Chapter 18 - Quite the Book

His vision started widening as he felt as if he were being sucked into the book in front of him.

Letters started jumping out from the pages and flying around him, as if they were dancing to the tune of an unknown song.

He entered a state of trance as this spectacle flashed right in front of his eyes. Letters combined into words, which then combined with other words to form sentences. And with every sentence, a clearer and clearer picture was painted in his mind.

This hallucinogenic scene lasted for a while.

In the end, the letters started coming at lower and lower frequencies, until eventually, they stopped appearing altogether, as if their sources had dried up. The colorful spectacle from earlier was replaced by a soothing nothingness.

And as this happened, a sudden force emerged. Like a powerful gale, it blew Arthur's consciousness away, with him being completely helpless against it.

Arthur woke up.

The scene he had been experiencing just a moment ago was nowhere to be seen. The little room stood the same way as it had been ever since he reached it, with no disturbances.

Could he have hallucinated the whole thing? He didn't remember Lao having any diseases of this sort. That shouldn't be the case.

Then, was there anything affecting his mental state? Was it the incense that was making him go crazy? Did it have some sort of hallucinogenic properties?

This also seemed unlikely. He had been there for a long time before, while testing the time variations of the library, and nothing of the sort had happened before.

Just as he was about to go on another one of his schizo investigations, he looked at the book right in front of him.

He clearly remembered having just turned the cover of the book before everything started going crazy. As soon as he completely turned the book's cover, his mind went blank, and those visions started appearing.

However, curiously, right now, the book was on its last page. He had no recollection of turning any page aside from the cover. And yet, the reality in front of him clearly denied that perception.

He pondered for a moment, and as he did, something else hit him.

In his mind, right now, he clearly sensed a new guest. One whom he had never encountered before.

It gave him a sensation similar to what he had felt back when he first reincarnated. It was similar, yet different at the same time.

When he first reincarnated, all of Lao's memories that flooded into his mind were instantly refined and absorbed by his brain. Basically, Lao's memories had become his.

This time, it was a little different. In a little corner of his mind, there was now a bundle of information that had never been there before. However, he had no recollection of what that bundle of information was about. He could navigate the information stored in it; however, to do so, he would have to interact with the bundle directly.

It was as if that collection of knowledge, while saved in a corner of his mind, wasn't fully his. He could interact with it and even review its many contents; however, he could not call it truly his.

That collection of information simply stayed there, floating in a corner of his mind. A gentle light emanated from it, slowly flickering in and out of view. It looked extremely fragile, as if a soft breath was enough to end its existence.

As he watched that little ball, he tried to recall in his memories something that would explain the phenomenon in front of him.

Suddenly, everything clicked.

"So that's what's going on."

He looked at the hourglass he had set before he started turning the book's pages.

All the sand had fallen. The lower side was now completely full, whereas the upper compartment lay empty.

It seemed like quite a long time had passed. While on his little acid trip, Arthur had lost all concept of time. Whether it was 1 minute or 1 millennium, it felt the same to him. That's why he hadn't noticed how long he had spent in that state up to now.

This further confirmed his suspicions.

From what the voice had said, those glasses were supposed to increase his reading speed to several times the normal and help him memorize whatever information he read while wearing them.

So, if he was to believe that description, what happened to him could be summed up to him getting into a state of hyper absorption of the information of the book he chose to read. The result was the bundle of information now floating in a corner of his mind.

When he first heard their description, he thought his reading speed would be even faster though. Sure, he might not have felt the time go by, but he still spent at least 20 minutes reading that book. From the way it was described, he felt like he would spend at most a few seconds.

Though, to be fair, that book was big. Really big. It had at least 2000 dense pages of text detailing every aspect there was to know about Qi Cultivation. Just reading that book from beginning to end would probably take you 3 to 4 days if you took no breaks. As for memorizing the whole thing, it would probably take a whole lifetime. So maybe it only took that long due to the book's massive length.

There was also the possibility that it wasn't the fact that the glasses couldn't read faster, but that his mind could not handle such a fast flow of information. And so, he might have been the one slowing the process down.

Regardless, he was satisfied with the results.

As for the book itself, it left Arthur completely speechless. And the more Arthur explored the bundle of knowledge in his mind, which, following the line of logic of his previous assertions, should be the condensation of the book created by the use of the magical glasses, the more shocked he became.

The book might be called "Basics of Qi Cultivation," but it was far from basic. If this book was basic, then all the legendary sages in the world were nothing more than little kids who knew not how to write or read.

That book contained the most in-depth explanation of everything regarding Qi Cultivation. From the most basic concept to some completely obscure concepts that he had never heard about up to now.

It was unbelievable. The book detailed the absolute best path for a cultivator to follow. It mentioned every danger and problem a cultivator might face, as well as the best solution for each of them. It even took into consideration every single possible individual perk or specialty of the cultivator.

If Lao had read this, he would probably have fallen into depression from realizing how many aspects he had approached in an extremely inefficient manner throughout his cultivation journey.

Fortunately for Arthur, no absolutely catastrophic mistakes that would haunt him for the rest of his journey had been made by Lao. He could just readjust himself and follow the most optimal path starting now. Lao's cultivation level wasn't that high yet, and as such, there was more than enough time to correct the mistakes and get back on the most optimal track.

One interesting aspect to mention would be the complete trust Arthur had unknowingly put on the information detailed by the book. For even a complete skeptic like him to be so thoroughly tamed, it spoke volumes for the book's quality.

Unfortunately, the book only detailed the process up to the Nascent Soul Realm. Maybe that's where the "Basic" part of its title came from.

And following that logic, perhaps the advanced volume would then explain every detail of the realms above the Nascent Soul.

If that was the case, he absolutely needed to get his hands on the advanced version. Now that he had tasted the level of detail this book provided, he would not be satisfied with anything less.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the advanced version was anywhere in the library's space. He would have to somehow find a copy of it somewhere in the outside world.

Another troublesome objective had quietly been formed and stored in the back of his mind. There was quite the busy journey ahead of him.

Putting these thoughts aside for the moment, Arthur got up from his chair and started walking towards the armchair on the other side of the room.

From what the voice had told him before, he had to sit in that armchair to consolidate any knowledge he got from reading using the glasses; otherwise, all of it would be lost and his efforts would be for nothing.

s he sat down on the armchair, the first thing he noticed was how unbelievably comfortable it was. Never in his life had he felt anything like it. It was as if he was sitting on a cloud, embraced by a gentle warmth that melted away any rigidity and alertness his body had put up.

Instantly, a wave of drowsiness rushed through his body.

Forcing himself to remain awake, he remembered the warning the voice had given him regarding this armchair. That he would basically pass out and only wake up after all the information had been digested. He would be unable to wake up during the process, and if he was unlucky enough to consume all his energy reserves in the process, he would simply never wake up again.

A grim prospect.

He observed the state of his body.

His dantian was basically filled to the brim with energy. His body was also in top shape. His condition seemed optimal. If no unforeseen problems arose, the knowledge consolidation should go smoothly.

'There shouldn't be any problems,' he said to himself.

And so, he squirmed himself into the armchair, finding the most comfortable position.

He was about to leave a witty one-liner but decided against it. Karma was a very real thing in this world. It would be best for him to avoid playing with fire, lest he ends up getting burned.

And so, he simply closed his eyes. And as he did, he entered a state of deep meditation. Nothing in the outside world could reach him anymore.