There was an old woman behind a desk, calmly reading a book. Behind her, the walls were full of drawers, each with a different number written on them.
Xie Ling stopped in front of her, Gabriel just behind him.
" Hello Elder Yu. " Xie Ling greeted her with a slight bow, Gabriel followed suit. " Could we please get two fifth grade qi pills and two fifth grade body reinforcing pills ? " Xie Ling politely asked.
The old woman put down her book and looked at them. Particularly, she looked at their robes.
" Yes, of course ! You didn't tell me you had became a core disciple, boy ! " She warmly scolded Xie Ling with a smile.
Xie Ling blushed and apologized a few times. The old woman stood up and reached for a specific drawer behind her. She took out a key and unlocked the drawer, taking out two pills. She did the same with another nearby drawer before coming back to them.
She dumped the four pills on her desk.
" Here's for you, Xie Ling and Xie Ling's friend ! "
Xie Ling and Gabriel thanked her, taking the pills. Gabriel looked at Xie Ling. He used Appraisal.
[ Xie Ling
Friendly
Magic 76 ]
76 for magic, huh. That was about half of Gabriel's magic stat. Too bad his Appraisal level wasn't high enough to see his other stats, but Gabriel could guess his physical stats were higher than Gabriel's from his sparring with Dai Yu.
They left the woman's office.
" Hey, wanna make a deal ? " Gabriel asked, the pills in his hands making it clear what the topic of the deal would be.
Xie Ling visibly withered.
" Depends. What's the deal ? " His voice was much more serious. He started giving off a dangerous aura
Gabriel second guessed his idea. Maybe Xie Ling was actually a die hard negotiator. Whatever, if Xie Ling gave a counter deal that was too cheap Gabriel could just refuse.
" I take your body reinforcing pill and you take my qi pills. Since you have weaker qi and I have a weaker body. " Gabriel felt the need to justify himself.
Xie Ling instantly returned to normal. His mouth was slightly open in a o-shape.
" Sure, of course ! " Xie Ling handed him the pill and Gabriel did the same.
Damn, thought Gabriel, was he bipolar. Gabriel shrugged it off, glad to have Xie Ling accept so quickly.
They both swallowed their pills at the same time. Their miffed expression mirrored one another. Gabriel felt his muscles grow, but only to a small extent. The gap between second grade pills and all the other pills he had swallowed was apparent. Still better than nothing.
Next, Gabriel should probably go to the library to find himself a cultivation technique. Once he had a cultivation technique he would be able to use magic through his meridians.
If magic was the blood, meridians were like the blood vessels. But while everybody had meridians, most people could only use them to store their magic. To use meridians to circulate and increase his magic, Gabriel needed to cultivate through a cultivation technique.
Once he reached the first level of qi refinement, Gabriel would finally be able to use the ascension fruit. Although to fully take advantage of the fruit's power, he should probably wait until he reached a later stage.
He should also read more of the Divine Fire Art book he got from Dai Yu. It should help him advance his skill level.
He looked at Xie Ling.
" I'm going to pass to the library, see if I can find some interesting techniques. " He said, looking intently at Xie Ling.
" Ah. Okay… Do you want to be alone ? It's alright if that's the case, I don't mind at all. I really didn't mean to bother you. Yeah, I should just go. " Xie Ling chuckled nervously.
He had already turned his back on him when Gabriel held him back. He dropped Xie Ling's hand as soon as he had it. He held his hand close to himself. He hissed in pain. Gabriel had forgotten to go to the infirmary for bandages.
" Jia bu ? " Xie Ling said in a distraught tone.
Gabriel let down his hand.
" I was actually going to ask if you wanted to go to the library with me. But I think I'm going to go to the infirmary first. " Gabriel said.
" Good idea. " Xie Ling frowned at his burns. " Maybe I could go with you and then we could go to the library ? Feel free to refuse of course ! I don't mean to impose. " Xie Ling shifted from foot to foot.
Gabriel was going to drag Xie Ling with him before thinking better of it. His skin was clearly too sensible for this.
" Come. " Gabriel ordered more than asked.
He bet that Xie Ling would still be unsure whether Gabriel wanted him to there if Gabriel himself didn't order him to come.
They went to the infirmary and Gabriel soon had bandages pretty much everywhere : his arms, his legs and a good part of his lower face.
The doctor gave him an ointment to soothe the pain and speed up the healing as well. Soon his hands were painless. Gabriel was now free to drag Xie Ling around. And indeed, Gabriel proceed to drag the brunette with him to the library.
" Is that the library ? " Gabriel pointed toward a building that he thought to be library shaped.
" Ah, no. The library, or more precisely Lord Zhou's library, is inside Lord Zhou's palace. " Xie Ling scratched the back of his head.
The other boy hummed in acknowledgment before continuing to drag him, toward the actual direction of the library this time. Having absolutely no idea of where in the palace it was, Gabriel eventually relented and let go of Xie Ling so he could guide him.
" It's there ! " Xie Ling pointed at a door guarded by two martial artist. " It's actually the one of the best libraries in the whole Demonic Sect, second only to the main palace's hidden library. Lord Zhou is after all well known for being a well of knowledge, with more than ten thousand- "
The guards stopped them. They looked at their robes, clearly recognizing their rank, before letting them go through. As soon as they entered, Gabriel saw a screen pop up.
[ Quest
Learn a cultivation technique compatible with the Angel bloodline. ]
" Anyway, what are you going to look for ? " Xie Ling asked. " Cultivation technique ? Movement technique ? " Xie Ling continued trying to guess.
Xie Ling seemed much less apologetic about how chatty he was. Gabriel didn't mind. He disliked the silence.
They entered and Gabriel stared wide eyed at the library. Xie Ling too had stopped talking to look at the place.
In his previous life, Gabriel had never been allowed in the royal library, but he imagined that must have been what it looked like.
The walls were tall, and covered with shelves full with a variety of books. Some seemed older than both of their ages put together, while a few seemed to have been freshly written.
Some books were full of golden ink, while others were written in soot. Xie Ling pointed at a specific section and tugged at Gabriel's sleeve. Gabriel followed him and they stopped at a shelf full of old, dusty books.
" Those are all techniques invented by the first sect leader of the Demonic Sect. " Xie Ling started giving the names of each and every one of the techniques along with small facts about them.
How could one person know so much, Gabriel wondered. With his Angel bloodline at level 3, Gabriel could smell putrid scent of demonic energy coming from the books. There was no way any of those techniques would be compatible with his bloodline.
He looked around in the cultivation technique's section. A lighter, almost holy aura was coming from there.
" Come. " Gabriel brought Xie Ling to a shelf full of cultivation technique's from the Orthodox Sect.
He took out the book that had attracted him.
[ ' Celestial Tyrant's Method ' is extremely compatible with Angel ]
Gabriel doubted they could take the books back to their rooms, so he sat down and opened the manual. Xie Ling started wandering back towards the demonic and unorthodox scriptures.
When Gabriel opened the book, he saw a flash, a vision. He saw the thousands of people before him who had used the technique all through out their life. Focus, he thought. He focused on the letters on the paper and not the faceless warriors using the method.
Gabriel thought it would tell him to calm his mind, maybe to breath out, but none of that. ' Impose your will ' , it said. ' Impose your morals and beliefs ', it continued. Gabriel thought about what he believed in. Not much really. His moral compass followed that of the Demonic Sect and that of the world : eat or be eaten.
He thought about his belief, and about his unique goal : to get stronger. He imagined how tall he would feel when standing over the people he previously called family. He told himself that wasn't imagination but a reality. He would be stronger, the strongest. There were no other way, no other possibilities than his victory.
[ Angel helps you understand 'Celestial Tyrant's Method' ]
Gabriel didn't just understand the scripture, the technique became part of a core belief, right next to the laws of his universe.
[ Celestial Tyrant's Method ( lvl 2 ) ]
[ Angel ( lvl 4 ) ]
[ Judgement ( lvl 1 ) ]