Hey there everyone who is about to read this! I really hope you enjoy the first fic I post, but this isn't the first I've started... I know; it makes me feel weird. 0-0

Disclaimer: If I owned Nexon, Maplestory would be overflowing with nerdy pandas by now. :P


He was the only person in their little ragtag group who could read for long periods of time and not be: A) sleeping, B) confused, or C) away looking at the magnificent jewels that were new additions to his rather large collection, if you excluded Luminous.

Everyone in their little band of so-called "heroes" knew that Luminous was the one who'd be the one to seal the Black Mage, but the dragon master continued to study anyway; it was his way of life.

He studied the dictionary, the thesaurus, and even the almanac. In general, he studied anything and everything, as long as it met the simple standards he set up: 1) There would need to be words; if not, what was to be read?; 2) It needed to be deemed "professional:" written by someone with high reputation or had good reviews from critics; and 3) The information inside of the reading must be somehow useful in the future.

There was one obvious place where all the rune translations and magical spells would be kept: the library. Thanks to the one and only thief in the group, he had to keep the door unlocked; he had no spare keys left.

Day by day, hour by hour, he would always encourage the others (excluding the poor light mage yet again) to read, saying that it would be "more helpful than stealing more gold," and "would be helpful with our training." But of course, they were ignorant, and never heeded his words.

But then it happened.

By the end of that day, thanks to two girls who made him feel completely idiotic and completely flabber- stupid, he didn't want to see a book again, even a book in a foreign language.

When he crawled into bed later that day, he cringed at the thought of how they- how did they put it- "pwned" him.


It was about noon earlier that day, and both Mercedes and Aran were giggling about something. Freud, the dragon master, rolled his eyes and sighed, knowing that the two were gossiping about whatever nonsense girls gossiped about.

Of course, he did what he had always done when one of his team members was slouching or lazing off: he lectured. He lectured the two girls and told them to either go read or tra- he revoked that second option. Their only one now was to go read.

About a minute later, both the elven queen and the white-haired warrior were trapped behind the great red doors that were now guarded by Afrien: they were trapped in the library.

Freud read at the table, waiting patiently for the groaning and complaining. He checked his pocket watch: it had already been an hour. Just be be sure, he leaned his ear to the wall blocking himself and the female heroes, and still heard nothing but a fit of giggles.

Were they still gossiping?

Suddenly, he opened the door and was quite astounded at the sight in front of him (those girls never ceased to amaze him): the two females were hovering over a dictionary, giggling.

Mercedes pointed at Freud. "Oh, Aran! Look, there he is! Now why don't you go tell him?" she exclaimed.

Aran came up to him and started laughing, leaving Freud completely discombobulated (one of his favorite words). After she was partially finished laughing, she sputtered out,"Me and Mercedes think that you're," she cut off giggling,"va-vacuous!" She then howled in laughter along with the other female.

Freud then went into his thinking position.

What did vacuous mean?

He thought long and hard about it, not wanting to be beaten by two lazy, gossiping girls, yet he just couldn't remember what the word meant. Sure he knew the definitions of long words such as polyunsaturated, asphyxiation, and mitochondria meant, but then what was vacuous? Maybe he didn't study the dictionary enough.

The two other heroes instantly stopped their chortles and chuckles wondering what in the name of Aria was going on.

Freud sighed, knowing that he had forgotten the definition of this seven-lettered word. "What does it mean?" he said, sounding as if he was bored (which he wasn't, of course).

Both girls perked up at his inquiry, but Mercedes was the one to answer.

"Vacuous is an adjective that describes you quite well, Freud. It means 'without content, empty,' 'lacking in intelligence and/or purpose,' or 'characterized as inane,'" the elf stated simply.


Freud stared at the ceiling in his private chambers, wondering how it happened. Although he couldn't admit it to the others, he knew that he had some lack of knowledge in some areas, but the idea that Mercedes and Aran could defeat him in a skirmish of knowledge was utterly detestable.

But he didn't mind feeling stupid for once.

Before he decided to sleep, he read the dictionary, studying every section, especially the V section.


Since I am now going to play truth or dare with you guys, I dare you to review... if you want to.

And I'll give you free hugs, too!

(maybe not)

But seriously, reviews would be appreciated. :D