Before coming here, he had asked Adam about old man Joseph and his personality. He had to be careful, as who knows he can be an old psychopath that can be hiding his nature, but he had to take chances as this is the only place in the village where he can find what he is looking for.
He had already told Adam to inform Instructor Lucas if he didn't return by the end of the day. With that in mind, he knocked on the door.
According to Adam, Joseph seemed to be a normal old man with a good personality, so hopefully he would allow him to read.
As he knocked, a few seconds later, an old man emerged from the house. His appearance was simple, with a thin physique and a white beard that made him look weak, but there was an incredible strength evident in his steady, simple steps.
Ash quickly used his new ability to inspect the old man, Joseph, and was surprised to find that he wasn't as weak as he appeared. Floating above his head were the words:
[Joseph Edgan- Level 10]
The text was in red, which, after some observation, Ash had concluded likely represented the level of danger someone posed to him.
"Kid, what are you doing here?" Joseph asked, not noticing the surprised look on Ash's face as he approached.
"Ah, senior I wanted to ask, Can I read some books? I heard about your great book collection. So I wanted to read some."
"Oh, read books?" Old Man Joseph was a bit surprised and looked at him again for confirmation.
"Yes, books, books related to history and geography of the world." He said calmly.
After confirming this, a smile seems to appear on Joseph's old face: "Haha, good young man, you have a good future. Indeed, with strength, you needed to know about the world and the people if you wanted to go to a higher place."
"Come, come! Let me show you my priceless collection of books." Joseph seemed delighted and eagerly led Ash into his home.
Ash gladly followed, noting that the old man was genuinely enthusiastic about his collection and pleased to share it with someone who shared his interest.
They entered a large, hall-like room, and Ash was taken aback by what he saw. Books were everywhere—far more than he'd expected to find in an old man's collection in a village.
The sheer number of books was staggering. While he couldn't be sure of the exact count, there had to be at least a thousand, perhaps even two or three thousand, right in front of him.
As he looked at the various books, he noticed books that surprised him, and he couldn't help but look at Old Joseph again. 'I guess old man is still strong.' The books were nothing else but the racy books of naked beauties with various poses. To be exact, they were the porn of this time period.
And there were not only one, but according to numbers, it should be sixty or seventy. This old old has too much energy, even at such an age.
Old Joseph noticed Ash's expression, and he immediately understood that he seemed to have forgotten to hide his best treasure in a hurry. But as an old fitter, he still maintained his calm.
"The books you are looking for are here on this counter; that area belongs to books for the older generation. You aren't ready for that."
"Ahhh..." Ash's face twitched. 'Damn, this Old Joseph is really something—his shamelessness is on another level', he thought. The old man spoke as if it was Ash's fault for looking in the books.
But he kept his thoughts to himself and silently went to the section where Old Joseph had pointed out the history and geography books.
There were a lot of books, and if he wanted to read them, it would take—who knows how many days it would take—so he could only ask old Joseph about them, and he finally recommended him two books that would give him a general understanding of the world.
He opened the first book that had the title Northern Orion. He quickly opened it and started to read. And quickly learnt what the world or the planet was called.
'Orion'. Yes, that was the title of the book—and the name of this world. Orion symbolised light, a fitting name for a world brimming with life.
He couldn't help but feel a sense of irony. In his past life, his planet had been called 'Erebos', a name representing darkness. It was a world consumed by destruction and shadow, the name perfectly suited to its bleak reality.
The world seems to be divided into five continents, and he seemed to be on the northern continent, which is ruled by humans.
In the past, he wouldn't have understood why "ruled by humans" was mentioned with such intensity. But as he read further, he realised that many other intelligent races also inhabited this world.
The book didn't mention much about the other continents, but it hinted that other continents might not be dominated by humans. And only mentioned a few strong races that live within the northern continent.
The races mentioned were Elves, Beastmen, and the Monster Clan.
Looking at these races, he couldn't help but feel strange. Elves? Weren't they just a fantasy created by some horny person looking to establish a new genre for men to jerk off? Yet here they were, somehow coming to life.
Not only Elves, but there also seemed to be Beastmen and the Monster Clan—creatures that were supposed to be myths from stories now have become reality. He couldn't help but check whether he was reading the right book, not some story book.
After the surprise, he continued to read more and learnt that there were a total of seven empires on this northern continent, each ruling vast lands with their strength for thousands of years.