Chapter 76: Public Library 2

The day quickly passed, as it marked the opening day of Dry City Public Library.

Minos did not plan to deliver any speeches or any act similar to that. He was not a populist who needed to appear in front of the people. He was the sovereign of this place, so he was bothered by the local development rather than being concerned about whether people would favor him or not because of it.

His sole purpose was to take a closer look at the place so that he could ensure that everything was following his requests and if that was a place aimed at the citizens of Dry City.

Thus, after having breakfast with Ruth and Butler Dillian, Minos did not delay further and, instead, proceeded to make his way towards the library.

The place was not far from his mansion, merely ten minutes away on foot.

In fact, this part of the town had several other public buildings, such as the Dry City Preparatory Academy, the Black Plain Army's headquarters, and Minos' own mansion.

As they proceeded to the library site, Minos' group soon encountered a crowd of hundreds gathered in front of the library building.

'Wow, this truly seems to hold great significance to these people,' Ruth thought as she saw the astounding sight before her.

That experience was indeed shocking to her. After all, Ruth had grown up as a disciple of the Gray Clouds Sect, where she never had to worry about the quality of her techniques. In fact, Ruth also wasn't aware of the reality of those people with low-talent people who resided in impoverished regions, similar to the population of Dry City.

This whole trip of accompanying Minos to the Spiritual Tournament had become a profound learning lesson in her life.

She was learning about the difficulties of those at the base of the Central Continent society, who were responsible for doing the services that people like her would never consider.

People like her wanted to consume food rich in spiritual energy and receive their arrays and weapons at their convenience. However, it was only after this trip did she understand what these people had to do and how poorly they were paid for it. And for them, even the presence of Blue-grade techniques could still bring them immense joy!

While Ruth had numerous thoughts about this place, Minos' group finally arrived in front of the library building.

The structure of the building was rectangular and boasted a large central roof. Atop the building was a simple inscription which was also the name of the building: 'Dry City Public Library.'

It was what this place was. Minos didn't want to put a strange name or even give his own name to a building. That would sound very narcissistic to even himself. So, he chose to maintain simplicity and leave a simple name like that.

Meanwhile, the crowd soon recognized Minos and his entourage and became even more agitated. These people were pleased about this place being opened and also because of the person who was bringing all these changes into their lives.

Upon arriving in front of the building, they saw several soldiers from the Black Plain Army were already standing guard at the site. They were here to ensure the safety of the people, preventing a big uproar or any potential disturbances from occurring. They also had to ensure that Minos entered the site before it was finally opened to the public.

As he entered the building, Minos was attended by one of the people hired for the operation of the library. He also greeted all the employees responsible for the site's security, receptionists, cleaning staff, and those who were responsible for registering and cataloging all the techniques that were present in this building.

Although the current collection of techniques was limited, it wouldn't be long before this library amassed tens of thousands of parchments. And such an extensive collection would undoubtedly need to be subdivided into certain zones to facilitate citizens' access.

At that moment, the director appointed for the library stepped forward and introduced herself, "Welcome to the Dry City Public Library, young master. My name is Ivy, and I'm responsible for showing you the library's facilities."

"Good," Minos replied without showing any change in expression.

"First, this area where we're at is the library's entrance hall. This is where citizens will have to pass through to access the library, find bathrooms, and verify their identity to access the cultivation techniques stored in this place."

"Citizens simply need to present their citizen identification array, which every Dry City resident would receive upon paying the city's annual tax for the first time."

Leaving the entrance hall, they reached the reception, which was in the shape of an ellipse, with six side aisles on either side. Each of these corridors led to spacious areas with multiple shelves and individual rooms.

As they entered one of the corridors, Ivy continued her presentation, "The six corridors we saw earlier at the entrance hall lead to regions where spiritual techniques are further categorized into attack, defense, movement, cultivation, support, and soul, just as the young master requested."

"In the corridor that we are currently going through, we will arrive at the section where attack-focused techniques are being stored."

After a brief walk through a corridor of about 30 meters which was adorned with several plants and windows facing the street, the group arrived at a square place that featured several side shelves and central tables.

There were also some additional rooms upstairs where the cultivators could study and train these techniques for the first time.

"As of now, since we have limited copies of each technique, library users won't be able to borrow any of them. However, the citizens can use these rooms on the upper floors to learn the fundamentals of each technique."

For the techniques in question, cultivators typically would only need to train them for a few hours with the parchment to grasp the basics of such techniques. After that, they could continue their training independently as the technique parchment only served as a reference when a cultivator wanted to learn a new technique.

Ivy then elaborated, "Currently, we have 100 individual rooms in each section of the building, providing us with a capacity of up to 600 people at once."

They then proceeded to explore the upper floors, where these individual rooms were.

These rooms were divided into four floors, with each of them featuring a sizable quadrangular opening that overlooked the table area in the section they were in on all levels.

As for the place where Minos and his group were, it showed the part specialized in techniques focused on attack.

After observing the rooms, which had an average size of about 50 square meters, the group concluded their visit to the Dry City Public Library.

After bidding farewell to the staff in the building, Ruth asked with a curious smile on her face, "I don't know if I understand the purpose of the soul-focused techniques section. You do know that such a technique could only be learned by a Spiritual Saint, right?"

"I am aware of that," Minos responded dryly.

"Do you? Then, are you expecting many Spiritual Saints to come here and learn techniques?" Ruth chuckled, thinking that this idea was way too absurd.

Though she knew this place would get stronger, it was still a ridiculous notion that Minos was planning to have Spiritual Saints living in Dry City!

Even in her sect, there were not many such experts...

However, Ruth wasn't aware of an important fact, which was that the spiritual root of Black Plain was gradually recovering. With that, in less than 30 years, this place would be as rich in spiritual energy as the headquarters of the Gray Clouds Sect!

"You don't have to worry about that. What difference does it make to you?" Minos retorted, hiding the truth from Ruth. Even if their relationship was excellent, and Minos didn't care that Ruth attended his meetings, he didn't need to tell her the secrets that could take his life!

That was just the most reasonable thing to do!

After that, the group departed and welcomed the external public to explore the newly opened local library.

...

Once Minos' group left the building, one of the soldiers came to the audience and addressed the waiting crowd. "Welcome to Dry City Public Library. We ask you to form five lines for those who want to enter. And one for those who want to learn..."

The soldier provided all the necessary instructions for safe entry into the building, emphasizing the limit of people that were allowed to enter at once.

It didn't take long before 500 people entered the library with beaming smiles on their faces. Meanwhile, the people outside were filled with euphoria with the expectation of learning new techniques.

Of the five lines, obviously, the one that wanted to go to the cultivation techniques section was the longest of all, easily stretching beyond a thousand people. But luckily, the soldiers had prepared a place for these people. Otherwise, the line might have even passed through several city blocks!