Library

But for now, all of that was of no use for him. Instead, he was more interested in three other buildings, which she hadn't explained yet.

"These buildings are the Library, the Quest Hall, and the Trade Hall.", she told him, before explaining them in detail. "The library contains all the information the sect has. They are stored in crystals and the general knowledge is freely available for disciples. I heard that skills and special knowledge require either tokens or Contribution points. The Quest Hall is the hub for taking and ending quests and the Trade Hall is where disciples can either trade with each other or the sect."

To the current him, only the library was of interest. He didn't have anything of worth to trade and he wasn't able to finish any quests either.

"Let's go to the library."

The two of them wandered over to the library. It was unlike one would expect. There were no books and also no crystals visible. Instead, there was only a row of counters behind which servants stood. There were also hallways going off into the distance with reading rooms on their sides.

"You have to go and ask for what you would like to read about.", Clara explained how it worked.

"So I only have to tell them the topic and they will find the relevant material? Can't I search for myself?"

"According to what I know, the sect introduced this system because this is a way to control the knowledge of the disciples. There is some knowledge that is dangerous to have if you aren't strong enough. So the sect decided to take this approach to control the available knowledge."

Ivan nodded. He understood that there was some knowledge that just having could be a problem. Sometimes knowing too much could either lead to danger from oneself as one would go down the wrong way because of being unable to understand one's situation. Although this could be seen as a form of patronizing, it would also ensure that the sect could nurture many outstanding disciples and not have anyone but the geniuses die during cultivation.

And besides the knowledge that was dangerous for oneself, there was also that, which others wouldn't want you to possess. So if you did possess it, it could very well be that they tried to kill you if they became aware of it.

Determined to test out this library he went over to one of these counters. Although the entrance hall was full, there were enough counters available, which made the waiting time very short.

So after only waiting for a few minutes, he could talk to the servant behind the counter.

"Hello, how may I help you.", the servant asked with an expressionless face. In fact, all the servants working in the library said the same words and had the same expressionless face, making him wonder if there was some form of training that thought them to act like this.

Banishing these useless thoughts he asked for information on the topics he was interested in, "Hello, I would like information on basic pill refining, pill ranks, pill recipes, and herbs used for basic pill refining."

The servant seemed to use his mind to connect to something since his eyes seemed empty for a short moment.

"Please wait a moment.", he then asked before leaving to enter a room behind him.

Ivan wasn't able to see what he was doing inside but soon he came out again. He now carried a crystal card in his hands, which he gently put on the table.

"Here is the information you requested.", he told him, while sliding over the crystal card. "According to the database, this is the first time you have made use of the library. Would you like an introduction, how to use the card?"

"Please.", although Clara had told him that he could read it with his mind, a more detailed introduction wouldn't hurt.

"You will have to connect to the card with your mind and will then have to options. You can either read through the information. Basically it will appear on some kind of screen in your view field. This is useful to browse the information and find what you really need. The other option is to absorb the knowledge. For this, you will need to select a folder and it will then be transmitted directly into your brain. It is as if you have learned all the information before and you just have to remember it. The folders can be found through browsing."

The second option seemed extremely useful to Ivan. It was as if he had already known the information and just needed to remember it. Wouldn't that mean that he could practically learn all the information in a flash?

While he was dreaming about instantly absorbing all the knowledge. The servants next words destroyed that daydream.

"Directly absorbing knowledge will drastically exhaust your mental strength, so you should use it carefully.", he warned him.

Ivan had already experienced the feeling of exhausting his mental strength yesterday, so he wasn't willing to do it anytime soon again. Thus having received his warning he was thankful, "Thank you."

"If you don't need the information card anymore, then please return it to the library. You can just throw it into the box at the entrance."

Although it didn't cost anything if you didn't return the information card, the library would still ask for it, since it was cheaper to recycle them than to get new ones. But they wouldn't insist on it.

After once again thanking the servant, Ivan left the library with Clara. He wasn't planning to use one of the reading rooms. These seemed to be mainly used by those who had rented information on skills. They had a time limit and couldn't be taken out of the library.

Now that he had gotten a picture of the sect, Ivan decided to go back to his room. To be honest, walking around wasn't that interesting. Everyone seemed to be focused on cultivating and improving. He had seen all these useful buildings but none that were solely for enjoyment.

He couldn't help but ask Clara about it.

"Enjoyment is seen as a waste of time by most of the disciples. It is seen as something those that have given up, do. And not they, who are oh so hardworking.", there was quite some spite in her words. It was clear that she didn't share these views. Or to be precise she thought that they were hypocritical.

"You seem to think differently."

"Of course. Enjoyment is a good way to relax and it can even help with cultivation. Besides if you see how they act outside the sect you would think that they have completely given up if you use their standards."

"That bad?"

"Yes. They often just play around while going out. And they often disregard the rules of the mortals as well."

This seemed to be a sore point for her, as she continued to rant about their horrible behavior while outside the sect.

While listening to her retelling tales of how disciples of the sect misbehaved outside Ivan reached his room. Only then did Clara seem to come back to her senses. "Oh sorry for going off to a rant."

Ivan just shook his head, "No. It was entertaining and also gave me a lot of information."

This was the truth. To really tell these tales it was also necessary to point out how things were in the mortal world, something he had lacked any understanding of. Now with her rant, he had a much better understanding than before.

"Thank you for listening to my rant.", she smiled apologetically.

"Did something happen to you or someone you know, or why are you so angry about it?", he asked curiously. For her to completely forget her position, it seemed like the topic had a large impact on her.

"Mmm, my family owns a tavern, and one time a cultivator messed around there. Luckily nothing serious happened, but ever since then I just can't stand their behavior outside. Especially towards mortals."

"Oh, so that's what happened. By the way, how come you call them mortals as well? Aren't you technically also a mortal?", he asked his next question. Since she couldn't cultivate, wasn't she a mortal as well?

"Yes and no. Although I can't cultivate I'm a member of a sect so I don't strictly count as a mortal.", she explained. "We servants who can't cultivate are something in between. Neither cultivator nor mortals."

It didn't seem as if this mattered to her. "We are better off than mortals while also not having many of the problems of the cultivators."