Chapter 45: Formations!

Ashen's room, Phoenix Feather Sect,

Ashen sat in front of the mountain of books that he had brought from the Formation Pavilion much to the bewilderment of others.

It wasn't common that a disciple would take more than a hundred books with him to read in a day. One just didn't have to read the book but understand the concepts written in it.

Even understanding one book would take at least an hour for even a scholar.

It just wasn't possible to read all these books that were in front of him using traditional methods.

But Ashen didn't plan on using traditional methods, instead, use his cheat that was there to help him.

"System, tell me how many points it would take to master all these books?

Ashen asked with a calm expression, waiting for the system's answer.

[Ding! Host, This mighty system needs 11000 points to make you master these books. The points required usually depend on the knowledge contained in the books needed to master. These books only contain basics and hence the price is cheap]

"Hmm... alright" Ashen took in the information with a nod before picking up a book in his hand titled, 'Introduction to Formation Arts'.

This book was famous as the go-to book to start learning formation arts, however, it was always recommended to learn from a formation master as he would be able to teach better than a book.

He opened the book's first page before starting to read it.

He was doing this to verify how learning through the system and reading the books yourself differed.

By doing this he could decide whether using the system to learn the knowledge was in any way disadvantageous.

In the first page of the book was written about the formations, how it was beneficial, its importance, and how it was the greatest art out there.

It seemed that the author really worshipped formation arts by how he was praising it, claiming it to be better than any other art.

Ashen continued reading the book carefully, grasping the concepts to the best of his abilities.

After an hour and a half, he was able to complete this thick book.

The book was pretty much an introduction, containing knowledge regarding the different ranks of a formation master and different basic formation formulas.

The author had written his understanding of the formation arts in the book and Ashen was sure that the other books would give him a different understanding from what this book provided him.

However, that was for later, for now, it was the time to see the difference between the system and human reading.

"System, make me master this book!" He commanded with an indifferent expression.

[Ding! Host, consuming 80 points to master the book you requested]

[Ding! Transaction Complete!]

Looking at the completed message, Ashen tried to recall the knowledge contained in the book.

He attempted to recall the information regarding the ranks of formation masters and in reaction, his eyes were widened in surprise at the result.

Not only was he able to recall the information clearly, but he was also able to remember the page number as well as each and every word written on the page.

It was as if there was a copy of the book in his mind, giving him all the knowledge contained in the book.

Even some concepts that were unclear to him before were now embedded in his mind in simple language.

It was as if someone had translated some difficult English into simple one which even a child could understand.

"This is... great!" Ashen exclaimed in joy, knowing that the system wasn't cheating him and was providing genuine knowledge.

Who could remember all the types of qi stones and the pattern in which they were arranged?

Maybe for some basic formations, it was easy, however, there were multiple formations to be remembered, and surely no one could remember them all.

Therefore, it was advisable to understand the combinations of different types of qi stones, for example, if someone used sword qi stone and dark qi stone in their formation, it would result in the sword becoming stealthier and difficult to detect.

And if someone changed the order in which these stones were arranged, they would get a dark sword that would have a deteriorating effect on anything it cut.

These simple combinations made the basis for formation arts and made it easy for a formation arts user to memorize the formation design more easily.

By increasing their attainment in formation arts, one would be able to design new formations.

For example, only the formation grandmaster could design an array to protect a sect, however, the formation designed for the phoenix feather sect was done by a formation sage.

A formation arts user's rank could be displayed by the robe he was wearing and the badge that he would get after passing the test for the said rank.

This world had made it easy to memorize these ranks as they were the same for alchemy users and talisman users as well.

They were also classified in the same ranks and could be differed by the emblem that would be carved on the back of the formation arts user's robe.

Ashen had mastered over 120 books containing the basics of formation arts just now and could be considered a Formation novice with all the basics on his tips.

These books contained simple formation designs in them which could come in handy in Ashen's daily life.

For example, there was a cleaning formation that was a level-1 formation. It could be laid around an area to keep it clean, however, Ashen didn't need it now as his mansion already had the said formation installed.

There were also some level-2 arrays but they were also useless at his level.

They couldn't be used to kill people.

Therefore, Ashen's target now was the next set of books.

After having mastered all those books, he now understood just how powerful formations were.

Even previously he didn't have any idea regarding their power.

Now he craved the knowledge that was unknown to him.

It was after a long time that he felt excited for something, he was looking forward to the time when he would be able to make use of the advanced formations that were talked about in the books he had just mastered.

With a light smile, he stored all the books in his space ring before heading to the formation pavilion once again.

It didn't take him long to reach there as he knew the directions this time.

Upon seeing him, a grin appeared on the receptionist's face as he smiled to himself: "Looks like he understood that he won't be able to read all the books in just a day that's why he is here again to return some of the books!

hehe, serves you right for not listening to me!"

It had just been two hours since Ashen took the book from the pavilion, not even in his wildest dreams would the receptionist be able to guess that Ashen had already mastered all the books.

It wasn't his fault for misunderstanding things.

"Ah, young master, have you read all the books already?" The receptionist asked with a grin, expecting to see Ashen embarrassed and flustered when returning the books.

He had an expression that said, 'See what happens when you don't listen to me'

Ashen just nodded in response, speaking with a calm expression: "Yes, Give me the advanced books now!"

"Huh?" The receptionist had his jaw drop at this response, baffled out of his mind.

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(A/N - Thanks for reading. ^..^)