Dungeon Walkthrough

The information that Instant revealed was truly astonishing.

Whether it's the mysterious, truly Grand Library that was breached by countless Monsters, or the true origin of this Anomaly’s True Body, both are practically unheard of.

If a book that escaped from that Grand Library can be considered such an Anomaly tale, then what kind of mysterious place must that Grand Library, which was breached by countless Monsters, be?

Just like the Mysterious Train that Bai Zhi saw traveling through the Void in Anna's Mental World, the description of the mysterious Grand Library that Instant spoke of was also filled with an incomparably mysterious aura.

But at the very least, those things are not areas they are qualified to be involved in right now.

"Our Player... refers to the start of Large-scale Campaign Quest, right?"

Frowning slightly, Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part asked.

"At that time, this Dungeon shouldn't have experienced this kind of anomaly. What happened afterward?"

"That book... it's for learning."

She took a deep breath in that Instant.

"From nothing to something, it has been constantly learning about us, acquiring knowledge and memories of our world... That book attempted to invade our world through those Player, but it was blocked by the system's defense mechanisms."

"In other words, the entity behind this Anomaly we're currently in is a book that has come to life, possessed self-awareness, and whose current whereabouts are unknown?"

Bai Zhi reached up and touched his chin, looking thoughtful.

"Let me ask you a question: in those scenes you saw, was the world that the book descended into truly on the verge of destruction?"

"The Tian Kong is torn apart, the earth is riddled with holes, and all sorts of strange things roam the world... I don't believe that kind of world is alright."

Perhaps recalling the scene he had witnessed before, he glanced around at everyone, and his tone Instant became somewhat somber.

"That's a world scenario where the Player's resistance has completely failed. If we fail, then our world will also become that Hell on Earth."

"I think I understand."

Bai Zhi looked up at the book Levitation in the center of the Four-Sided Table and snapped his fingers.

"That book has learned a lot from the Player, and is therefore growing rapidly. This includes things like the System Store- like exchange system and the way to complete tasks, which the book has learned from and imitated. However, it has only made a poor imitation and ended up with something that doesn't quite fit the mold... Is it trying to become the Second System?"

Bai Zhi suddenly became interested.

"... I have no idea."

After a moment of silence, he shook his head in Instant.

"But I know that everything we are seeing now is fake, a story scenario constructed by the book itself, because the core of this Anomaly is just a book."

"But how are you able to see these things?"

His brow furrowed slightly, and he seemed somewhat puzzled, as if the Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part.

"Also, if you were turned into a book, how did you manage to fall from the bookshelf to the ground on your own?"

"After being transformed into a book, I still retain a certain degree of mobility."

He glanced at the other person, and for a rare Instant, he began to explain.

"However, the longer time goes on, the faster my self-awareness will dissipate, and my movement speed will become slower and slower, until I become a true book. You have lost your memories of me, and with the Librarian still in the Library, it's practically impossible for me to warn you. You can only choose to save yourselves. As for why you were able to see those images..."

As she said this, Instant herself frowned slightly.

Clearly, he himself did not know the reason for this.

"Two possibilities."

Bai Zhi glanced at Instant thoughtfully, then continued speaking.

"The first possibility for the book is that it comes from other Player; the second possibility is that it comes from the Master of the book... The probability is probably fifty-fifty."

"The other Player... were they them?"

Upon hearing Bai Zhi's words, Xia Wen's eyes immediately lit up.

"That's possible, and the probability is quite high."

After thinking for a moment, Bai Zhi nodded.

"Regardless of the possibility, we should be able to find the clues they deliberately left for us in the Library... The Shadow Guard found six Anomalous Book on the Library's more than 3,000 bookshelves. Their covers are different from the other books, and you can spot them at a glance. I've marked them all. Each of you take one."

As he spoke, Bai Zhi handed Instant a topographical sketch of the Library's interior.

"There are still about 40 minutes until the next story begins. Let's try to get this done within 30 minutes. I'll assign a Shadow Guard to each of you... Remember to be careful and avoid the Librarian who's wandering among the bookshelves."

Although Bai Zhi was confident he could retrieve all the books within five minutes thanks to his ability to switch places with the Shadow Guard, the fact that six books corresponded to six people made Bai Zhi realize that this was more than just a coincidence.

Secondly, no matter how abundant his Spiritual Energy is, it cannot withstand such a large-scale consumption. Even with the Ring of Shadow's five-fold recovery rate of Spiritual Energy in the dark, it would still take at least 20 minutes to fully recover the two thousand Spiritual Energy consumed earlier.

Finally, he wasn't a nanny.

He had already thoughtfully marked the location of each book on the map; it was impossible for him to do everything for them. In a sense, none of the Player here were weak.

--Take Instant as an example.

Although the other party deliberately glossed over key details in their description, Bai Zhi remained quite certain that the other party possessed certain Skill that allowed them to predict the future.

The Shadow Guard's stealth was beyond question. When exploring the entire Library, he had always walked in the Shadow of the bookshelves. But the other party had been transformed into a book and placed on a bookshelf at least two meters off the ground. How did he know that the Shadow Guard would happen to pass by there at that exact moment?

... unless the other party knew that time in advance.

"No, it shouldn't be predicting the future; the future isn't so easy to predict. It should be predicting some possibility of the future..."

Watching the other person's departing figure, Bai Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly.

He had seen some time- Type Skill, including the [Clock] skill he had recently learned, which could also be classified as time- Type. However, the Unique Skill that could truly be considered time- Type was the [Back] Skill possessed by a certain Night Owl.

Although there's a limit of only one use per day, the ability to rewind time by one minute is already quite powerful.

"But then again, if those messages really were left by Night Owl and the others... then it seems like I didn't need to come in to rescue them?"

Suddenly remembering something, Bai Zhi's lips twitched slightly.

After all, the other party has the ability to find out the origin of this Dungeon, so there's no way they could be trapped inside Dungeon. If that's the case...

What are they doing right now?