Preparation - 24

Zhou Fan was walked out of the library by the old man he had tossed the cage to. It turns out that he possessed a high position in the library. He was one of the few head researchers. His name was Muon Erzai.

"We'll reach out to you by tomorrow. As previously mentioned, you will be compensated accordingly." Muon Erzai said.

Zhou Fan did recall the examiner girl telling him about that. After some parting words, Zhou Fan walked back to the courtyard. Fui Rong had left earlier after hearing that the snake was indeed poisonous. She must've been excited to solve the 50 year old mystery.

In fact, Zhou Fan was disappointed that the outcome was so simple. He was hoping for something more interesting. It seems that there is truly little interesting in this world.

Actually, the discovery of the underground cave and the beasts was quite incredible. It could be said that Zhou Fan was satisfied with the overall outcome of moving in.

Zhou Fan made it back to the courtyard quickly. Instead of going inside, Zhou Fan flew down the hole in the back. It wasn't long before he made it to the underground cave.

When he arrived at the middle, he was greeted by the beasts. Zhou Fan pet them for a few minutes before going inside his house and sitting down on one of the chairs he made. Although he wasn't expecting any guests or even expecting to eat in here, he still made a dinner table and 4 chairs. It was more pleasing to the eye, after all.

While sitting, Zhou Fan started to think. The courtyard he bought was essentially useless now. If anything, it could simply be used as a cover. In the end, he still needed a place of residence for the outside world.

Still, it would be a waste of time and resources to fix up the courtyard any further. After all, he had a nicer house down here along with a HUGE yard. He even had an incredible view of the blue crystal. It could be said that kings would fight to live here. Emperors even!

There was also the problem of his pets. He couldn't exactly take them outside. Not to mention the fact that they couldn't fit through the hole, they were too big to hide. Although he wasn't exactly aiming to be a near invisible presence, it would drag too much attention to himself by having 5 humongous beasts roaming about.

He would also prefer to not be separated from them. After all, they already shared a bond with him.

Instead of continuing to endlessly think, Zhou Fan decided to go outside and play with the beasts.

After an hour, Zhou Fan was sprawled atop Bainu. Although Xiaolong was his favorite, his scales were harder than steel. Bainu's soft fur was much more comfortable. Even then, Xiaolong couldn't be left out. He was laying on top of Zhou Fan. Although he weighed multiple tons, that much was nothing to the current Zhou Fan. In fact, he himself weighed around the same amount as Xiaolong. Bainu was the one that he should be worried about. Luckily, he was strong enough to support them.

While staring at the crystal, Zhou Fan fell asleep.

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Zhou Fan awoke several hours later. Everyone was still in the same position as when he fell asleep. Zhou Fan stood up without waking anybody and headed to the river. When he arrived, the first thing he noticed was his reflection. His body was now that of an adult. Although he couldn't be called a grown man, he looked at least 18. He was skinny and had short gray hair.

However, no sign of facial hair could be seen on him. Zhou Fan couldn't decide whether that was a blessing or a curse.

Zhou Fan soon decided to leave the underground. He estimated that there was only one day left until the start of his job at the library. When Zhou Fan made it back, he quickly noticed the familiar face of Fui Rongs at his door.

"Hello." Zhou Fan said from behind.

"AAHHHH." Once again falling on her butt, Fui Rong let out a scream. It seemed that Zhou Fan had scared her again.

"WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS SCARING ME!" Fui Rong angrily yelled. She was huffing and puffing and Zhou Fan was worried that she would blow his house down.

"Sorry. You should really work on your timing." Zhou Fan said apologetically. Although it was kind of his fault, she was always showing up right before he came home. If she had left 5 minutes later, the situation would have been avoided.

"Anyways, I'm here to deliver your payment for your work." Fui Rong said.

Only then did Zhou Fan remember that he was getting paid today.

Fui Rong reached into her pocket and pulled out two golden coins.

"The library decided that your discovery was significant enough to deserve gold coins as compensation. It seems that the venom of the snake is one of the highest recorded. Although two gold may seem small for such a discovery, it was deemed as worthy for your efforts." Fui Rong delivered the speech very formally. It seemed that there is a certain process to the compensation of discovery.

Fui Rong didn't stay behind long after handing the gold coins to him.

Zhou Fan didn't spend the rest of the day idle as he went to the library. Now that he has a silver card, he can explore the sixth to tenth floors. Zhou Fan was quite excited to gain more knowledge.

Zhou Fan chose to start at the 6th floor. Since he wasn't in a rush to learn anything specific, he decided to go from bottom to top. It took Zhou Fan 12 hours to finish the 6th floor. The content it contained was about the same as the previous floors.

Although Zhou Fan had broken through and could both read faster and move faster, he was limited by the books themselves. If he read at his full speed, the books would be ripped apart instantly.

The 6th floor contained books about history overall, instead of differentiating between the empires history and the worlds history. The information went into more depth and farther back in time.

After he finished reading, Zhou Fan went back home cultivated through the night. When he woke up, it was almost time to start his new job.