Before leaving the third floor Orin looked towards where the stairs to the fourth floor should be, but instead he only saw a door with a bar with a lock across it. As far as Orin knew, everyone is the city knew about the fourth floor. It could only be accessed by those had broken through to the foundation establishment realm, and they needed to get permission from the library's director.
Of course, since everyone knew about it, didn't stop people from adding in rumors. Like everyone who breaks through will be allowed to read one book as a congratulation gift from the city lord, or if you don't have at least thirty-thousand spirit stones you won't be able to afford to read anything on the fourth floor. There are also rumors that anyone who is not a member of a sect, clan or a large family wishes to access the fourth floor has to serve the city lord for twenty years or they will be denied access to the library and asked to leave the city.
Orin always found it amusing to listen to people talk about the many, many rumors that spread around the city. He found it fun to try and figure out what part of the stories were real, which were half-truths, and what were pure lies. But rumors about the fourth floor were hard to figure out, mostly because he didn't know anyone that knew the truth. He didn't know anyone in the foundation establishment realm, he didn't know anyone that knew one, the only foundation establishment ranked cultivator that most people in the city had seen was the city lord.
Looking at the entrance to the fourth floor for another few seconds, Orin turned around and left the third floor. After leaving the library, Orin returned directly home and got ready to clean the two remaining rabbits. If it was winter, the rabbits would have a brilliant white fur and the two furs could be sold for a spirit stone. But unfortunately, it's the middle of summer and the rabbit's fur is a dozen shades of brown and thinner than the shops want. The only good thing about the furs being worthless, is it means Orin didn't have to carefully take his time to skin the rabbits, he could just do a quick peel job.
Very soon there was only two skinned rabbit carcasses and a pile of torn fur and guts. Orin's plan to cook the two rabbits was simple, roast one of the rabbits and make a stew out of the other. A few potatoes and carrots be the things to change a rabbit soup into a stew and placing it in his storage bag would keep it hot for a few days and edible for a week or so. If he had a better storage device the food would remain hot for several years and remain edible for several decades, there were even storage devices that would keep things fresh for thousands of years. But Orin's storage device was the cheapest storage bag he could find, even with him trying to save as much as he could he wasn't in the position to upgrade it anytime soon.
A little over an hour later, and both dishes were done. Even though the stew was mostly filled with potatoes and carrots it was thick and had a deep meaty flavor, while the roasted rabbit was a deep golden-brown color. After Orin tore off one of the legs of the roasted rabbit and poured a small bowl of stew, he placed the rest in his storage bag for his future meals. Orin had planned to slowly savor his dinner, but his hunger won out and the food disappeared into his mouth till there was nothing left but bones and bit of steam from the bowl.
He enjoyed the meal, but wished there was more to it. Unfortunately, he knew he couldn't, Orin didn't go hunting every day and what he had needed to last for a while. He was slightly annoyed by this; he was planning to spend the time between now and going to bed cultivating. Now he had to try and meditate with the desire for more food rattling around his brain, Orin always found it harder to meditate when he was distracted by minor things. There was a part of him that thought that the world around him could be on fire, and he would be able to meditate with ease but if he was a little hungry or thirsty, or there was a small fly was buzzing around him, and he would find it very hard to let go and enter the meditative state needed for cultivating.
Just as Orin had thought, getting to a state of meditation took longer than the meditation itself. He hoped getting to sleep would be a lot easier and he would find himself in the library. Unfortunately, he found himself sitting in front of the stone monument. The only difference from the last time he sat here, is that he didn't try to resist. Since it was going to happen whether he wanted it to happen or not, he didn't see any point in fighting it. The exact same thing happened this time as the last time. He sat in front of the monument, stared at the symbols till he understood them, began to meditate, rain drops of energy flowed into his body, the rain stopped, and he woke up in his bed staring at his ceiling.
Orin was disappointed that he didn't end up in the library, and that he couldn't read the alchemy books. He also worried that he wouldn't be able to enter the library again, this was only the third time this ability, gift, or whatever it was had happened, he didn't know how it worked or what the rules for it were. For all he knew, that was the only time her would go to the library, or maybe it was only once a year, or might be only on nights with full moons. Orin was really hoping it was every other night, that way he would have plenty of time to read the books he copied and be able to learn everything he could.
There was an extreme lack of wanting to get out of bed currently going on in Orin's head. Getting up and washing the sweat from a summer night's heat seemed like a complete hassle. He wanted to eat some breakfast and just lay in bed for the day and hope that tonight he would go where he wanted to be. After half an hour, Orin got up and bathed then had a simple breakfast. He was planning to spend the day like he did most days, locked inside and desperately cultivating to try and get to the sixth layer, like most of the children his age were doing.
The first time he woke up from his meditation it was in the mid-afternoon, the second time it was well past sundown. It was almost time for him to go to bed. He had spent the entire day cultivating, and while he felt that he had taken a few steps towards breaking through to the fourth layer, he also felt he had miles to go before it happened. Orin had to stretch his body; a full day of cultivating was draining on the body of someone his age. The grown-ups say it's because sitting around focusing on cultivation is contrary to a child's nature of running around and playing. Orin agreed with them, not that it mattered for those who wished to become cultivators.
After eating a rabbit leg and a halfhearted attempt to wipe any grease of his hands and face, Orin threw himself into bed. It didn't take long to fall asleep, and he had ended up where had wanted to be, the library.