On the 7th floor of the tower stood a boy with a tall man.
-This will be your room from now.
The room was quite dusty. There wasn't anything more than a bed and a table, but it was spacious.
-Thank you.
Connor expressed his gratitude, but he was more interested in the other floors of the tower than his own room.
-Can you show me other parts of the tower?
Alrick was already quite accustomed to the young boy's curiosity, so he was expecting this question.
-Yes, I will show you the other parts, let's go.
A young boy walked with a red-haired man to the 8th floor.
To Connor's surprise, there weren't any living rooms here like in the previous 7th stages. There was a large library with countless empty bookcases. Only those bookshelves which were close to the entrance contained books in them. But the more you walk away from the entrance, the content of the bookcases becomes poorer and poorer. That was quite a sad look for Connor. Books were the primary source of knowledge for him. If there are no books, that means there is no way to pass the knowledge to other people. If all libraries in the world were like that, it is no surprise that the world itself was so ancient and medieval.
-Where are all the books?
Connor asked a question.
-We've sold them.
Alrick replied.
"What? Why did they sell their books?" Thought Connor.
-What is the remaining books is about?
-Nothing interesting. There are some diaries of our clan members, books about history, and array formation books written by our array formation master.
"Array formation?" Thought Connor.
-What is array formation?
-It is a special structure, which makes Qi flow in a specific way to create something. It may be a barrier or a flame. Our array master, Vermand, even said that with enough mastery, one could build an array that could shatter the earth and split the heaven.
"WHAT????? THEY HAVE ENGINEERING HERE???? AND YOU SAY THE BOOK ABOUT IT ISN'T INTERESTING?????"
Connor was in complete and uttermost shock! Along with science, engineering brought prosperity and wealth to human civilization, and someone dared to say that it wasn't interesting?! Preposterous!
After a deep breath, Connor thought about it for a while and understood that the arrays were like electrical appliances from Earth, but instead of electricity, they used Qi. Because of it, usage of it was much broader.
-Can you show me books about array formations?
Alrick was surprised by this request, but after the initial shock, he thought that Connor was just interested in everything, so he didn't pay much attention to it.
-Of course, they are on the lower shelves.
Connor walked to the lower shelves Alrick had pointed out and looked at the book's covers.
"Array Formation Basics... Qi materials... Qi injection... Wait, how do I even understand this?"
The text on the book cover was written in some strange rune-like text, but Connor, somehow, perfectly understood what was written on them. It was like with the speech, he didn't speak once on this language before, but he could perfectly understand it and speak fluently. Perhaps, the reason behind his understanding of speech and text was the same.
-Can I take those books to my room?
Connor asked.
-Yes, we don't need them anyway.
"You have gold under your nose, and you don't want to take it? Idiot." Thought young and irritated scientist but didn't dare to say it out loud.
-Thank you, let's go to the upper floors.
After their small journey to a large and empty library, two went up to the 9th floor. And Connor once again encountered living quarters. Some people were walking here and there, but not much. The tower itself wasn't a lively place.
-Don't you say that members of the clan live on the second to the seventh floor?
Connor was distracted by the view of living quartets.
-Indeed, but there only lives Body Refining realm cultivators. On the ninth to eleventh floor live Soul Creation realm cultivators.
-Oh, so the higher the floor, the higher the cultivation realm?
Alrick nodded in response to Connor's question.
-Yes, you are right. Energy Amalgamation realm cultivators live on the fifteenth floor.
Connor imagined the size of the tower and compared it to the height of the floors. The problem is, the tower seemed a lot higher than fifteen floors. So Connor decided to ask about it.
-How many are floors in the tower?
-One hundred.
"What? You have so many stages and only use fifteen. But wait, maybe there are cultivators of the higher realms in this clan." Connor couldn't connect every piece right now, wasn't the Jarvinen clan supposed to be super-rich?
-Is the Energy Amalgamation cultivators is the highest realm cultivators in this clan?
-Yes, they are.
-So, only fifteen floors from one hundred are occupied?
-Yes.
"Of course, he comprehended Dao of fire without any help. He couldn't be stupid. I need to tell him," Alrick thought.
-Why?
When he saw the tower for the first time, Connor's expectations were set as high as possible because he was eager to find new Qi usages. He suspected the tower was built with the help of Qi. Skyscrapers of his world weren't so high as those towers. This world certainly was inferior in building technologies than Earth, so the only rational explanation was Qi, which means he could learn how to use Qi in a new, unexpected way.
Unfortunately, his expectations were not met. The tower was old and dusty!
-Our clan isn't doing well recently, so we had to sell many different things to maintain our existence.
Oh, now it made sense. They were just poor and couldn't afford anything.
-But you live in such a high and majestic tower. You must be rich, right?
Alrick sarcastically smiled.
-Yes, we must be rich, and we were rich, but we have lost our powers and couldn't protect our wealth.
Of course, there was something more in this story.
-Why did you lose your powers?
The young scientist tried to get as much information as possible from Alrick.
-That's a long and cruel story, but if in short...
Alrick took a deep breath, though for a while, and started speaking.
-You need to know that the Jarvinen clan is a side branch of the main clan, Virtanen. As you saw earlier, there are three towers in each city sector. One tower for the main clan and two towers for the side branches. Virtanen clan has two side branches, Jarvinen and Nieminen. Fifteen years ago, the Nieminen branch decided that they did not want to be a side branch anymore, They wanted to make a revolution and become the main branch, but they lacked power. To gain it, Nieminen members tried to recruit people from the Jarvinen clan. And many of the Jarvinen clan members joined them. But, one man from the Jarvinen branch stood up and opposed the Niemen branch. He didn't want the Niemen to wreak havoc inside the clan and believed they must be stopped. He united the remains of the Jarvinen clan and led them to attack the Niemen clan. Unfortunately, the young son of this man was captured, and Nieman's clan said if he decided to fight them, his son would be killed. If he wanted to save his child's life, he needed to come alone to Niemen tower, and he had only twelve hours to make a decision. After a long night of thinking, he decided to come there. He perfectly understood that this was a trap, but he had no choice. Son was too precious to him. When he came, members of the Niemen clan fooled him and killed his son right in front of him. After it, they destroyed his meridians and dantian, so he couldn't store Qi in his body any longer. He fell from the greatest cultivator of the Jarvinen clan to a mere mortal. Soon after, practically all Jarvinen clan members were recruited or killed.
-Wow...
Connor didn't expect to hear such a tragic story. He understood that what he would hear after his questions wouldn't be positive, but not to such an extent.
-Does the Niemen clan succeed in their revolution?
That was one of the main questions right now. He had already joined the Jarvinen clan. Does it mean that he would become a foe to the Niemen clan?
-Yes and no, formally, the Virtanen clan is still the main clan, but in reality, Niemen and Virtanen are equal in terms of power right now. You can say that there are two main clans right now.
And the only one, practically extinct, side branch.
-What were you doing in the Snojfell?
Connor already had a vague understanding of the overall situation. He just needed one piece to connect everything together.
-Looking for treasures, Snojfell is a land with a large amount of Ice and water Qi, so energy could affect some stone or dirt, and it will become spiritual stone or dirt, which can be sold.
"A large amount of Qi could convert something ordinary into something spiritual? Interesting. Besides that, they must go to a place like Snojfell to earn money? It's quite a pity."
-I am your last hope to restore the clan, isn't I?
Alrick was shocked and thought. "He shouldn't have understood everything so fast. He is just a small child!"
Connor continued.
-You saw a boy who could create his own cultivation technique and cultivate in the middle of the blizzard. After it, you thought that you could recruit him, and it would be your attempt to restore the clan. Am I right?
Alrick heaved a sigh.
-Yes... You are right.
-Good, then I'll do it.
"WHAT??" Alrick thought.
-What? Alrick said.
-I will restore your clan and help you, but I have one condition.
Alrick was shocked and couldn't think properly right now, but he was still interested in what Connor had to offer.
-What is it?
At this moment, Connor already dropped his act and decided to be himself.
-I want full control in the Jarvinen clan, is it possible, the greatest cultivator of the Jarvinen clan?