"Thanks, but umm… realm? What does that mean?" Xander asked. He had always heard the council had some enemy, but this was the first he had heard of them being on the 'realm's' side.
"Oh, of course, I forget you're from the outskirts of Division 97, so there's a lot of stuff you don't know. But there are two realms. There is our realm, the Celestial Realm, and then there is the demons and devils' realm that is called the Infernal Realm," Zyra explained.
'The Celestial and Infernal Realm? The traitors my brother must have been talking about must be siding with the Infernal Realm's demons and devils.' Xander still didn't have the full puzzle, but he was starting to get some more pieces.
"Anyway, now that you've made your decision, you can have a look at our library and pick out a cultivation manual if you need one, which I can see that you don't. And congrats on being able to create a core so fast after returning from the trial."
"Not many people even have the opportunity to get a cultivation manual in their trial, and those who are lucky enough to usually take a while to create their core."
"I wonder what kind of experience you had to be able to get one?" Zyra asked.
"Umm… I…" Xander began.
"It's okay," Zyra raised and shook her hands.
"If you don't want to explain, that's fine. You don't have to, but still, you should give our library a look. You might find something you need in there," Zyra said.
"Okay, I will. Where is the library?" Xander asked.
Zyra stood up, "If you're done, you can follow me, and I will show you the way."
Xander did just that, and five minutes later, he was standing in a massive library with thousands of jade slips.
"Don't worry, we have a very large selection, so whatever your core's affinity is, we should have attack, defense, and movement manuals for you," Zyra said with pride.
"Thanks, I think I'm good on my own now," Xander said, hoping she would leave.
"Okay, okay, I'll leave you to it," Zyra said as she patted him on the back.
"Just make sure you're ready to go in six hours." After that, Zyra left, leaving Xander to himself as he began to walk around the massive library that only had a couple of people in it.
'Ok, I've already got a Death Core and the attack, defense, and movement manuals that go along with it. Plus, they are supposedly all high-quality manuals, but I should still take a look at the Council's selection. Who knows what I might find?' Xander thought.
Xander then walked over to a sign that read, 'Information.'
Directly under the sign was a large and worn-out jade slip. He sent his mind into the jade slip and found out where he could find all the different kinds of manuals.
He was quick to go toward the Death section knowing he didn't have much time left before it was time to leave for the tower. He wasn't sure if he would even create his second core yet, but he needed time to do it if he found something he liked.
After finding his way to the Death section, Xander began to go through all their cultivation attack, defense, and movement manuals, and he quickly discovered that the manuals he got from the Order were much better than the Council's selection.
But even though he already had much better abilities, he still found a couple of abilities he thought would be helpful.
For attack, he found:
Attack 1: Necrotic Chain - Summon chains made of Death Qi from the ground or your body. These chains can bind and constrict enemies, draining their life force.
Attack 2: Spectral Slash - Infuse your weapon with Death Qi. Perform a powerful slash that releases a wave of Death Qi.
For defense, he found:
Defense 1: Gravekeeper's Shield - Create a rotating barrier of gravestones made from Death Qi. The gravestones can deflect attacks and absorb damage.
He didn't find a good movement technique, so he just called it on his look for Death techniques.
'Death really isn't the best for movement,' Xander thought, not at all disappointed or let down that he didn't find more movement techniques.
'Now, what should I look at?' Xander wondered.
'I could get the opposite of Death, Life, and then it would go full circle. Plus, it would be nice to be able to heal myself.'
'But wait, Life also isn't really speed-oriented either… Maybe I should just wait until I get to the academy.' Xander had already decided that once he got to whatever place he was going to, he would try and join that world's academy. He knew that he was considered uneducated since he didn't get much schooling thanks to growing up in the outskirts of the poor Division 97, so he really wanted to make sure he got some education.
He wanted to learn about the tower, how to fight, general information, and just how to survive in the tower. And the best place he figured he would get all of that would be the academy.
After deciding to wait until he got some more information from the academy, he decided to go to his room and take a nap. He had been going nonstop for the last couple of days, and it would be nice to finally get a break.
***
After waking up five hours later, Xander ran over to the cafeteria and filled his stomach one last time before finding his way over to the teleportation room.
It took him a lot of asking around, but eventually, he found it, and he was surprised to not only find Zyra there waiting for him. Laura Park and Leo Wilson, two of the people he was selected to enter the tower with, were there as well, with the same nervous looks on their faces that he had always known of them.
"Welcome, Xander. I was worried you wouldn't make it for a minute," Zyra said.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," while Xander was nervous about entering the tower, this was his only way to get back to his brother.
His goal for a long time had been to just do what he promised his brother, 'survive,' but now that he knew his brother was alive and out there somewhere, he had a new goal. He had to get as strong as possible as fast as possible, and he didn't care what he had to do or who he had to kill to do it.