Mingtian was feeling rather proud of himself, all things considered. Avyr had come to him with a question, and he’d gotten to do the whole ‘mysterious definitely-not-a-hidden-immortal’ thing, which… well, it’d been fun. He’d even managed to help him figure out what to do for his project! Probably…

Still smiling softly, he put away the last book of the day and started wheeling the cart back to the sorting room, basking, for a moment, in the gentle-library atmosphere. There was something just so nice about the place…

He’d come to find it comfortable, even, over so short a time. He would’ve wondered why, but it didn’t take a genius to figure it out— it was the people. Always so many people, coming in and out and ebbing, and flowing, and chattering happily and all— emotion, so deeply…

So much.

He placed the cart back with the others, and leaned against the wall in a spot of sunlight— between a white-painted plywood shelf, dragged into the back because it’d been broken by something before he’d been hired, and the stack of posters they sometimes rotated around the library. Considering… in that moment of quiet, the difference between it all. Up in the Celestial Realm, there’d been… not many of them. Other than the Sanctuary Bastion System, there were… what, three thousand or so of them in total? Only those very, very few of them who were able to achieve the closest thing to true immortality survived. Over the eons, he’d come to know each and every one of them— some more intimately than others— and now…

It was odd, to even pretend to be the very bottommost rung of cultivation, in the very lowest sort of realm, doing nothing in particular at all.

Oddly comforting.

Certainly exciting, compared to spending centuries in the heart of a star refining starsteel, or blowing up planets in search of treasure, or wrestling with singularities for essence of essential unity… or so on, and so forth…

“Something on your mind?” He blinked, glancing up. Focused on his contemplation as he’d been, he’d entirely missed Janus stepping into the room with his own empty cart. Another little thing that he’d had to get used to, pretending to be a mortal like he was… “penny for your thoughts?”

“Just thinking about how weird it is to be here.” He wasn’t going to tell Janus everything, obviously. Not even a fraction of it. The truth was for him and him alone.

“In East Saffron?” Janus nodded, giving him an… understanding look, though how he could possibly even begin to understand… “I came when I was younger, so I don’t quite know the feeling— but I get it nonetheless. You must have left something behind, to come here, and get hired on as a low-level librarian with your skills…”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to NovelBin for the genuine story.

“Being a librarian suits my skills well enough.”

Janus laughed. “No, it really doesn’t… not that you don’t have the sort of skills you need! No, you’re qualified— unless someone gives you a test on Aurelian history, then you might need to start praying—” to who? There were no gods higher than his peers and himself. They resided in the realm above the realm where the strongest immortals styled themselves divine. “It’s just that… you’re clearly more than a librarian. It doesn’t take a genius to see it— you’re good at formations, and I’m glad that you’ve got something that you like…” he sighed. “I’m kind of rambling. Sorry. I’ve had a bit of a long day, and…”

“You’re fine.”

Janus shot him a grateful smile. “It’s always strange, when I think back on what brought me here, to realize how lucky I am. East Saffron… even in a poor precinct like this, East Saffron is a uniquely glorious city. There’s not many places better than it. After Beixian…” he didn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t dare.

The two of them sat in silence for a moment, thinking about the past. Different pasts, without doubt— Mingtian didn’t know what story Janus had imagined up, but it was without a doubt laughably wrong. The man was probably thinking about his old home, so long ago, in a city that no longer existed…

He thought about his first sect, when things had been simpler, and… his sister.

Old thoughts.

Grim thoughts.

Janus shook off the melancholy mood first, between the two of them, forcing a smile onto his face and turning to him, all upbeat. “Well! Work’s pretty much done for the day… do you want to do something? I’ve not spent a ton of time with you— outside of work, that is— and maybe we could… drink tea at your place? Walk through the park?”

Mingtian blinked, and— realized, again, that he didn’t technically have his own place. He had his office, and that was pretty much it— he didn’t need a home, just staying awake after work and using the copious amounts of stuff he’d stuffed into his spatial ring, alongside some simple spells, to keep himself presentable. He hadn’t thought it’d been a problem, but… “perhaps your place?”

Janus hesitated for a second, then shrugged. “Sure. Why not? You haven’t met the parents, yet, and Aimi will be home, so I apologize in advance if the place is a little messy…” and the conversation stretched out long. They left the library, as sunlight’s last refrain colored the whole city gold; together, merely two mortals making their way home after work.

Nothing else. Nothing more.