บท 6: Library - Part 1
Sea Salt Library. Midday.
James entered the library. There was a big wall in front of him with another door. To the left of the door was a gray-haired woman sitting behind a desk while reading a book. James walked towards the woman. She spoke in a high-pitched screechy voice, "One gold for one day in the library. We close at sundown."
James responded in shock, "One gold!? That's 100 silver coins! I could live for three months off that! Can't you give me a discount? It's already midday!" James had seen the prices in the market and came to understand just how valuable a gold coin was. It couldn't purchase nice armor or weapons, but it could easily procure food and housing for three months. In this world one gold coin was equal to 100 silver coins. One silver coin was equal to 100 copper coins.
The woman snorted, "Take it or leave it. No one's asking you to read here. Books are worth their weight in gold. You couldn't buy a single one of them with a single gold coin."
James nodded in agreement. Books were quite expensive in this world from what he saw at the market. They were rare and very few people showed any interest in them. James begrudgingly took out the only gold coin he had and put it on the woman's desk. The woman nodded and pressed a round button on her desk. The door to her right swung open. James walked through the door while wondering, "How did that button work? Does this world have electricity? Or maybe it used magic to open the door? Can it open other doors? If it can I definitely need to buy one! Then all doors shall open before me bwhahaha!"
James looked around the first floor of the library. There were several tables along with what looked like newspapers. James curiously picked up a newspaper from a table. It was already a few days old. The front page of the newspaper had a big boat made of beast bones featured on it. In big bold letters it read, "Captain Bonesaw's decisive maneuver in the navy battle with BlueWoods Kingdom resulted in overwhelming victory for the Drake Kingdom." James kept reading the article beneath the picture. "Captain Bonesaw has been rewarded special tax exemption status for his role in the war with BlueWoods Kingdom. His pirate ship captured the BlueWoods Navy commanders ship. Captain Bonesaw is notorious within the seas for his boat made completely from 7th grade dire-beast bones as well as his undead crew. We interviewed several Drake Navy crew members about what they saw. Undead beasts swarmed the enemy ship from the skies and seas! The enemy ship was taken within minutes. When we arrived to provide support, the boat didn't have a single living thing on it!"
James widened his eyes while reading the article. That was the same boat he saw at the port! James muttered, "I guess this world has necromancers? Scary stuff. What kind of freak wants to be surrounded by smelly undead all day? Creepy!"
James saw nothing else of interest on the first floor and headed up to the second floor. On this floor there were nine knight outfits displayed on stands. They glimmered from the light entering through the windows. Each held a sword in two hands pointed down towards the earth. There were quite a few bookshelves on this floor. James browsed them slowly. Each book seemed to be related to knights in some way. There were hundreds of them! He glanced at the titles. "A brief history of Drake Knights, 101 sword techniques, Oy! That's my spear you're grabbing!"
James felt overwhelmed by all the books but knew he was short on time. He grabbed just two books to read. The first book was "Introduction to Knights" and the second book was "How to train your brat to be a knight!" Fortunately, the uniform systems universal translator worked for reading as well!
James opened the first book and started reading. Knights have been around for as long as anyone can remember. When humans, beasts, or other races physically exhaust their bodies the body will naturally absorb the mana from the surroundings to heal the body. This results in strength increasing quickly during youth. Dire-beasts and some other races can continue using this method to increase their strength without limit. Unfortunately for humans, the absolute limit of this strength increase is 500 lbs. This is the same strength level as a new 1st grade knight. Most children reach this level by the age of 8. At that point it becomes possible to train as a knight. Knight techniques were created to allow humans to continue strengthening the body using mana.
James excitedly kept reading when he saw this. He laughed, "Mom! Your son is going to become a knight! I'll be like superman! No wonder those abnormal freaks can open those doors like they're nothing!"
The book then briefly explained the different grades of knights. Knights could be divided into 9 grades. It was a simple system. 1st grade, 2nd grade, etc. with the 9th grade being the strongest. Each level had certain strength requirements. The 1st grade was the lowest with strength being measured as being able to life 500 – 1000 lbs. with two hands. Each level had similar measuring mechanics.
Lastly, the book included a short introduction to the seven elements. Each knight innately trained in whichever elements suited them. At higher levels knights could release the element as an aura on their body and weapon for offense and defense. Unfortunately, long range attacks are not possible for knights as the aura cannot travel far from the knight.
James happily finished the book. He couldn't wait to train to be a knight! He grabbed the 2nd book, "How to train your brat to be a knight!" He opened the book and immediately began reading…
Every man should become a knight! If you're reading this book, then you are surely planning on raising your brat properly! Unfortunately, knight techniques are kept secret from the public by the various kingdoms and academies. Fear not! In this book I shall guide you through what you need to do to become a knight!
James continued to read, and he slowly became more and more disappointed. There were no techniques at all in this book. All it had was suggestions for gaining techniques such as, "Join the army, join an academy, and discover techniques in abandoned ruins!" James complained out loud to himself, "What kind of shit book is this?! Completely useless. It should have been titled Top Five Ways to Become a Knight that you Absolutely Won't Believe! The whole book read like a crappy clickbait web article!"
James sighed in disappointment and raised his head from the book. He looked around and suddenly his eyes widened while he smiled, "Could it be? Could it really be? Bwhahahhaa! My luck is too good. Way too good! How did I not think of this earlier!" James stood up from the table and returned the books to their proper places. He then walked towards the nine knight outfits that were displayed against the wall.
James nervously looked behind him to make sure no one was watching. When he was sure he was alone he closed his eyes and rubbed them with his fingers. The uniform system display appeared in front of him. He tapped the energy icon that currently showed 10 energy. Then he tapped the mouth icon to devour uniforms. The display turned into a blackhole. James walked towards the nearest knight armor outfit. He happily pointed the blackhole towards it. Nothing happened…
James sighed, "I guess I have to put it in myself." James grabbed the knight's sword first. "Ugh this is so fucking heavy!" He struggled to feed it to the blackhole. James glanced at the energy levels again, but it still displayed 10.
[Please provide full uniform for energy. Only full uniforms eligible for increased energy units.]
James complained, "So damn picky! Fine! I'll feed you until your full today! Daddy can handle it! Bwhahaha!" James grabbed the helmet next and threw it into the blackhole. Then he grabbed the torso and tried to lift it. He used all his strength to pull it towards the blackhole hovering in the air. James screamed, "Ughh!!" James managed to pull the knight armor down! *Bang!* The torso fell into the blackhole, but the legs slammed against the ground! James panicked, "Shit, shit, shit! I hope no one heard that!" James hurriedly positioned the blackhole over the legs on the ground. He managed to walk forward with the blackhole moving forward as he walked to make it successfully devour the legs.
[Ding! Mid-grade knight uniform devoured. 10 energy added.]
James laughed, "Haha it worked! I'm a genius! I'm rich!" James hurriedly rushed for the next knight outfit. He grabbed the sword and pushed it in the blackhole. This time he did not rush to grab the knight torso. He thought to himself, "The blackhole is too small to absorb it from the front, but what if I absorb it top to bottom?" With that thought in mind James carefully climbed atop the knight outfit. He carefully aimed the blackhole down towards it. Then he let go and fell to the floor. *Bang!* James moaned, "Ughhh. That hurt! It worked though! Haha!"
[Ding! Mid-grade knight uniform devoured. 10 energy added.]
James happily repeated these steps for the rest of the knight outfits. When he finished he hurriedly rushed onto the third floor. He grabbed a random book and sat down at the table. Then he opened it and pretended to read while he looked at the system display.
[Energy level – 100 units]
James smiled happily but then he heard footsteps coming from downstairs. He panicked for a second before regaining his composure and pretended to read. The footsteps got louder and louder until they stopped altogether. He turned around to see the gray-haired woman from downstairs staring at him. James spoke, "Hello miss, something I can help you with?"
The woman scowled, "What did you with the knight outfits on the 2nd floor?" James eyes widened and gave the woman an honest look, "I have no idea what you're talking about miss. Why would I do anything to them?"
The woman snorted, "If you didn't take them then who did? There are only two customers here right now and the other one is a regular! Not only that, but the other customer is so rich she wouldn't even glance at those knight outfits worth a measly 100 gold per set!"
James responded in shock, "Those were worth 100 gold per set! I could come here for years with that much money!" The woman yelled, "Trash like you always cause problems! Why would a soldier even waste a month's salary on visiting this library if not for ulterior motives! Hand over the armor and get the hell out!"
James widened his eyes in disbelief and spoke righteously, "Mademoiselle! You can eat whatever you want to eat, but you can't say whatever you want to say! Have you never heard that the customer is king! I'm willing to swear an oath on my personal honor that I do not have those knight outfits you speak of!"
The woman grinned, "Oh really? Would you be willing to swear a beholder oath on those words?" James thought to himself, "A beholder oath? What's that? Whatever. It's true those knight outfits are not in my possession. They were eaten! They're gone! Haha! Not even the world's greatest detective could catch me since the outfits no longer exist!"
James smiled widely, "I'll happily make the oath. I hope you'll at least have the tact to apologize afterwards!"
The gray-haired woman pulled a black stone out of thin air. James was shocked seeing this and thought, "Could that be interdimensional storage like the upgrade option my system has?!" The woman handed the stone to James and spoke, "Place the beholder stone to your forehead and swear the oath."
James looked at the black stone in confusion. It looked like an ordinary black stone except for the fact that it was perfectly round. He placed it against his forehead and spoke out loud, "I swear I am not in possession of the knight outfits from the 2nd floor of the library!" The black stone started to wiggle. Black smoky tentacles started to appear from every direction of the stone. A giant white eye opened on the stone. James looked up towards the stone on his forehead in shock and fear. He muttered to himself, "Creepy! This thing is every Japanese woman's worst nightmare!"
The beholder stone sent one of its smoky tentacles directly through James forehead. James felt no pain but felt like everything about him was being exposed for all to see. Cold sweat dripped down his neck. After a few seconds the tentacle retracted, and a deep voice boomed, "The oath he swore is true! No punishment." The tentacles retracted, and the eye slowly closed. The beholder stone once more looked like an ordinary black stone.
The woman took the stone back and spoke coldly, "Tch! I guess you're innocent. The beholder would have killed you instantly if you lied. You can stay here for now." She turned her back on James and headed for the stairs. It looked like she hadn't given up on investigating yet.
James wiped some sweat from his forehead. He was shaking in fear. He muttered quietly to himself, "Thank god the beholder sticks strictly to the oath. If it killed me because I took the knight outfits earlier, I'd definitely cry. Even in heaven I would appeal to the highest court I could find! To think those outfits were worth 900 gold altogether! Father, you always tried to teach me to invest. Today your son has turned 1 gold coin into 900 gold coins worth of energy! Are you proud of me father? Bwhahahaha!"
James slowly relaxed and looked around the third floor. There were no knight outfits on this floor and there were much fewer books. He looked at the titles and smiled in glee! "Haha! Magus books! This really is a world of magic! Mom, your son is going to become a great wizard! Or magus as they call it in this world! Haha! Harry Potter ain't gonna be shit compared to me! Bwhahahaa!"
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SnoozySloth
SnoozySloth Two new chapters! I didn't want to publish one of two parts so I finished both at once. These have been the most difficult chapters to write for me so far due to a ton of new information introduced.
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