Unedited Chapter before rewrite
"That depends. How many maps do you have?" Yang Ce asked.
The best way to begin understanding the world was through a library, which he had been looking for. The second best way was maps.
"Not many I'm afraid. I have a complete map of the royal capital, as well as a few that detail the surrounding regions. Besides that, nothing." The shopkeeper sighed.
Yang Ce wanted to ask why he would open up a map shop with so few maps, but he held his tongue in order to avoid offending the shopkeeper.
"I'll take all that you have." Yang Ce said.
"Well well well. A rich customer I see." The shopkeeper laughed as he pulled 7 maps from under the counter and rolled them up.
"That will be 15 gold." The shopkeeper said.
Yang Ce did not know the value of gold coins, but he felt that the price was very high for a few maps.
"15 gold? Really?" He asked.
"Indeed. In case you don't understand, a map of the entire royal city is very valuable. One sale a week or perhaps one every 2 weeks, is enough to pay my rent for that time period alone. As for the other maps, they have saved plenty of lives before. They detail dangerous areas and terrain." The shopkeeper explained.
"I see. Let me check." Yang Ce said. He had understood why the map shop could stay open with so few maps.
He looked in his pouch, and the gold coming out from it blinded him. He even found a few platinum coins in there.
Yang Ce pulled 15 of the gold out
"Here." He said.
"Thank you for the business young man. No, let me call you young master." The shopkeeper said with a grin.
"Whatever pleases you." Yang Ce said with a smile as he left the map shop and continued on with his search for a library.
Unfortunately, even after 3 hours, he had not found one.
He decided to ask someone walking down the street.
"A library? Like, a place for books? Buddy, the only libraries around here are in the houses of nobles." The passerby laughed.
Yang Ce nodded in understanding. This was not the world he had come from, where books were as cheap as a sandwich, though it still seemed that the majority of people could write and read in the royal city.
If nobles had libraries, then the royal palace was likely to have some. He returned to the royal palace with maps in his hand.
He placed them in his room before asking a servant about the library.
"I will ask the Hero." The servant said with a bow before quickly walking away.
Yang Ce waited in the common area of the 13 heroes rooms, and a guard soon entered.
"His majesty has allowed access to the 1st floor of the library to the heroes. 3 heroes are already there." The guard said. "Follow me."
Yang Ce followed behind him, thinking about why the heroes were only allowed on the 1st floor of the library.
He thought, and remembered the words that the king of the sword kingdom had spoken.
The heroes needed to struggle and learn things for themselves. Not everything could be given out for free.
Yang Ce had a premonition that even armors and weapons would be limited by the king.
Soon, he entered through a large door and saw walls lined with books, as well as stairs that went upwards.
The guard turned around and left once he saw that the hero had entered.
Yang Ce looked around and spotted the 3 heroes that the guard had spoken of.
The sound hero, Sai Ni, sat elegantly while reading. The hero of transformation, Wei Yin, silently read. Finally, the hero of the 4 elements, Mark, was also reading a book.
Only Mark noted Yang Ce's arrival. He nodded and smiled before focusing on his book again. The other two ignored him completely.
Yang Ce was used to the treatment from Wei Yin, and Sai Ni was arrogant beyond normal measure.
He walked up to one of the walls and browsed through the books.
'1943-1944 minor events, the 1934 masacre of southeast goblin bay, Collins calligraphy.'
Each of the books seemed more useless to Yang Ce than the last.
He left the section of the wall and moved towards another one.
"Most of the good books are over there." Mark, the 4 element hero, suddenly said.
He was pointing at a section not too far from Yang Ce's position.
"Thank you." Yang Ce said as he moved to that section.
'Eastern martial arts of the once prosperous 30th street, the lie detecting technique (non-mana), the secret to concealing weapons.'
'Better.' Yang Ce thought to himself before picking up the lie detecting technique (non-mana) book.
He was interested in what the (non-mana) part of the title meant. He quickly found out.
It simply meant that the lie detecting technique was not one that used mana. Easy enough to guess, which Yang Ce had successfully done.
The book seemed to go into detail about facial expressions and body language, but Yang Ce felt that any mediocre liar would be able to conceal the telltale signs.
Yang Ce put the book back and brought the "Eastern martial arts of the once prosperous 30th street" to one of the chairs.
He did not plan on training in it right now. He would wait to see what path he would take in the future. Still, it was interesting to see the ideas that the martial art followed.
It also gave a short history lesson on what 30th street was and how prosperous it was at its peak, as well as the reason for its decline. By the time that Yang Ce put the strangely intriguing book down, it was getting late.
The sound hero and the hero of transformation had left, though Mark, the hero of the 4 elements, was still in the library.
Also inside was the hero of the storm, as well as the trick hero, Kui. Yang Ce greeted them before putting the book back and leaving the library.
He went to his room, and before going to bed, finally decided to personally test out Mana.