《Art of Mortality》Chapter 28: Old Librarian
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The library room was huge. There were shelves after shelves full of books. It felt like it was an ocean of books.
Edward was walking inside the library. At the center of the library, there was a platform, where an old man was sitting with his eyes closed, likely meditating. This old man was the librarian. According to the instructions, he had to talk to the librarian before borrowing books and manuals.
"Excuse me. I would like to know the rules for borrowing manuals, please.", said Edward.
"Name?"
"Edward Alexander."
The old man opened his eyes, looking at Edward with a piercing gaze. It seemed as if he could see through everything. After inspecting Edward for a while, he nodded his head, as if he was praising something.
"Not bad.", he said. "For you, there are no rules. Take as many books and manuals you like.", said the librarian.
Edward was surprised for a bit. "Is it ok?", he asked.
"Of course.", said the old man.
Getting confirmation from him, Edward started checking upon the manuals.
He decided he would select one cultivation technic, a movement technic, a fist technic, and technics for the ax.
First, he started searching for an ax technic. It didn't take long to find a few. Although he could take as many as he wanted, he understood that he should not bite more than he could chew.
"For my ax, I'll take an offensive skill and a defensive skill.", he decided.
For offense, he selected the "Heavy Splitting Ax Art", and for defense, he chose the "Mighty Ax Wall Art."
In his opinion, these two martial arts technics really suited each other, and he decided he would be using dual axes in order to combine the two technics.
"I should get two heavy axes, as heavy as possible within one meter in size.", he thought.
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After searching for a while, he found a suitable fist art for himself. This fist art would be helpful in case he was disarmed or if had to fight barehanded for any reason. The fist art was called "Exploding Hammer Fist". It was a fist art with swift and explosive power which depended on an instant outburst of physical essence around the fist to punch like a heavy hammer hitting and exploding. He was quite satisfied with finding this technic.
The day was almost over. the sun was setting on the horizon. By that time, all the other students had come to the library and chosen suitable technics for themselves. Unlike Edward, who had no limitations, everyone else was allowed to choose only 3 technics. Although, Robert also got to choose as many technics as he wanted, like Edward. But it didn't take that long for him to select the technics he wanted. It was most likely due to his background, and his family must have already provided him with suitable cultivation and martial technics.
Before sunset, everyone had left the library. The library was pretty much empty. there was only Edward inside the library excluding the old librarian.
At the moment, Edward was still searching for manuals in the library. He had already checked over a few thousand manuals and yet he did not find a suitable movement technic, nor did he find any good cultivation technic for him. The Librarian noticed Edward's dissatisfaction and chuckled. He had been watching Edward's movements the entire time.
Edward looked at the librarian and thought of something.
"Any suggestions?", he asked.
"Should I?", said the old man with a smile on his face.
"Senior. I have noticed your aura long before, and I know that you are not just an ordinary librarian. To be honest, you are different from anyone in the academy that I've met, as you are someone in the Qi Accumulation realm.", Edward said without beating around the bush.
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"Hoo!", the old librarian exclaimed in shock. To be honest, he was shocked speechless. He did not expect someone at the Body Metamorphosis realm, especially a freshman, to notice his aura, let alone finding out his cultivation level. Even with his years of experience, it took a while for the old librarian to compose himself.
"Boy, you're quite the sharp one, aren't you? You not only noticed my aura but also determined my cultivation level. How did you do that?", after calming down, the old librarian asked Edward with a serious tone.
"Actually, you were not fully hiding your aura, so I could detect it. As for your cultivation level, I did not actually determine it. It was more like I guessed it based on your aura. Your aura had a trace of qi in it, which only cultivators in the Qi Accumulation Realm or above can have. The amount of qi in your aura was little, and its quality wasn't that high, so I guessed you have only begun to cultivate qi recently, which means you are most likely in the Qi accumulation realm, and in the earlier levels of that realm. As for your exact cultivation level, I do not know that."
The old librarian gasped in shock once again. He was shocked by Edward's knowledge of cultivation. Although it was not that much in Edward's opinion, as he had already seen monstrous cultivation geniuses like Snow and Julian, his knowledge was quite deep considering the scale of the southern academy, or the Green Veil Country in general.
"Boy, you are unbelievable. I know about your examination results. Especially, the fact that you managed to reach the 3rd level of the Body Metamorphosis realm from the 7th level of Physical Essence realm within a few days and were able to slay a grade 2 beast during the exam is still unbelievable to me. I was already interested in you, but now, you've totally shocked me and piqued my interest even more. So, tell me, how do you have such a profound understanding of cultivation?", the old librarian asked with deep interest. "Senior, I was just lucky to meet some powerful expert by chance and learned a few things from them." "Explain everything to me." "Well, senior, I had better not. This involves personal matters, also this might offend some party you would not want to offend.", Edward replied. The old librarian gave Edward a serious look. After staring at his eyes for a while, he sighed and nodded, as if he understood something. "Forget it.", he said. "Let me help you with finding the technics you need.", saying that, he brought out a golden token, and pressed it on one of the bookshelves. The bookshelf slowly moved away, opening an underground passage. "Take this token, if you need any help from me in the future, show this to an elder. Now, follow me to the underground secret room.", said the old man while throwing the token in his hands towards Edward. Edward checked the token. It was a bright golden color token with unique patterns carved, and there was a golden robe drawn in the middle. From what he could guess, only one person was a Golden Robed Teacher in the entire academy. "Just as I thought. This old man is actually the academy principal.", while thinking about several things, Edward followed the old man to the underground secret library.
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