The Skyworth Academy's library was one of the largest libraries in the world. It was said that the founder of the academy loved knowledge and books so much that nothing else could compare.
'... There's a lot of people here.'
Victor passed his student ID to the librarian. He scanned the entire library and saw a lot of students. It was surprising, since he expected most teenagers to be more interested in beast taming and cultivating rather than reading books.
Then again, knowledge-seeking was a large part of being a beast tamer. The founder of the academy popularized the belief that a great beast tamer was one with a wealth of knowledge in their mind.
The librarian took a moment to verify his ID before giving him an emblem.
"Do you know where I can find a book about magical beasts?"
"Beast Knowledge section. Fifth row, bottom-left, first volume of Beast Encyclopedia Classic Edition."
The librarian answered mechanically.
"Thanks."
Taking the emblem, Victor nodded slightly.
He stepped inside and didn't want to waste any more time. With the librarian's help, he quickly arrived at the location.
"I think this is it."
Victor bent his knees a little and took out the large book placed on the bottom-left corner of the shelf.
He recognized the title from the librarian's words.
"Beast Encyclopedia - Classic Edition."
Flipping it open, Victor read some of its contents and confirmed that this book was indeed what he was looking for.
The book, in short, was a collection of significant and trivial information about countless magical beasts.
In order to create the perfect cultivation manual, he needed more information about magical beasts.
Cultivation manuals were made by observing how certain beasts act, thus the origin of cultivation manuals was actually from magical beasts.
There was a particularly famous quote in the Blackthorn Era.
When faced with the dilemma of humanity's weakness, Leonhardt Thorn said, 'If humanity cannot stand against beasts on equal footing, then we must become the beasts themselves.'
Following this quote, Leonhardt made the first-ever cultivation manual from one of the weakest magical beasts: the Iron Boar.
Victor's thoughts drifted for a moment before he returned to the present. He saw that the book in his hand was just the first volume.
'Should I get the other volumes too?'
After some thought, he shook his head and decided against it. He only had two days, he can't finish skimming through it all…
The plan he outlined in his mind was simple: before the end of this day, he needed to make the perfect cultivation manual.
Then, the next day, he would spend all his time cultivating until he awakened his core.
'The problem is the core quality…'
He shook his head and decided not to worry about it for the time being.
Taking the book away with him, he went to the study corner.
***
"The Flaming Speedster—a horse capable of reaching speeds 200 km/h within seconds. It leaves a blazing trail of fire in its wake. Its body is wreathed in flames, and its tail burns with pure, blazing fire..."
Victor read through some descriptions when they interested him, but otherwise, he skimmed some of the contents.
He didn't need to memorize all of the information. He just had to see it at least once, and the rest was left to the Ancient Eye.
Once the information was in his mind, the Ancient Eye would record it on its database.
Victor was thankful for that. He didn't like reading books at all, and he was in a hurry this time.
'Still, this book has a lot of contents…'
The book was too big—even if he skimmed it entirely, it would take him a couple of hours to finish.
It wasn't an encyclopedia for nothing…
Still, Victor persisted. While he was reading, an idea suddenly crossed his mind.
What if he appraised the book with the Ancient Eye?
Immediately after thinking of this, he almost facepalmed.
Why didn't he think of that earlier?
"… It's worth a try."
He looked left and right and saw that no one was looking at him. He activated the Ancient Eye and looked at the book.
"Appraise."
With a low mutter, the Ancient Eye scanned the entire book and a dark screen appeared in front of him.
***
[Item: Beast Encyclopedia — Classic Edition]
[Description: A book about the wondrous nature of magical beasts. From the high skies, the steep mountains, and the wide seas… glimpse upon the beasts that fill our world.]
[Contents: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3…]
***
After the screen appeared, a great deal of his mental energy was immediately consumed by the eye.
Victor's vision abruptly darkened by the huge drain of energy. He got ahold of himself before he could fall on the floor.
"Haa… haa…"
A great deal of exhaustion appeared on his face. But amidst his tired expression, a brilliant smile was present.
It worked.
The Ancient Eye doesn't just appraise an item, it also sends the information it gets directly to his mind.
'So that's why it consumes so much energy…'
Looking back on when he first used the eye, even after he turned it off, he still remembered the details of his own appraisal.
He didn't pay attention to this originally since he had a great memory himself, but…
'… The Eye may have sent the information directly to my mind that time as well.'
Victor smiled. Right now, a huge amount of information was flooding his mind.
[What are you doing? Your mind is…]
Mirage was shocked. He could sense that a huge amount of mental energy suddenly vanished in Victor's mind.
That was dangerous.
But seeing the man not call for him, he calmed down. It should be under control… right?
Mirage didn't have to be in doubt for long, Victor opened his eyes and smiled.
"It's finished. I remember all of it."
He looked at the book and felt slightly dizzy. He quickly turned the Ancient Eye off before things could get worse.
Thankfully, no one noticed his strange behavior.
Everyone was too immersed in what they were reading to pay attention to him, saving Victor a handful of strange and worried glances.
'The drain is worth it… but I'm too mentally exhausted to use the creation ability.'
Victor sighed. You lose some, you get some. But that result wasn't too bad, he just needed to rest for a couple of hours.
Since he memorized everything, then he didn't have to stay here any longer.
As a matter of fact, he can't. Just seeing the infinite books spread around the library made his head ache…
Victor stood up and went to return the book he had taken. Then, he went back to his personal dorm.
***
Skysworn Academy, Night.
The twin red moons shone beautifully in a twisted way. Its scarlet hue had given the night an ominous addition.
'… Creepy.'
Victor looked at it for a moment before closing the curtains. He focused on the matter at hand.
His mind was fully recharged now.
After his stint in the library, he went back to his personal dorm and rested for a couple of hours.
Victor looked at the time.
"Mirage, protect my mind."
[As you say, Master.]
Mirage listened. He blew gently, releasing a mysterious mist that surrounded Victor's mind.
Hearing his response, Victor nodded slightly. He didn't waste any more time and activated the Ancient Eye.
Its ominous, yet ancient appearance resurfaced. His right eye shone with inhumane light.
'Create—the Perfect Cultivation Manual.'
The Ancient Eye spared no time. It immediately consumed most of his mental energy, knocking his balance.
However, this time he was prepared.
Victor didn't struggle and fell directly to the bed below him. Meanwhile, his left eye had transformed like his right eye.
The Ancient Eye processed his request at incredible speed. In fact, he was let on of the whole process of how it was creating the manual.
Information appeared in front of him.
***
[Processing 'Perfect Cultivation Manual'…]
[Error: Ancient Record unavailable. Defaulting to user database…]
[Query result: 'Perfect Cultivation Manual'—non-existent. 'Cultivation Manual'—concept identified.]
[Initiate synthesis: Combining data… concepts… cross-referencing.]
[Synthesis result: Blueprint created.]
[Probability prediction: Eight paths identified. Calculating viability: 0.004 seconds elapse.]
[Path 1: Suitability: 97.4%. Chaos: 0.1%. Heavenly: 10%. Hell: 40%. Myste…]
[Path 1: 70% aligned with the concept—'Perfect Cultivation Manual']
[Path confirmed: First Path.]
[…]
['Perfect Cultivation Manual' status: Existent.]
Boom!
Victor's mind experienced great shock!