As Cain entered the golden door, he was momentarily blinded as he tried to regain his vision.
Feeling as though he stepped into a different realm, the light started to fade as all around him, countless bookshelves stood tall.
Each bookshelf was filled to the brim with different types of manuals. There were so many that even the bookshelves could barely hold them all, as various piles of manuals were laid across the ground. It seemed as if this area was a pure reflection of the library he just walked through, but with no upper layers.
'It would take me at least a year to go through all these,' Cain thought to himself.
"Hello!"
"Ah!" Cain screamed upon hearing a voice out of nowhere.
"Due to my age, a certain important piece of information seems to have slipped from my mind… You only get four hours to choose a manual before it automatically sends you out. Bye!"
Pin drop silence.
That was all Cain could hear as the world gloomed around him.
"FOUR HOURS!?"
Cain screamed as he started to pace in a circle.
"That damn eccentric old man…"
Cain looked around him as he tried to build a plan in his head.
"This seems less about strategy, but more about one's luck."
Feeling as if every second would count, Cain headed to the left side area, so as not to waste any time.
As he walked gracefully through the rows of bookshelves, he stopped a few times to randomly pick up a manual and quickly skim through it.
Every book he had grabbed was a cultivation manual. He was a tad confused as to how this area was sectioned off.
With quicker steps, he roamed through the area, grabbing books quicker, and only reading them about their main topic.
After wasting about twenty minutes, he determined the entire left area was based on mana cultivation. While it was relatively easy to determine that, as one who couldn't use mana, he always wanted to know about the different types of ways to cultivate mana. His heart had yearned to learn about mana, and satisfying that knowledge was worth the time for him.
It was also interesting to read about the many different types of cultivation manuals there were. Some included just sitting in a proper position to allow the body to open to the mana around and slowly bring it in.
Others had some weird process where they should only absorb mana based on the type of moon out, or the type of weather.
The weirdest part is that he even read some that seemed like they were completely fake. The writing was all wrong, and the type of absorption didn't even make sense. It was quite easy to determine based on the details and clarity of writing. It seemed as though they were also testing the person's reading abilities or weeding out the dumb ones.
As he headed to the right side of the area, seeing how this area was of no use to him, he was suddenly stopped, seeing a skull face book that lay on the tables between the left and right areas.
With the curiosity of a cat, he quickly opened the book and read the first page.
[Soul Reaping Cultivation Art]
[For every life you end, you absorb the soul and mana of that person to strengthen your own. The more you reap, the stronger you become. Due to the unique effect, you will not be able to absorb mana from the atmosphere anymore.
Side Note: Due to the merging process from your gathered souls, this could lead to multiple personality disorder as you slowly lose your sanity.]
Cain closed the book and set it down.
"No, thank you!" Cain said with a disgusted face, before taking a glance and thinking to himself as he headed into the right area.
'Should I be worried that the book was lying on a table and not the bookshelves?'
Taking a very small note of his thoughts, he pulled the first book off the bookshelf in the right area and quickly read it.
[Elusive Serpents Dagger Arts]
'I found it!'
"So it was sectioned into cultivation and techniques manuals."
Quickly reading the manual in his hand, it talked about using a type of illusion to deceive its foes as the user attacked unpredictably, but was scripted to the foe's emotional reactions.
"This seems to be a type of assassination technique, and it's focused on using daggers. It would also only work on people who live with emotional distress." As he put the book back.
Cain continued as he scanned through various manuals.
[Blossoming Flowers Saber Arts]
[Mountain Destroyers Fist Arts]
[Ocean Splitter Trident Arts]
[Blood Moon Sword Arts]
As he read through each one, the greater he learned how difficult this would be.
With only three hours left now, he not only had to find a technique that would be suitable for him, but also one that didn't use mana…
And so far, almost all of them had required mana, with a few costing the sacrifice of something to use the technique.
As he continued to skim through, he noticed some didn't use mana, but required the blood of the user to perform.
Some even use memories and life force.
Sitting down as he rested his back against the bookshelf, he took a minute to figure out what to do.
"I need to decide what kind of weapon I want to use."
After reading through all the previous manuals, he thought about the type of build he already had that would be suitable for the right weapon… and the type of person who gave birth to it.
"It wasn't even a question, as I can also feel my desire to learn it."
'The path of the sword.'
With a firm resolve, he looked around before he started to see something completely unnatural.
Quickly standing up, he walked forward to grab a book that glowed with a small, dim gray color.
Opening it and seeing the first page.
[Heaven's cutting Sword Art]
[With a flick of the wrist and determined eyes, the user can cut the sky above. Who needs power when you only need imagination!]
"So… gray color means it's fake."
Looking around quickly once more, he found another book that was dimmed with blue.
Quickly reading it, he found it was another sword technique and one that used mana.
"So, gray means it's fake, blue uses mana." Seeing a red glowing book near the end of the section, the idea of this place was starting to make sense.
"Red glow means it's a technique that uses a part of the user to sacrifice in exchange for performing it."
With only two hours left, Cain walked through the various rows of bookshelves to prove his theory.
"So, only after you determine the type of weapon you want to use, will the manuals of that weapon type start to glow. And the books seem to glow in intensity based upon the potential of the technique."
With a gentle smile and a partially smooth forehead, he tried to relax, as it was now time to find his technique.
—-----------
At the top of the mountains, a grand castle stood still as its doors opened. Many nobles of
The Whiteheart clan had gathered in the mail hall as Rediar sat upon a large, ancient throne.
It was made of a unique ore found only within the deepest reaches of the mountain - Mythrill.
As one of the ores of legends, to have it be made into a throne also shows just how powerful the Whiteheart clan can be.
Seated next to him, albeit lower in height, was Stella Whiteheart. She wore a pure white, radiant dress, as her white hair lay over her left shoulder. Her gray eyes possessing with a unique charm.
Reidar looked down among the nobles who stood side by side and apart from each other, as a giant dark colored carpet separated them.
This was a yearly meeting where they would talk about world events and politics, but also how the children of the nobles were progressing.
Upon seeing Reidar's eyes looking down at them, all the nobles lowered their voices and ended conversations as it was about to start.
"Sebastian, Report," Reidar ordered.
"Yes, my lord." He responded as he began the meeting.