Chapter 19 - Incredible Gains

The room envelops itself in quiet, punctuated only by the occasional crackling of the fireplace, which serves as a gentle backdrop to the otherwise tranquil scene.

In a sumptuous armchair reclines a young man, his eyes closed in what appears to be a state of peaceful repose, seemingly lost in the serenity of his surroundings.

Yet, beneath this placid exterior lies a wholly different reality. If one were to peer into the depths of the young man's mind, they would witness a scene of utter chaos. Various fragments of information dart about frenetically, leaving trails of shimmering light akin to shooting stars as they collide and erupt into brilliant explosions.

This spectacle symbolizes the process of information consolidation, as these disparate pieces of knowledge undergo refinement and become permanently embedded within his consciousness. Despite their valiant efforts to resist, they prove powerless against the overwhelming force of assimilation, gradually succumbing to its relentless pull.

Each fragment yields to the refining process, leaving behind a unique burst of color as it integrates into the fabric of the young man's mind, akin to a dazzling fireworks display on a festive night.

On the surface though, the young man's face remained serene, almost as if nothing was happening at all.

1 minute, 2 minutes, ..., 9 minutes, 10 minutes.

On the surface, the young man's face retained its serene composure, as if untouched by the tumult within.

One minute passed, then two, and so on, until exactly ten minutes had elapsed.

Throughout this interval, the tranquil atmosphere held sway.

At the ten-minute mark, the young man's eyelids fluttered open. However, his gaze appeared unfocused, as if his mind were in a completely different reality, disconnected from the world in front of him.

For another ten minutes, this situation persisted. Though awakened from his meditation session, the young man showed no signs of wanting to leave the chair, his mind seemingly lost in another world.

"Sigh, this could be a serious problem. Seriously, who in the world decided to make this armchair so comfortable? It takes away any will I might have to do anything productive with my life," a soft murmur escapes Arthur's lips.

It seems like he's in the middle of another epic battle inside his mind.

And this time, he's fighting Sloth, the biggest enemy of the human race, a demon capable of taking down even the most capable of warriors.

It's hard to imagine the scale of the war that is happening inside his soul. They clash hundreds and hundreds of times, each fighter holding absolutely nothing back. Beams and flashes light up the battlefield as each warrior unleashes their special abilities and ultimate moves.

Even as he thinks he has his enemy beat, it comes crawling back to life, dragging him down. Wielding its cursed chains, Sloth maintains its steady onslaught of attacks, keeping Arthur stuck to the chair no matter how much he tries to move.

Seeing himself at the doors of defeat, Arthur's face hardens. Resolve gleams in his gaze, a determination only a man unafraid of death could show.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah," a shout reverberates through the room.

A massive explosion ensues. Arthur concentrates all his power reserves and ignites them. Everything in his vicinity is completely obliterated.

With this, it seems as though the stalemate inside Arthur's mind is finally broken, his body finally obeying his commands freely. Finally, he manages to rise from the armchair.

He had won that round.

As soon as he manages to escape the clutches of the armchair, Arthur falls to the ground, the fight clearly having drained every bit of energy from his body.

Lying on the ground, facing the library's ceiling, Arthur stabilizes himself. He controls the disarray his mind was in and regains control of his Qi.

And as he does, he focuses on his mind.

The ball of knowledge that had been floating there before is nowhere to be seen, leaving behind not a single trace.

However, Arthur doesn't look even slightly panicked by that loss. In fact, he seems quite satisfied.

"It seems the armchair worked as intended after all. Were it not for its problematic comfort, I would consider it an item powerful enough to make even the most formidable of men drool."

Something this heaven-defying was bound to have some drawbacks; it was only fair. Though the armchair's supposed drawback would depend on the eye of the beholder. Some would consider it a nuisance, while others might see it as a bonus.

As he gets over his erratic mood from his fight with the armchair's seduction, Arthur runs through his memories. In the middle of his sea of memories are now a great many that were not there prior to his meditation session. These were, of course, memories containing all the details from the book he had read.

The bundle of information that had been floating in a corner of his mind had been refined and absorbed into his mind as new memories. Before, while the bundle of information resided within his mind, he could not claim the stored information as truly his own. He could interact with it and look at its contents, but that was it. It was like having a book next to you. You could read it and see its contents, but the knowledge would not be your own.

It was different now, though. The knowledge had truly become his. It was as if he had spent an entire lifetime studying and dissecting each and every passage of the book. He not only remembered every aspect of the book but also completely understood every concept detailed within it.

And if the voice was anything to go by, these memories were permanent, meaning he would never end up forgetting the contents of the book. Even if he interact with any of his memories related book for decades, if one day he decided to recall them, he would be able to remember everything as clearly as he does now.

And considering how accurate the voice had been on the technical side of its affirmations, he was inclined to believe this would indeed be the case in the end. After all, it wouldn't be very smart for it to lie about the functions of the library if Arthur were to try them out and discover the truth anyway.

This didn't mean he trusted the voice on everything. It only meant that it had proven itself as a reliable source of information regarding the mechanisms of the library. Anything else it had said remained under a deep layer of suspicion.

But leaving those matters aside, Arthur was deeply moved by his gains.

With this new knowledge, Arthur had gone from someone who barely knew the first thing about cultivation theory to one of the biggest experts on the matter, at least when it came to the lower levels of power.

All of this from just one book. All achieved in less than an hour. 

All those ancient sages who spent untold amounts of time studying and money acquiring books and resources would probably die of anger if they were to know of his situation.

"Well, I guess now I have sufficient knowledge to become a teacher. I thought I would have to spend some time amassing a reasonable amount of books before I was able to reach the necessary level of knowledge but... Who would have thought this book would have been this incredible."

The book was so good, in fact, that even if he went to the Empyreal Library, the largest library he had a recollection of from Lao's memories, and memorized all its contents, his knowledge in relation to the cultivation path would still not be as high as it is at the moment.

Well, seeing how good this one book was, Arthur wondered how good the other two were. Would they be as incredible as this one, or was the Qi book an exception? He had to find out. Now that his curiosity had been stoked, he needed to find the answer himself.

He was also dealing with a critical shortage of knowledge in the Soul and Body cultivation paths, so mastering those two books would only benefit him. And if they were as good as the Qi book, this would definitely help him get a step closer to achieving perfect cultivation, a goal he had marked for himself.

Even if they weren't as in-depth as the Qi cultivation book, for someone like him, who had absolutely zero understanding of those two ways of cultivation, memorizing them would always end up being beneficial. Once you're at the starting point, you can only move forward from there, after all.

He rises in a single fluid motion, his movements swift like those of an experienced gymnast.

Walking toward the table, he takes a seat.

Setting aside the Qi Cultivation book, he brings the other two books closer to him. Then, he grabs the magical glasses and places them on his face.

Everything is ready for another study session.

"Let's get this party started then."