Great Library
“Let’s
go! Leylin watched Weyers as he left and brought Yuro with him. He had
yet to arrive at his intended destination, which was the Great Library.
To him, whatever just happened was like a circus act and nothing more.
When Leylin’s figure had disappeared as well, the remaining Magi present immediately got up, their faces full of grime.
Being
affected by the battle out of nowhere and being suppressed by a Morning
Star domain for a long time had now left them in a pitiful state.
Afterwards,
the officials who had arrived slowly began to tidy up the roads and
calculated the losses. Everything was methodical and thorough.
“Gill!” back in the office, Weyers’ voice was low. The arrogance from before had completely vanished.
“Master!” A black shadow silently surfaced from the floor.
“Investigate
this! Who’s responsible for the incident at the Floating Feather
Avenue? Who was it that did this on my watch?” Weyers’ voice was frigid
as he spoke in a discerning manner.
“Understood!” The black figure answered and withdrew noiselessly.
Once
Weyers was alone in the room, he frowned. He began to sift through the
memories of the day’s events, and a cold smirk appeared on his lips.
“Trying to use me as cannon fodder, eh? Good! Very good!”
How many
among those who had reached the Morning Star realm were fools? No
matter how young he looked, even if he seemed like a child, Weyers had
lived for almost a hundred years. It was clear to him what had happened.
Provoking
a Morning Star Magus just for some false reputation? He would not do
anything so stupid. Even if his backing could take on the backlash,
pointless actions should be avoided if possible.
“That Warlock
Leylin from today was quite interesting. Like me, he’s being bound by
some pointless reputation.” Through the events that had occurred that
day, Weyers had formed a favourable impression of Leylin.
He was
currently enraged at the person who had set up this situation. “Perhaps
I’ve been keeping a low profile for too long, and some people have begun
to think I’m an easy target…” he muttered to himself after a long
period of silence. The temperature dropped as his voice sounded, and the
place turned into an icy wonderland…
Of course, Leylin was not
aware of any of this. After Weyers had left, he had arrived at the Great
Library under Yuro’s guidance.
“Truth is my calling!” “The pursuit of knowledge is the foundation of all strength.”
Leylin
was currently observing a large number of statues in a seemingly
boundless palace. They were proportionate, and so detailed one could
differentiate the strands of hair on their bodies. It made them seem
lifelike.
The pedestals under these statues held information like their time periods, maxims, achievements and the like.
Leylin turned his attention to the time period of the central statue after reading its maxim. “Illesme. Year 1327–?”
“Just
a birth date, and no death date. Could he have lived for over five
thousand years?’ Leylin stared at this statue in astonishment. He saw a
kindly old man there, a spotless white beard floating in front of his
chest. A pair of wise eyes hid behind circular rimmed glasses.
“This
is the Great Sage, Lord Illesme. He was the first generation ruler of
Sky City and is a Breaking Dawn Magus. While his whereabouts are
currently unknown, many still believe that he is alive, and is perhaps
risking his life exploring foreign worlds…” Yuro was full of admiration
as she made the introduction.
“Mm!” Leylin had seen some
information regarding this Great Sage, but those were all mixed in with
legends and rumours. None had been as specific as the base of the
statue.
He circled the forest of statues with interest, finding
that only Morning Star Magi and above were allowed here. They were
scholars who had made significant contributions to Sky City or the Magus
World.
There was a small number of Magi who were like Illesme, with only a birth but no death date.
This
meant there was a good possibility of them still being alive, perhaps
stuck in foreign worlds or ancient spell formations. However, if they
were to appear as a group, the strength they possessed was enough for
the entire central continent to tremble.
“Without the contributions of the past sages, there would not be the Magi of today!”
Leylin
looked solemn as he bowed to the many statues, “I, Leylin Farlier,
shall complete all your unfinished work, and resolve all regrets!”
Of course, he could only say this inside his mind. If Yuro heard it, things would be slightly troublesome.
Though the continent was full of ambitious Magi, there were few as egotistical as Leylin.
After
they paid their respects, Yuro brought Leylin to the entrance of what
seemed like a greek temple. “My Lord, here is the entrance to the Great
Library. The collection here in the Sky City is open to all Magi with no
restrictions.”
What surprised Leylin was that the entrance to the
library had no doors, nor were there any guards. Everyone could move
about freely.
A comfortable warm glow from eternal light spells filled the area.
Magi would pass by Leylin every once in a while, but while there were quite a few of them, they were generally very quiet.
Yuro
spoke in a low voice by Leylin’s ear. “The Great Library is set up
above a gigantic spell formation and is being managed by a sentient
spirit genie. It’s in charge of all management, and while there aren’t
any guards stationed here, there has never been an incident thus far!”
“There’s
never been an incident here?” Leylin nodded. This meant that on top of
the basic effects of repelling dust, moisture and flames, the gigantic
spell formation also possessed an exceedingly more powerful defensive
ability.
“Yes! Rumour has it that the defensive spell formation of
the Great Library can even confine a Morning Star…” She was
apprehensive while she spoke, peeking at Leylin while afraid he would
grow angry. However, Leylin remained calm, and Yuro could not tell if he
was happy or annoyed.
“Not bad! My expectation on the information here has risen further now!”
With
the spirit genie managing the area, every single corner of the library
was probably being monitored. With the ability to suppress even Morning
Stars and the Magi of Sky City being ready to provide support very
quickly if anything were to happen, there seemed to be an impenetrable
defence. There was obviously a vast amount of information.
There
was a large bright hall past the entrance that could hold over a
thousand people without becoming crowded. At the middle were hundreds of
tables, and what looked like terminals.
“The Great Library is
separated into seven levels. The first three are open to all Magi, and
you can browse through once you pay a certain number of magic crystals.
The information and documents at the fourth level and above are kept
very confidential, and one can only browse through them using
information points.”
Leylin stood aside, watching a Magus
operating the system. After inserting pure magic crystals into the
terminal and using spiritual force to interface with it, he took out a
blank crystal ball at the opening of another device. Large amounts of
information was transmitted, instantly filling the crystal ball up with
information.
“Transmission of data, as well as a backup!” Leylin
shouted in surprise. Thankfully, the terminal could not directly send
information to the Magus’ memory, or Leylin would be worried that
something like the A.I. Chip existed in this world.
“Yes! As long
as it’s information that the spirit genie has a backup of, it can be
duplicated using the terminal. Of course, there is a required fee.”
Some
information was stored in certain special materials, and it could only
be presented in that specific format. For example, there were some books
that the spirit genie was unable to make a duplicate of, and required
that one read using the physical copy.
Leylin now had so many magic crystals that he cared little for them. He asked Yuro, “How do I obtain information points?”
“There
are two methods. One is to complete missions by the Sage Committee. The
second is to furnish the spirit genie’s inner library with information
it still does not possess. One will be awarded information points based
on the value of the added information.”
Yuro laughed wryly, “But I
don’t recommend the second method. This could have been possible in the
early days, but with the addition by generations of Magi, there’s very
little information that the Great Library has yet to obtain…”
After
hearing how the library operated, Leylin was quiet for a long while and
took a deep breath. “How bold!” he exclaimed. Even the first three
levels being made public showed how bold they were.
The system of
information points conversion also allowed the library to become more
abundant in information, and by this point, it had accumulated a vast
trove of knowledge.
Such a huge amassment of information had
allowed Sky City to withstand the test of time. Considering it one of
the strongest organisations in the central continent was not even a
stretch.
Yuro brought Leylin to a terminal. After paying the magic
crystals, she passed a white crystal card to Leylin. “This is a blank
crystal card. Every newcomer here will obtain one!
“You may choose
to seal it with your spiritual force, or you can leave it open.
However, you will then need to keep your crystal card properly, or else
anyone can choose to use it!”
With a sweep of Leylin’s soul force,
the library card began to emit a black luster. He placed the card in a
small depression, and the terminal’s screen instantly brightened.
A few lines in a familiar script appeared on it and gave him a few choices.
Leylin did not try to skim through the table of contents, but instead chose to obtain information points through providing data.
Though
Yuro mentioned that the database was already quite complete, Leylin was
confident. His A.I. Chip had a lot of information regarding the Lava
World! The Great Library couldn’t have information from foreign worlds,
could it?
