Nora now enticed, kept reading. Quickly she read through the pages she had previously skipped and gained a general understanding of her both the empire's history and some of the more prominent and major families. Once she had finished reading the book her mother had provided her she headed towards their family library. Nora had neglected the library while she was deeply immersed in converting the outer-cultivation manual to mana.
Upon entering the library she marveled at the large silver chandelier. Decorated with a series of miniature swords, it lit the circular room with had bookshelves stuffed to their limits lining the entirety of the walls. Looking at the sheer quantity of books, Nora couldn't help appreciate the efforts her family had undergone in order to fill such a sizeable library with such a quantity. Although in her life as the First Paragon she had witnessed far large and far vaster libraries, this library had been curated by a small and visibly declining family. There were no unlimited sums of resources to gather books. No swarms of servants scouring the nearby cities for book merchants. Such a sizable library was an astonishing achievement.
Nora quickly perused the bookshelves looking for books of interest. With her enhanced strength from reaching the first realm of Mana Circulation, picked up a large stack of books and hauled them towards a rather non-descript wooden table in the centre of the room.
Nora decided on the first book she would delve into, 'Way of the Knight', reading through the pages she began to read several biographies of what appeared to be the higher echelon of Knights. Through reading these biographies, Nora deciphered some new information
In a very similar fashion to Nora's old world, Knights practiced knight cultivation techniques. These techniques were very similar to Outer-Cultivation techniques from her previous life. Although the ranking of the realms was different she didn't have enough information to decipher the exact order of the differently named realms.
Once she finished devouring the new information she reached for an odd book which had caught her eye, 'Guide to Leveling'. The term leveling was very odd and she was originally going to ignore it but her curiosity lead her to grab the book. It was a rather very thin and aged book, with visible signs of wear.
Nora flipped over the cover of the book and was met by another strange word [Status]. Mentally she couldn't help but ask 'What's a status?'. Almost on cue, a prominent system alert appeared in Nora's mind.
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[ Status ]
Name: Nora Redblood
Species: Human
Occupation: None
Professions: None
Title: None
Bloodline: None
Affinity: True Mana Affinity,
Level: 1
Health Points: 200/200
Mana: 500/500
Strength: 251
Speed: 301
Accuracy: 247
Stamina: 322
Skills :
NEW - Mana Mastery: 1
NEW - Dragon Kings Incarnation Cultivation Technique: MC1
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Nora startled at its sudden appearance quickly calmed as she began to observe the status. Thinking back towards her previous physical state she estimated that the base value of Strength, Speed, Accuracy, & Stamina were all around the 10 range. Her cultivation technique already showing its Divine rank capabilities. She noticed that she apparently had an affinity for mana. In confusion, she focused on the affinity prompt and a new alert appeared.
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[Affinity]
True Mana Affinity -
250% General Improvement and Growth to Mana Spells and Mana related skills...
-
Nora couldn't help but think to herself, 'I really got lucky with this host...'. Putting the status and stats to the side she decided to return to the book she had been reading in order to see if the system had any more functions.
The first page covered the status prompt and confirmed Nora's suspicion that the base value for a non-cultivating human was indeed between 10-20, largely depending on what seemed like genetics.
The next few pages described the process of attaining new skills. The book claimed that once one performed the action that proved a certain mastery over the skill, the status would update. Nora curious of this claim ran out of the library and towards the servant quarters. The servant quarters had once housed a large number of servants but now only harbored a loyal few who refused to leave the Redblood Family. Nora politely asked the first servant she saw for a broom. The servant was well-beyond confused and simply complied to Nora's request.
Nora now seemingly excited ran towards the courtyard and tore off the brush section of the broom leaving her with a wooden staff. She calmed herself before starting the progression of the 99 moves of the 'Monkey-King Staff Form'. With undeniable grace, Nora calmly and expertly progressed to the tenth move of the 'Monkey-King Staff Form' before she heard a *Ding*
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[Skill Gained - Polearm Mastery]
Polearm Mastery: 1
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Nora continued through the progressions. Once she passed the twentieth move a second *Ding* sounded in her mind
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[Skill Level Up]
Polearm Mastery: 2
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Nora continued the progressions, hearing a mental *Ding* every ten moves until reaching the ninety-ninth move and suddenly a far louder *Ding* occurred in her mind
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[Skill Level Up]
Polearm Mastery: MAX
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Satisfied with the confirmation, Nora returned to the library. The remained of the book, 'Guide to Leveling' covered how an occupation can directly affect the stats, how the killing of beasts and monsters can provide experience to level up, and how levels increase stats directly based on which occupation is selected.
With a superficial understanding of how the system worked and knight cultivation techniques she thought about her parents. She wondered if her parents had practiced such knight techniques. After thinking about how she could get an answer she attempted to sense the mana inside of her parents to gauge their overall strengths. Using her previous knowledge on how to Qi Sense she quickly managed to translate the ability and hear a *Ding*
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[Skill Gained - Mana Sense]
Mana Sense: 1
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As she was still in the library, Nora was unable to sense her parent's mana from such a distance, especially with only 'Mana Sense: 1'. She turned 'Mana Sense' towards herself and took note of the mana to be able to compare it to her parents.
Nora made her way towards where she had last seen her parents and once again attempted 'Mana Sense'. Immediately Nora was stunned by a huge quantity of mana. Although she had some expectations she couldn't believe her eyes. Her parents had been at the Early Soul Forming Realm the entire time.