes. "And I am going to learn all six of them."
Lucian stared at him. "All six."
"All six."
"Do you know what the Church will do to you if they find out?"
Raziel slamd the heavy leather book shut.
"The exact sa thing they will do to if I do nothing," Raziel answered.
"The difference is that with all six I can hit them back."
Raziel picked up the oil lamp and walked past the reading table to explore the deepest section of the vault.
The yellow light cast long shadows across the wooden floorboards.
Raziel reached the back wall of the Library and stopped in front of a shelf lacking any brass categorization plaques.
The instructors excluded this row from every official registry.
He noticed a gap between two thick volus on the bottom shelf.
He reached his hand into the dark space and his fingers brushed against cold tal instead of leather or paper.
He pulled the object out into the light.
It was a heavy square plate made of solid bronze.
The tal surface bore the sa silver runes of the Ancient Pantheon.
Raziel carried the heavy object back and laid the bronze plate flat on the reading table.
The engraved runes depicted a detailed architectural map of St. Celeste Academy.
He recognized the main courtyard, the administrative wing and the dormitories.
He leaned closer and inspected the tallic blueprint.
The map displayed six specific rooms hidden beneath the foundation.
They did not exist on any official schematic of the building.
Six sealed chambers.
One chamber for each of the Forbidden Gifts.
The Gifts were not extinct and they were not lost to history.
The Founder buried them beneath the academy and sealed them away.
Raziel traced the ancient syntax carved along the bottom edge of the bronze plate.
He translated the final ssage using the vocabulary he learned with Zorya.
For the one who masters Inscription first. The other doors will open in sequence but only if you are worthy, and only if the Academy allows it.
Raziel stared at the translated words and processed the absolute magnitude of the revelation.
The Academy was a weapon forge and Raziel stood right inside the mold.
He reached out his right hand and pressed his bare palm flat against the cold bronze plate.
RUMBLE!
The underground library shook with a physical vibration.
The stone floor trembled beneath his boots. The wooden shelves rattled and the glass of the oil lamp chattered.
The academy moved once.
It gave a physical response that ant yes.
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