Chapter 3 - Guy's Goal In Life

Guy was a little disappointed with his system. How come all the other MCs get some uber cheat-like skill while his is just a useless library of books?

(What's the matter?) Mast was a little bummed out at Guy's response. He expected Guy to be a bit more positive because he had put a lot of thought into it. World builders weren't exactly imaginative and inventive beings. Mast had to borrow from different sources to create the RoK.

'It doesn't do anything man. It's just a library. I thought it would be… I don't know… more awesome I guess?' Guy muttered in a low voice.

Mast furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to decipher what Guy meant.

(You said you wanted to teach. And based on my research, this library would be an amazing resource for any teacher to have.) Mast tried to explain his point of view.

'I know… It's just that I thought the system would have something more to it. Like maybe it could translate people's capabilities into book form so that I can read it and get to know them better. Or maybe it compiled similar books into one without any errors in it.' Guy tried to explain his reasoning.

Mast finally understood why Guy was so disappointed with the RoK. And so with a stern voice, Mast responded. (But that would be cheating. All the things that you just said are part of what makes a good teacher. To know a student's weaknesses and tailor the lessons to their needs. To comprehend and apply knowledge. To provide guidance both academically and in some cases provide emotional support. If I gave you a system that did all that, what use are you?)

The gut-punch threw Guy for a loop. He went into deep thought; it was true that he had become a little complacent after transmigrating.

(What is your goal?) Mast asked with an imposing voice.

'To be a good teacher!' Guy responded almost subconsciously.

That was it! His goal was to be a good teacher. Nothing more nothing less. In his entire previous life, the happiest he had ever been was seeing the cheerful faces of the kids whose lives he'd changed. All he wished for in his death bed was to keep spreading that happiness. After transmigrating into this world, Guy had gotten too caught up in the fantastical elements. His goal was never to rebel against authority or to overturn the heavens and earth. He just wanted to teach, and give those without any power some hope.

As he finished his thoughts, Guy mellowed out. His anger dissipated and was instead replaced with immense shame. Guy realised that he had been ungrateful. While Mast played some part in his death, it was not something he intended to do. In fact, he even gave Guy another shot at life. He even made the RoK for him!

With a resolute expression, Guy bowed and apologised profusely. 'I'm sorry Mast. You're right! The RoK is perfect for a teacher.'

Mast was elated to see that Guy liked his gift. In response Mast added, (Well. I considered everything you said, and I guess I could add something extra to the RoK. A cheat if you will.)

With that Mast snapped his fingers, and an archaic-looking printing press materialised next to the desk at the centre of the RoK. 

With wide eyes, Guy approached the contraption. 'Woah! What is this thing?'

With a smirk Mast moved towards the press and placed his arm on it. (It is a Printing Press or PP for short. It's pretty big ain't it.)

Guy didn't know if Mast did that on purpose or not, but he still went along with it. 'Yes. It's… huge. Anyways what does it do?'

(As its name suggests, it prints books from your library.)

Before Mast could continue Guy exclaimed, 'That's awesome! Now that's what I call a cheat!'

(But! The press can only print multiple copies of books that you or your students publish, or books that don't exceed 40% similarity with the contents of this library. You can only print one exact copy of a book from the RoK. Actually, it is set that only one hard copy can exist outside of the RoK. The moment you print another, the first will disappear.)

Like a burst balloon Guy's expression deflated once again. 'Why just me or my students? Why can't I publish any book from the RoK?'

(It's obvious. What if you mass print a rare book and sell it for a profit. You're a teacher, not a capitalist.)

With a wry smile Guy inwardly cursed Mast's intuition. 

(On top of that, these books aren't originally from this world. The knowledge they contain is not chronologically accurate either. We can justify the spread of new knowledge in this world if it is from a primary source as it is contained and measured. However, if unregistered knowledge is disseminated through secondary sources, there is a high probability of it blowing out of proportions uncontrollably. This will inevitably draw my brother's attention. And we don't want that. Not at this point, anyway.)

And with that, Mast dematerialised from the RoK, leaving Guy to his own devices.

Guy decided to explore the RoK by himself. He found that the shelves could be reordered based on certain search criteria. For instance, if he was interested in searching for cultivation techniques with a focus on fire-based arts, the shelves would rearrange themselves. And based on closeness to the search parameters, the most relevant books that he'd read would move towards the centre of the room, while the least relevant ones would be pushed further. The time for the rearranging was negligible and almost instantaneous. 

After that, Guy decided to take a walk around the RoK and observe if there were any hidden secrets of mechanisms. As he walked further from the centre, the shelves started to become emptier. Evidently, the original body hadn't read a lot of books. It was a sad sight.

A little further down the shelves, Guy found himself before an impenetrable barrier. Beyond the barrier, he could see shelves that were fully populated, and that too with books he'd read in his previous life. He figured those would be accessible to him once he accomplished those hidden achievements Mast was talking about.

Once Guy had had enough, he went with his instincts and pulled his consciousness out of the RoK. The process felt different. When before there was a feeling of entering a vacuum, exiting felt like he was being shoved into a pressure vessel. In a quick moment, the sensation dissipated and he found himself back inside his room.

The room Guy was currently living in was subsidised by his school for its teaching apprentices. It was like a studio apartment, with a small kitchen, bedroom and living room all inside one square space. The building had a shared bathroom on each level. The building itself only had 3 floors but each floor was quite wide, similar to the tube-shaped apartments, and had a rustic feel to it. If Guy was to comment on the design, it felt like old Greek architecture with its decadently designed pillars and open courtyards.

His room was clean and empty. Apparently, Guy didn't own a lot of possessions. When Guy peered into the old body's memories, he found that he truly was alone in this world. His family passed away when he was still 15 years old during a territory dispute between neighbouring fiefs. Being passed from orphanage to orphanage, no wonder the poor guy developed a crushing inferiority complex. This world was not kind to the weak!

Guy decided that it was necessary to fully internalise his body's old memory. He didn't want to arouse any suspicion from those that knew this body. He planned to slowly transform into his true self so that it would feel natural to others.

Of all the information Guy internalised, one thing that he paid close attention to was magic and cultivation. Since this was a field completely novel to him, he wanted to make sure that he didn't miss any detail. He was supposed to be a teacher after all. The worst mistake a teacher can make is to teach something they themselves aren't sure about. In his experience from his old life, one thing Guy had learned was that an arrogant teacher does more damage to the student than themself.

His least fond memory from his old life was when Guy was in his Physics classes in high school. Of all the teachers from his old school, the physics teacher was the one that had lasted the longest. Through multiple rounds of restructuring, hiring and firing, that old physics teacher persisted like a weed on concrete. He wondered how the man managed it; he still hadn't figured it out.

His physics teacher was a good man, but a horrible teacher. He never bothered to update himself on modern advancements in science and always spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. As part of a graduation project, Guy had to work in a subject of choice under a teacher who specialised in it. Since it was his most favourite subject, Guy chose physics and inevitably worked under the old physics teacher.

As he made progress in his project, Guy never failed to ascertain if the direction he was going in met the criteria and was sufficiently rigorous to meet the marking standards. Every time he asked his supervisor, the physics teacher said that it was all good. 

You can imagine the outcome. Guy completely failed that project and had to redo it. It was at that point when Guy realised the price of arrogance. In fact, when Guy brought it up with his supervisor, the physics teacher just brushed it off and said that it wasn't his fault.

Anyways. After that experience, Guy swore to himself that if he was to ever teach someone, he would make sure that he was sufficiently knowledgeable about it, and would straightforwardly say that he couldn't teach them if he didn't know the subject.

Once Guy absorbed all the memories from the old body, he went up to the kitchen to fix himself something to eat. There wasn't much except for a few snacks. Guy didn't feel like going out to buy anything, and so he chose to fill his stomach with junk food.

After he consumed for the sake of sustenance, Guy started to peruse the various books stored in the RoK while taking notes. One great feature of the RoK was that there was a computer inside that only had word-processing functionality. That way, Guy could both read and take well-formatted notes at the same time. This was something Guy was thankful for since his own handwriting was horrendous.

And that was how Guy spent the rest of his day.