Chapter 312: Selection

Time spent with someone you like is always relaxing.

After the two of them took a leisurely stroll around the garden, Blanche led Luoning into her study.

"Wait here for a moment."

She gave a mysterious smile and walked into the inner room.

Luoning glanced inside; it appeared to be a library, furnished with quite a few bookshelves.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "You have far more books than I do."

"I flip through them when I'm bored, though there are many books I haven't even read yet."

As she spoke, Blanche opened the bookshelf on her left, took out several books, and placed them on the desk outside.

"These are?" Luoning walked over, curious.

Blanche explained, "When we were rowing on Wushan Lake last time, didn't you say you wanted to understand the history before the empire was established? I went to collect these during the time I was back."

Luoning remembered this.

Although he had meant it as a way to find a topic of conversation at the time, he was indeed very interested in the history before the empire.

Books in this world are expensive; a forty-page parchment book costs four silver coins, and the content recorded is very brief.

Historical books are dry and dull, not very popular, and thus have no market value, which leads to very few people putting effort into recording history.

The appearance of a historical gap is therefore a matter of course.

Luoning picked up a book and flipped through it casually, "Thank you, may I take these books back to read?"

"Of course!"

Blanche said with a smile, "I have read all seven of these books, and the content recorded within is neither detailed nor complete. However, three of the books do mention terms like 'Demon God' and 'Catastrophe'."

"Demon God, Catastrophe..."

Luoning chewed on these two words inwardly. Associating them with his encounter in the Guiyi Shangu and those monsters that were pierced by longswords yet did not die, he felt there must have been a more glorious transcendental history before the empire.

Could it be that a Catastrophe caused this world to reset?

Blanche opened one of the books, found the page with the relevant record, and handed it to Luoning.

"Although these terms are mentioned, the descriptions remain very vague. And in my opinion, they seem more like fantasy Knight novels."

"Let me see."

Luoning took the book and began to read.

People generally have an illusion that time feels like it passes very quickly when they are with someone they like.

This is exactly how it was for Luoning and Blanche now; they felt they had only walked around the garden a few times and chatted in the study for a bit before it was noon.

Originally, he had wanted to go choose books in the morning, but now he could only wait until the afternoon.

In the afternoon, Blanche acted as a guide, taking the opportunity to walk around the vast Golden Feather Palace while leading Luoning to the library.

Occasionally, when they saw other nobles also walking in the palace, she would stop to exchange greetings.

Luoning did notice that when Blanche introduced him as a friend, a few ladies seemed to show sympathy in their eyes?

Blanche seemed to notice it too; her expression became somewhat unnatural, and her mood seemed to be affected as well.

Luoning naturally comforted her very considerately.

Before long, the two arrived outside the library.

Unlike the tall and magnificent building Luoning had imagined, the so-called library was just a one-story building covering about a hundred square meters.

Unlike ordinary wooden or stone buildings, the outer walls of the library seemed to be coated with a special material, and many Spell Patterns were carved upon them.

According to Blanche, this library had been reinforced by the Magician Beiluola, and it was difficult for ordinary attacks to cause it damage.

If the Magic Array inside were actively activated, its defensive strength would be even greater.

Luoning observed the surroundings; besides the library's own strong defenses, there were no fewer than ten Knights guarding the perimeter, so there was no need to worry about thieves appearing.

The tall Knight at the entrance must have received instructions from His Majesty the King; seeing Blanche bring Luoning over, he took the initiative to greet them, and after a few polite words, let them inside.

However, he did offer a reminder, telling Luoning he could only choose two books and could not take out any more.

The heavy, massive door was pushed open, and the air inside emitted a scent like parchment and Magic Beast Leather, which was not very pleasant.

"The list is over here."

Blanche had clearly been here before; she walked to the side, familiar with the layout, picked up the book placed there, and handed it over.

Luoning took it and looked; he had to admire the richness of Bruno's collection.

From Primary level all the way to Level 7 and Level 8 Magic and Battle Techniques of various attributes, everything was collected here. In addition, there were Secret Tomes for Battle Qi cultivation, as well as the secret techniques mentioned yesterday, and so on.

"As expected of His Majesty the King; the value of this library could probably buy my Wubei Territory."

Blanche pursed her lips and smiled, "You must choose carefully."

"That goes without saying!"

Bruno only told Luoning to choose two books, but he didn't specify which two, nor did he limit the level of the Battle Techniques or Magic books.

Aiming to maximize his benefits, Luoning skipped the Level 6 Battle Techniques and Magic currently suitable for him and turned his target directly to Level 7 and above.

At the Magic Chamber of Commerce, even Level 6 Magic is hard to purchase, let alone Level 7 and up.

"Level 7 Magic 'Wind Wings', allowing a Magician to break free from the shackles of the earth and soar in the sky like a bird."

"Level 7 Magic 'Heart of the Earth', capable of generating high temperatures sufficient to melt iron into water!"

"Level 7 Magic 'Earth Bear', the caster can summon a massive rock bear to crush everything!"

"Level 8 Magic 'Gravity Increase', changing the gravity in a certain area, making useless Knights unable to move an inch..."

This introduction was somewhat discriminatory toward Professional Knights.

After browsing through them, Luoning felt he could sense the powerful might contained behind their names.

Although he only had Wind and Fire attributes, keeping the others might prove useful in the future.

Water attribute, Earth attribute, Lightning attribute—the Transcendental individuals with great potential in his territory might find them useful later on.

It was just a pity that he only had two slots.

Luoning blinked his eyes and looked at Blanche: "What should I do if I want all of these?"

"Ah, this..."

Blanche was stunned for a moment, then she also blinked and asked with some hesitation: "How about I go ask Father for a few more?"

She suddenly blushed and said: "Or when you marry me, I can have him give a few more as a gift."

"Hahaha, good!"

Luoning laughed and turned his gaze back to the list, beginning to select the books suitable for him.

First, considering the power and rarity of secret techniques, Luoning's first choice was a secret technique.

However, this thing required careful selection, because there was only one on the list—"Scorching Ray".

This secret technique required fusing and compressing wind and fire attribute Battle Qi, then firing it outward in the form of a beam of light.

The beam produced by this secret technique possessed both ultra-high temperature and extraordinary piercing power; it was said that it could even melt and pierce through heavy armor.

"I'll choose this one as the first."

Blanche leaned in, "Only a Meteor Knight is qualified to master a secret technique; if you choose it now, I'm afraid you won't be able to use it for many years."

According to the rules set by Bruno, any books on Battle Techniques or Magic taken out from here were not allowed to be spread to outsiders.

If caught spreading them, the disseminator would face a fine as high as thirty times the value on one hand, and on the other hand, the royal family would suppress the disseminator's reputation, territory, and other aspects, with very serious consequences.

Therefore, in Blanche's view, although the secret technique Luoning chose was incomparably precious, it was a bit of a waste since he wouldn't be able to use it for several years at the shortest, or several decades at the longest.

"It's fine, it's better than not having it when I need it."

Seeing Luoning persist, Blanche didn't say anything more, "Then I'll go find it for you; you think about what to choose for the second one."

Saying this, she went to help look for it according to the locations recorded on the list.

What should the second choice be?

Luoning frowned and pondered.

He already had two Meteor-level Battle Techniques, so what remained were the spells needed to be mastered when becoming a Great Archmage.

Wind Wings, Heart Piercing Wave, Terrain Fire, Summon Fire Elemental.

His gaze shifted back and forth among these four spells.

After Along while, he made his choice.

"It's you, Wind Wings!" (End of chapter)