Chapter 193: The Expensive Books
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
In the metallic silver hall of the congress tower, Lazar had been laughing for quite a while, and he said to Lucien, “Hahaha… Did you see Ms. Lawette’s face? It was purple! Purple! Haha…” Lazar’s own face was now red from laughing too hard, “It’s just like… like a hundred arcana credits were given to her but, in the next minute, the credits were taken away again because it was given to the wrong person, haha… You know how many people don’t like her? Haha…”
“I just don’t really get it,” said Lucien, smiling. “Why did she want to give us a hard time? I mean, she didn’t have to.”
“Ms. Lawette is one of those sorcerers that I mentioned before who did not want to make any progresses anymore in their lives. Those people hate other people who are still striving for a better life.” Lazar gently patted his chest to calm himself down. “I hope I won’t be like this in my sixties.”
“We can try.” Lucien laughed. “It’s quite hard for me to imagine you with Ms. Lawette’s disgruntled look on your face, Lazar.”
“Try what? How?” Lazar was confused.
“You can lend me your thirty arcana points, and I’ll try my best to not pay you back, haha.” Lucien joked, “Let’s see if you can still be this patient with me.”
Lazar rolled his eyes at Lucien, “Come on, thirty points to you is nothing. By the way, you’re going to meet your students again, and that’s quite nice, isn’t it?”
Among the five magic schools in Allyn, Douglas ranked the best magic school, whose strength was in the school of Force, Electromagnetics, Astrology, and Element. Following Douglas were the two schools named Allyn and Pesancho. The former was known for its subjects of Necromancy and Summoning, and the latter was good at teaching Transformation and Illusion. Besides these schools, Trident was the school known for their researches in the latest three magic fields: Electromagnetics, Thermodynamics, and Light-darkness, and many students who wanted to study Alchemy, Element or Thermodynamics would also go to Alborg.
Of course, the schools all provided courses covering all the fields, despite the fact that each had its own strength.
“It’s surely nice, however, I need to buy a storage bag first, which means spending money. Right now, spending money doesn’t make me happy,” answered Lucien.
“Then our next destination, Wasim!” said Lazar cheerfully.
…
“Level three storage bag, mass produced, middle-ranked, ‘Shrink’ enchanted. You can shrink and store your belongings to one sixteenth of its original size in this bag with only twenty percent of its weight. Magic wave covered. Four hundred arcana points,” introduced the owner of the store.
Lucien’s heart was bleeding. This bag just cost him three Wave Stones, fifty-eight Thales and six arcana points, and right now the palm-sized pouch was already half filled with Lucien’s books, notes and materials.
Seeing Lucien’s desperate look, Lazar comforted him, “Come on, my friend, stop feeling heartbroken. If it wasn’t from mass production, you probably need to spend a thousand arcana points on a level three storage bag! Before, this bag was way more expensive. Besides, the bag is a must to you, and you’re not wasting your money.”
Lucien nodded, but still felt that he just suffered a great loss.
“By the way, next time when I need Wave Stone, can I buy some from you with a bit lower price?” Lazar tried to distract Lucien, “Anyway, when your paper is published, I’m sure lots of people will cite your paper to improve your spell. At that time, you’ll have lots of arcana points, trust me.”
“Lazar… Is your magic robe also from mass production?” asked Lucien.
“Forget about mass production…” Lazar was amused, “Where shall we go next then?”
“Library! Basic Arcana Library!” Lucien suddenly cheered up.
…
“What?! Pay before read?!” asked Lucien, feeling shocked.
The old librarian grinned, “You are still too young and naive, boy. Soon after the library was built, many sorcerers with great spiritual power and memory were coming here to memorize the books in the library. Later they even created some tricky magic circles to copy the books here. Everyone knows knowledge is wealth, and no one can get knowledge for free.”
Although the librarian’s hair was half white and was pretty short, he was still a good-looking man with graceful manners. However, Lucien did not like him at all.
“But… But if I don’t glance the books over first, how do I know these are the books that I’m looking for?” Lucien was still trying.
“I’ve been hearing this all the time, young man,” the short librarian waved his index finger a bit in front of Lucien’s face, “always the same reason.”
Then the librarian knocked the magic circle, and smoke puffed out of it. A well-built man with naked chest appeared in the air, wearing black soft hair.
“Alex, Djinn of Basic Arcana Library, an alchemical life with great memory,” introduced the librarian. “Tell him what kind of knowledge you want, and Alex can tell you what books you need and where they are, even including abstracts.”
“Welcome, Alex is at your service,” greeted the Djinn.
“Then… How much to borrow a book?” Lucien tried to stay calm.
“The library’s only available to sorcerers from the congress. You need to pay ten Nars to keep a book for seven days.”
“Ten Nars?” Lucien almost burst out that this was robbery. In Aalto, he could spend only one or two Nars to buy a thick book.
“Such a pity…” The old librarian shook his head, “Today’s young men don’t understand how precious knowledge is anymore. Back in the old days…”
“All right, all right…” Lazar rubbed his head a bit, “Any other ways for borrowing books?”
“If you’re willing to pay two arcana points in advance, you can borrow up to forty books in a month, the same seven days for each book,” said Alex. “We receive arcana points only in this case.”
Obviously, the congress was encouraging sorcerers to use arcana points.
Lucien nodded, and then handed his badge to the librarian, “Forty books a month, then.”
After taking away two points from Lucien’s badge using a magic circle, the librarian said to Lucien seriously, “You’re a sorcerer, so never be cheap with books and experiment materials. If you want to save money, save it by buying less magic items.”
Lucien nodded, as he knew that this was a sincere suggestion.
Then he turned to Alex, “May I know what are the most cutting-edge research papers on soul and human body study?”
Alex thought a bit and answered, “A Few Thoughts about Soul as the Carrier of Consciousness, from Vicente Miranda, grand arcanist.
“Discussion about Elements Consisting of Soul and Special Electromagnetic Wave, from Vicente Miranda, grand arcanist.
…
“Why Regeneration is Possible: Analysis and Simulation of Mechanisms of Cytothesis, from Felipe, level four arcanist.”
“Felipe?” Lucien was surprised as to how advanced Felipe’s research was. However, on a second thought, under the lead of the grand arcanist, Vicente Miranda, and with the solid knowledge foundation of the study of human body and magic creatures, the birth of such pioneering work was still reasonable.
This world was still different from Lucien’s original world, or say, this world was even more advanced in a sense.
“The paper shocked the whole congress. Mr. Felipe also earned great reputation with this paper and thus became a level four arcanist and one of the most promising sorcerers in the Hand of Paleness,” said Lazar in awe.
Lucien nodded. Af first he thought Felipe was too arrogant, but now he realized that Felipe was for sure talented and very competitive.
Later, Lucien borrowed the two issues of Arcana and one issue of Magic, which published the papers mentioned by Alex, and another three books about the basic knowledge regarding soul.
Then he asked, “Mr. Alex, please help me to find the papers that determine the different natures of all the current existing elements, as well as the papers explaining the connections between some of the elements.”
“I’d suggest you to start from reading the papers about redefining elements, Lucien,” said Lazar confusedly. “It’s the basic part in arcana of the school of Element, right?”
“I hear you, Lazar. As you said, as an elemental sorcerer, I absolutely need to carefully read all the fundamental papers, and I’ll also borrow the corresponding books. At the same time, I also want to know the basic nature of each element and what’s going on in this field lately, for the convenience of my future research and study.”
“I see. You know what you’re doing, my friend.” Lazar nodded. Then he started considering which book he should borrow for himself.
