Chapter 3874

The end of the mountain road was a small square, and a statue of a person Xia De didn't recognize stood on the square. Behind the statue, people were coming and going on the twenty-plus white stone steps. At the very top of the steps was a towering palace building with white walls, the majority of its volume embedded directly into the mountain rock.

This library had a full eight main doors, and the height of the library was visually estimated to be at least 12 meters. The highest point was a triangular roof, and on the front of the roof were the embossed words: "Knowledge, Wealth; Creation, Source."

This building was very magnificent, and because the main body of the building was embedded in the mountain, Xia De, standing at the entrance with his head raised, didn't know how large the library's true area was.

He once suspected whether this place, like the "Golden Music Hall" in Vesta Land, was rebuilt from ancient temple buildings left behind, but exact historical records documented the construction of this library; this building was truly built in the Sixth Era:

"According to the development level of the ancient Sixth Era, when this library was completed, it could also be considered a 'wonder'."

Stepping up the stairs and passing through the main door, one officially entered the interior of the library. There was a unique scent of ink and paper in the air, and the polished, shining marble floor reminded Xia De of banks in big cities, while on the screen wall facing the door, the sentence "Innovation is the primary driving force for development" was carved in the common language.

Judging from the surname of the signatory, this sentence should have been left by one of Margaret's ancestors.

The process of paying the membership fee and annual fee didn't encounter any problems, and what proved the membership status was a copper-colored badge with a candle pattern. Below the candle was engraved a star, and on the back of the badge was engraved today's date.

"Old Mr. Lebury mentioned the 'Silver Candlekeep Badge'; this one is copper-colored. I wonder if there is a golden one."

For the next year, Xia De could freely enter and exit the library during the specified opening hours with this badge, and if he continued to renew his membership after a year, the badge would be replaced with a style featuring two stars.

Thus, the outlander was very curious to know if collecting enough stars could be exchanged for a moon, and if enough moons could be exchanged for a sun.

Of course, his registered name was still John Watson.

Candlekeep Library opened floors 1 to 3 to registered members like Xia De, among which the third floor could not be seen from outside the door; the entire third floor was inside the mountain wall, and the interior of the library divided book categories by independent reading rooms and floors.

Books on theology and religious studies were, of course, located in the most solemn main hall of the building, and the interior decoration of the area where law and government books were located was the most solemn.

The map room was adjacent to the reading room for history and geography books; Xia De even saw a complete topographic map of the explored areas of the New Continent here. Science and natural philosophy occupied the largest area on the 2nd floor. Because the library was located inside the mountain, natural lighting was poor, so the most gas lamps were installed here, and there were also cabinets displaying mineral and fossil specimens.

And the 1688 edition of the "Illustrated Guide to Rare Plants of the Southern Continent" that Old Mr. Lebury wanted was located in this area, that book, the size of half a door panel, protected by a glass cover. If Xia De wanted it, he could actually take it and run, but he would absolutely not do that.

In addition to this, Candlekeep Library also had areas for art, architecture, and archaeology books, literature and linguistics books, philosophy and psychology books, practical knowledge and business books, and popular novels and periodicals.

When Xia De came to this last area, he saw at a glance the Karsinrik language version of "The Hamilton Detective Stories" placed in the most conspicuous position; it seemed that many readers borrowed it.

Candlekeep Library did not look down on this type of literary subject because it was modern popular fiction; on the contrary, it attached considerable importance to it. However, the detective story collections included in Candlekeep Library only included the first six volumes, while the Dlarion language version of the novel had already been published to the eighth volume.

Xia De could not enter the library's storage warehouse, book collection room, and rare book and manuscript room. These special rooms with strict temperature and humidity control and access restrictions were only open to specific scholars, collectors, and naturalists.

Of course, with Xia De's current abilities, it was completely effortless to go and see those restricted areas, but he didn't have that curiosity for the time being; after all, the book he was looking for was lying in a glass case in the public area.

Browsing this kind of library when having nothing to do was very relaxing. When Xia De was wandering around the library, he also tried to probe the place with 【Enhanced Spatial Perception】, and then he discovered that anti-probing rituals were actually set up in this library, and the intensity of this anti-probing ritual was quite high; it was definitely not set up casually.

This resulted in the effects of all probing-type abilities and probing-type items within the Candlekeep Library area being affected. Although 【Enhanced Spatial Perception】 was not completely invalidated, the probing range was also compressed to a quite small area.

"Oh?"

Things were becoming interesting, only Xia De didn't know if this was the work of the 【Church of Creation】, or if there were ring-warlock organizations active in this library.

"Speaking of which, since the headquarters of the Apuna Library is here, could it be that... but it is said that their headquarters is in some underground cave (Chapter 778). Although this place is also considered a cave, it shouldn't belong to the underground, right?"

He wandered around the quiet library while letting his imagination run wild. Although he saw people coming and going at the library entrance on the square outside, in reality, when everyone was dispersed into such a large library interior, it was often difficult to see a second person besides oneself even after walking for five minutes.

The scent of ink and paper mixed with the smell of burning candles created a unique scent inside the enclosed building that made Xia De feel very at ease. Xia De liked this place very much. Although the scenery here was not as magnificent as the 【Silver Moon Library】, this place was more in line with all his imaginations of a classical library.

"【Silver Moon Library】 fits my imagination of a fantasy library; it's not that I don't like it there."

He also explained a sentence in his heart, but didn't get any response.

The library was very large. After Xia De had wandered through most of the areas, it was already approaching noon. He planned to wander around the library a bit more and then go try the local specialty food. With Winnie often going to the house to tidy up, Xia De didn't have to worry about Little Mia not being able to eat.

"Perhaps I can go find 'Summer Night Collection' to see the content inside. Next time, I'll take the initiative to mention that book to Leixia and Dorothy and them, and then give them a fright."

Such a thought suddenly appeared in Xia De's mind.

"Summer Night Collection" belonged to prose and was located in the literature and linguistics book area. Although he was a student of Danister, the outlander was actually not familiar with the book classification method of this era, so after arriving at the approximate area, he had to search row by row of bookshelves.

But fortunately, most prose was concentrated in the same bookshelf area and sorted according to era and the first letter of the book title. Xia De believed he would find it soon.

"Two years, I finally have the opportunity to open that book."

Xia De was even a little excited about this in his heart, so "she" laughed softly in Xia De's ear.

It was just that in that laughter, Xia De suddenly heard a faint coughing sound again.

"Cough, cough~ cough, cough~"

He was startled, and only then realized that the coughing sound was not made by "she" in his ear; the source of the sound was behind the row of bookshelves not far away.

"It's not the season for high flu incidence yet... I wish her health."

Xia De thought in his heart. He could tell that the one coughing should be a young lady, but he didn't have enough curiosity to go and see a doctor for the other party.

He continued to stare at the book titles on the bookshelf to find the book, but the coughing sound came again after a while, and it became clearer, followed by a series of coughing sounds. In the end, Xia De even suspected that the other party would cough out her lungs.

"What's wrong with this?"

He thought in his heart and stopped his steps. After hesitating slightly, he changed direction and walked towards the source of the coughing. This wasn't to be nosy, it was just that the other party was coughing too severely, and he immediately thought of many very serious infectious lung diseases.

Locating the source of the sound was easy; the other party was separated from him by four rows of bookshelves, and while Xia De was walking over, the continuous coughing sound just now gradually stopped.

"Is that so..."

Xia De stopped and asked across three rows of bookshelves:

"The lady over there, may I ask if you need me to help call a doctor? I just heard a very violent coughing sound."

The library was very quiet; there was no need to strain to speak loudly, and the sound could spread out.

Thus, across the bookshelf, a weak voice replied:

"It's okay, this is an old ailment of mine. Thank you for your concern, strange gentleman, I'll be fine after a rest."

The owner of the voice was indeed female, and it sounded like she was indeed not very old. Although Xia De didn't see anyone, he could imagine the other party covering her mouth with a handkerchief and talking to him with a pale face.

However, since the other party didn't need help, Xia De certainly wouldn't take the initiative to go over:

"That's good, lady. I'll be reading nearby. If you need help, you can call me anytime."

"Tha, cough, cough, thank you."

The other party replied weakly, and it seemed she wasn't very willing to have too much communication with Xia De either. Xia De shook his head and continued to look at the first letters of the book titles on the bookshelf to find "Summer Night Collection."

While searching, he found that he was gradually approaching the location of the lady who was coughing just now, and the other party clearly hadn't left yet, because Xia De could still hear a few faint coughing sounds that were deliberately suppressed.

"If I walk over like this, will I be suspected of deliberately trying to pick her up?"

He hesitated in his heart, but Xia De considered himself to be acting openly and honestly, a very upright person, so he just paused slightly and continued to walk forward:

"It shouldn't be such a coincidence, could 'Summer Night Collection' really be around her?"