Chapter 48 – Defying Heaven, Body Refinement

Adam stood in the room of the dungeon core.

He was currently blankly staring at the audacious little boy who was imprisoned between his fingers.

"I'll repeat myself once more… release me and cut off your hand. I will not pursue this matter anymore. This mighty one is very magnanimous and forgiving." The green leaf dressed boy said.

"Why exactly would I do that? If I don't what are you going to do? You do realize that you are the one in a helpless situation right now right?" Adam had barely interacted with the boy and yet he was spouting these things so confidently. He was worried that the boy might actually have some plans so he asked with concern.

"Why? Because this mighty one said so of course! Who is the helpless one now, huh?" He folded his arm's across his chest and harrumphed in a matter of factly sort of way.

"Are you stupid?" Adam was seriously considering if this boy had brain damage at this point. He bluntly called him out.

"Haaah! You are stupid, your uncle is stupid, your aunt is stupid, your head is stupid." The boy stuck his tongue out and started making faces at Adam.

"What the heck have I gotten myself into. Hey, you… which portal did you come out of?" Adam asked the boy in a plain tone.

Surprised at how humble Adam had become and how straightforwardly he asked him this question, the boy could only tamper down his previous fervour and reply in a similar tone "Umm, that one. The one on the left." He pointed.

The boy grew curious at why Adam asked him this "why did you ask me…" Before he could finish his sentence, with a swoosh and an overhand throw. The boy was flung into the portal like a comet by Adam.

"Good riddance." He dusted his hands off in relief.

Adam's peace did not last for too long.

"Aaarrggghhh! That was so mean! You threw this mighty one right into a bookshelf! I hit the edge too, wuwu." The boy cried his grievances. A large red bump could be seen on his head. He charged straight at Adam with his two tiny pin swords aimed at him.

"You can come back? I was just testing to see how the portal worked. Tsk, what a useless portal." Adam mumbled the last bit of his sentence quietly.

"Oh, that's fine then. Wait! Did you just click your tongue…you didn't, did you?!" The boy was gullible beyond compare.

'wow so gullible… guess this makes it easier to get information about the other side of the portal. Let's make use of this stupid little boy.' A scheming and menacing look flashed in Adam's eyes.

The boy unfortunately for himself was too preoccupied with his rage to notice his doom approaching.

"You said you hit a bookshelf on the other side?" Adam tested the waters.

"Yeah, there are a lot of them you know. Their corners are blunt so I didn't get hurt too badly but don't throw me again through it! it's filled with bookshelves and books. No matter how you throw me ill end up hitting one. So don't! It is a humiliation for this mighty one to be hurt by the book's that I am to protect." The boy blurted out secret after secret with no reservation.

"seriously… are you stupid?" Adam couldn't believe how naïve this 'protector of the books' was. He, even more, wanted to know who the genius who put this boy in charge was.

"Again you called me stupid! You are stupid, your uncle is stupid, your aunt is stupid, your head is stupid!" The boy started ranting again.

"Ugh. Fine, leaving aside your stupidity. Is there no one or nothing else on the other side beside you and the books?" Adam asked.

"Nope. No one. Just me." The boy did not notice Adams words and said satisfied in the feeling that he had gotten the last word.

"So you are telling me that you are the only one and there is basically a library on the other side of this portal with no dangers." Adam clarified.

"yes. How stupid are you? cant you guess this much already." The boy said smugly.

"Oh ok, I am the stupid one. So riddle me this, what's stopping me from killing you now and taking all the books?" A menacing grin grew on his lips and one of his daggers was already pointed out and poked at the chest of the defenceless boy who was acting smug.

"ughhh." The boy only now began processing the information he was given. Cold sweat began dripping down his forehead as he realized how he had been tricked.

"Tricky human! You fooled me didn't you." The boy blamed.

"What are you saying… I only asked you a simple question and you spilt the beans yourself. Blame your own stupidity please." Adam couldn't help but laugh at this hilarious encounter he just had.

He took back and sheathed his dagger.

"Come on, let's go. You are going to have to show me around in exchange for sparing your life." Adam didn't pay any attention and began walking toward the portal. He took a look back at the peaceful faces of the two girls.

His heart truly felt incomparably uneasy leaving the two alone so he decided to carry them along. Ignoring the protests of the tiny boy, Adam made his way to the two girls first.

"Elaine." Adam gently patted her cheek.

"ooh, what pretty big sisters." The boy commented from the side.

Adam gave the boy a rare smile. These girls were his soft spot.

"Hmm, young master." The girl grumbled and slowly opened her eyes.

"Are you feeling better?" Adam asked with concern. The boy on the side was shocked at how caring he was to this girl but how ruthless he was to himself.

"Mhhmm, it still hurts though." She said weakly.

"I see. Can you get on my back?" He said as he lifted Luna up with his aching arms and turned around.

"Yeah." The girl was too groggy to question anymore. She climbed onto his back steadily and clung her arms around his neck and her feet around his waist. Once she got comfortable, she quickly slipped back into her meditative state to recover.

His knees creaked as he stood up with a grimace but he did not let out a sound from his mouth.

He walked to the portal and stepped into it.

This was a portal that was on the same dimensional level as that of a dungeon core. For it to overlap on the space of a dungeon core, even if the place had no dangers it should not be underestimated.

Adam understood this. He had come to the conclusion that his stealing of the heart had weakened the dimensional walls of the space around the core room. Which led to this portal opening. He now really wondered what the other portal was for as well.

But first, he needed to figure out what this 'Library' was about.

....

Rows and rows of antique bookshelves lined themselves up in this room.

They were all placed parallel to each other and formed rows of aisles.

There was nothing but a sea of books inside this ginormous rectangular hall.

Once inside the library, the boy had become a lot more amiable toward Adam. The currently struggling Adam was in no mood to play with him and it showed.

"This is the library I protect. It is called 'Defying Heaven'." The boy said with pride.

"There are two floors to this library and we are currently on the first. This floor holds the records of previous owners of the library, their research material and findings in particular."

"There were owners? How many?" Adam was surprised.

"There have been two owners after the founder established this library. You are the third."

"How did I become the owner?" He asked even more surprised.

"Because you used the key to open the portal. Anyone who is bestowed the key is the rightful owner of Defying Heaven and the one I am to assist." The boy said and gave Adam a curious look.

"Oh, yeah… about that." Adam spun the wheels of his brain into overdrive. He obviously had not used any key to open this portal. He was most definitely not the 'rightful owner' but he wasn't about to let a free meal pass when it fell into his plate.

"I might have dropped the key somewhere…" He didn't know what else to say.

"You lost the key?" The boy was shocked. "Hahaha, You are such a klutz! Who is the one with a lower intellect now huh?" He took this chance to get back at Adam from earlier.

"Yeah, I am. So what now?" Adam had no idea if this would work at all but he had to play along at this point.

"Hahaha, Stupid! Stupid. It's fine, this magnanimous one shall make you a new one. Do you see how great I am now?" The boy began gloating.

"Oh, yeah… sooo great. The greatest." Sarcasm oozed out of every letter in his sentence.

"What's that weird tone?" The boy had never heard anyone speak like that before.

"Oh, its nothing. It's just the way I speak sometimes." His sarcastic tone did not recede in the slightest throughout. "Oh, shouldn't you wipe out the previous key first. Ensure that if someone picks up the one I dropped they wouldn't be able to enter."

"I…I already knew that! I would've done that even if you didn't tell me." The boy quickly began waving his hands around as he was reminded by Adam. A runic circle formed and it flashed in front of him. "Done."

The boy then took out one of his swords and began drawing an old style key in the air. When the outline connected, a tangible copper key formed and fell. Adam stretched forward and grabbed it.

"oof, that was a bit of hard work." The boy wiped the sweat of his brow and breathed a deep breath.

'I feel bad. I actually feel so guilty right now. It's like I'm cheating a child for his candy. Why are you so gullible and naive… I fell like I deserve divine retribution for tricking an innocent soul like you.' Adam thought to himself. The ease at which he was able to fool this boy had confused his morality. He actually had held no hope's in his flimsy excuse to work at all.

"That's done, so what's on the second floor?" Adam had to change the topic before he felt guilted into telling the truth to this innocent and foolish boy.

"That's where the owners have placed their accumulated books on body refinement. Isn't that the cultivation method of you lesser races or something?" The boy said a little disinterested. He was still tired from his earlier exertion.

"Wait. What did you just say?" Adam asked in a louder tone.

"I said its where your lesser races body refinement methods are stored. Are your ears okay?" The boy looked at him funny.

'cultivation….body refinement…. I have never heard of these things before.' Adam's mind was running as fast as it could but he still came up with a blank.

"Take me there. Show me." He said.