Chapter 33
Originally, I thought I could seize this opportunity to get ahead of other players and tackle high-level quests and professions. However, once I entered this place, I found myself hitting a wall at every turn. The deadline for my quest was fast approaching, and I hadn’t made any progress at all.
At that moment, the disdain from the shopkeeper ignited my anger.
“Hmm?”
Seeing the unfriendly expression on Zhou Ya's face, the shopkeeper, a combat class player known as a [Magic Apprentice], immediately shot him a glare.
In Zhou Ya's player perspective, this NPC, who was supposed to be friendly, displayed its health bar to him.
“...It’s nothing.”
After comparing the thickness of his health bar with that of the shopkeeper, Zhou Ya wisely chose to retreat and let it go.
“Good to see you know your place,” the shopkeeper scoffed.
Just then, a figure dashed past Zhou Ya, not stopping for a moment.
Zhou Ya instinctively turned to look, and his pupils constricted—he recognized that this player, with the standard initial system body type, hairstyle, and mismatched clothing, was definitely another player!
Other players had entered the inner city!
And judging by their appearance, they didn’t seem to belong to the strong circles of Mei Luo City that he was familiar with.
Unfortunately, in a world where robbery and bounty hunting were the norm, players couldn’t know each other’s names unless they actively exchanged contact information.
As he pondered this, an even more shocking scene unfolded before Zhou Ya’s eyes.
He watched in disbelief as the running player simply dashed through the library’s entrance, while the two guards who had previously stopped him didn’t even blink, allowing her figure to vanish inside... What was going on? He had barely set foot on the steps before being blocked!
After a moment of shock, Zhou Ya felt a stirring in his heart and instinctively followed her.
However, before he could even step onto the library’s stairs, a cold voice rang out from above: “Idle ones, stop!”
“Why can that person go in?” Zhou Ya protested, unwilling to back down.
Unfortunately, the two armored guards stationed at the library entrance didn’t even bother to respond; they simply reached for their weapons at their waists.
Two health bars, thicker and longer than the shopkeeper’s, appeared in Zhou Ya’s view.
“…”
Zhou Ya retracted his foot, feeling defeated.
He couldn’t help but glance around at the entrance for a while longer, but only left with a heart full of frustration when he received a notification that his quest was about to expire.
“Tsk, what a joke…” The shopkeeper, not far away, sneered at the sight before turning back into the store.
…
If Ye Bai were here, she could have answered Zhou Ya’s questions.
As the shopkeeper had mentioned, the difference lay in their “identities.”
All players were Bloodline Users, but Ye Bai had the added identity of “Lord.”
Although Bai Ye Village was a level 1 territory, it was nothing compared to a level 9 main city like Mei Luo City, but a “village chief” was still a village chief! No matter how small Ye Bai’s lordship was, it still counted as a noble class, and ordinary players would need to change classes to enjoy the same privileges.
Ye Bai had rushed over and naturally spotted Zhou Ya, but she was too busy entering the library to pay him much attention; her time was extremely precious.
Once inside the library, Ye Bai headed straight for the towering bookshelves packed with books.
Unlike Alchemy, which focused on experiments and applications, and Chaos, which emphasized communication and faith, magical technology was the branch of knowledge that revered “knowledge” itself the most. Thus, the library here housed the most comprehensive collection among the three main cities.
After searching for a while, Ye Bai stopped in front of a row of bookshelves and purposefully pulled out several books.
“Do you wish to consume 10 stamina points to read ‘A Comprehensive History of the Continent I’?”
“Do you wish to consume 10 stamina points...?”
“Do you wish to consume 10 stamina points to read ‘A Comprehensive History of the Continent V’?”
Ye Bai was relieved that she could quickly complete the reading through the system panel by merely consuming stamina. After confirming five times in rapid succession and spending 50 stamina points, she finished reading a stack of books that was half her height.
Then, she searched through several other rows of bookshelves and found a few more introductory history books.
“Do you wish to consume 10 stamina points to read ‘The History of Elemental Discoveries’?”
“Do you wish to consume 10 stamina points to read ‘The Beginning of Alchemy’?”
“Do you wish to consume 10 stamina points to read ‘The Origins of Bloodlines’?”
“Do you wish to...?”
“Ten books... that’s enough.” After finishing the tenth history book, and having regained some stamina from leveling up, Ye Bai’s personal level reached 16.
She stood up from the table, no longer focused on reading, and began to wander aimlessly around the library.
But before long, as Ye Bai passed by a study table, a figure that had been engrossed in reading lifted their head and called out to her.
“Wait a moment, young one…”
It was an elegantly aged lady, her silver hair neatly tied back. She adjusted her glasses and looked at Ye Bai with her green eyes.
“From my observation, you seem to have an interest in history as well?”
Ye Bai halted her steps, a smile creeping onto her lips: Here it comes!
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Chapter 23
“From my observation, you seem to have an interest in history as well?”
“Yes.”
Ye Bai immediately stopped and turned to face the NPC, responding while casting a [Identification] spell on her.
???
Identity: Librarian, ???
Level: ??
Profession: Historian IV, ???
Health: ???
…
As expected, Ye Bai received a series of question marks. The identification spell worked based on level differences; the more the NPC’s level exceeded her own, the less information she would see. In a main city like Mei Luo, where nine out of ten NPCs were high-level, it was perfectly normal to encounter such a situation.
Given the abundance of question marks, this NPC who had called out to Ye Bai was likely a second or even third-tier professional.
Being a librarian in a city that revered knowledge, she could very well be a powerful mage or archmage in her combat profession.
“How rare it is! Nowadays, young people are too restless; very few can calm down to study history like you. I have a commission regarding historical research; perhaps... you would be willing to give it a try?”
“Librarian Anita from Mei Luo City has issued you the quest ‘Historical Research.’ Do you accept?”
Ye Bai’s eyes lit up, and she immediately chose to accept. This was exactly what she had been waiting for!
Then, the librarian named Anita began to explain to Ye Bai: “In Mei Luo City, various societies have been established to study magic. Since the Arcane Society set up resource grants for these societies, a bad trend has emerged; they have been fabricating and altering historical data to exaggerate the magical prospects of their own schools…”
“...I have some suspicious research from several recent societies, and I hope you can help me identify the false content and discern the authenticity of these materials.”
“New quest ‘Historical Research - Distinguishing Truth from Falsehood’ added.”
Quest description: Librarian Anita is dissatisfied with the rampant alteration of historical data by the societies and hopes you can clarify them one by one, restoring the true history.
Quest reward: Unknown
“Obtained quest item ‘Suspicious Research Results’ X4.”
“No problem.”
After receiving the materials handed over by Anita, Ye Bai successfully accepted the quest and wasted no time in examining the details of the four ‘suspicious research results.’
‘The Connection Between the Fall of the Tut Dynasty and the Abuse of Fire Magic’
‘Why Aren’t Dragonkin Considered Dragons?’
‘Proof of the Existence of Elemental Beings’
‘Ranking the Top Ten Legendary Magical Creatures, and Surprisingly, This One is First’
These research materials, with titles that screamed clickbait, were all fake. The specific content was written in a sensationalized report style, not genuine academic papers. The content consisted of segmented conclusions, and the players’ task was to identify all the erroneous paragraphs and submit them to the NPC.
Of course, trying to use trial and error wouldn’t work; if they submitted four incorrect answers, the quest would be deemed a failure, and the rewards would be forfeited, even if they later found the correct answers.
Under normal circumstances, the standard strategy for this quest would require players to explore the inner city, gathering information from various NPCs to ultimately discern all the erroneous content.
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