Book Spirit

The Night Watcher Library was located at the very bottom level of the base.

Security here was far tighter than above.

A little farther down, two massive doors came into view.

The doors were dark gray overall, covered in intricate, obscure runes. At their center was a raised sculpture shaped like a lion's head.

The lion's mouth stood slightly open, revealing a palm-sized recess inside.

Lu Yuan placed the identity badge he had just received into the lion's mouth.

"Click."

The lion shut its mouth, followed by the dull sound of machinery engaging.

The next moment, the doors split cleanly down the middle and slowly slid apart to either side.

A rich, aged scent of books rushed toward him.

The Library's interior was enormous, but it was not packed full of bookshelves.

Black metal bookshelves stretched all the way to the ceiling, with considerable distance between each one, making the place seem exceptionally empty and desolate.

Countless light bulbs were scattered across the ceiling. Some were lit, while others had gone dark.

The crisscrossing light gave this Hall of Knowledge, which ought to have been sacred, a chilly and sinister air.

Lu Yuan walked inside, his footsteps echoing through the empty space.

Looking closely, the books on the nearest shelves did not seem particularly old.

Most were handwritten copies or photocopies, while even more were neatly arranged black iron boxes.

"New here?"

A shrill voice suddenly sounded above Lu Yuan's head.

Lu Yuan abruptly looked up.

Atop the tallest bookshelf sat a tiny creature.

It was only palm-sized, with limbs similar to those of a human, but a pair of wings behind its back that looked as though they had been folded from old newspapers.

Its skin had the texture of pale-yellow parchment, with black, ink-like patterns flowing across it.

At that moment, it was clutching a thick book and tearing out pages with crunchy bites as if eating crackers, stuffing them into its mouth and chewing with relish.

[Witnessed special containment object: Book Spirit]

[Traits: Feeds on knowledge and can also serve as an index of knowledge.]

"I'm the new consultant, Lu Yuan."

Lu Yuan looked at the Eerie little creature without showing any surprise.

Since the Night Watchers could fight the Eerie, they surely possessed methods he did not understand. He then continued, "Old Morgan sent me to look up some information."

"Old Morgan, that blind man?"

The little creature spat out a chewed-up piece of book cover, flapped its newspaper wings, and flew down, hovering before Lu Yuan.

Its pitch-black bead eyes sized him up and down, carrying a shrewd glint.

"I'm the steward here. You can call me Mo Shui." The Book Spirit licked its lips, its voice shrill. "What book do you want to read? I charge a fee: a fresh Ink Block, or a story I haven't heard before."

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow but did not answer.

After all, Old Morgan had not mentioned this. Presumably, there would be no issue if he did not satisfy this Book Spirit called Mo Shui.

"I'll bring you an Ink Block next time." After thinking for a moment, Lu Yuan took out the form. "For now, I need introductory books on [Occultism]."

The Book Spirit pursed its lips, apparently very dissatisfied with this "credit" arrangement. But bound by the rules, it still flew toward a bookshelf in the corner.

"Over there. Those moldy books on the bottom shelf are what you want."

It pointed at the bookshelf, then flew back up high to continue gnawing on its "lunch."

Lu Yuan walked over to the bookshelf.

Several thick, ancient books were stored there.

Their covers were badly worn, with no titles on them, only a twisted eye symbol.

Lu Yuan pulled out a copy of Elementary Strange Tales and opened it.

The contents were quite basic, mostly simple explanations of why one should stay in the light and the common monsters found in darkness.

For instance, "Carrion Ghost Habits," "Substances Ghosts Detest," and so on.

There were not even illustrations, only a few dry lines of text.

Lu Yuan flipped through the book quickly.

[Forbidden Studies—Peeper: +0.1...]

[Forbidden Studies—Peeper: +0.1...]

The experience rose incredibly slowly—absurdly slowly!

Lu Yuan could not help frowning. At this rate, unlocking his Transcendence Path would be delayed by at least several more days.

And the more basic this kind of experience was, the less it would provide later on.

Eventually, it might not grant any experience at all.

Could I get a book with more knowledge in it?

Lu Yuan hesitated, but ultimately gave up on the idea.

Setting aside whether he could obtain one, even if he did, how would he explain being unaffected by Knowledge Contamination?

He knew virtually nothing about common Transcendence knowledge.

And since the Night Watchers had dared to throw him into this Library so casually, they surely had confidence he did not know about.

With a quiet sigh, Lu Yuan could only set aside his distracting thoughts and honestly begin absorbing the knowledge in the book.

Just as Lu Yuan was becoming increasingly engrossed in his reading, a line of gray text suddenly appeared.

[Copper once harmed the source of Carrion Ghost mutation. Therefore, Copper can resist certain mutations, with a particularly pronounced effect against Carrion Ghosts.]

Lu Yuan looked at the prompt in surprise.

Wasn't this exactly what he was reading about?

Lu Yuan stared at the book's mention that "Carrion Ghosts fear Copper" and fell into thought.

His cheat seemed capable of seeing deeper information as well?

Lu Yuan began testing it.

As Lu Yuan fixed his gaze on a line about "common types of Ghosts," another line of gray text appeared.

"Ghosts are His people..."

The instant the text appeared up to that point, Lu Yuan decisively shifted his gaze away.

The last time the translation had gone wrong was with that parchment scroll.

Fortunately, nothing "Eerie" happened this time.

It was also then that Lu Yuan confirmed that as long as he focused, the "translation" ability that had always accompanied him would activate.

It could parse deeper information through these dry words.

And as these annotations continued to appear, the experience bar at the edge of his vision kept jumping.

[Forbidden Studies—Peeper: +0.2]

However, he had to be careful. Some text contained poisonous information, so he needed to exercise extra caution while reading.

Lu Yuan's gaze shifted slightly, and an imperceptible curve formed at the corner of his lips.

Since he could gain experience through this method of analysis, then no matter how basic the books' contents were, the result would be the same as long as enough quantity was piled up.

"Then I'll finish every book on this shelf."

Lu Yuan calmed himself and began flipping through them quickly, page by page.

The Library held only the sound of turning pages and the crunching of the Book Spirit chewing paper overhead.

Before he knew it, four hours had passed.

[Forbidden Studies—Peeper: +1.6]

[Current Progress: 7.8/10]

Lu Yuan closed the book and rubbed his slightly swollen temples.

Although his sanity had not dropped, he could feel a deep exhaustion.

"One month?"

Lu Yuan touched the box in his pocket containing a chunk of Ghoul flesh, feeling its icy chill.

"Perhaps I only need three days to set foot on that path."