Constantly checking the area around me to make sure no one was looking, I continued my search for the hidden lever and used everything I could remember from the game to locate it, which ended up being... a tad time consuming.
It was a bit hidden between two beefy tomes that were easily four or five inches wide, and since it was a thin empty booklet that was barely a quarter of an inch it didn't really look like it existed unless you looked really closely... which I was doing.
Checking again and confirming that I was alone, I pulled on the booklet and smiled as I watched a portion of the shelf spin around, revealing a hidden compartment that had a handful of items waiting to be taken.
Resting in the middle was the real prize, which was a small, simple medallion made of silver that had a gorgeous greenish gold pearl situated in the middle; the engravings around the pearl were wavy and drew the eye towards that beautiful organic gem that had pretty luster, and the moment I lifted the small inch in diameter medallion I felt some power seep into my veins.
Letting out a soft sigh and quickly hiding the medallion inside of my inventory, I took a look at the other items and immediately found myself concerned about what I should do with it only to think 'if it was important to someone they wouldn't have left it here' and immediately loot that too.
It wasn't a rich haul or anything, but it was some more money, a small journal and a ring attached to a necklace... which seemed important to me but it was here on a shelf in the back of the library, hidden away with a letter beneath it.
Keeping those in my inventory and taking the letter, I spun the shelf back around with the press of a button to hide what I had just done, leaving me in the alcove with nothing suspicious whatsoever thanks to everything being stowed away.
Going back to some of the books that I had thought to be incredibly useful I soon left the alcove and took a seat at one of the empty tables, glancing at the floating crystals around me and watching as they swooped in to hover right above me, illuminating the table and allowing me to read in this slightly dim yet cozy library.
Laying one of the books out and opening it up, I laid the letter out on top of that and began to read that first, wondering what that ring was and having a mix of anticipation and worry that I might have just gotten myself into something a bit... complicated.
'I don't know when will find this letter or who it might end up with, but I do pray that you are like me; someone who came to the Academy with the potential and talent to make it big but not the silver spoon that should have aided you at every turn.
For my time here at the Academy this medallion has helped far more than I ever thought it might, improving my performance and honing my mind as I studied to become a decent mage. I pray it helps you as much as it has helped me, and to that extent... well, I left my own little gift.
That ring is a rudimentary Focus that I created, something to help make the beginning stages of mana control a little less... complicated and unforgiving. Use it sparingly, and make sure to practice with and without it in equal amounts. Please note that this Focus does NOT aid attuned magic at all, and will likely explode if you attempt to do so.
Try not to blow it up; it isn't valuable or anything but I tried really hard to make it, and I hope it joins this medallion as an item to help bolster your start as a mage in this ravenous pit of knowledge that we love and cherish.
Also, please do return these after you believe you have outgrown their usefulness; it is how I found the medallion, and I hope it is why you have found it now. You want to grow, to get better, and these will help, but they will not help you forever.
Sincerely, Anicii Bellalova, self proclaimed Intermediate Magician and hopeful Witch.'
The name wasn't one I was all too familiar with - the first name, anyways, since I recognized her surname - so I wasn't too concerned, and knowing now that the ring was a tool instead of some quest item or something was relieving.
Carefully folding the letter and slipping it into the inventory alongside the other goodies, I took another deep breath and pursued the screen in front of me, reading the description of both the medallion and the ring.
[ Moss Pearl Medallion {1/4, Beginner Series} : 10% boosted experience gain, 25% reduced learning time for skills ]
It still worked like the game, but now there was an added portion that definitely intrigued my gamer rotted brain; seeing that it was now apart of a series meant there were other things out there to combine with this to then make something more powerful, and that was making me excited.
I loved collecting and hoarding things to make better things, and that was something that was done in the original game as well, but not with this item; that meant things were even more changed than I was anticipating but at the same time it made things far easier for me to accept.
The game was separate from what I was actually going to live, so the plot points that I was going to try and plan around were definitely far more fluid then before, meaning... far flung things were very much subject to change, and if I made a few correct moves I might be creating an entirely 'unscripted' fate for myself.
But... well, I sort of knew that already, and now that I was doubly certain that this was going to be a 'real' world and not just a game world made manifest I definitely needed to reassess what I was going to do going forwards.
That all started with finally reading this book and learning how to control mana so that I could actually do something with this new life of mine, and maybe that would provide some answers to the questions I still had about... pretty much everything that happened 'today'.