Chapter 49 – Lava Blood

The boy led Adam to the front, the exact opposite to the portal entrance.

They basically walked a straight line through the bookshelves.

At the front was a divided staircase that went up a few stairs and then diverted into two staircases that went left and right.

It was a fancy staircase that had a lot of woodwork.

All the wood in this place gave it a very fragrant old oak smell. The mingling of the wooden scent with that of the old books was a pleasure for the nostrils.

Though slowly because of his exertion, Adam was still being healed by the potion. He was a lot more comfortable now and exchanged light banter with the flying little boy as they ascended the steps.

"I am truly surprised. 99% of the books stored on the second floor were accumulated by the previous two owners from the outer worlds. How can your lesser worlds survive if you cannot protect yourselves from the higher race's?" The boy said.

"Higher race's? Do you mean gods?" Adam counter questioned.

"Yes… them and the Fiends. Was it not the purpose of the lesser races to craft body refinement techniques to contend and protect themselves from the enslavement of the higher races? What do you practice now? I saw that your body wasn't untrained."

"I practice the class system. It is said to be a grace from the gods or the heaven's." Adam felt like this conversation was revealing secrets that no one in the Gordian continent knew. 'Contending against the higher race's… How mighty were the people who owned this library before me.'

"It should be a substitute provided by the heaven's law. The gods wouldn't be so benevolent. From what I'm hearing… it seems your lesser races have lost and the gods have enslaved you. Do your races now revere the gods?" The boy asked.

"Yes. Is that bad?"

"What do you think… Well as long as you haven't come into direct contact with one and have willingly submitted yourself, they should not be able to have any sort of hold on you. You lesser races have very weak and easy to manipulate souls after all." The boy said gravely.

"The one good thing about your lesser race's is that you have the numerical advantage. It is impossible for them to have a direct hold on each and every one of you. They would probably only hold the strongest of your race's."

"I see." Adam felt like he had been through a revelation. How could Adam have known that he had actually already come in contact with the Gods of legends and luckily for him, the ones who tried to bind him were inexperienced and unwittingly gave him a part of their core powers?

He was an unprecedented case in all of history.

Engrossed in their conversation the two reached the top of the staircase and stepped onto a square room.

"This is the second floor." The boy introduced and flew around in front of them.

There were a total of eighteen long and high bookshelves that reached the ceiling in this room as well. Books filled every crevice on the bookshelves and no empty spaces could be seen on them.

In the middle of the side that The steps were on, there was a podium with an open golden book placed on it.

The boy led Adam to it.

"This is the podium of records. It holds the diaries of the previous owners. Touch it. It should open up a shelf for you. Oh, and also the book on top of it is really important so don't touch it for now. It is called the Book of Findings. It will help you find a body refinement book that is most suited to you. Both of these were left by the Founder." The boy spoke very respectfully when he mentioned this Founder. Adam remembered that he mentioned him before as well.

"Who is this 'Founder'?" Adam asked curiously.

"Even I have not had the opportunity to meet the Founder. I was unfortunately only able to hatch after ten thousand years of the founding of Defying Heaven. The only reason that I even know all this is because of the benevolence of the founder who left me fragments of information for the owner's that came later." The boy showed obvious regret.

'This Founder is a formidable existence. To be able to create this library on the dimensional level of a dungeon core is proof enough of his might. But more importantly…' Adam thought.

"How old are you exactly?" He questioned.

"I have lost count of the years. It is hard to keep track of time in this space. Especially since I spend most of my time researching the magic circles left behind by the last owner. He said I was a natural born genius at it you know!" The boy took this opportunity to derail the conversation into a gloating opportunity.

"So that's what all the books on the first floor are huh." Adam gained a deeper understanding. "Magic circles have no relation to body refining. What was the point of researching them?"

"This was an idea that the first owner deduced. Body refining becomes limited if outer forces of the elements cannot be extracted. Magic circles were the first step that allowed the lesser races to develop different body refining methods. The second owner then tried devising alternate techniques of cultivation and similarly picked up the research of the first. I did not have much to do so I picked it up as well. I was definitely not tricked into it." The boy was talkative by nature and Adam's arrival had completely overjoyed his heart.

He finally had someone to talk to again. He would be able to talk endlessly even if Adam said nothing. Also in his view, Adam was the legitimate owner of this library. He had no need to hold back anything from him.

'He was definitely tricked into studying magic circles by one of the previous owners.' Adam was absolutely sure.

Adam then gave this whole matter serious thought. This place was a treasure trove of knowledge. Especially that first floor that held an innumerable amount of books on magic circles. But he had no interest in the magic circles only this second floor with its body refinement techniques intrigued him.

'I should let Luna become the owner.' It honestly did not matter who the owner was and Adam did not see himself coming back here often. On the other hand, Luna would have a field trip with so many books on magic. It was just a matter of convenience.

There was also this talkative and naïve little boy. 'Sorry Luna, You are going to have to deal with him.' Adam completely dumped all responsibility on the unconscious Luna.

"She is the new owner of Defying Heaven." Adam cut off the boy who was still talking with no end in sight. He lifted the girl in his embrace slightly. The girl had a blissful expression on her face as if the warmth and scent of the embrace she was in was her haven.

Adam lifted one of her hands and placed it on the podium in front of them without waiting for a reply. The podium grew a bit in height and the two shelves that were already present in it were raised to accommodate a new shelve that formed.

"I guess it doesn't matter. Is it fine though? If she doesn't want it. you can be disallowed from entering." The boy already saw the deed had been committed so he couldn't raise any objections at this point.

"It is fine. I trust her." Adam did not say much else but his unwavering trust in the girl showed.

"What do I call you then… since I can't call you owner anymore." The boy asked.

"I am Adam and the one on my back is Elaine. As for your new owner, her name is Luna." Adam introduced.

"Adam! My name is Pelk. You may call me that. I give you the honour." The boy said In his usual mightier than thou way.

"Okay. I am going to read through the books on the Podium of Records. You are going to have to keep quiet for a bit Pelk." Adam said.

"Okay." The boy made his way atop Luna's head and plopped down lightly. With a long yawn, the boy fell asleep.

Adam chuckled. This boy really was just like a kid. He tired himself out and now collapsed.

Supporting Luna with one hand, he used his only free hand to pick up a book.

Opening up the first book on the shelf of the first owner, Adam began reading.

Flowery words like 'thou, thine, thee and thy' dotted the sentences of this book. Adam's head began to spin, he really was not used to reading such a complicated way of writing. Though he did not dislike it, it really wasn't doing him any favours by overcomplicating the words when he was trying to understand this old world that was explained in these books.

With a jolt of his mind, he got his sentient mind to begin reading. The pages flipped faster and faster. Within a few minutes, those thick books had all been flipped through.

The summary that the sentient mind showcased was frightening.

…..

The first owner was born in ancient times. One of the first of the lesser races born from the higher races playing around with the heavenly laws.

The writings indicated that the gods were trying to raise the perfect army to annihilate the fiends. Their countless 'failures' were the resultant lesser races.

The first owner was born into a clan of winged men. The world of his time was one of peace as the lesser races had been discarded by the higher races and did not meddle with them. The worlds were newly created and resources were abundant beyond use.

In his youth, he discovered the key to Heaven Defying locked in a chest that floated in the clouds. This discovery had given him the chance to enter Defying Heaven.

When he entered this library, the library only consisted of the Podium of records and one book atop it.

The book was titled 'Clear mind, Clear soul: two clears make all clear'

The first owner lived in a time where names were not deemed important because of the lack of population. Seeing the title of the book he was given the inspiration to name himself. He gave himself the nickname of Spotted Wing.

Spotted Wing was a genius. Using the Clear Mind, Clear soul he derived a body refinement method. The first of it's kind.

He was not a selfish person and spread his technique to his comrades and the other races of every world he could contact. The camaraderie of the lesser races was a very widespread notion at the time.

In return throughout his year's, he was sent back the discoveries and different techniques that the others were able to come up with.

Only in his later years when the races had reached a bottleneck from their derived techniques, Spotted Wing was forced to return to Heaven Defying.

When he did, he realized the library was able to store knowledge as well. All his accumulated resources were stored in the library. This gave rise to the Book of findings. The first floor was made into an empty hall while a second floor had formed that stored all his body refinement techniques.

The little boy who assisted him inside the library was inherently capable of using magic circles to influence some facets of the library. Seeing the boy used these circles to influence the elements and form bookshelves gave Spotted wing the inspiration to assimilate the elements into body refining. His only clue to achieve this was magic circles and so he began researching them.

He spent most of his later years cooped up in the library. Spreading his teachings from time to time, till the day he perished.

The second owner of the library was the complete opposite of the compassionate Spotted Wing.

The second owner had earned himself the nickname of 'Lava Blood'

His was an interesting story.