Chapter 95: Human Encyclopedia

Master Keli Feisi's efficiency was extremely high; the next day he sent one of his students to assist Lei En throughout the process of handling the pass card procedures at Silver Star Academy.

This student is a Mid-stage Wizard and also has a considerable reputation at Silver Star Academy.

Under his guidance, Lei En registered his name, filled out the information, explained his background, sent someone to Claidun Academy to retrieve files, conducted a faith test, and each step was completed at the fastest speed.

Among all these documents, the most important requirement is two recommendation letters.

The recommenders must be Wizards within Silver Star Academy, or members of the Wizard Tower.

Master Keli Feisi had already written a recommendation letter; with his status, that one alone would have been sufficient.

However, Lei En did not want to break the rules, so he made a special trip to the Violet House and had Viola also write a recommendation letter.

Viola also graduated from Silver Star Academy and studied at the Wizard Tower for three years, but she manages the family business for the Duke of Silver Star, so she is rarely in the Wizard Tower; in fact she is also considered one of the Duke of Silver Star's students, making her status rather special.

Finally, the two recommendation letters together with the application form were sent directly to the Vice Dean's office.

This Vice Dean is also a student of the Duke of Silver Star and a legendary Wizard, acting on behalf of the Duke to manage the academy's daily affairs.

The Vice Dean had heard of Lei En's name, knew he had rendered service to Longshande, felt very favorable toward him, and with two highly esteemed recommenders, approved the application on the spot.

Lei En took only half a day to obtain the Silver Star Academy pass card.

From then on, he could move freely within the academy, enter and exit the Silver Star Grand Library at will, though the Wizard Tower remained inaccessible.

Under normal procedures, pass card approval takes at least two months, and it might still be denied.

This made Lei En sigh, "How convenient when there are influential people in the court!"

The Wizard who helped throughout, upon seeing the matter completed, immediately returned to the Wizard Tower, as if not wanting to waste a moment.

Lei En expressed his thanks to him, then began to stroll around the academy.

He seemed to be idling, but in fact had already activated the Voice of All Things, searching for the follower of the Loxi faith he met yesterday.

He searched for more than half an hour but heard no familiar sound.

Lei En was not in a hurry; although Silver Star Academy is large, its population is actually not many.

The academy enrolls only a little over a hundred students each year; accumulated over the years are generations of Wizards and ordinary people serving the Wizards, and the total number of people in the academy and the Wizard Tower together is under three thousand.

As long as the other party is still within the academy, they will eventually meet.

So Lei En stopped aimless searching and went to the Silver Star Grand Library.

The Grand Library is the most prominent building in the academy after the Wizard Tower; its exterior resembles a magnificent temple, with a plaza directly in front of the temple, and in the center of the plaza stands a tall, solemn statue.

The statue can be seen from a great distance.

The nearly thirty-meter-high stone statue depicts a woman with indistinct features, as if wearing a veil that obscures her face.

She is clad in a simple long robe, graceful in posture, long hair draped behind, a hair crown on her head; her left hand holds an open book, her right hand stretches forward, a wisp of silver flame rising from her palm, and her eyes flash with an indescribable light, as if containing supreme wisdom.

Lei En only glanced once before quickly lowering his head, unwilling to stare for long.

He felt an inexplicable pressure from the statue, a force that trembled his spirit and pierced his soul, as if looking at it longer would be sacrilege.

"Is this divine power?"

Lei En sensed a familiar aura, much like the feeling he gets each week when praying to the goddess.

Only the feeling from this statue is countless times stronger than that of personal prayer.

He restrained his curiosity and wisely did not open his Soul Eye to observe the statue, lest a bad outcome ensue.

A railing encircles the statue's base, forbidding people from getting too close.

Every passerby nearby stops, praying devoutly toward the statue.

Lei En did not dare to be lax and also prayed.

He could not tell if it was an illusion, but praying before this statue seemed far more effective than at home, a strange force circling his soul, bringing inner peace.

Recently, Lei En prays to the goddess once a week, accelerating the removal of the "Conflict Mark".

Given the current situation, the Conflict Mark should dissipate in at most half a year.

If it could fade faster, Lei En would gladly pray daily, becoming a faithful follower of the goddess, which is also a good choice.

In Ai Lun E Si, the deity's followers are divided into several levels according to devotion.

The most common are General Believers, who worship multiple deities; General Believers are also Shallow Believers, able to provide only a small amount of faith power to the deities.

Shallow Believers typically pray once a week, are the most numerous, and are the most prone to wavering faith or even converting.

More devout than Shallow Believers are Faithful Believers, also called Loyal Believers.

Loyal Believers pray almost daily, providing more faith power, live according to doctrine, and form the backbone of the church, rarely changing faith under normal circumstances.

Then come the Fanatics, the most zealous believers, who pray multiple times daily, conduct themselves strictly according to the creed, not only worship the deity themselves but often compel others to do so, willing to sacrifice their lives for the deity.

Regardless of the deity, the number of Fanatics is never large.

The majority are Shallow Believers; Loyal Believers are few and generally become the church's leadership.

The God of Magic's church organization is relatively loose, far less structured than the Empire's other two major deities; it has no dedicated clergy, and its leaders are usually Wizards serving concurrently.

Nevertheless, the God of Magic remains an extremely powerful deity.

Since the Oriense Empire's ruling authority fell into the hands of the Supreme Council, the entire empire's system has been restructured from top to bottom, allowing the church to exist in a broad, generalized form.

The belief in the goddess has penetrated the hearts of the empire's subjects, becoming a lifestyle and a unique culture.

In such a situation, no strict church organization is needed; people naturally worship the goddess.

As a Wizard, Lei En does not reject becoming a Loyal Believer of the goddess.

He bypassed the statue and headed toward the Grand Library.

Below the main entrance, a gate that combines machinery and magic shines with radiant energy.

Lei En took out his newly acquired pass card; a beam of light swept over the card, instantly recognizing his identity and opening the checkpoint.

Passing through the towering main gate, the first sight was a vast, bright, spacious area.

The interior of the entire library is almost completely open; aside from a row of columns in the middle supporting the dome, nothing else obstructs the view.

The library is divided into five levels, upper and lower; each level can see directly down to the base, where another goddess statue stands, and each level extends outward, the whole resembling a square colossal bowl.

Between each level, the floor space is filled with countless bookshelves.

"What an imposing library!"

Lei En genuinely marvels.

Such uniquely designed, ingeniously crafted architecture is rare even in his previous life.

He scans roughly, and based on years of librarian experience, estimates the library holds between five hundred thousand and seven hundred thousand volumes, not far behind some provincial city libraries.

In a world where information flow and printing are far less advanced than in his previous life, this quantity of books is already remarkable.

Moreover, the library's management level is also very high.

Lei En wanders casually through the first floor and clearly sees that all the books in the library are in excellent condition, evidently tended by dedicated staff regularly.

Like the libraries of his previous life, the books here are divided into a dozen or so major categories according to content and purpose.

Each major category is concentrated on shelves in a single area, and every book on the shelves has its own code.

Some more important books even have magical protection.

In the middle of the lower level, beneath the goddess statue's feet, sits a small magic‑sorting device resembling those of the Mechanical Guild; a Wizard operates it, handling book searches and returns.

Whenever someone borrows or returns a book, they simply input the code into the device and the corresponding shelf is located without any error.

At this moment, nearly a hundred people are reading in the library.

These people are mostly Wizards, largely gathered on the third floor, which is entirely filled with books on magical knowledge and is the library's largest category.

Lei En takes a deep breath, feeling extremely comfortable.

Each return to the library feels like coming home, that familiar feeling returning.

He does not hesitate and proceeds straight to the third floor.

Rows of shelves bear side labels for categories: Runic, Alchemical, Element, Magic Potion, Spell, Magic Soul, and so on; tens of thousands of magical books line up before him, prompting him to exclaim at the vastness of magical knowledge.

Lei En casually walks toward the Magic Soul shelves and at first glance spots the Book of a Thousand Souls.

Here the Book of a Thousand Souls is the full version, with dozens of sets, each set containing twelve volumes, filling an entire shelf, clearly very popular and frequently borrowed.

He picks up the first volume of the Book of a Thousand Souls, walks to the adjacent reading area, and sits at an empty seat.

He opens the pages and begins reading.

Because he had previously read an abridged version with overlapping content, Lei En reads quickly, finishing the first volume in just half an hour.

In contrast, the full version introduces Magic Souls in greater detail, with deeper analysis.

Each type of Magic Soul is described at length.

Just reading this one book makes Lei En feel today's trip was worthwhile; as he is about to stand and return the book, a sudden thought occurs, recalling his personal library on his phone.

Since his first Soul Transformation, which activated this online reading app, he has never explored it closely.

Given the phone's mutated functions, perhaps there are special uses; now that he's at the Silver Star Grand Library, maybe he should try it.

Lei En instantly opens the phone interface in his view, finds the personal library, and launches it.

The next second, the book catalog unfolds before his eyes.

These books were brought over from his previous life, totaling over five hundred, with varied content organized into sub‑catalogs.

Lei En can freely select any book, open it in his view, and read.

Suddenly, alongside the existing catalog, a whole new row of entries pops up, continuously refreshing and growing.

"I knew it!"

Even though Lei En had long suspected a surprise, he didn't expect it to actually appear.

Upon closer inspection, he finds all the new entries are magic‑related; at the top is the Book of a Thousand Souls, from volume one to twelve, perfectly ordered without missing any.

His mind settles on the first volume and selects it.

Immediately, a progress bar appears behind the entry, resembling a download.

Five seconds later, the entry flashes, indicating download complete, then unfolds before Lei En, displaying the first page.

He flips through using his mind, discovering that merely thinking of a page number or its content instantly turns to the corresponding page.

"This feature is impressive—like a brain‑based search engine?"

Lei En is greatly astonished; the phone's mutated functions are truly wondrous!

He swiftly scans several pages and finds the content identical to the physical book in his hand.

After careful comparison, not only is the text identical, but even the stains and ink smudges from printing are perfectly reproduced, as if the entire book were copied into the phone.

"I've read the first volume; what about the others I haven't seen?"

Lei En closes the first volume of the Book of a Thousand Souls, his eyes full of anticipation, selects the second volume. Another progress bar appears, downloads in a few seconds, and opens smoothly.

"Whoa, it really works!"

If not for the others nearby, Lei En almost wanted to jump up and shout in celebration.

He quickly skims a few pages of the second volume, rises to fetch the physical second volume from the shelf, and compares—still exactly the same.

This discovery makes Lei En unable to sit still reading.

He sits at his spot, appearing to read earnestly, eyes on the pages, but in fact he continuously clicks items in the list.

Every few seconds, another book is copied into the personal library.

The full set of the Book of a Thousand Souls, the Kemiatis Spell Codex (56 volumes), Runic Knowledge, Arcane Element Analysis, Magic Potionology, Introduction to Alchemy, Light of Arcane, Demon Encyclopedia, Detailed Guide to Super Magic Techniques, Enchanted Treasure Guide, and so on…

Every book that appears in the catalog, Lei En does not overlook.

For over an hour, holding the second volume of the Book of a Thousand Souls, he reads not a single word, sitting motionless.

Yet in his mind, the personal library has duplicated over a thousand magical books!

Until all downloadable entries before his eyes are completed.

"Is that all?" Lei En exhales lightly, noticing the phone's battery has dropped thirty units, and his head feels a bit swollen.

He ponders, with hundreds of thousands of books in the library, why could only this thousand‑plus be copied?

He then stood up, put the book in his hand back on the shelf, and walked toward another area on the third floor.

Just after walking a short distance, the directory in the interface refreshed immediately!

"Soul Power Fine Application," "Explosion Techniques of Fireball Art," "Plane Exploration," "Analysis of the Four Elements," "Illustrated Guide to Alchemical Plants," — all were new books he had never seen before.

Lei En's gaze swept across the bookshelf, and he noticed that these newly appeared books were all near him.

"It turns out you need to be close enough for these books to refresh on the phone."

He suddenly realized, casually picked up a book, sat down, and continued happily copying it into his phone. While copying books, using one of them as a reference, he discovered that the farthest a book could be copied from him was about eight meters; any farther and it wouldn't work.

"No matter how many meters, even if you have to touch the book to copy it, that's already impressive."

Lei En was very satisfied.

According to the copying speed, taking into account the phone's battery consumption, spending half a day each day in the library, he could copy about five thousand books.

With just three months, he could move all the books of the Silver Star Grand Library into his mind, becoming a walking encyclopedia in human form!

(End of chapter)