The library occupied almost one-third the area of the second floor, but only a small part of this area was available to the visitors for visiting. Many of the guests had come with the aim of attending the once in their lifetime opportunity of the Conquest, and thus most of the rooms prepared for the guests for the wedding were still being occupied.
So it was not really surprising that they were not the only ones visiting the library, and neither were they the first to come. When the attendant guiding them to the library activated the door and allowed them to enter, they could see at a glance that a few early birds were already making use of the first sunlight. Once they entered, the attendant closed the heavy stone doors behind them.
Since the library was a very solemn and important area, Fluffy and Phantasm had to be kept in their rooms. And to appease the two howling-mad beasts, Artreya decided to stay back as well. Moreover, he was not really interested in cooping inside a room throughout the day. He had had enough of it in the dimension!
Rihanna and Ye Luo both blinked, trying to get used to the sudden dimness of the room after coming from morning sunlight. The entire color combinations of the room could be brought down to two.....pitch black and molten gold. It was a truly minimalistic color scheme!
The golden part of the building was what gave off the dim light, which was barely enough to make out the structure of the room. The room was cylindrical, with a circular floor. There were three doors all around, and a broad path connected the three doors.
Three stairs led downwards, ending at the base of a dais which covered the rest of the area. There were eight pillars around the dais. Rihanna wasn't sure if it was a part of the architecture, but each of these pillars seemed to be unevenly broken at the top.
The floor of the dais, and all the eight pillars were etched with symbols, and these symbols were filled with the molten gold element. It didn't look like regular rune-scripting ink. Curious, Rihanna walked closer the rune scriptures, trying to understand them according to what she had studied inside the dimension.
"Do you understand it?"
"Hmm.....not all. But the scripture used for the inscriptions are similar to the ancient text used in the dimension. Seems like this scripture dates back to a much more ancient civilization. See, there are grooves on the floor, and the dais has circular niches. Which means that these inscription panels can not only rotate around, but probably each of them inscriptions can individually shift to a different position on the circular panel."
Ye Luo stared at it looking intrigued. He couldn't really understand all the details, but from her words he could comprehend that this was a multifaceted inscription, one that could be used for various purposes.
Some of the inscriptions were glowing, whereas some of the inscriptions were dim. Probably meant that some parts of the runes had been activated while some were deactivated. This was the first time he was seeing an array where each part could work separately.
At the center of the dais was a small stone pool, neatly paved with small square tiles. All the stones used inside the room were a strange pitch black in color, with a shining, glossy, almost polished finishing. but unlike what she expected, the texture of the stones was actually rough and not smooth.
The two of them stood near the closed door, recovering their vision and looking around at the same time. The circular walls of the room were layered with protruding panels at regular intervals. And in between these panels were large cloth tapestries, with intricate embroideries depicting various stories and events. Ye Luo was excited ever since they entered the room, and he went on a one man spree, explaining the details of the various events in history and their significance in the clan.
Rihanna half closed her ears, selectively accepting and deleting whatever he was telling her. This was an old habit of hers from earth. She couldn't say if it was correct or not. But then, the brain was only this big. So what was the point of filling it up with unnecessary data!
Being more curious about the pool, she went down the stairs and stepped onto the dais. Ye Luo followed, still telling her about the person who had built the pool and its significance to the library.
"You mean that every detail about every scroll in this library is kept in this half submerged half-sphere inside the pool?"
Both of them were staring curiously at the thick, greyish-black liquid filling up the pool. Streaks of bright blue lightning current shimmered inside the liquid. A half-orb shaped tool, a little smaller then the pool, was partially submerged inside the pool, with the lustrous flat side facing them, and the arc side of the sphere resting on the back wall of the pool.
"Hmm....hmmm....I have read of this in the Special Tools of the Main Family Book. This was created by Elder Olafnal about a thousand years ago. This is called the Reference Master. This room was especially built for guests of the Clan. They can avail any of the resources in this room, but they will never be able to take back any of those slips with them."
Rihanna looked at Ye Luo and blinked curiously, silencing asking him to continue. Why did this feel like a Master Computer to her!
"Well...technically, none of the scrolls inside this room are real. All the available scrolls have been segregated into separate divisions, and they are all recorded in this tool. Once you enter the information subject area of your choice, this tool will activate the related illusion matrix, and you will then be allowed to enter the matrix to study."
"So.....that means all the scrolls are actually a part of the illusion? But then this tool must also have illusory channels in each of these illusion matrixes, to be able to guide the readers with the selection of books and materials?"
Ye Luo chuckled softly. He had taken a long time to comprehend such an elaborate tool, and she could understand it with just one sentence! Truly, her intelligence was far beyond him.
If Rihanna knew what he was thinking she would have rolled her eyes. How was this any different from a master Computer connecting and operating subsidiary computers. Of course, she was now more than curious to know if an actual internet system could be created and operated in this world! Merging technology with cultivation.....now that would be worth experimenting!
"Yes. The tool has spiritual duplicates in each illusion matrix, and can freely exchange data with each illusory chamber. So when a reader is occupying a given chamber, he can get special help and guidance from the tool for his related search, topics and problems."
Rihanna nodded, looking around. Apparently the space between each pillar, except the one through which they had entered the dais, was a part of the illusion matrix. When a matrix was activated, a light green light curtain would fill up the space between two pillars. When a reader went inside the illusory chamber, the curtain would turn blue in color, signifying that it was already occupied. One chamber could only be occupied by one person at a time.
Three people were already occupying three blue chambers, and a light blue, translucent energy curtains shimmered between six pillars. The inscriptions on the floor were probably related to the illusory chamber activation.
On the other hand, the broken pillars had more minute inscriptions, covering their entire body, and they kept flickering at high speed. Like a motherboard processing data. Was this a giant chip controlling the entire working of the Master Computer! Ye Luo could see that Rihanna was about to lose herself inside the flickering inscriptions, and quickly dragged her to the Reference Master.
Ye Luo wanted to search for some sword techniques of the Clan which might benefit his style and level of cultivation. Unfortunately, the chamber he was seeking seemed to be already occupied. Thus he pushed Rihanna forward. Anyway, they had the whole day, so e could wait.
Since Rihanna had already come with a pre-thought aim, she looked around to check if there was anyone other than them in the room. The ones inside the chamber would not be able to see them, so relieved to find no one else around, she sent in a stream of her energy into the stone surface of the half-sphere.
Instantly the surface shimmered like water, and gray ripples arose on the flat surface. When the ripples finally became silent, lightning currents appeared on the gray water surface, and a fine crackling sound could be heard echoing around the room.
A green light curtain emerged between two pillars as the chamber activated. Rihanna glanced at Ye Luo who had already sat down at the edge of the dais and seemed to be deep in his own thoughts. Turning around, she walked into the illusory chamber, feeling a little excited at what would happen next.