Disturbance In The Library

As Leo listened to Ethan and Chris's conversation about the escort mission, he had the same feeling as Ethan - it was trouble, pure and simple. Leo couldn't shake the feeling that this mission was going to be the one that would disrupt the flow of destiny. After identifying the cause of the disturbance in the flow, Leo decided to use all of his accumulated karma points to make a prediction.

[

Predict

Disturbance Factor : 1

Cause : An escort mission that Ethan and Chris undertake.

submit : 6,000 karma points

]

After making his prediction, Leo waited for the system's response he heard the system's sound and saw the screen displaying that his prediction was correct. He had earned 6,000 karma points! He checked the system interface and saw that his balance was now 12,000 karma points. Leo thought to himself 'After a few rounds, I would be able to reach my aim.'

Upon seeing Ethan and Chris leave, Leo remained silent, even though he knew the mission they took was problematic. Feeling it was not his place to interfere, he headed to the counter and approached the receptionist. Leo informed her that he had successfully completed his mission and attempted to give her the ten blue flowers he had collected. However, he was informed that the mission's owner was an Innersect discipline from Fire Peak who required all the mission items to be handed over in person. The mission provider would then reward him personally. Only after the owner of the mission updates the mission's progress to "finished" would it be registered to Leo's personal token as a completed mission.

Despite finding the entire process to be bothersome, Leo knew he needed to complete it to free himself from the sect's mandatory mission. He requested the address of the mission owner from the receptionist and left the mission hall as soon as he received it. However, before setting out towards the given address, he decided to stop at the library located in the sect's main peak.

Each peak had its own specialized technique library that was accessible only to inner sect disciplines. Leo knew that the materials he required could be found in the main peak library on the common technique floor. Hence, he made the decision to visit the library before departing.

As Leo arrived at the library, he was struck by the building's impressive size. It had six floors and was shaped like an oval. Leo decided to enter and was greeted by the sight of disciples registering the books they borrowed from the library. To his right, he spotted a spiral staircase that seemed to ascend all the way to the sixth floor.

Leo soon discovered that each floor had its own registration point, where staff members would check the disciple's token to ensure that they had the necessary permissions to enter. This was because the higher floors contained techniques of much higher ranks, from heaven rank to immortal rank. These floors were only accessible to those who had earned special permissions, which could be obtained by achieving significant accomplishments and being rewarded with entry rights by the sect or an elder in charge of certain events.

As Leo surveyed the library, he made a beeline for the section on common martial arts techniques. He knew exactly what he was looking for: the basic manual for movement arts, the basic manual for hand combat, the basic manual for escape arts, and a book on basic formations. With these resources, he could lay a solid foundation in martial arts and the reason why he had chosen to specialize in formations.

Despite his keen interest, Leo couldn't help but question his motivations. 'It's not just my OCD-driven desire to learn about the organized structures of formations,' he reasoned. 'Formations are the best tool for setting up detailed battlefields.' Although Leo refused to admit it, his OCD may have played a role in his fascination with formations.

Leo reached the shelf, which extended all the way to the other end of the building, when he suddenly heard a system alert in his mind. He stopped in his tracks, a grin spreading across his face as he thought to himself, 'What is it this time? I'm starting to feel like a disturbance detector.' He paused for a moment before adding, 'This is the third one today, and it's a level two disturbance.'

[

Disturbance in the flow of destiny!

Disturbance Factor : 2

]

Leo walked down the shelf line, searching for a clue about the disturbance in the flow of destiny. He had already surmised that the source of the disturbance was somewhere around this shelf. Leo tried to speculate on the possible causes, 'Could there be some forgotten ancient technique here?' But he quickly dismissed the idea, knowing that the sect had recorded every technique in the library.

He then came up with another possibility, 'Perhaps there's a secret place that requires moving the books in a specific sequence to access it.' But he hoped this wasn't the case as it would take too much time to test every possible sequence with hundreds of books. Then, he thought of another potential reason, 'Maybe some powerful organizations with ill intentions are exchanging secret codes through the books here.' This could explain the disturbance, but he didn't want to make a prediction without concrete evidence, or he might risk losing karma points.

Leo found it challenging to uncover the truth and contemplated making multiple predictions. However, he decided to continue his investigation by examining the books and people around him. Despite his efforts, he felt helpless until he saw an outer sect disciple crouching in a corner, holding a suspicious blackish scroll. Leo halted in his tracks and carefully examined the sight in front of him. Suddenly, he remembered the death of a sect disciple due to a failed demonic cultivation that Ryan had mentioned. Leo recalled that the sect never found the source of the cultivation technique that caused the disciple's death. When he saw the scroll almost screaming "I'm a demonic cultivation technique," he thought to himself, 'Did that disciple find the demonic cultivation technique here in the library, just like the person I'm seeing right now?'

Leo inspected the outer sect disciple with the system and saw his information. He realized that the disciple had very low talent, almost at a mortal level if he didn't have a earth-grade spiritual root.

[

Name: John

Spirutal Root : Earth Grade

Talent : 12

Cultivation realm : Third Realm Of Qi Condestaion

]