Chapter 125

“How may I address you?” the middle-aged man asked.

“Xiao’s my surname.” Xiao Lin did not immediately reveal his name, since the man was still a stranger.

The man did not seem to mind and smiled kindly, “My surname is Lin, and I left Dawn Academy a couple of decades ago. What grade are you in?”

Xiao Lin noticed that the man used ‘left’ instead of ‘graduate’, and that he had left for a couple of decades already. That would mean he was a very old senior, which confused and surprised Xiao Lin somewhat. In any case, he did not ask too much, and replied, “Freshman.”

The man was a little surprised. “Just enrolled? A freshman?”

“Yes.”

“I’m surprised that a Dawn’s freshman is here in New Washington.”

The two chatted briefly, but the man did not continue to ask Xiao Lin what he was doing there or how he arrived. It was quite clear that the man was a very educated person, and their topic soon shifted back to the bookshelves there.

“These books are my personal collection. They were collected during my travels around the New World in my early years. Not all of them are skill books. There are also some translations. I don’t have any other hobbies, so all I do is read books. I can’t use these books at all and it’s a waste just to store them, so I opened up a small shop here. I don’t really want to make money either, so it’s good enough if I call a few friends over to hang out here in my spare time.”

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Speaking of that, the man smiled and said, “You can choose whatever you want and I’ll give it to you at cost price. It’s rare for customers to come over, and it wouldn’t hurt to give them to you too, but I’d still have to recover some of the cost. The cost of housing in New Washington isn’t cheap.”

Xiao Lin dove right in and began choosing, but within minutes, the man knew that Xiao Lin was a layperson who did not know how to pick out skill books. He was not too surprised after recalling that Xiao Lin was only a freshman, so he began to explain everything little by little.

Skill books were obviously different concepts from that in video games. It was not as though one could learn them immediately with the simple click of a mouse. Skill books were actually textbooks that describe in detail the composition of skills, its learning requirements, and their usage methods. The higher quality ones even came with classic battle examples.

The skill books on the man’s bookshelf were very old. The page corners were severely rolled-up and heavily creased, but it was clear that the man had stored those skill books very well and they were not too damaged.

Xiao Lin was not too averse to it, but he was still rather reluctant to pay. Those were not new books, but they did not seem to be cheap, even though they were sold at cost price.

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However, his eyes lit up immediately after flipping through some of the books and his earlier doubts were completely cast away. In addition to the printed words, lines of small red writing frequently occurred beside them. They were almost certain to be annotations that the man added on.

The man guessed what Xiao Lin was thinking. “Those are my own personal learning experiences in the early days. You can refer to it if you want, but you can also ignore them. I dare not say that my experience is suitable for everyone.”

Xiao Lin flipped through some high-level skill books, and although he might not be able to learn its contents immediately, the man’s annotations were undoubtedly of great value.

Taking an example from the Flame Bullet’s skill book, the man had the following annotation beside a certain section of the introduction to the initial hand casting action: ‘If these actions are omitted, the power of the Flame Bullet will only be reduced by about 10%, but the casting time of the converged element will be reduced by several seconds.’

Such tiny details could sometimes play a crucial role. After all, the reduction of a spell’s casting time by a couple of seconds might prove to be the deciding factor between life and death.

Xiao Lin read those remarks with gusto and soon realized that he had been acting impolitely. Booksellers must surely loathe customers who only read without buying.

The man returned to his sofa and said with a smile, “Sit here and read. There’s more light here.”

Xiao Lin was a little embarrassed and put down the skill book. Aside from skill books, there were many works translated from the New World there. Though they were not necessarily skill books, they were all written by the local indigenous masters.

Xiao Lin felt spoilt for choice. Good books seemed to be all around him, but he did not know which one to choose.

The man saw his awkwardness and walked over again. “Tell me. What type of course are you taking? Realistically speaking, most of my skill books are probably not useful for freshmen.”

Xiao Lin thought for a while, and said, “Any basic skill books are fine.”

The man cocked an eyebrow. “What kind? There are plenty of basic skills. There are basic skills spells using all the major elements, as well as others that use complex elements. There are also basic skills for various weapons used in close combat.”

“What types do you have then?” Xiao Lin asked. The man’s book annotations were very useful, and Xiao Lin did not mind purchasing some basic skill books if there were some.

“Hehe, what if I have both?”

Xiao Lin was a little surprised. He could not help but wonder if the man mastered all weapons.

The man saw through Xiao Lin’s thoughts again and laughed as he said, “I mentioned that I like reading books, but I enjoy collecting books even more. I don’t have much energy to learn the skill books here. Many of them were actually bought back from others at a low price. Skill books are considered consumable items, because they have no value once you master a particular skill. People rarely buy used skill books, so I’ll buy them at a low price.”

“You buy them at a low price just to read them?” Xiao Lin was a little puzzled, but he quickly realized that the man read other people’s notes in the skill book rather than the book itself.

Sure enough, the man said, “Everyone’s understanding of skills is different. I’m not a prodigy, let alone a talented student. My understanding of some skills is actually based on the summary of other people’s learning experiences.”

“Can you show me your basic skills book?”

“You’ll have to wait a moment.”

The man very happily agreed and turned to head to his basement. After a while, he came back with a heavy copper box and placed it on the floor with a thud. The box was completely covered with a thick layer of dust.

“I’ve been accumulating these from my travels abroad during the early years. I haven’t read them for decades. Later, all the major colleges began using standard textbooks and few people read these basic skill books too.”

The man wiped off the dust as he explained and opened the lid of the box. It was filled with books of all sizes. Xiao Lin picked up a copy and looked through it before unexpectedly discovering that it was filled with handwritten characters. The difference from the skill books on the bookshelf lay in the fact that the books inside the box were all handwritten.

One might as well call them study notes instead of skill books.

Xiao Lin looked at the man with both surprise and doubt.