Found it
"Not this," Asher kept picking up book after book.
And as he reached higher, he noticed that most of those books were damaged.
He understood why Neyman had mentioned the specific book he'd read might have been incomplete.
Most of these books had only been preserved when they were brought to wealthy families or to the World Academy.
So it made sense why most of them were damaged or in poor condition.
Some books were even hundreds of years old, but not as old as the Records of the Past, held by certain elite families. Their existence was only known by the High Council.
But not much importance was given to them.
Most of those records were assumed to be broken texts, and they were only preserved because they had become a relic of the past.
Those who had them cherished them as they increased their status among others.
Asher picked up another book as he reached the highest shelves.