Back in reality, Furen thought he should first try playing the role of the "apprentice." After all, on the path of the "apprentice" to the "gate," apart from a few rare sequences, he knew almost nothing about the methods of interpreting this path.
Suddenly, Furen had an idea: what if, like Klein, he had crossed over around this same time? What if he, too, were a "custodian" of the Castle of Origins? At this thought, a spark of hope lit in his heart. Even if it were only a one in ten thousand chance, for Furen, that would still be enough to change everything—his ascension plan could be completely revised.
Heedless of his disheveled appearance, his face slightly flushed with excitement, he rushed almost crawling towards the kitchen.
Arriving there, Furen tried to calm himself. A hopeful smile crossed his face as he repeated to himself:
"Don't be too optimistic… stay calm."
Oscillating between joy and reason, he finally found four typical Trier breads - the Golden Breads of Trier, famous throughout the North of the continent for their golden crust and soft texture.
Holding his four loaves of bread, Furen returned to his room. He drew the curtains; the light filtering through illuminated his face with a warm glow.
After placing a loaf of bread in each corner of the room, he waited a few minutes to calm his heart, then began the ritual in the center of the room.
"The immortal Lord of heaven and earth for blessings," he said gravely, taking the first step.
"The Lord of heaven and earth for blessings," he continued with the second step.
"The exalted Thearch of heaven and earth for blessings," he continued with a third step in an even more solemn tone.
"The celestial worthy of heaven and earth for blessings," he concluded, taking the last step with a deep exhalation, as if releasing a weight from his shoulders.
He then stood there for a moment, his eyes closed, waiting. Three minutes passed, and nothing happened.
Seeing this, Furen sighed in disappointment:
"I really hoped for too much."
Then he gave a bitter smile:
"Alas… come to think of it, it's obvious. Everyone connected to the Castle of Origins has an object capable of connecting it. Roselle had her deck of cards, Klein his luck ritual… As for the Goddess of the Night, I don't know, but I don't have anything similar."
He closed his eyes for a moment, then remembered what he had to do now: play the role of the apprentice.
And in Trier, the best place to learn new knowledge was none other than the very symbol of the city - the National Library of Trier.
Without hesitation, after searching the rooms explored the day before one last time, Furen took the money and necessary objects, then left the house.
Trier's architecture was typically Intisian: in the busy streets, sumptuous street lamps lined the pavements, and the golden tones of the facades gave the city a refined elegance, luxurious without being ostentatious.
Trier's roads weren't always convenient, but there was no shortage of wealthy neighborhoods. Their opulence far exceeded the standard of living of the time—the Kingston neighborhood was a perfect example.
The slums, on the other hand, were appallingly poor, their filth disgusting. Yet the noble and wealthy areas displayed incomparable splendor. Outsiders, dazzled, saw only a prosperous city—but only those who ventured into the slums could perceive the city's true future.
Furen hailed a four-wheeled carriage. When the driver stopped, he got in and said simply:
"Take me to the National Library in Trier, please."
As the carriage slowly moved off, Furen recalled the image of this building: the pearl of Trier, the pride of the Republic of Intis, one of the greatest libraries in the world, along with its twin in Lunburg, the Library of the Light of Knowledge.
The first was built and maintained with the help of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery; the second, by the city of Lunburg in collaboration with the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.
The National Library in Trier collected general knowledge, while the Light of Knowledge focused on advanced knowledge and scholarly texts.
In this age of steam, many revolutionary theories and inventions were born in these two sanctuaries of knowledge.
Access to the Library of Trier was subject to only one condition: cleanliness. The Steam Priests, though demanding, sometimes allowed the poor to enter—as long as they were not neglected. But alas, for most of the poor, survival itself left little time for reading.
Knowledge is both precious and derisory: precious enough to be worth a thousand gold pieces, derisory enough to be discarded like waste.
The Library's exterior lacked the gilded pomp of the surrounding buildings. It was pure white, which made it no less revered by the followers of the Eternal Sun—on the contrary, it had been erected jointly by the Church of the Sun and the Church of Vapor, and white happened to be one of the favorite colors of the Sun cult.
The coachman, clever, took a detour—not to increase the price, because the journey was charged by time, but to avoid the poor districts.
From Kingston to Hopeton, the journey took between one and two hours, rarely more.
Hopeton lay between the upper-class neighborhood of Hearnke and the lower-class neighborhood of Winston. The library was built there so that rich and poor could share knowledge, and perhaps… change their destinies.
After all, the Steam God had said:
"He who is strong, let him become mighty."
And knowledge was one of the forces he blessed.
Even though, in truth, those who actually changed their destiny through knowledge were counted as one in a thousand... or even one in ten thousand.
Soon the carriage entered Hopeton. The ground there was less luxurious than in Kingston, but still clean; the drainage system worked well, and the air was not impregnated with the fetid odors of the working-class neighborhoods. As for the slums… it was impossible to identify the smells—the ground itself seemed to conceal countless filth.
The dazzling white building stood before him, luminous, almost sacred.
This whiteness, so pure, seemed unreal—admirable, but disturbing.
Many saw it as a miracle of a god.
Furen gave the coachman about six sous:
"Keep the change," he said simply, before walking towards the library.
He then thought:
"A carriage ride is a middle-class luxury… six sous is already a sum that an ordinary bourgeois cannot waste."
The rules for access to the library were quite relaxed. After a brief, discreet examination by the doorman, he decided to let him in.
And so, Furen entered this place filled with veneration and knowledge.
(End of chapter)