Here I am recommending books I which already read or which I am reading at the moment.

You are invited to recommend books in the comments. If I like them I will recommend them in a own chapter and write the name of the one who recommended them to me in the second line after the author.

The answer seemed to be on the tip of her tongue, but it then got stuck.
An Xiaxia rubbed her head, which throbbed with pain, and went back home on an electric bicycle.
She switched on her computer and logged into QQ. Su Xiaomo's message popped up immediately.
"Damn it! I got found out again with the R-18 comics I drew! Aah! Xiaxia, what should I do?!"
Su Xiaomo then sent her a crying emoji thumping its fist on the ground, and An Xiaxia replied with a guffawing emoji as she shook her leg. "So, did you finally get what you wanted and have Mr. He ravish you in bed?" 
She had kept in touch with Su Xiaomo after moving here. While in college, An Xiaxia had had nothing better to do and had decided to write novels for a website. She had had a knack for it, and after a few books, two male characters of a novel somehow gained popularity as a couple. Su Xiaomo then prompted her to write slash fiction for the couple, which immediately made An Xiaxia the slash fiction guru of the website… 
A short while ago, a company had bought the copyright of her novel to turn it into a comic. Since they were looking for a suitable illustrator, she had recommended Su Xiaomo.
Su Xiaomo had done a great job. Since An Xiaxia's novel had been kept pretty "non-physical," there were only two explicit love scenes at most… Su Xiaomo had put all her effort into drawing the scenes, and then, her draft had been discovered by He Jiayu, who was living with her… 
"Screw it… I'm seriously starting to think that He Jiayu doesn't love me at all! He doesn't crave my body!" Su Xiaomo went on howling. "How many years has it been now? I still haven't slept with him yet! I honestly think he has performance issues!"
An Xiaxia found this conversation very awkward. "…Ahem, Momo, have you been acting too reserved? How about trying something wilder?"
"Really? I'll give it a go, then… He's mine tonight!" After making that lofty announcement, Su Xiaomo moved into action decisively.
A rich aroma filled the air. She swallowed and headed for the kitchen.
The weather was too hot and their electricity supply had been erratic these days. The power was down at the moment and the kitchen was as hot as a sauna house. He Jiayu wasn't wearing a top and he stood there bare-chested. Drops of sweat slid down his muscular abdomen and all the way into his trousers… 
Damn… He Jiayu was a cutie with his clothes on and a succubus without them!
Su Xiaomo wipe her mouth and called out happily, "Darling~"
He Jiayu glanced at her and smiled mildly, but wouldn't talk to her.
A chatterbox like Su Xiaomo could die from frustration if she couldn't talk to anyone. She jabbed the tips of her fingers together, looking quite pitiful. "I'm sorry… I won't draw those things again. Forgive me?"
Cutie He's smile was as pleasant as a spring breeze, but no words came out of his mouth.
Seeing that her apology hadn't worked, Su Xiaomo resolved to use her killing move. "Father!"
He Jiayu's hand jolted and he almost threw the spatula away!
Su Xiaomo said obsequiously, "I'll call you father from now on if you forgive me now!"
He Jiayu: … Grow a spine, will you?!
He rolled his eyes at her and Su Xiaomo behaved herself right away.
She watched as the tall and slender He Jiayu stir-fried the vegetables in the wok. Despite his sweat-streaked face, she still found him unbelievably hot.
When the vegetables were cooked, He Jiayu was going to take them out of the wok when he realized that he had forgotten to set out a plate. He frowned a little.
Su Xiaomo saw what he needed right away. "Let me!"
She quickly fetched him a plate, and He Jiayu looked up. Su Xiaomo took this opportunity to pull down the collar of her pajamas, revealing her fair and tender shoulder. She then winked at He Jiayu suggestively. "Do forgive me, for the sake of my beauty!"
He Jiayu blushed right away and his voice turned husky. "Su Xiaomo, do you really think… I won't touch you?"


As an anti-fan of the idol group, Starry Night, An Xiaxia is happy to spend her time online slandering lead singer Sheng Yize. 

But things take an unexpected turn when An Xiaxia starts high school - the Starry Night trio somehow becomes her classmates, and even end up moving into her house. 

Also, the nation’s idol Sheng Yize seems particularly interested in An Xiaxia for some reason...

Sheng Yize: Xiaxia, if I and a chicken wing fall into the water together, which one will you save?

An Xiaxia: Hm… I can't swim, so obviously you're going to save yourself and get my chicken wing out!

Sheng Yize: I thought I was the nation’s idol???

Shanghai.
There were countless transparent raindrops linking the sky and the earth. On the street, colorful umbrellas started to appear like mushrooms and wound along the street.
Jiangnan's plum rain season had arrived, and the sun had not appeared for a very long time. The continuous rainy days made the air extremely humid. For an open-door business, such weather was obviously unwelcome.
However, the one who was troubled was the boss. To the ordinary worker, sales did not mean as much. Whether they sold more or sold less, the money they received was all around the same. When there were fewer customers, they were quite relaxed, and they could take the opportunity to be lazy.
There were many people that liked it when it rained, like the group of people that owned cars. Rain meant they had a free car wash.
In the rain, a limousine quietly stopped by the roadside.
The driver that also acted as the bodyguard came down from the cab, opened the umbrella, respectfully opened the back door, and held the umbrella out for the person in the car. The driver paid no regard to the rain falling down his back.
A leather shoe stepped into the shallow puddle by the curb. After that, another leather shoe followed.
Li Yuanfei got out of the car and buttoned the button in front of his suit. He raised his eyes to look at his surroundings.
It was a very normal street in Shanghai, located in the transitional zone between the commercial center and the residential area. There were some fashionable brand stores nearby. The brands were not top-notch, but they had good reputations.
In front of him was a pet shop. It was a direct store under his Stars pet chain supermarket. Its exquisite decorations did not lose much compared to other boutiques nearby. Its brand new signs were washed bright by the rainwater.
White-collared ladies and teenage girls passed by with umbrellas. They cast burning gazes when they saw the luxurious car and Li Yuanfei, who was in high spirits.
"Boss, do you need me to follow you in?" The driver that doubled as the bodyguard carried the umbrella, sending him to the covered doorway.
"There's no need." Li Yuanfei valued his words like gold.
The automatic doors separated to the left and right, and he walked into the shop.
The driver quietly returned to the side of the luxury car, waiting quietly for him to come back.
Compared to the cold wind and rain outside, the warmth and humidity inside were just right, causing people to feel like a huge burden was lifted off of them.
There was a mat to rub their feet on at the door and the floor was clean, but it also showed that customers were scarce because of the continuous rain. When he walked into the shop, he left a string of shallow footprints. No shop assistant came to wipe them off immediately, but perhaps that was a little too extravagant.
The layout of the shop was concise, but not simple. It was mainly pure white in color. It tried to cater to the cold and mild Japanese style favored by metropolitan, fashionable women. The first half was the pet supply area, the second half was the pet sale area, and there was even a playground for the children beside the door.
The cashier raised his head to look at him but did not recognize him. He welcomed him, as was the official procedure, before he continued to chat in the QQ group of chain stores on the computer. After all, the distance between the lowest level workers and him was quite far.
At that moment, there were only two or three customers sitting on the sofas and resting. Rather than actually shopping for pet supplies, they were instead just avoiding the rain.
Li Yuanfei took a quick glance at the products on the shelves. There was nothing to criticize. Whatever was necessary was there, and he walked towards the most central part of the pets section. Even though the pet products took most of the space, the position of the pets themselves was even more important.
The display cabinets in the pet area displayed cats, dogs, and other pets in different categories. The prices were arranged in descending order. The most beautiful and valuable pets were placed in the front so that customers could see them first.
Li Yuanfei took a quick look and saw an employee sitting cross-legged. He was concentrated on using his phone, so Li Yuanfei coughed lightly and used his finger joint to knock on the class of the display case of the English Shorthair. He asked, "May I ask what kind of cat this is?"
Of course, he knew what kind of cat it was. At that moment, he suddenly wanted to have a random inspection on how the chain store was run and the attitude in which they treated their customers. Before that, no one was warned.
The employee took a look, then quickly lowered his head again to stare at his phone. He spat out, "English Shorthair."
Li Yuanfei frowned in a way that was not easy to see and asked again, "What is special about this cat? Can you introduce it to me?"
The employee's face flashed with obvious irritation, as if he was reluctant to be disturbed. Li Yuanfei guessed that he was probably playing a game on his mobile phone.
He walked over lazily, staring at the English Shorthair. He casually answered, "Using simple terms, the most unique part of the English Shorthair is how 'circular' it is: its eyes are circular; its face is circular; its claws are circular; the tip of its tail is circular; its torso is circular. Its personality is warm and obedient, and it is suitable to be kept by an ordinary family."
Li Yuanfei was shocked and happy. He did not think that the employee, who looked particularly lazy, could somehow summarize the English Shorthair's specialties so well. He had used the simplest and easiest words to introduce it to the customer.
"Brother, you are very professional. Do you learn details about pets on a regular basis?" he questioned tentatively. He had already made a decision in his mind. If the employee gave a positive answer, he would greet the manager of the store and promote him to assistant manager. After all, the low-level employees who liked to learn were too rare to be buried.
"So-so." The shop employee scratched his head. It could have been that he saw that Li Yuanfei was dressed very well and he did not want him to look down on him. He answered truthfully, "That's what's written in the book."
"Oh? You saw it in a book? What book?" Li Yuanfei asked, interested. "Is it a pet magazine or a book you bought in the bookshop concerning pets?"
The store employee shook his head. "It was written in an online novel."
His response was not what Li Yuanfei had anticipated. He was shocked momentarily. "…An online novel introduced the unique points of the English Shorthair?"
"You don't believe it? I was just reading it just now… Here, it's this paragraph." The store employee took his phone out from his pocket and flipped to the chapter he was referring to, letting Li Yuanfei see the words on the screen.
Li Yuanfei was intrigued and grabbed the phone to take a look.
The phone screen was full of words, and it seemed to really be an online novel. One of the paragraphs introduced the special features of the English Shorthair. It was exactly the same thing that the store employee had just said.
So that was how it was…
Li Yuanfei was a bit disappointed. After all, compared with professional reference books, online fiction had a lower level. He hardly ever read online fiction. The impression of online fiction was that it was all about killing in a different world or fighting in a city and getting girls. On the private bookshelf of his office were all the biographies of famous businessmen and historical celebrities in the country and abroad.
He had already gotten rid of the idea of promoting the employee to the assistant manager, but as an employee of a pet shop, reading an online story about pets was more meaningful than reading pornographic books, right?
Then, another thought flashed through his mind: It was impossible to expect unambitious, lower level employees to learn and improve on their own initiative, but could he improve the quality of grassroots employees by means of teaching in a way they enjoyed?
Such as… Li Yuanfei took a look at that employee again. No matter where the employee's knowledge came from, it indeed would be able to increase the experience of a customer's shopping experience.
"How is that online novel written? Is it meaningful?" he asked, pretending to be very interested.
He simply looked through several pages and found that no matter what the story was, at least the pet knowledge mentioned in the novel was basically correct, which was already very rare for an online novel.
"Haha, I find that it is quite meaningful. I recommend that you read it!" The employee was obviously a fan of online fiction. He was suddenly spirited. He gushed and said, "I am also an old bookworm. This is the first time I have seen online fiction describing real pets! At first, the website recommended it to me and I refused, but recently there's been a book shortage. Now that I'm working in a pet shop, I thought it would be okay to see how the author fabricated the story. After I looked, however, it seemed that it was not like that, so I continued to read it. The only thing is that the author is relatively short and powerless…"
Li Yuanfei smiled as he listened. He thought, You are holding an employee pass for a pet shop and you are recommending online novels to customers. Is that suitable?
But he was already disappointed, and right now, he did not have much hope that the level of the employee was very high. He followed the flow and asked, "Is it? It sounds quite good. I also quite like pets… What is the content of this book? Can you explain it to me?"
"No problem!" The employee said. "In short, it's in a place called Binhai City. A man nicknamed 'Huo' downloaded a mobile game to capture elfins by chance, and then caught elfins everywhere. It just happened that he was running a pet shop…"
"What did you say? Repeat it again!" The employee was suddenly seized by the collar by Li Yuanfei. He was totally confused. What kind of stimulation did the elegant man in front of him have that caused his face to turn so vicious in the twinkling of an eye? He hoped that he was not an intermittent manic patient that had escaped from a psychiatric hospital.
"Who are you? Let me go!" He was reluctant to admit his weakness and wanted to remove Li Yuanfei's hand from his shirt collar.
"What is happening? Why did you start a fight with the customer?" Right at that moment, the store manager of the shop walked out. At first, he had only seen the back of Li Yuanfei and had thought that he was just an ordinary employee. When he walked in front of them and saw Li Yuanfei's face, he was instantly so shocked that his face became the color of mud.
"Boss… Boss Li, why are you here today?" The store manager turned around and pushed the employee to the side, exasperated at his failure to do good. "Boy, open your dog eyes wide and look clearly! Who is this? This is the big boss of our company!"
The employee shrank his neck in fear, but still whispered in disobedience, "So what if he's the boss? He was the first to make a move…"
"You still dare to speak?" The store manager was so angry he wanted to vomit blood.
"It was really like that! He took my phone and hasn't returned it to me!" The employee put his neck on the line. In his heart he thought that he would just resign and return to his hometown, but he needed his phone back at least. It was the new Apple phone that he had bought with months worth of savings.
The store manager pointed at the doorway and was just about to tell the employee he was fired when his hand was pressed down by Li Yuanfei.
Li Yuanfei took a deep breath, straightened his clothes, then shook his head lightly. He walked over to return the phone to the employee and apologized. "I'm sorry, it was me who lost my composure just now. Let me apologize to you. I'm willing to pay you for your losses."


1. Download a suspicious game
2. Catch a few magical pets as partners
3. Go through interesting daily routines and lead the pet shop to a whole new level

I walk through my dreams like I've lived a whole life there, most times they are about a recent book I read. That is one of the things I do a lot and I'm not just saying that I really do read almost all day long. If I'm not reading I am probably watching some movie or anime series, yes you can probably guess I haven't done much with my life. let's start where it all began.

Back in middle school I loved to read books so much so that when I was grounded they took away my books instead of saying I couldn't go out with friends or no tv/games. yes I was a pretty strange kid compared to some being a 12 year old in America at the time(2012 No less). when I was grounded my next best thing was video games because they told stories as well at the time my video game collection was pretty sparce using an old dell business computer that ran windows xp (let's just say I got really good at minesweeper). even before I found books video games were still present. I still remember my mom gifting me an original Xbox she won in a contest it came with one game and it was a racing game not a lot of story just races.

After a while of getting in trouble I got grounded while i was grounded so I lost games as well suffice to say my box of legos was not very entertaining for a 12 year old mainly because I didn't like to make things up myself it felt so tedious that I had to work so hard to make up shapes and other things people already. i also didn't have many friends so instead I slept, and I slept hard. I don't remember much of my dreams then but I do remember one that was about magic and there was a really dark forest that went on forever in a sea of trees, other than that though I don't remember.
A couple of months later I was officially free and it felt like freedom I got to read again, it was so much fun, I would imagine it being like a drowning mans next breath of air. I didn't goto sleep that night instead I stayed up reading, when morning came I was tired but the book just got to THAT PART that is just so interesting and catching you can't stop, i read through that day as well. after dinner I got so tired I slept couldn't keep reading.
the next morning felt so sluggish like the morning after you get drunk but not enough for a hangover. well after a week of being late for school because I was busy reading parents up an sold all my books. ALL of them like really I was almost done reading them! I never read another book until after basic training 4 or 5 years later.
things changed after I lost my collection I switched to video games and because they didn't want me up all night reading whenever Christmas came around it was games instead of books. birthday? video game. my dad was an avid gamer always tried to keep his pc updated and sent old games I could run on my pc to me. me and my dad were always great at games but I could never compete with him, and it totally didn't have to do with me playing the games for the stories instead of for the high scores(of you can't tell this sentence is sarcasm read this again).

flash forward to the start of high school I was big on video games by then my computer had upgraded to a brand new one from my birthday me and my dad built it together good memories there. I remember when i tried to play morrowwind on it. that was when I realised I didn't like challenging games i liked to play and get the story, maybe different endings (those were my favorite).

at the start of high school I didn't really have a lot of friends because I didn't have many in middle school. my dad recommended me to join the ROTC there, he said he did and he had fun when he was in high school. So I did and the first year was fun and it started with ROTC especially when I started competing. I had so much fun I spent 14 hours of day at school I woke up at 5 to get to practice went to school than got home around 7 after the other practice you can imagine I didn't have a lot of time for video games especially because all that practice was physally demanding. 

1 year later 2 year in high school this I would consider the real start of high school for you actually have to do something to pass your classes I met a girl in my math class (insert joke about about girls causing problems in highschool here [ps: this is the joke I'm not sexist]). We started talking about a lot of things our school football team things like that, than we got to books she loved to read book I got to see her library once well less of a library and more of a whole wall of books and all books I wanted to read. her name was Alex I had the biggest crush on her at one point than found out she was lesbian so we kinda grew apart shallow I know but it's high school things like this happen. anyways after seeing those books some of them I used to read myself I started to want to read again, but I had no books i was still forbidden to read so I put my frustration put on video games during this time I was playing a lot of modern warfare 2 I loved the story and the way it flowed but it was really the first game I really played on steam I have logged over 500 hours  on that game alone I got every achievement for single player even the ones for veteran difficulties and also got most for the multiplayer which at this point I had everything unlocked and was max level I loved the multi player.

at this point I was starting to show up late sometimes to practice because I wasn't sleeping early enough. I went one more year like that and over summer I played so many video  games I swear I dreamt about sheaperd in mw2 around this time skyrim came out and I played the heck out of it  (I didn't get as many hours of playtime because 3rd year of high school is the hardest around 200hours). 3rd year rolls around I've dropped out of all practices because it was all boring again nothing new same old stuff. I was still busy keeping my grades up especially that foreign language credit that is needed to graduate.

4th year felt like being a freshman again except youre the one who makes fun of the freshmen.

nothing important happened then so I graduated and I wanted adventure something new so I went and joined the US Airforce. If I knew what I knew about it than I would have waited unroll now to join. long story short my addiction to video games got the better of me some nights during training and I ended up sleeping in, combined with my selective forgetfulness  (I kid you not I forgot my boots one time). luckily I wasn't in that long so I got an entry level discharge (look it up if you don't know) after I got back I found books to read online and read I did but because I didn't have school and at the time no work to deal with

this is about the time where I realised something special about my dreams.

at one point in high school I played a game where you create your own games and other people play them but this wasn't like legos using only blocks this was a program and once they started to abandon the Lego building style I started to learn it you could import meshes from other programs like blender so I started learning how to use it during this time I started dreaming up wire frames i wanted to tell a story using this game a story without words. I spent a long time on this and I can say to this day that I am self taught at how to use blender and that I ended up really famous on that game for my builds

that was the first clue because I was spending so long learning how to use blender I started dreaming up wire frames or if I was having a really hard time with a specific thing I would dream how it looked and be able to re create it the next day.

now after my attempt at trying to get a stable job i went back to reading. It started out with books i had already read then spread and spread till I found whole websites filled with books to read some exciting some not and they all had one HUGE thing in common they were all fiction and that's what I like. the wilder the better.

one day I met a girl and we planned on getting married and we had a kid a beautiful daughter we named Angela love her so much. I don't know what happened after we came out of the hospital after she gave birth she said she was through with me and left. that hurt a lot so I went back to reading and read I did the stories around this time were mainly reincarnation stories in another world I swear I had a dream at one point i was reincarnated into alegasea  (if you don't know you haven't lived).

this is where I realised my dreams make for the best stories and I tried to write a story about a specific dream once or twice. It never turned out well. Now I'm in college for networking taking a Cisco class (super boring) so my dreams are extra vivid further making me want to write those stories out but they never seem to tell the story how I want then to but right now this one is working does this count as 4th wall break? (lol couldn't resist the humor there [and don't say it was bad because you thought it was funny at some point deep deeeep down you just don't know it])

a story about a man and his dreams that might mean he is insane or might just love books too much. don't listen to the voices in your head about this one because the pink platypusbear that sleeps like a bat doesn't like your drugs.

"THERE'S SO MANY people out and about town!" Alice gasped, turning her head to follow a little boy that was holding onto a candied apple that had rushed past her.

"Yes," Wyatt beamed, his eyes pressed closed due to his smile, crinkling at the corners. "It's always rather busy in the capital of Gladiolum." 

A day after the ball, Wyatt had suggested bringing Alice around the town square to soak in the sights. He personally had to do a little shopping and thought that it would be a wonderful chance for Alice to grow more familiar with the capital. She had been living with the Ragans for nearly two weeks and yet she had barely even stepped out of the mansion's walls. It was best for young ladies to enjoy their time around town with friends. Being constantly cooped up in the study room with Charlie wasn't exactly an ideal situation in Wyatt's opinion. Of course, not that Alice had ever complained.

Strolling through the cobbled streets, Wyatt pointed out some of his personal favorite shops along the way. They passed by boutiques selling beautiful ball gowns, stores selling sparkling jewels, and even quaint little cafes that wafted out the sugary sweet scent of freshly baked pastries. However, while Alice acted as though she was very interested in those, he could tell that was all it was. An act. She simply smiled and nodded to Wyatt's words, not once asking to step into any of those stores like he had expected. Yet again she had him colored surprised.

Just the thought brought a curving smile onto his lips. The girl that his family had chanced upon was most certainly different from the rest of the girls in the capital. She stood out in such a way that there wasn't any spare place for the others to shine. She was the lone star now, a happy and proud resident of the Ragan household. While still suspicious of her origins, Wyatt couldn't help but admit to himself that he was growing fond of Alice Clemente.

"Are you not interested in any of the shops I pointed out?" He prodded. "Those are all famous names here in the capital."

"Oh!" Alice exclaimed. Wyatt watched with his practiced smile as the girl's eyes widened delightfully, eyelashes fluttering like a pair of butterfly wings under the golden sunlight. Her lips parted just a little in surprise before she quickly gathered back her wits, shaking her head politely. "They are all wonderful shops. I just… I don't have any money to buy all those things. Looking through the store window is more than enough."

For years Wyatt had worn the same smile on his face. It was his perfectly crafted mask made to shield his true emotions from the rest of the nobles. No matter what he felt inside, a smile was always the answer to dealing with those that had to be schemed against. However, every time Alice spoke or made one of her silly little expressions, he found his smiles to turn true as day.

"Let us go into that one, then." Wyatt pointed to a little bookshop down the street, a corner store with a gleaming bronze sign. "There are some things I wish to purchase."

Alice nodded. "Alright," she said.

Although her expression remained as still as possible, Wyatt still caught the slight twitch of her lips. The sparkles in her eyes practically screamed of her excitement. She couldn't fool anyone. Even the blind could tell that she was particularly eager to enter the bookshop. 

The little bell that hung above the door rang when Wyatt entered the shop. Inside, there were no other customers, simply a store clerk that had a book in hand. A pair of round spectacles rested on his crooked nose bridge, his eyes scanning the words at an immense speed before he licked his finger and flipped to the next page. At the call of the bell, the clerk looked up from his book, squinting at the door before rising to his feet. The book was placed pages-down onto the counter, a smile upon his lips.

"Master Wyatt!" The old clerk greeted enthusiastically. "I was wondering when you'll be visiting next. The books you ordered two weeks back are finally here." 

"Greetings," Wyatt replied fairly. "And thank you so much for your help with those. It's nearly impossible to find them anywhere else."

The old man waved, his cheeks reddening just a little. "It's no problem. Let me go get them for you." Shuffling towards the back of the shop, the clerk disappeared behind a dividing curtain.

"Do you come here often?" Alice asked, looking around the small bookstore with great interest. At random, she pulled out one of the books from the shelves, her fingers tracing the title of the book on the cover, feeling the indented words on the hard leather.

'History of Gladiolum. Volume III,' it read. Alice had seen a similar history book in Charlie's study room before. Making a mental note to briefly read through the contents of the book, she slotted the book back to its original position.

"Hmm, I wonder." Tapping a finger to his chin, Wyatt looked deep in thought. "I guess I do visit this store a little more than the average folk. They sell writing supplies as well as books and I run out of the former a little too often. Besides, this store is the only one in the capital that can procure rare and often out-of-print."

Walking a little further into the shop, Alice glanced through the assortment of reading materials offered. They had both fiction and non-fiction books in the store, leaning closer to non-fiction books. Most books were new copies, their covers still brightly colored while others were much older and encased in glass covers. Those books seemed old and tattered but the words were still in dark black ink, most likely having been re-written over so that it wouldn't be lost to time. 

The one that had caught Alice's attention was a purple leather-bound book that was almost as thick as a dictionary. The title of this book was written in bright, glittery gold in thick block letters. A small sign that indicated the price of the old tome was placed beside the book. Alice's eyes widened at the number of zeros, her head reeling back a little in surprise. She still wasn't sure about how the currency worked in Gladiolum but with so many zeros, the book was bound to be expensive no matter the exchange rate.

'The Theory of Magic. Volume I,' the title wrote.

"Are you interested in that one? Ooh, that's a pricey one." Wyatt's voice was right by Alice's ear, causing her to jump a little, her ears tingling from his breath. Stepping away, she held both hands to her chest, staring wide-eyed at Wyatt who looked as amused as ever.

"Just looking," she answered before firing back a question of her own. "How much is that book? I don't really know how the currency works here."

"See that symbol over there?" Wyatt gestured to the symbol behind the number as he spoke. "That's the symbol for our currency, 'fleuron'. That's the larger of the two units that we have in our country's currency. The smaller unit is known as a 'flois'. Ten flois equates to one fleuron. To give you an example of its value, five flois can buy you a piece of stale bread at the end of the day in the capital's cheapest bakery, maybe? Books, on the other hand, are usually five to ten fleurons, if it's a common title that can be easily found."

Alice gulped. Judging by the examples Wyatt provided, the currency here in Gladiolum seemed similar to the system she was used to. A single fleuron held as much value as a dollar back home and a flois would be around ten cents. Her hands were starting to feel clammy as she stared hard at the price tag of The Theory of Magic. 

"And yet this book is…" she trailed off.

"Fifteen thousand fleurons," Wyatt finished the sentence for her chirpily.

Fifteen thousand dollars.

Taking another step back, Alice no longer dared to hover near the expensive article. If anything had happened to it, she wouldn't be able to pay the store back for the damages incurred. She had never seen a book as expensive or even half as pricey. 

"Why is this book so… so…"

"Ridiculously priced?" Wyatt supplied. When Alice nodded numbly, Wyatt chuckled. "This is an ancient tome about magic. There are only five copies of this book that was ever produced. But if you're really interested in this book, there's no need for you to fork out such a hefty amount just to read it. We have a copy of it back in the mansion's library."

Flabbergasted and speechless, Alice blinked dumbly at what Wyatt had so casually revealed. Although she long knew that the Ragan mansion was a sprawling estate with many different needlessly fanciful rooms, she hadn't even thought to think that it might house precious artifacts within its walls. 

In Gladiolum, it seemed as though the gap between its people was wider than the ocean. The rich lived in heaven while the poor couldn't even afford hell.

"Why don't you take a look around the bookshop and see if there's anything that catches your eye?" Wyatt offered. "If we don't already have the book back home, I don't mind making a few extra purchases. It's the least I can do for dragging you out here with me on such a warm afternoon."

Alice's heart skipped a beat. She braved a step closer, momentarily forgetting about the book in the glass display case. Cupping her hands together as if they were in prayer, Alice beamed.

"Really? Any book?"

Wyatt's smile didn't falter. "There's no budget, if that's what you're asking."

Alice wasted no time. Her feet went scurrying across the dark wooden boards of the store, quickly scouring the bookshelves in search of any title that might help her or catch her fancy. Her fingers ran down the spines, quickly pulling out a few covers that had caught her attention, some fiction and some not. She had a feeling that most, if not all, of the non-fiction books were already available in the Ragans' library but there was no harm in bringing the books over for Wyatt to look through. These books will become her survival guide in this foreign world.

As the store clerk returned to the front counter, Wyatt slowly made his way over. However, he was still gazing in Alice's way, watching silently and bemused as the girl darted from shelf to shelf, climbing ladders and bending low in search of more. There were already over seven books in her hands and she only ever added more to the collection.

"My," the old clerk exclaimed. "I've not seen anyone so frantic for a good title since you first came to my humble store years ago. The old ladies at the bakery next block over will go mad once they hear that the young Master Wyatt is no longer single."

The white-haired man chuckled. "She's just a curious little bird my brother picked up a while back."

The old man shrugged, unconvinced, but he didn't say a word more on that topic. With a heavy thump, he placed three thick books onto the counter, the covers in the three primary colors. The titles were all written in gold, large block letters.

"This set was a little trickier to find as compared to your other requests but there you go. Though, Master Wyatt, don't mind this old man prying but are you sure you want to dabble in this subject? There's always a price to pay when you go against the laws of science."

"I can pay whatever price the world throws at me," Wyatt casually remarked. Picking up one of the books carefully with a gloved hand, he examined the old cover, grinning with satisfaction. "Besides, I'm just completing my collection. With these, the set will now be complete. There's no need to worry, sir."

"Oh well," the old clerk sighed, pursing his lips. "If you're sure, youngin. Let me wrap these up for you."

Tottering away, the elderly went to retrieve a few sheets of brown wrapping paper and some strings to bundle up Wyatt's purchases while waiting for Alice. 

Partially leaning on the counter, Wyatt continued to observe Alice. She no longer had the strength to carry the books she had picked out. Instead, she placed most of them on an empty table by one side. The stack of books was almost taller than she was and yet she continued to hunt for more, her eyes practically dripping with avarice.

'How peculiar,' Wyatt thought to himself. 'She is unaffected by fanciful dresses or glittering jewels and yet dusty old books can bring her into a craze. What an odd woman. She is most certainly a woman before her time.'

❝I want you to visit me even if it's only in your dreams.❞ 

Gifted a candle that was said to be able to make wishes come true, Alice Clemente burned it that very night only to find herself in an unknown world the next morning. 

She had wished for a life of adventure away from the city and its routine. With her wish granted, she was whisked away to a world very different from the one she grew up in. 

Thrust into a new life, would Alice learn how to adapt? Or would she fall down the rabbit hole only to never surface again?

"Cevin," my twin sister called out to me and I automatically looked back to see her. I was quite surprised that the book that I was holding almost fell from my hands. 

Both my sister and I work in the library as student assistants. Our father died because of a car crash and our mother on the other hand works as a call center agent. Her salary isn't enough for the three of us that is why my sister and I became student assistants. It's the least we could do for us; for our mother.

"Ma'am told me to tell you to go to the room at the back of the library. She wants you to look for the book titled 'The Last True Cowboy' by Kathleen Eagle," she added and I just nodded at her as my answer. My sister got some books and she went to her desk to fix the cards of the books. I walked swiftly towards the room to find the book I was asked to look for. 

I arrived at the room and turned on the switch of the room but the bulbs didn't light up. I turned on the flashlight of my phone and one by one, I looked at the shelves to see the book ma'am wanted me to get for her.

I saw different kinds of books on the shelves, with different genres made in different timelines. Almost all of the books here are books that aren't frequently used or borrowed. Old books, to be more specific. Fiction, non-fiction, old news articles, et cetera. Most of them are all kept here but the problem is, the books aren't all organized which makes looking for specific books difficult to see.

I also have the interest in reading books. I don't find watching television very interesting because it doesn't get me to use my imagination very well. In every book that I read, I like it when I get to imagine the worlds or the situations being described by the author through his or her character's senses. In this way, I get to make my mind active other than doing school works.

My index finger stopped when I saw the book I was supposed to look for. I pulled the book from the shelf but was a little bit startled when a black book beside it fell on the floor. It was opened when it landed and to my curiosity, I pointed at my phone to see what book it was. 

"Weird," I commented when I saw nothing written, drawn, or printed on its pages. I knelt down to further examine the book but when I came across its book cover, it even had no title. I got lazy returning it on the shelf so I just left the book on the floor. 

I went outside the room and went straight to my sister, Terra, at the main desk and sat beside her.

“Only those with great intentions can see this book and those chosen by the book will make its desired story… 
but you will never return.”

Aura thought that everyone's dismissal of the game's lore strange.

Yeah sure it was just a game, but most fantasy games had at least some sort of lore that wasn't just information on the monsters or skill usage and techniques.

There were some who pursued the hidden lore and lost histories in Ascendance, but no organizations, no guilds, there wasn't even a proper library for history.

Most libraries in Ascendance just contained info on areas, monsters, items and more info.

Only a kingdom's royal library contained anything history related, and that was at most diaries of famous individuals from the past.

The only other place one could find history was in the various churches scattered across the land, and again, they only had diaries or accounts of myths.

Otherwise, history was passed on orally.

If you consider the fact that any written account of the era would one day simply disappear, it did make a little sense that nobody bothered, but that information could still last for thousands of years.

It didn't help that Forgotten Industries had publicly stated that the game was more to help people have fun and blow off steam than it was to have players explore the fascinating history of a fantasy world.

Not to mention that if one wanted interesting stories, there were plenty of fiction books in the bookstores you could find in every city in the entire realm.

To put things simply, the only books you could find in the entire game were works of fiction, encyclopedias, and diaries.

There were also the research documents that you could find in the personal stashes of mages and other magically inclined individuals, but those were mostly factored under the 'diary' section.

Even the book that documented the travels and studies of godhood that Aura had found was little more than an encyclopedia with specialized knowledge bordering on a diary of the author's personal researches.

Admittedly, a great amount of historical information could be gleaned from the categories of books stated above, but it wasn't something an individual could parse out.

Which was why only large guilds even bothered searching for tidbits of useful knowledge in libraries.

It was way easier just to ask an elf, or some other long lived species.

Even a high leveled human would know more about history than the books.

This could be considered as another reason why history wasn't written down, but this was obviously a bad idea.

High leveled individuals had a tendency to be weirdos.

Long lived species tended to isolate themselves and distrust outsiders.

If you asked the former about history, there was no guarantee you wouldn't just be told a bunch of random bullshit designed to see how much you would believe.

If you asked the latter, you were likely to be given a polite 'fuck off' and then not get an answer at all.

This was probably best described as brilliant world design.

Weirdos lived forever (which probably explained why the gods all had strange personalities), and those who did live long lives and weren't completely insane were loners.

There were exceptions, but for the most part, humans were completely ignorant of the world they lived in.

There were also a ton of them.

The only reason humans had survived for any length of time in the world of Ascendance was almost certainly due to the fact that most monsters preferred to stay away from areas with high concentrations of life energy.

And since humans were brimming with life, they were avoided by monsters.

Lucky them.

---

Aura had just finished dismantling the last of the traps, and was quite literally jumping with joy.

He had been bored out of his mind due to the monotony of his task, and had only pushed through because of the light at the end of the road.

A kingdom core, the perfect thing for someone like him, who ruled absolutely nothing, and instead was more interested in exploration and the creation of interesting items.

Only one item he planned to make would require the core, as it just didn't have much use to him.

So what if he could make small changes to large areas at once, he didn't even have a large area to change in the first place.

But he had thought of making a beautiful item that would allow total control over a massive domain, and as such he was bound by his own obsessions to make it.

Aura Thompson, one of the most unknown experts in the DMMORPG known as Ascendance, dies of old age, only to find that his final wish has been granted and that he can start again on his path to immortality through the fantasy game he loves.

Read as Aura uses his knowledge of mankind's second world to chase after his dream.

He knows all the secrets that players uncovered over the 132 years he played the game: quests, classes, skills, hidden treasures, lore, and all sorts of things that could tip the balance of the world in his favor.

How far will he go?

After Quinn had finished unpacking, he was free to do what he wanted for the rest of the day. It was still noon so he had plenty of time to explore the academy on do what he wanted.

Quinn was currently sharing his room with two people and to his surprise, he knew both of them. One of them was Vorden while the other was Peter. There were three single beds in the room each spread out from one another but other than that the room was pretty empty.

Students were expected to spend most of their time studying or practicing their skills. there was no time for pleasure.

"What do you guys want to do then?" Vorden asked.

"I'm still unpacking, you two don't have to wait for me, do what you want," Peter replied.

Peter had opened up a little to the two of them, at first he was completely shy and hardly said a word but slowly Peter seemed to be coming out of his shell especially around Quinn. Peter most likely felt comfortable around Quinn knowing that he was a level 1 ability user like himself.

"I was thinking of heading to the library," Quinn replied, "that will probably be too boring for you."

"Boring, I can make anything fun, besides I haven't read a book in…" Vorden paused for a while. "I can't even remember the last time I read a book."

The three of them laughed and then Vorden and Quinn decided to head to the library together. Finally, they had arrived and the first floor was already busy with students. Quinn noticed that there were multiple round desks spread out where students were sitting and In the middle of the desk was a glowing orb.

"Ahh, you're probably wondering what that Orb thing is in the middle aren't you?" Vorden asked, "It looks like they don't have them at public schools. If you touch the orb, then it allows you to create a space, in that space, only those people who have been invited can be heard. This way people are able to talk and chat as much as they want while not disturbing others."

"Technology sure has come a long way."

Quinn and Vorden then chose a table that had two other people sitting on the other side. Just as Vorden had said, Quinn could see the two talking but couldn't hear a word of what they were saying. The orb seemed to only have a range of the table though. Once you left the table others were able to hear you as normal.

Quinn went looking around the library and picked out as many books as he could about abilities. Most of them describing what different types of abilities the world had. Vorden wasn't too bothered and decided to just select a random fiction book to read.

The two sat at their tables while Quinn started to flick away. After reading several books Quinn had discovered nothing new. He already knew about most of the abilities written in the book but not one of them mentioned an ability like Quinn's.

Vorden had been keeping a close eye on Quinn and noticed the type of books he had been picking out.
"What's with all the books, are you looking for something in particular?"

Quinn thought about it for a while before giving Vorden an answer. Vorden wasn't the brightest person when it came to academics but he was quite knowledgeable about abilities it seemed. He would have to be because of the type of ability he had.

"I was trying to decide what ability to get since I turned down the school's offer."

"Oh right, I forgot about that, I thought you might have been one of those Pure members who hate abilities. Turns out you just didn't want to be a dog to the military." Vorden replied, "Well is there anything specific you're looking for?"

 "Not really, I have no clue. There was one that said something interesting though, have you ever heard of an ability that is weaker in sunlight."

Vorden suddenly started to laugh out loud.
"What are you crazy, I've never heard of something like that. Abilities are something our bodies learn. Sure some people have limits and can't learn stronger spells or can do less than others but for one to get weaker because of the sun. Sounds like you're a Vampire or something."

Quinn felt a little embarrassed by Vorden's reaction. Of course, Quinn knew this would be the normal reaction when asking something like this but it was true. As long as Quinn was in direct sunlight all of his stats would weaken by half.

Quinn continued to look around the library to see if there was anything else he could find. He had finally gone through every single one of the ability books he could find but there was nothing. Quinn then looked up at the floor above where there were some second-year students.

"Maybe there's something up there but I can't imagine what the academy would do to me for breaking the rules." Quinn thought.

As Quinn continued to walk around the library, he had eventually ventured into the fiction section and his eyes were drawn to something.

A specific title of a book named "The Truth about Vampires."

Quinn took out the book and gave it a quick look. Vampires were things of fairy tales, myths even. Even when people started to come out with powers, there was not one person who came out claiming to be a vampire.

Quinn couldn't help himself but start to read the book. It was a long shot but maybe he would find something he could relate to.

After reading and skimming through the book, Quinn found most of it was useless. A lot of the things that Vampires did, didn't relate to him at all. Vampires were required to eat human blood. Some could transform themselves into bats and cast illusions. While others were incredibly skilled with the sword and hypnosis but Quinn had none of these things.

The only thing he could relate to in the book was being weaker in the sun. Eventually, Quinn decided to close the book and call it a day. It didn't seem like he was going to find anything from the first floor of the library.

As soon as Quinn closed the book though. A familiar sound was heard.

*Ding

<You gained more knowledge about the system>
<10 exp received>
<15/100 Exp >

"It couldn't be, could it?"

The human Race is at war with the Vicious Dalki and when they needed help more than ever, THEY started to come forward. 

Humans who had hidden in the shadows for hundreds of years, people with abilities. 

Some chose to share their knowledge to the rest of the world in hopes of winning the war, while others kept their abilities to themselves.

Quinn had lost everything to the war, his home, his family and the only thing he had inherited was a crummy old book that he couldn’t even open. 

But when the book had finally opened, Quinn was granted a system and his whole life was turned around. 

He completed quest after quest and became more powerful, until one day the system gave him a quest he wasn’t sure he could complete. 

"It is time to feed!"
"You must drink human blood within 24 hours"
"Your HP will continue to decrease until the task has been completed"

Discord link https://discord.gg/a9WfmJh
https://www.patreon.com/JSManga

Cover is from Kawacy on Deviantart

The academy library was only a short walk away and was quite close to the Elder's Building. The library building from the outside was only a small single storied building and no one will be able to guess that the building holds one of Asia's largest libraries. On the inside, the buildings show its true colours. Instead of a single floor, there were 10 different floors with each floor having a size similar to a football field. It could be said that this library was more than 10 times larger than the Hogwarts library.

This fact is not too surprising. Unlike Britain in which only a single language is used for all purposes, Magical India had more than 15 different official languages due to different tribe's having their very own language. Books written in all these languages were present inside this library. 

One thing I was thankful for in India was that despite there being so many languages, all the spells were in one language, Sanskrit. If every tribe used and taught their own version of spells in their native language, then having an academy will have no meaning. Each elder will teach in his/her language and due to this, the only people who will sign up for their classes will be their own tribe members since no one will be interested in learning a different language just to learn from the elder. If this was going to be the case, then the Elder could have conducted the class in his tribe itself.

Of the more than 15 languages here, I knew only English and Hindi. So I could read only the books in these two languages. The first two floors had only Hindi books while the English book filled a small part of the 10 floor. English was not a common used language here. I had only some average fluency in Hindi so I will have to improve my proficiency in it if I want to make good use of all these books. 

The third and fourth floors had books written in Sanskrit language and I will have to learn the language sometime soon in the future to make my learning process here faster. The language was not commonly spoken in the present era but most of the old and informative books were written in the Sanskrit  language and if I wanted to read and learn from them, I will have to learn language.

Much to my disappointment there was no easy way to solve this problem since there were no magical translators or spells that I could use to translate these books into English. People in India had tried very hard to make this possible over the years but they had failed miserably. I too felt that such a thing was impossible since different languages did not follow a pattern that could be used to magically translate it. Languages did not follow rules and were made by old people on a whim according to their needs.

The people here did invent a spell to make learning language easier though which I am going to make good use of. The spell will make it possible for me to completely learn a language in a month. All I had to do was memorise some books that came recommended with the spell and it will allow me to learn the language quickly. I am planning to use it to perfect my Hindi first and then learn Sanskrit. I did not plan to learn any other Indian language.

The library was huge and I already had a list of books that were recommended to me today that I had to read. I did not have time to waste since I had a deadline which I had to keep. I did not have too much time to waste.

Before going to the Healer section, I decided to visit the English section first since I wanted to see what was available in there. Also it was the language I was most comfortable with in this library. 

To get to the 10th floor, the people here had invented a magical variant of lift. It was a levitating disk on a platform which would follow my command in a way similar to that of a broom and take me to my floor. I liked the idea so much that I wanted to replicate this type of lift in my black castle. I planned on completely renovating the Black castle and this lift was added to the list of changes I wanted to make.

On the 10th floor, the English section was easy to find. The section consisted of 15 large bookshelves filled to the brim with books. This was a small number when compared to the even the Hogwarts library except that the books here were priceless. On glancing through the books, I found that the collection did not have any new books but instead every one of the books was an antique and were more than a 100 years old. Some were even more than 700 years old. Even my black library did not have these book and I wondered where the academy got them from.

The books were calling for me to read them but I controlled myself and went towards the Healer section of the library. I badly wanted to start reading the books but I knew that I had no time for them currently. I could come back here after 3 days and start reading them.

The Healer section on the second was huge with more than 30 bookshelves. I quickly found the books on my list and went towards the Duelling section which was on the same floor. It was not too big just 7 book shelves and I easily found the books recommended to me by Elder Akash. I also checked out the book which will allow me to improve my fluency in Hindi.

The checkout system here was quite unique. First of all, all the books in the library were warded to protect from damage and making copies. At the checkout counter I had to specify the number of days I needed a book. The books had another set of runes that were then programmed in such a way that when the rental period ended, the book will be automatically returned to its original location in the library. The books will also return to the library of I take it outside the academy boundary. I was very impressed by this system.

After checking out the books for 3 days, I left the library as it was time for my next class. The mage sight tutoring with Elder Nainesh. 

When I entered his room he was very excited to start teaching me. I learn the reason for it later during the class. It was due to the fact that my mage sight was different from his and he wanted to compare both and conduct experiments. The main difference was that my mage sight only showed a slight glow in my eyes when activated which his not noticeable while his and his tribes mage sight had tell tale sign when activated. His eyes started twinkling like Dumbledore's glasses when mage sight was activated so he couldn't discreetly use the sight like I always did.

The class was very productive. The method to toggle between different modes was controlling the amount of magic that I sent into my eyes. For the seeing through walls effect I had to rotate my the magic around my eyes. The amount of magic in the eyes and my control in rotating it perfect decided the distance I could see and what I could see.

It was difficult to do since I had not practiced controlling the amount of magic that I could send to my eyes ever in my life. For the first class I did just that. Controlling the magic. By the end of the class I had gotten a slight hang of the method and I could toggle between the modes just for a short few seconds before I lost control. I was sure I could perfect this in a weeks time.

After that productive one hour class, I went back to my room. It was time for me to start reading those books since time was tight. After conjuring a table and a chair, I started reading, beginning with the language book so that my later reading will be quicker.

Disclaimer - I do not own the characters and the plot of the Harry Potter Universe.

A guy from our universe gets reborn into the Harry Potter universe. Read to find out how he takes advantage of his prophetic knowledge and lives his new life.

Alternate Universe so avoid reading if you like your canon characters and don't want to see theit evil side.

P.S. This is my first time writing a novel/fanfic.

Support me on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/zajedm

The library was an old three-story building that use to be a factory. It was donated over fifty years ago. And was one of the older building in the area. It had been updated in the last few years with new walls, stairs, and wiring. However, they had kept the worn wood floors and it still had a cool, well-used and comfortable feel to it.

She walked over to the front counter where the librarian, Mrs. Chen, sat working on the computer.

"Hello, Lina. I heard you finally got assigned independent study. It took those kooks up in the English department long enough, heh?"

"You're telling me. I didn't know how many more of those idiots I could take without counseling." She thought about how that could be taken for a moment. "The students, that is, Mrs. Chen."

"Sure. Your class time doesn't start until tomorrow, so I assume you're here for your book."

"It finally came in?!"

She smiled and reached beneath the counter.

"Just this morning. Blood by GRAY."She shook her head but handed her the book. "Sometimes I wonder if I should be worried about you."

Lina laugh. The game and the book was sort of along the same vane but different. The book focuses more on how one could tell if you could make potions in real life. That is if you had blood. The author of the book offer list and guilds on taking a potion from a game and make money.

"Shoo, now," she said, waving her hands. "You're terrible."

She took the book and walked to the back corner of the room where the wide oak stairs led up to the second floor and her special reading spot. She ran her hand up the smooth banister as she walked up, loving the feel of the cool wood. The library had always been a quiet spot she had used to think and relax since she had come to the college three years ago. She used it to get away from all of the whispers and names.

At the top of the stairs, she walked through the maze of books to a dimly lit far corner. The shelves formed a natural hallway that prevented anyone from seeing the corner unless they actually walked through. It held a large beige chair big enough for two and a standing light next to it. She never worried about anyone being there because the idiots on campus barely walked through the reference books on the first floor, let alone the second floor where most of the romance, fiction, mystery, horror, fantasy, and science fiction books were held.

She set her bag on the floor beside the chair and plopped down, pulling her legs up under her. She didn't need the light yet, so she opened her new book and began reading.

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