Alec and Carcel were walking when they bumped into Lara and Mia. They started chatting and walking together. Since the girl's dorms were in a different building, they hadn't met up in the morning.
Kyle, who was walking alongside them, picked up his pace upon seeing Lara. He wanted to distance himself from the group to avoid any discomfort. However, because Alec was a nice guy, he just increased the distance instead of leaving altogether.
Soon, there were three separate groups of students following the old man. Kyle and Nine quietly trailed behind him at the front. In the middle, Jake, one of the top ten students, walked with three others. And at the end, Alec and his group chatted while slowly following behind everyone.
After a while, they reached the library. The librarian, who had been sleeping without a care, sensed the presence of the old man. He rushed out to greet the old man.
"Elder Lu, what brings you here?"
The librarian glanced at the students standing behind Elder Lu, his expression filled with confusion. Why was the elder accompanied by students?
Observing the librarian's puzzled look, Elder Lu simply shook his head. He knew this lazy man all too well. He must have been sleeping and forgotten about the rewards for the top ten students.
"I'm here to unlock the other half of the second floor of the library so students can pick their rewards."
Ignoring the librarian, Elder Lu entered the library, not wanting to waste any more time.
Upon hearing Elder Lu's response, the librarian nodded and quickly followed behind.
They soon arrived at the second floor, filled with massive bookshelves showcasing art books and skill cores. But before the students could explore, Elder Lu motioned for them to follow him to a corner.
He performed a hand seal on the bookshelves in the corner, leaving the students puzzled. Weren't they already on the second floor? They wanted to ask, but then a magical symbol appeared. The two bookshelves at the far end separated like a door, creating a massive gap.
Everyone stared in awe at the gap, not because of the space, but because of the room it revealed. Inside, art books floated in midair, while skill cores emitted a brilliant light, illuminating the entire room. The room was twice the size of the second floor, and all the skill cores and art books inside seemed top-notch!
Elder Lu turned to face the students and told them to go inside and choose an art or skill. They could only pick one within two hours.
All the students nodded seriously before entering the room. The librarian, who had been standing lazily behind them, showed no expression even after seeing the room filled with skills and arts. It made sense since he had seen this room countless times, and the things inside were of no use to him.
He lazily glanced at the excited students entering the room, but his eyes widened slightly when he noticed one student who didn't seem in a hurry. He was shocked.
'Isn't he the student I kicked out just a week ago? I remember he was only at (F-)-Rank. How did he advance so quickly?'
He instantly fixed his gaze on Kyle. Despite his laziness, the librarian had a good memory. He clearly remembered that Kyle was just a weak (F-)-Rank only a week ago, and not just any (F-)-Rank, but from the batch of the weakest (F-)-Rank students he had ever seen. How was it possible for him to advance so quickly? And from the aura he sensed from Kyle, he was sure his rank had already stabilized!
It's totally fine to advance 2 sub-ranks in just a week with treasures, but how did Kyle stabilize his rank? Normally, it takes months of practice for someone to stabilize their new power after a breakthrough.
The librarian curiously looked at Kyle and decided to keep an eye on him.
On the other hand, as soon as Kyle entered the hidden room, he felt like someone was giving him the evil eye from behind. He turned around to see who it was, but there was no one there.
Kyle frowned, but he decided to focus on the array of skills and arts in front of him. He was just as excited as everyone else, even if he didn't show it on his face.
He noticed that everyone else was heading towards the skill cores. It was expected since everyone already had an art they were practicing.
Arts were different from skills. You could learn a skill immediately after absorbing the skill core, but arts were written down by elders and passed down through generations. They were hard to practice, which is why most people preferred to focus on a single art that suited their weapon. Mastery of arts was divided into four different grades based on progress.
1-Beginner.
2-Master.
3-Expert.
4-Perfection.
Reaching the perfection stage in an art is very hard, and the higher the star of the art, the harder it gets to comprehend.
Kyle took a deep breath and started searching for a sword art that suited him. He was a bit shocked to see so many 3-star and 4-star sword arts.
Arts are ranked differently based on their power. The lowest is 1-star, while the highest is 8-star. Regardless, not many people have seen an 8-star art since even the most powerful humans have only learned a 6-star art.
Kyle walked up to the closest 4-star floating art book. As soon as he touched it, the book opened up and showed him a basic explanation of the art. Kyle looked at the information and frowned. He moved on to another 4-star art book, but his frown deepened the more he read.
Outside the hidden room, the librarian, who was keeping an eye on Kyle, gave him a sympathetic look. Seeing Kyle head towards the art section, he was sure that Kyle needed a suitable art for himself. The arts higher than 2-star were very valuable, and a regular person wouldn't even be able to understand what was written inside.
The librarian shook his head in disappointment when he saw Kyle frowning and walking away without even giving the art books a proper look. He was certain that Kyle couldn't even read the names!
He wanted to give Kyle some tips on finding a suitable art, but unfortunately, the rules prevented the elders from entering the hidden room. So, he could only sigh and watch him from outside.
Meanwhile, Kyle continued to frown as he looked at the art books. It wasn't because he found them difficult, but because they were too easy! As soon as he opened a 4-star art book and read the explanation, he understood the first stage of the art!
Kyle wasn't sure if it was okay to learn more since he was only allowed to choose one. That's why he was trying his best not to delve into too much detail.
He had never seen an art book before because he had been lazy. That's also why he didn't know if they were challenging or straightforward.
All he wanted was to find a suitable art for himself! What's the point of understanding so many arts? Even if he comprehends them, without any real practice, they're useless.