Library

Night fell, the starry sky dotted with light.

The group finally returned to Shrek Academy.

The Rock Crystal Dragon felt the rich soul power in the air and hopped about joyfully.

Before they parted ways, Xian Lin'er took out an object:

"Little Ran, look at this. What is it?"

Lu Ran looked closely: it was a bracelet inlaid with a deep purple gem, possessing a profound aura.

"This is called a Storage Soul Tool," Xian Lin'er thought of how she had beaten Yan Shaozhe to the punch and felt a surge of delight. "It's similar to your Small World; it has internal space and can store items, but it is more private and convenient. I'm giving it to you."

"This..."

"No refusing!"

Xian Lin'er feigned anger and lightly flicked Lu Ran on the head.

Lu Ran also feigned a pained yelp, causing the Rock Crystal Dragon to turn its head over. Finding no danger, it continued chasing butterflies.

"Thank you very much, Dean Xian."

He accepted the Storage Soul Tool with both hands, feeling grateful. After probing it with his soul power, he discovered that the internal space was indeed vast... and filled with many ores.

Ores of various colors were piled into a small mountain, occupying at least half the space.

Lu Ran looked up at Xian Lin'er. She was smiling brilliantly at Yan Shaozhe—a smile from the heart. She didn't expect a single Soul Tool to pull Lu Ran into the Soul Guidance Department; as long as it could spark his curiosity about soul tools, that was enough.

Seeing Lu Ran look at her, she explained, "Besides its normal diet, the Rock Crystal Dragon likes to eat certain minerals. It can absorb the elements within them to strengthen its scales, teeth, bones, and other body parts. This is why it appeared near the cave entrance; the cave extends deep underground, making it convenient to search for minerals."

"Isn't this too precious?"

He asked subconsciously, but Xian Lin'er waved it off, indicating it didn't matter—a gift was a gift.

Lu Ran expressed his sincere gratitude once more.

He had heard before that the Rock Crystal Dragon ate minerals, but these ores seemed a bit too numerous.

He took out a long, prismatic ore that shimmered with a crystalline luster. It felt cool and heavy in his hand.

The ores in the Soul Tool were of various shapes; some looked like mere rocks and were very inconspicuous, but this one was striking at a glance.

The Rock Crystal Dragon, which had been lowering its head to drink water, suddenly lifted its head and sniffed twice.

Its eyes lit up.

It immediately began searching everywhere.

Turning around, it happened to see the ore in Lu Ran's hand, and it began to drool:

So big?

I haven't even seen one this big in the cave!

It let out two excited yelps.

It hurried over, almost pressing its body against Lu Ran's, though its gaze remained fixed on the ore.

Its expression seemed to say: Give it to me, give it to me~

Xian Lin'er was amused by the Rock Crystal Dragon. "These ores are rare, and they have a strong attraction for this type of soul beast."

Lu Ran moved his hand holding the ore to the left, and the Rock Crystal Dragon's head followed to the left; he moved it to the right, and its head followed to the right.

It was indeed very attractive.

He handed it over, and the Rock Crystal Dragon happily clamped its jaws around it, lying down on the spot to chew.

"It can actually chew the ore," Lu Ran said with novelty. It had a good set of teeth.

"To be precise, it should be grinding," Xian Lin'er said. "It uses its teeth to grind the ore bit by bit into powder before swallowing it; that is the only way it can absorb it."

Truly logical, he sighed in his heart once again.

Afterward, Yan Shaozhe, Xian Lin'er, and the others left. The once-bustling Sea God Island suddenly fell into silence.

Outside the Sea God Pavilion's worship hall, the most eye-catching things on the island were the wide variety of rare plants and herbs. Growing beneath the Golden Ancient Tree for who knows how many years, they certainly couldn't be measured by ordinary value; they were already part of Shrek's foundation.

Lu Ran decided to take a stroll around Sea God Island.

Man and beast walked slowly. He saw a flower—didn't recognize it; saw a blade of grass—didn't recognize it; saw a vine... still didn't recognize it. But as part of the scenery, he had to admit they were truly beautiful. The Rock Crystal Dragon, meanwhile, chewed intently, feeling completely satisfied.

After a lap, Lu Ran realized... he really didn't recognize a single one. Currently, he only recognized those immortal herbs far away in the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well: the Star Spirit Grass, the Oblivion Flying Flower, and those few most famous immortal herbs: the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo, the Aromatic Silk Beauty...

On the way, he pondered that he should go check out the library.

On the way back, he had asked Yan Shaozhe about the Shrek library.

Yan Shaozhe had said confidently that as the number one academy in the world, Shrek Academy's collection was absolutely astonishingly rich.

Both the inner and outer courts had libraries.

The Outer Court library contained only basic books, leaning toward introductory learning and general knowledge. Titles included Illustrated Guide to Soul Beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest, Annotations on Low-Level Soul Master Cultivation, History of the Heaven Spirit Empire, Star Luo Customs and Geography, Weaknesses of Agility-Attack Soul Masters, Weaknesses of Power-Attack Soul Masters, Weaknesses of Support Soul Masters... Yan Shaozhe, in an attempt to show off his erudition, rattled off a long list of book titles in one breath.

The Outer Court library held no secrets; its only defining characteristic was its richness—an extreme, exhaustive richness that covered every category one could imagine.

The Inner Court library, however, was entirely different.

Though equally vast as a sea of books, it was only accessible to Inner Court students.

Its collection consisted mostly of high-level soul master theories and research on rare martial souls. At the time, Xian Lin'er had added that it also contained Soul Tool technology, while also remarking that Dean Yan was quite forgetful, and so on.

Of course, Lu Ran also knew of a secret library, open only to the Elders and specific personnel, which stored the core secrets of Shrek spanning ten thousand years.

It was located right inside the Sea God Pavilion.

Lu Ran had lived there for six years, yet his understanding of the continent remained limited. After all, having stayed in a small village, it was impossible to broaden his horizons, so he needed to read extensively—about the three great empires, the Sun Moon Empire, plants, and soul beasts...

He truly needed books.

It was just a pity that it was too late today; he would have to wait until tomorrow.

The night passed without incident.

Rising early the next day, Lu Ran finished washing up and headed toward the Outer Court library.

The Sea God Pavilion was separated from the Inner Court by a lake, with no bridge connecting them. For him, currently only a one-ring soul master, there was no way he could cross on his own.

Fortunately, Xian Lin'er had already thought of this.

She had placed a single-person skiff in his storage Soul Tool in advance, which could be activated simply by injecting soul power.

It was convenient and fast.

After putting it into the water, he even took a lap around the lake before heading ashore to reach the Inner Court.

Shrek recruited about one thousand students each year, and the total number of students in the academy had never exceeded five thousand. Because graduation required examinations, a portion was eliminated every year, keeping the numbers consistently low.

Yet even so, As the number one academy on the continent, this number was still too small. Given the vast population of the continent, even if Shrek only accepted one-in-ten-thousand talents, it should have been packed to the brim.

This was due to the restrictions imposed by the three great empires.

Shrek held a transcendent status and maintained neutrality, but in the eyes of the three great empires, this neutrality was, to put it nicely, helping them cultivate talent, and to put it bluntly, helping enemy nations cultivate talent.

Respect on the surface was just that—surface level. Privately, none of them wanted to see Shrek grow larger and stronger.

Thus, the three great empires tacitly joined forces to restrict them.

Shrek could only recruit one thousand students per year and required letters of recommendation, which resulted in the students being children of the powerful and wealthy.

Shrek had always hoped to recruit more commoner students, but due to the helplessness of the students and reality, they had to establish the Outer Court and the Inner Court.

The Outer Court was very strict.

But the Inner Court was the core of Shrek; or rather, Inner Court students were the true Shrek students.

They would be cultivated with the utmost care.

Lu Ran put away the single-person skiff and stepped onto the island.

Due to graduations and mission assignments, people left every year, so the Inner Court rarely had more than a hundred people—it was only slightly livelier than the Sea God Pavilion.

Walking across the open-air plaza, he naturally attracted the attention of some students.

To reach the Inner Court, one had to finish six years of the Outer Court. It was unlikely for someone of his age to have finished.

Whispers broke out.

Lu Ran didn't care about this at all and continued walking forward, only to come face-to-face with a familiar figure.

A girl of fourteen or fifteen, dressed in the Inner Court uniform, possessed a cold temperament, a delicate nose, a refined face, and skin so fair that one could even see the faint blue veins beneath it.

Her beautiful eyes widened slightly as she looked at him, clearly not expecting to meet him in the Inner Court.

"Sister Luochen?"