Volume I: The Continent of Stephen Chapter 5: The Imperial Library
With Angelica's compact small steps, Zhang Ye kept looking at the surrounding environment, the early morning dew was still hanging on the early morning tip on the roadside, the faint fog shrouded the city that gradually woke up in the morning light, there were already many people on the bluestone paved streets began to walk, people pulling ox carts and donkey carts held the reins and transported goods without hurry, the courtyards on both sides of the street were mixed with a lot of shops, most of which were already open for business, shouting one after another, surrounded by European faces, from time to time mixed with people wearing armor and carrying weapons in a hurryγ
After chatting with Angelica and walking out of the street, after passing through a market, I looked at the sign on the side of the road, which read the words Najib Street in large letters.
"It's almost there, the identification desk is in front, and the house with the flag badge at the door is that," Angelica said.
Zhang Ye looked up, and in the distance, an iron rod was nailed to the door frame of a gray-white building facing the street, and a wooden sign was hung under the iron rod, with a blue flag pattern on it, and an open book was printed in the corner of the flag.
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Zhang Ye and Angelica came quite early, and the process was very fast, after passing Angelica's guarantee certificate and the 5 silver coins to buy the road, the handling staff said "Wait a minute" took the personal information improvised by Zhang Ye into the back room, while waiting, Angelica chatted with Mr. Fenas on the side, while Zhang Ye sat on the side and watched the people coming in and out of the office, some wearing light armor, some wearing coarse linen clothes, and some dressed businessmen, basically as long as they didn't seem to have too difficult life, they carried weapons with them.
"It seems that everyone here has the habit of carrying weapons with them, and the weapon market is doing well... β
Zhang Ye was thinking nonsense in his head.
Soon, the clerk who had just entered the room came out with a piece of paper and a round badge the size of a coin and handed it to Mr. Fenas.
"Welcome to the City of Sleepless, Andrey, and I wish you a pleasant life here, this is your identification and universal badge. β
"It turns out that this place is called Sleepless City, I don't know what it means. Zhang Ye thought to himself.
"These two things must be kept safe, if they are lost, it will be very troublesome to reissue them again," Mr. Finnas smiled at Zhang Ye, and as he spoke, he pushed the paper and badge handed to him by the handling staff just now and pushed it in front of Zhang Ye with his index finger.
"Thank you, Mr. Fenas, I took note of it. β
"Then your business is done, Aunt Angie, my mother has been saying lately that you haven't been a guest at home for a long time, and I hope you will take the time to chat with her, you know, since my father disappeared, my mother likes to be lively in the house. Mr. Finnas turned to Angelica.
"I see, Fenas, I'll go sometime, I miss your mother's gingerbread too, but if you want the house to be lively, you should get married early!"
walked out of the office with his identity certificate, and accompanied Angelica to have a simple and delicious breakfast at Lucy's breakfast restaurant, Zhang Ye said that he was going to go to the library to see and separated from Angelica.
"Remember to fix my hoe. Angelica turned away.
Walking on the bluestone road of Sleepless City, nibbling on a fruit that looked like a mango that he bought for 1 copper coin from a roadside fruit stall, Zhang Ye saw that there were many public carriages walking back and forth on the road, he planned to ask the price, and take a cheap taxi to the library, after all, the library can be seen at any time, but after estimating the distance, it is estimated that it will take a lot of time to walk over.
"In the morning, how much does it cost to go to the library?" Zhang Ye walked to a public carriage on the side of the road that was resting and waiting for customers, and asked the coachman.
"Good morning sir, it costs six copper coins to get to the Imperial Library from here," replied the coachman.
Zhang Ye thought about it for a while, and got into the carriage and went to the library.
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As the carriage continued to move forward, the more it walked towards the city center, the more wealthy and luxurious the surrounding shops and households looked, until the carriage reached a tall dome building, "Huh~~~~" The coachman stopped the frame, Zhang Ye got out of the car and took 6 of the 119 copper coins recovered from selling the fruit just now and gave them to the coachman.
The main building of the library in front of you is made of huge white stone, and there are six huge columns at the entrance, which looks like it is several stories high.
The decoration of various shops in the surrounding area is full of literary and artistic atmosphere, and most of them are stationery stores that buy and sell books and paper and pencils.
The door of the library was open, and people kept coming in and out, Zhang Ye walked into the library with the crowd, and the identity badge pinned to his chest flashed slightly when he entered the door.
"Identification function, and access control system... β
After entering the door, there is a shadowy wall in the middle of the road, on which is written a sentence.
"Knowledge is the common wealth of mankind
- Phoenix the Great"
Walking along the sides of the wall into the library hall, it is also brightly lit during the day, there are tables for reading books everywhere, the round top of the head is a bit like a glass product, the sunlight is evenly distributed in all corners of the library on an unknown principle, there are tall bookshelves all around, people are constantly sliding the ladder to remove the books or put the books back in their places, although there are many people, but basically there is not much sound of talking, more than the sound of the pen when it slides on the paper.
But what surprised Zhang Ye the most were the brooms that were constantly being built automatically and the books that were flying in the sky to return to their places.
The library staff standing on the side froze in place when they saw Zhang Ye come in, thinking that they could estimate which kid from the countryside it was, but with their own professionalism, this person needed help.
Walked lightly to Zhang Ye and gently patted Zhang Ye's arm.
"Hello sir, do you need any help?" asked the staff softly.
Zhang Ye woke up suddenly and looked at the source of the sound.
"Oh oh, hello hello. Zhang Ye glanced at what this person was wearing, and estimated in his heart that he should be a librarian or other staff, so he continued:
"I need some history books, where can I find them?"
"Okay, you can go to the first row of shelves on the west side and find history books. β
"Okay, thank you. Zhang Ye thanked
"You're welcome sir, this is my job, and I wish you the favor of the goddess of knowledge. β
After speaking, Zhang Ye walked towards the row of bookshelves pointed by the staff, and looked at the classification labels of the rows of bookshelves passing by.
"Agriculture", "Lifestyle", "Politics and Law"
There are quite a lot of classifications, and the development of this Siti continent is quite balanced, and I don't know what category it is on the other side.
Walking to the history bookshelf, the tall bookshelves are full of all kinds of history books.
Zhang Ye probably glanced at the title on the side cover of the book, and his heart sank.
"Exploration of the Forbidden Sea", "Explanation of the History of the Stir Continent", "Historical Exploration of the High Elves", "The Origin of the Orc Race", γγγγγγ
A multiracial continent?
Zhang Ye continued to read and found that there were dozens of books on the history of intelligent races other than humans on the shelves, and some of the titles were obviously hostile.
Seeing this, Zhang Ye planned to pick up a few historical books about the entire Sti Continent, and he first needed to understand what the situation was in the place where he was.
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In the blink of an eye, it was already afternoon, the sun was gradually setting, and the glow of the glass dome above the head was gradually fading, but it was not completely darkened, and the light from the dome slowly turned into a soft orange light.
Zhang Ye, who was immersed in books, stretched his waist, and when he saw the sun setting in the west outside the window on the wall, he suddenly felt a little hungry.
"It looks like I only had one breakfast today... Zhang Ye touched his stomach.
"The harvest of this afternoon is a bit too big, knowing the history, I always feel that I am in more and more danger... β
I closed the borrowed books, took them out of the shelves on the table, and saw the books flickering back to the shelves.
At this moment, a soothing music sounded from the loudspeaker on the library wall, and a pleasant female voice said:
"Hello citizens, the opening hours of the Imperial Library are coming to an end soon, please put the books back in time or go through the borrowing procedures at the front desk, sort out the items you bring, and leave the Imperial Library in an orderly manner, thank you for your cooperation, I hope you will gain something in today's reading, may the light of the goddess of knowledge shine on the sleepless city, thank you. β
"Hello citizens, the Imperial Library opens todayγγγγγ β
In the continuous looping of the closure notice, Zhang Ye followed the crowd out of the Imperial Library.
Touching his head that was a little swollen, Zhang Ye simply stopped a public carriage again.
"Sir, where are you going?"
Sitting in the car, Zhang Ye suddenly remembered that he didn't know what name to add to the street where his home was located.
"Let's go to the market at the corner of Najib Street. Zhang Ye, who only remembered the name of this one street, said.
"Okay sir, sit tight~~"
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When he arrived at the market, Zhang Ye got out of the car, paid for the car, and walked towards the road where he and Angelica had come in the morning.
Walking through the bazaar, walking into the street where he lived, and eating something at a timely stall by the way, Zhang Ye was ready to hurry home and think about today's harvest.
Looking up, there was a sign on the right side of the street that read "Sixth Avenue".
Not even an official name.
Walking forward, finally returning to his familiar place, Zhang Ye quickened his pace.
Suddenly, Zhang Ye was forcefully pulled closer to the small alley around him, and then a faint light swept over him, and Zhang Ye saw a short sword around his neck.
"Tell me, where's that damn bastard in Rodest?" a hoarse whisper accompanied by a chill into Zhang Ye's ears.
Zhang Ye, who encountered this situation for the first time in his life, was very at a loss. By being suddenly frightened, he said in a trembling tone:
"Rod. This. Oh. Oh.. You said.. Yes. Neil. Uncle? Ignorance. Dao him. Where is it. Ahh β
As he spoke, Zhang Ye tried to activate the identity badge alarm function mentioned in the instructions for the use of the identity certificate hanging on the wall of the identity certificate office, and the nearest patrol team would immediately rush over after activation.
However, the activation failed, as the identity badge that replaced the nearest patrol leader after a successful activation in the instructions immediately responded, and emitted a bright light into the sky to alert the inspiring Patrol to the imminent arrival.
No response was received, and the view was not obscured by the low houses nearby.
"Boy, don't play tricks, don't try to call the patrol over, your only way to survive is to tell me the whereabouts of Rodester. β
The hoarse voice continued, and the short sword on Zhang Ye's neck tightened again, the sharp blade grazed the skin, and a little bit of bright red blood dripped down the short sword.
Zhang Ye really has no choice, he really doesn't know where old Neil has gone, the system can't find it, what should he do.
"System, system, hurry up and save me, I haven't lived enough for a day in this crossing, hurry up and find a way to save me." β
"Ding~ detected that the system and the host are threatened with obliteration, and now provides the following self-rescue solutions. β
"1. A trial opportunity for the advanced skill "Charming Mind", after use, the target action is fully controlled, the duration is determined by the mental strength of the target, up to 30 seconds, and the exchange requires 10 years of life of the host.
2. A trial opportunity for the perfect skill "Strength of Iron Bone", the whole body is completely metalized after use, and it can defend against a full-strength attack of a ninth-order warrior at most, and the exchange requires 20 years of life of the host.
3. A trial opportunity for the advanced skill "Shadow Walking", after use, it will be integrated into the shadow world, during which the movement speed will be increased by 5 times, immune to physical attacks in the material world, and can be teleported in the shadow of the material world for a short distance for a duration of 5 seconds. Redemption requires 15 years of the host's lifespan.
Please choose the same plan as soon as possible, after choosing, this trial will directly act on the host itself, and there is no need to read skill books. β
It was only a split second in his mind, and the system provided 3 skills for Zhang Ye to solve the current killing situation, just when Zhang Ye was still sweating and making a choice.
"Don't speak, boy, then die. The hoarse voice behind him said that he was about to make a move.
"No matter, just the most reliable "Steel and Iron Bone", after all, the perfect level of skills, survive first. β