It took Vanessa about an hour to fill the space ring with books. But even after she was done, it seemed that the book section didn't seem empty at all. It was expected, after all, the books in the Exchange Pavilion were copies of originals. Even if Xue Mo asked for all the books, Vanessa would just give him the originals or copies. This is why it is the Exchange Pavilion; you could exchange for anything with enough money, but you still wouldn't have the only copy of it.
After handing the space ring to Xue Mo, Vanessa sat back in her chair with a thump. It seemed that moving from row to row and ensuring that she didn't give the same book twice made her exhausted.
Myzer sympathized with his sister, yet he knew that Xue Mo needed all the books he got for some reason, so he didn't say anything. He just stood at the side, looking awkward.
Xue Mo didn't say anything after he got the ring. He was still lost in thought as he had been for the last hour. He was making and changing plans in seconds, trying to find the best result for what to do next. After a while, he gave up, 'I should take a look at these books before deciding anything.' He had been making plans about his and Lu Yao's future direction, but the phenomena he saw while Myzer advanced in realm kept taking his attention.
Despite the changes that kept happening these weeks, with the Battle Mage Academy and the Assassination Academy, nothing seemed to faze Xue Mo didn't. Yet, once he saw Myzer's advancement that was different than what he knew, he finally did. Something good enough to grab his attention had appeared.
Myzer was still standing awkwardly, not knowing what to do while his sister was already fast asleep. Lu Yao had also gotten bored from waiting, so she nudged Xue Mo. He looked at her with confusion before quickly understanding what was happening. Xue Mo looked at Myzer one last time before leaving the Exchange Pavilion. From that reaction, Myzer understood that Xue Mo was done and sighed in relief; he could finally move.
He descended the Pagoda's stairs again and entered his room; he could finally read the books and understand what happened to Myzer. Letting Mana enter the space ring, he took all the books out and laid them around him. The previously spacious and furnished room turned into one filled to the brim with books.
"Couldn't you take them out one by one?!" Lu Yao complained, but Xue Mo was already reading the first book, so he didn't pay her attention.
One after one, books were returned to the space ring. Xue Mo's reading speed wasn't fast nor slow. He read all the books, again and again, if there were something he didn't get, he would stop to contemplate; nevertheless, these cases were rare due to his experience.
About a month later, Xue Mo had finished all the books that he got from the Exchange Pavilion. Every day Myzer and sometimes Hiari would visit him with food that he either ate or gave to Lu Yao. With this month done, it would be the anniversary of him and Lu Yao's second year of meeting each other.
"I finally understand it now!" Xue Mo, who had returned to his actual appearance at some point this month, said while closing the last book. He almost read over ten thousand books, and although to him this wasn't a huge number, with him not having a cultivation base currently, it would be a chore.
His eyes were shining with enlightenment while his face was excited as if he had found a treasure. He learned of the difference that he had noticed when Myzer advanced in realm, and with-it new possibilities appeared in front of him.
"Qi Sensing realm? Qi Condensation realm? These are similar to the Arch Sensing and Arch Condensation that I know, but are vastly different." Xue Mo muttered aloud in the middle of his comprehensive state. It seemed that his enlightenment hadn't ended, even Lu Yao didn't dare move, to give him all the time he needed.
"While the Qi Sensing and Arch Sensing are both about sensing the energy, it seems that in Qi Sensing, you temper your body with the energy to get used to it just like body cultivation. While in Arch Sensing, you feel for the energy and work on upgrading the energy's purity." Xue Mo stopped talking as if to imprint what he just learned into his mind.
Lu Yao saw that he wasn't finished, so she didn't move to not break his concentration. She had seen Xue Mo smile and express some emotions (though rarely) in these two years, but he was acting differently right now. He was genuinely happy, and maybe even he didn't know this. 'It seems his passion really is cultivation,' Lu Yao thought in amusement.
"Arch condensation is the stage where cultivators of Arch energy start checking if they have a dantian by letting the Arch energy permeate their bodies, and it is also the real first and diving stage between a mortal and someone who would become immortal." Xue Mo said with brightened eyes that shined even more as he mumbled away, "however, the Qi condensation is different. In this Universe, everyone has a dantian, but it depends on their talent how much they can go in their cultivation."
His heart started beating faster when he thought of this and continued reviewing the knowledge he just gained. "In Qi Condensation, people's dantian is in one place, which is above the naval in their stomach. In this realm, they concentrate the energy into it and start absorbing it." Lu Yao was also concentrating on what Xue Mo was saying, and got confused, 'why didn't I know about this. This world is lower in power than my home planet, yet they have cultivation, and we don't.'
Lu Yao started feeling as if there were more to this situation (or maybe the whole assassination academy) than it seemed. While Lu Yao was pondering over the assassination academy, Xue Mo's eyes started getting back to heir familiar look. His enlightenment had finished, yet his face still had the happy smile that he had when he was in that state. He figured something out.
He looked at Lu Yao and saw her pondering over something, so he didn't say anything and kept watching. After a few seconds, Lu Yao recovered and looked at him with a small smile, "did you get what you need?"
Still, in a happy mood, Xue Mo nodded his head and said, "more than I imagined. I have discovered possibilities I didn't know existed."
Hearing what Xue Mo said, Lu Yao became curious, "what did you find?"
"You heard what I said when I was talking out loud, so I am not telling you again." Xue Mo said while taking on a teasing tone. It seemed that spending time with Lu Yao had rubbed some of her habits on him, and because he was in a good mood, he felt like teasing her.
"Ok, ok, anyway, what to do now?"
With Lu Yao's question, Xue Mo finally knew what to do. Before he started his plan that his enlightenment helped him get, he had to do some experiments.
"Now?" Xue Mo had an evil smirk on his face, a side that Lu Yao had heard him talk about, but hadn't seen seemed to emerge. "Now, I teach!"
For the first time in his long life, Xue Mo, the Sage of Nightmares, is going to teach someone!