Lubo Lane and the Bookstore

At a street corner, Gallo tossed a one-Fenso coin into the air, caught it, and slapped it onto the back of his other hand.

He lowered his head to check the result.

"Tails. Nothing here either..."

He turned and left without hesitation, entrusting his search for an apprenticeship entirely to fate.

Whenever he reached the corner of a street, Gallo would stop and use the coin to divine whether he could find an apprentice position in one of the shops on that street.

Yet without exception, every toss came up tails.

"This is already the seventh street corner!"

The seventh toss had still landed on tails, and Gallo began to feel a trace of unease.

Moreover, every time he tossed the coin, the sensation of being watched and the sudden drop in the surrounding temperature made him deeply uncomfortable.

I should possess a little Psionic power, otherwise this phenomenon wouldn't happen.

But... why has this one-Fenso coin become somewhat... greasy? And why does it look a little blackened...?

The one-Fenso coin in his hand felt greasy to the touch, and it had lost its usual luster, looking as though a layer of black ink had seeped into it.

The scant Subspace knowledge in his mind was not enough for him to understand why this was happening.

Perhaps when he had attribute points to allocate again in the future and acquired more knowledge of Subspace, he would understand.

But by then, allocating points to knowledge probably would not be his first choice.

"The eighth street!"

Gallo tossed the coin again. Just as he instinctively assumed it would probably land on tails once more—

To his surprise, it showed heads, bearing the national emblem of the Iron Glory Empire.

"Huh? Is it here?"

On the street sign at the intersection, Gallo saw the name of this street: "Lubo Lane."

He entered the street, where most of the shops on both sides were bookstores.

The street was quite long. It took about six minutes to walk from one end to the other, and Gallo counted forty-one bookstores alone.

Yet none of the bookstores or other shops had put up signs advertising for helpers or apprentices.

At that moment, a melodious bronze bell rang out.

Gallo looked toward its source. From Lubo Lane, he could see a towering red-brick clock tower to the southwest.

That should be the clock tower of Imperial Industrial University!

It's one of the landmark buildings on the Imperial Industrial University campus.

I remember... back in middle school, our teacher said in class that the clock tower at Imperial Industrial University rang three times a day.

At eight in the morning, twelve at noon, and five in the evening!

"The bell ringing now should be for twelve noon."

Only then did Gallo notice the waves of hunger in his stomach.

"I actually walked this far. From my home to Imperial Industrial University, it takes at least an hour on foot.

"Even by carriage, it takes around twenty minutes."

Gallo sighed. Although Valen Street, where his home was located, and Imperial Industrial University were both in Tin City's West District, the university was actually on the edge of the West District.

It bordered both the North District and the South District, making it one of the busiest areas in Tin City.

"No wonder Lubo Lane has so many bookstores. Imperial Industrial University is right next door.

"With all the university students coming by, the bookstores here must do decent business.

"And the road on Lubo Lane is paved with stone bricks. It really is a prosperous part of the city."

Most of the streets outside were dirt roads, which became especially muddy in bad weather. A great deal of dried mud was caked onto Gallo's boots.

He stood before a bookstore with a sign above the door reading "Aofan Bookstore."

The bookstore's display window was small, its glass covered in a thin layer of dust. Inside, all kinds of books were stacked together.

Gallo felt that this divination had to be wrong.

"There aren't any shops here with hiring signs, but... I can still go in and ask."

He took a breath. "Even if I don't ask, I can pretend I'm here to buy books. A bookstore here wouldn't throw customers out, would it?"

He pushed open the wooden door of Aofan Bookstore.

Inside was the smell of ink, mingled with the distinctive pine-like scent of paper.

Rows upon rows of bookshelves stood tightly packed together. Even the narrow aisles were piled with stacks of books.

Gallo turned into the first row of shelves. Some of the books were brand new, while others were clearly old, their gilt lettering on the spines long since blurred.

Every usable space and corner had been claimed by books.

The only empty place was the shop counter, where a hunched elderly man wearing glasses watched the customer who had just entered.

Gallo smiled politely at him, then intended to browse the shop on his own first. However, the owner took the initiative and asked, "What do you need?"

"I'd like to take a look around. Perhaps I'll find something that interests me," Gallo replied with a smile.

The owner narrowed his eyes and carefully looked him over. Fortunately, Gallo was dressed rather neatly; only his shoes were dirty.

If he had been some impoverished wandering boy, the owner would certainly have thrown him out.

The owner then asked sternly, "Can you read the words in books?"

Gallo, who held a second-year middle school diploma, smiled. Before he had been persuaded to leave school, his grades had been excellent. Reading every word in a book was no trouble for him.

He picked up the thick book closest to him on the nearby shelf, glanced at the words on its cover, and read aloud, "Overview of Steam Principles!"

He put the book back, then picked up several more. "Physics of Steam Engines!"

"Cornerstone of Modern Industry!"

"Industrial Miracles: Humanity and Steel."

"..."

"Enough, enough!" The owner waved a hand. "Go find whatever you want to read yourself. Bring it here to pay once you've found it."

Clearly, Gallo's literacy made the owner regard him as a normal customer.

In Tin City, most children Gallo's age were factory child laborers or apprentices. Very few were still in school.

To let him study, his family had spent all of his father's death benefit from the war. His mother, Aisha, had worked desperately in a factory until she fell ill.

Gallo smiled at the owner again, then began browsing one shelf after another.

Brass labels were attached to the sides of the shelves, marked "Mechanical Engineering," "Fundamentals of Metallurgy," "History of the Empire," "Literary Essays," and so on.

If the books on the shelves were newer, a small line bearing the title was often printed on their spines.

However, some much older books had no titles on their spines. Gallo would pull those out, glance at the name on the cover, and put them back.

At that moment, he seemed to be browsing casually, as though he wanted to inspect every book in the entire bookstore.

He headed toward the "Humanities and History" section and picked up a book whose cover bore several gold-dusted words: Epic of the Seven Kingdoms.

After finishing that shelf, he went to the next section and pulled out a copy of Illustrated Basic Geometry...

His movements grew faster and faster.

[Learning LV2] allowed him to swiftly scan book titles and even multitask. With only a glance, all the books with titles on their spines had their information automatically stored in his mind.

[Memory LV2] allowed him to clearly remember every book he had just browsed, as well as the precise locations of every category of shelves in the shop.

Even the shelf layout he had previously glimpsed by chance unfolded in his mind like a map.

He even remembered every stack of books placed in the corners on the floor.

Then he went to the counter. The owner looked at him and asked, "Didn't find anything suitable? Heh heh, I don't have picture books or storybooks here."

Gallo shook his head and asked, "Excuse me, are you hiring apprentices? Or helpers?"

The man frowned and looked Gallo over again.

Gallo volunteered, "I've already memorized the names of every book in the shop, including where they are placed. If I worked here, I would definitely do an excellent job."

That was precisely why Gallo had been browsing titles and memorizing locations just now. He hoped it would earn him some extra consideration from the owner.

But the owner replied coldly and without interest, "No need!"

He clearly did not believe Gallo could do that. He did not even give him a chance to prove it, or perhaps the shop truly had no need for a helper.

The owner could handle every task by himself.

After leaving Aofan Bookstore, Gallo complained that the divination really was unreliable. He immediately headed for the next bookstore.

Once inside, he repeated the process from Aofan Bookstore, browsing every row of shelves. After memorizing the name and location of every book, he asked the owner whether they needed an apprentice or helper.

But the owner of that bookstore rejected him just as coldly.

Thus, Gallo spent the entire afternoon trying all forty bookstores on Lubo Lane.

Every result was a rejection, even when some owners, merely wanting to try him out and pass the boring time when there were no real customers around—

Asked Gallo where certain books were and received the correct answers, they still did not hire him.

Even the larger bookstores with other employees had no intention of hiring another cheap young laborer.

"This is the last bookstore!"

By then, Gallo had eaten nothing all day apart from breakfast. Ravenous, he felt as though he no longer had the strength even to walk home.

But he still wanted to try the last bookstore. Even if failure was inevitable, he wanted to visit every bookstore on this street.

However, when he entered the final bookstore, he saw neither the owner nor any clerk behind the counter.

He browsed the store, memorized the titles and locations of the books, then waited for a while, but still did not see the owner emerge from anywhere else.

"Is there... no one here?"

Just as he found it strange that there was no clerk or owner watching over the bookstore, a sigh came from the deepest part of the shop.

"Can't find it. Looks like my shop really doesn't have it. But I remember stocking two or three copies a long time ago. Could they have already been sold, and I simply forgot?"

Then a younger voice said dejectedly, "I've already gone to many bookstores. I urgently need that book now. What's in it can help me complete the task assigned by my professor!"