The next morning, Marcel had to leave for doing some paperwork and report to higher-ups regarding the massacre of the netizens of Delin town. Vlad was also asked to come to give a testimony in the military headquarters of the 3rd layer which was around 100 kilometers in total perimeter, housing close to 1 million people altogether.
Compared to the first two layers and walls… this was a very low count but this layer that had mostly soldiers, their families and established businesses was the closest thing that resembled the normal atmosphere of the cities before the war.
After leaving the headquarters, Vlad told Marcel that he would head back to their quarters and wanted to familiarize himself with the city and routes first.
His main target was completely opposite to what he told his new guardian about.
After traveling over 20 kilometers on foot easily because of his vampire physique and asking a few questions here and there… Dracula came to realize a few facts about the settlement itself.
One, although things were in order here and also public order was organized… the quantity of resources was actually scarce and everything was overpriced 2 to 3 times its original value.
Dracula on the other end wasn't surprised at all. Things like this are common during the war and happen everywhere when you are on the losing side.
On the surface, it looked like the war impacted the availability of resources. But in reality, it was called taking advantage of the situation.
Greedy people thrived on war no matter where it was. Many used that pretext to make an extra buck while blaming it on the war or how gathering necessary provisions and resources was tough.
However, using the war as an excuse… the price would be doubled or tripled and the profits would not only go to the business organizations or local merchants… but also top military officers who would turn a blind eye to fill their own pockets in the name of having too many things to look after.
How did Dracula know about this?
Even he once used such circumstances to create a great amount of wealth during his previous life when he was nothing but an orphan of war, trying to survive in a harsh world with no one looking after him.
The current situation was similar to his past life, the only difference being that he at least had his godfather to rely on for a while.
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Four Hours Later.
After asking for directions from place to place, Dracula finally found the most important place in the entire 3rd layer zone. And that was…
The Public Library.
Among the free facilities available to the public at this point was the public library. And Dracula was in dire need of information about this world as well as his surroundings first before he could plan his future approaches as well as direction to grow in strength based on this world's methods and techniques.
Vlad registered under his real name as Vlad Silverfang here since it wasn't some vital information that needed to be hidden even in the long run. Then after getting a token of this white and blue building that sized around 1 kilometer in total span, he went through several sections and finally found the department he was focusing on.
The History of the Kingdom and the world.
[Alright system, let's see if you can really work or not.] thought Dracula as he casually touched a book placed on a shelf.
One of the five functions of the Blood Sovereign System was that it could scan and store any form of knowledge and help Dracula completely memorize it. Thus, he intended to make the best use of it as soon as possible.
[Scanning initiated.
Estimated time for completion : 10 minutes.] replied the blood sovereign system.
"I see… means I will have to at least pretend that I'm reading the book till it's done.
Well, I will look for other important books in the meantime." said Dracula and adjusted himself as if he was rummaging through the pages and found enlightenment while reading through the pages of the book.
Soon, he picked up another book that had general information about the topography and history of the ruling authorities as well as terrain specialty and position in the established settlements.
Next, he looked for a book related to the culture of the kingdom. Then, another one regarding the languages, dialects and natives spread across the entire kingdom.
Finally, he stopped on a book related to the general information about the world, the empires and kingdoms and whatever information they had on it.
Dracula was certain that the ruling powers would either omit the information they didn't want the citizens to know of or they'd simply have their own ideology ingrained in them in the name of information.
Dracula was already well versed in the art of brainwashing the population and creating a humble and yet obedient civilization that believed whatever you told them.
The sanctuary of knowledge such as a library was no exception to this method and people were often brainwashed since they were a child using such methods through schools and even military academies.
In the end, they were all just means to empower the ruling authorities, and create a subservient populace that cemented and fortified a suitable foundation for the ruling powers to maintain their control and hierarchy over the masses.
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Finally, after spending 2 hours in the library and going through 12 important books he deemed worth starting off with… Dracula finally returned to their living quarters.
Marcel was on guard duty for tonight so Dracula decided to use the peace and quiet.
"Listen, system. Compartmentalize all the information scanned based on the departments I will tell you." he commanded.
Soon, he told the system how to divide the acquired knowledge into the categories he wanted.
"Such a useful tool. It saved me months." spoke Dracula after the system finished the task.
"Alright, It's time to learn about this world." he said with an elated expression and continued in a yearning tone…
"The world of Redros."