Chapter 11

Sitting by the pond at the center of the library, Dyon immediately began pouring through the books Libro helped him get. Although Dyon’s memory was never photographic, he was still proud of it. If he, at any point, understood a topic, it would be unlikely that he would forget it. This was something that helped him greatly in the mortal world where he often spent much of his days coding.

That said, this was taken to an all new level with the speed-reading technique.

By using the Sapientia family’s technique, Dyon was able to understand the will of the books he wanted to read without even opening the cover. This essentially led to an even deeper understanding than he could have gained by normal methods. As such, the things he learned were engraved into his brain. As long as he put them to practice, he would be unlikely to ever lose this knowledge.

If he could gain a cultivation method, his capacity to use the technique would increase. He may even be able to speed read multiple high-level books at a time.

Dyon was in awe of the knowledge he was gaining. Array Alchemy allowed a myriad of things, from setting up protection and slaughter arrays to grafting together simple plants to form more complex ones. Even just one aspect led to infinite possibilities.

For example, scientifically speaking, grafting meant using special means to splice the DNA of various plants together to form a new plant sharing the properties of the grafted DNA, or even creating all new properties not shared by any of the plants used to create it. By using the martial world’s methods, the new plant would even be available immediately without the growth or wait time.

Obviously, grafting was a solely array alchemy based concept. This was because it required knowledge of formations to break down and meld plants together safely. However, formation masters obviously never had any use for plants. They focused more so on concepts of feng shui and memorized what symbols capable of altering the laws of the universe in a finite space.

‘No wonder why no one wants to join this faction. The complexity is without bounds. Theoretically, there’s an infinite amount of knowledge to gain, which means any regular student would never feel like they made any real progress.’

But this only made Dyon smile. He had always hated biology, but this perspective on it was completely new and intriguing to him. It lit a fire under him that he had only felt when he was training or sitting behind a computer screen.

There was something that made Dyon even more excited, though. He technically might not need to read the books on the highest levels of the library. He found that the avenue for applying mortal world knowledge to the martial world was boundless. These so-called ‘common grade’ plants? At the very least the lower common grade ilk, could be found in the mortal world!

‘This must be hard to do for other Array Alchemists because they don’t have the human world knowledge that I have. Plus, the knowledge that I don’t have…’ Dyon looked down at his twin silver bracelets with an excited glint in his eye. ‘I can always look it up.’

This thought gave Dyon a new level of understanding.

Both the martial and mortal world had their own advantages. Although he didn’t understand why his world was devoid of energy, it was good that his experiences could still help him.

Since they wanted to look down on commoners, he’d use his commoner knowledge to get a leg up.

**

Before Dyon even noticed, 2 days had passed by before he finished speed reading the hundreds of books on common plants. This was when Dyon noticed a problem with his speed-reading method.

‘I have all of this knowledge, but it isn’t organized. It’s almost like if I want to recall something, I have to close my eyes and “re-read” the hundreds of volumes I just went through to find the answer. This isn’t good. The knowledge I’ve gained is useless like this.’

Frustrated, Dyon carried the books back to the wooden desk in sets of ten.

‘What a waste of 2 days. I’m tired as all hell and I smell horrible.’

Dyon had long since taken off his previously unbuttoned dress shirt and switched his rolled-up jeans for a pair of grey sweats, but he still felt uncomfortable.

Dyon looked up as the monitor flickered. “You seem tired,” Libro pinched his nose, “I can almost smell you from here. Go rest. I’ll let you take the books on array theory with you.”

Dyon flicked his wrist, too tired to answer. He created a new folder called ‘array theory’ and slotted the other set of hundreds of books into his storage bands.

“What an interesting device. Doesn’t seem very efficient though.” Libro snickered.

“Yea, yea, yea. I’m sure you know what problems I’m having; do you have a solution?”

“In terms of your need for rest and showers, those won’t be resolved until you reach a higher cultivation level. Your brain’s capacity is still too weak to go without rest. In terms of the speed-reading technique, I’m sure a genius like you will figure it out.” Libro smiled deviously.

‘I can’t just give him all the answers, this is my family’s secret technique after all. If I wasn’t crystal glasses level, I’d be afraid of being killed for even thinking of giving him this technique. My only saving grace is that I didn’t give him the full technique.’

Dyon sighed. “Fine, I guess. Thank for your help, this would probably have been a lot harder without you.”

Libro was a bit surprised by Dyon’s sincere thanks, but he took it in stride as he watched Dyon sluggishly head towards his dorm room.

**

On the top floor of the center pillar, the family heads met in a spacious office.

Reminiscent of the ceremony hall, the room was filled with somber light. A fire place raged off to the right, flickering soft embers that lit the dark room. Drapes of maroon covered the large windows, resonating with the dark wood floor. A large desk partially hid Patia-Neva’s figure as he faced away from the other family heads and towards the covered windows.

The other family heads sat on black couches surrounding the fireplace, letting silence reign the room.