The Librarian’s Blushing Encounter

The girl before him, blushing shyly, with dazzling emerald eyes and golden hair styled in an updo, was a classmate from Ai Ou’s class.

As Ai Ou turned to look at her, he wasn’t the only one who recognized her. She, too, recognized him; after all, she had been quite intrigued by the young man before her, who possessed the same hair color as herself.

In her heart, Ai Ou was not only handsome but also exceptionally talented. Yet, he lacked Furlan’s overbearing attitude, behaving instead like an ordinary person, amicable with all his classmates.

Unlike others who grew arrogant with a little talent, Ai Ou’s modest demeanor was incredibly appealing to girls.

Though they had only interacted for a brief two days and she hadn’t even spoken to him yet, the girl held a very high regard for Ai Ou.

Upon realizing Ai Ou was watching her, a flicker of shyness and panic crossed her eyes. Her fair, pretty face instantly bloomed with a lovely blush, and her jade-like earlobes had already turned a deep red.

“Hello, Ai Ou. Um, the library here, ordinary students are only allowed on the first floor. The second floor requires someone of teacher status or higher to enter, so you…”

The girl’s voice grew progressively softer, eventually becoming inaudible, utterly lacking spirit.

Finally, feeling as if she had said something inappropriate, she quickly added to Ai Ou:

“Of course, if, if Ai Ou, you wish to go to the second floor…”

She glanced around, seeing that the library was mostly empty, and hastily continued:

“I can let Ai Ou sneak up there. I still have that much authority. I, I, I can…”

The girl was incredibly nervous. This was her first formal meeting and conversation with Ai Ou in two or three days, and her heart was pounding with excitement. She became incoherent, desperately trying not to stutter, but the harder she tried, the more nervous and tongue-tied she became, until she couldn’t speak at all.

Despite her jumbled words, Ai Ou understood her meaning. As a gentleman, how could he make the girl feel awkward? He smiled at her and said:

“Thank you for your kindness, but I won’t need you to use your authority. If others found out, I’m afraid you might be criticized!”

“No, you won’t! This is part of the authority I have for this job; it won’t be difficult!”

“It’s not necessary. Look, this is Teacher Vivian’s signature. I came to the library with her permission, and she allowed me to enter the second floor. This is her note; she told me to just give it to the librarian.”

“Um… I am the librarian…”

The girl nervously twiddled her fingers, tapping them together point to point.

Ai Ou smiled and said:

“Don’t be like that. Speak a little louder; you look utterly spiritless like this. I’m not a man-eating tiger, so don’t be nervous. We’re classmates, after all. Let’s properly introduce ourselves now. My name is Ai Ou. Classmate, what’s your name?”

“My… my name is Lily.”

Through their brief exchange, Ai Ou learned that the girl’s name was Lily and that she was the academy’s librarian. During her free time each day, she came to the library to serve as an administrator, responsible for guiding students in borrowing and returning books, pointing out book locations, and organizing shelves. As a librarian, her compensation included gold coins, academic credits, and the privilege of freely perusing books during her shifts.

Gold coins were largely insignificant to mages; after all, in the magical world, mages were the profession least lacking in money. As the saying goes, a wealthy person isn’t necessarily a mage, but a mage is definitely wealthy. Gold coins merely served as an added bonus. However, the academic credits and the opportunity to review books were crucial. To a mage, the more knowledge they possessed, the stronger they became. Most magic was secret knowledge, and the academy’s library, with its vast collection of magical texts, presented an excellent opportunity for improvement. Yet, each person was only allowed to borrow two books at a time. Consequently, the position of librarian, with its unlimited borrowing privileges, became a coveted goal for many mages in the academy.

Lily was a student who had distinguished herself from a crowd of competitors vying for the librarian position. She had successfully become the librarian among hundreds of applicants.

“By the way, what are academic credits for?”

Many people weren’t interested in gold coins but were keen on academic credits and the chance to review books. Ai Ou could understand the thirst for knowledge, but he wondered what made academic credits so desirable.

“Academic credits?” Lily tilted her head adorably and replied, “Academic credits are key to graduation. Completing each course earns you three credits, and you must accumulate thirty credits each semester. Only after passing the grade exam can you advance to the next year. If you fail a course or have too many absences, you won’t receive credits for it, which means you can’t graduate. So, many students who fail courses try to find ways to earn credits. For example, being a librarian like me, or participating in club activities, or serving as a tutor’s assistant—these are all opportunities to earn credits outside of standard coursework. Of course, in addition to not receiving credits for failing, students who violate school rules will also have credits deducted. Those whose credits drop to zero will be expelled. Oh, and any excess credits can be exchanged at the student council for various magical materials, potions, or alchemy tools!”

So, these academic credits were essentially the academy’s internal currency. The academy had all sorts of basic shops, making it feel like a small nation unto itself.

As Ai Ou pondered, he noticed Lily continuously stealing glances at him, her emerald eyes observing his profile. Ai Ou didn’t call her out, simply turning his head to look directly at her. Lily became flustered, quickly looking away. Then she remembered that dodging his gaze might imply she had something to hide. Mustering her courage, she met Ai Ou’s eyes.

Soon, however, she succumbed in their staring contest, her heart fluttering nervously. She quickly said:

“Oh, right, Ai Ou, aren’t you going to the second floor? With the teacher’s signature, you can go by yourself. What books do you need? I know the books on both the first and second floors very well and can help you find them!”

“Are there books similar to *Intermediate Magic Potion Compendium* or *Essential Potions for Intermediate Mages*?”

“Intermediate! Ai Ou, have you already reached the intermediate stage?”

Lily exclaimed adorably upon hearing Ai Ou’s words, then looked at him with admiration.

“I suppose so. Teacher Vivian told me to come and look, saying there wasn’t much left for her to teach me at the beginner level.”

“Wow, that’s amazing! Ai Ou, you’re truly incredible. Ah, Lily is so foolish; I still haven’t fully mastered even beginner potion knowledge. I only know about two-thirds of the beginner potions, nothing like Ai Ou…”

Lily’s words were filled with envy.

“No, not at all. Lily is great too; you’re only in your second year and already know about two-thirds of the potion recipes. That’s already very impressive!”

“But, Ai Ou, you’ve only just started learning potions, haven’t you!”

“Haha, well, about that…”

Ai Ou quickly brushed off the question with a laugh. He was different from these people; as long as he had enough free attribute points, he could endlessly learn various skills without worrying about proficiency. Others, however, relied on their talent to learn, so people couldn’t be compared. He feared crushing the confidence of the adorable girl before him and quickly changed the subject.

Such an adorable fangirl was rare; he needed to treat her with careful affection.

“So, can you take me there, my lovely Lily?”

“My lovely Lily…”

The girl’s face flushed. She quickly stood up, turned her back to Ai Ou so he couldn’t see her blushing face, and said:

“Ai Ou, please follow me.”

The two walked to a large bookshelf. Lily took out the key she wore around her neck, pressed it against the bookshelf, and began chanting a spell. Soon, two books flew out from within the shelf and landed on the stand. She retrieved her key, picked up the two books, and handed them to Ai Ou:

“Here, Ai Ou, these are the two books you need.”

Ai Ou smiled and flipped through them, discovering that the knowledge within was considerably more difficult than beginner potion knowledge. Without the appropriate foundation, even reading them would likely be a challenge. But for Ai Ou, nothing was an issue. These books contained many new potions and some that required scarce magical materials—precisely what he needed.

“Thank you, my lovely Classmate Lily.”

“Oh, please, Ai Ou, don’t tease me. These are just my duties.”

Lily lowered her head, awkwardly twiddling her fingers and swaying her body, as if trying to relieve her nervousness. Ai Ou smiled, chatted with Lily for a few moments, and then departed.

Watching Ai Ou’s retreating back, Lily, seeing no one else around, immediately jumped up.

“Hooray! My relationship with Ai Ou has taken another step forward! Ahhh! Was I too nervous just now? Did I leave a bad impression on Ai Ou?”

Lily stood alone in the library, holding her head in her hands, muttering to herself.

If anyone had witnessed this scene, they would surely have lamented, *’What a shame, how did such a cute girl go mad?’*

Upon returning to his dorm, Ai Ou began to peruse the two borrowed books. Both were incredibly thick, each containing hundreds of pages. Even skimming them would take half a day. It took Ai Ou a full day to thoroughly comprehend both books.

“It seems intermediate potion crafting isn’t that difficult after all…”

Once Ai Ou finished reading the knowledge related to intermediate potions, a new skill appeared in his skill bar: ‘Intermediate Potion Knowledge and Crafting LV1’. This indicated that Ai Ou had successfully gained initial entry into intermediate potion knowledge, qualifying it as a skill.

“Then, I’ll allocate the remaining free attribute points to Intermediate Potion Knowledge. My free attribute points are running low; I need to quickly earn some magic cores…”

Ai Ou realized that after raising his level to LV4, all fourteen hundred of his free attribute points had been used up. He understood he needed to quickly acquire more magic stones or magic cores. This sensation of rapidly increasing proficiency was truly addictive.