“Hehe!” Opening the door of a building titled “blacksmith’s section”, Himo chuckled. “Since you’ve made me pay for it, I’ll make the best use out of those twenty-five points!”
Himo and Phylia walked on a red carpet until they reached a metal counter. An angel greeted them from behind it. They spoke for half a minute before the two traversed a door on the side—after showing the student badge to a scanner, the two reached another library.
Akin the previous one, the library's books and shelves were enough to fill their sight. Only one difference was there: instead of wood, the furniture was mostly in metal.
“Phylia, let’s start our book-collecting operation!” Himo said as he sat at the nearest desk.
“Yes!”
While Phylia grabbed smithing-related books, Himo glanced around. *Is that perhaps…* An iron door blended in amidst two shelves. On it was a small square—the scanner—and a huge red letter: C. *…The library accessible by the next class?* His lips curled up.
Soon, Phylia returned with five brick-like books. And thus, the books' flipping activity resumed. For several hours, no student in the proximity was able to focus on their books.
Himo finished recording books by lunch-time. With skewered meatballs in their hands, Himo and Phylia walked out of the building. And they headed straight for the next library. And the next. And the next. By the end of the day, he had recorded all D-class books related to formations, blacksmithing, alchemy, medicine, and beast taming.
The existence of a book flipping maniac gradually became widely known. Soon, most of the D-class students were aware of it.
Yet, Himo continued collecting books. He visited any library he could find, and two days soon passed.
-----
After waking up, Himo carved one of the countless logs he had stored in the storage by using his scythe. Meanwhile, Phylia shaped additional logs—she built pillars, a counter, and several planks.
“It’d be nice if I had some curtains…” Himo sighed. “Oh, well, we’ll have to do with this!” He opened the door and looked back. “Let’s go, Phylia! Endless riches await us today!”
“Yes!”
After an hour of entering portals, the two entered the market. Hundreds of stalls were spread across the place. Some were small, others big. Most had a unique theme on them, ranging from books-filled stalls for magic spells to weapons-filled stalls for blacksmithing. A bustling crowd of students moved about as coins were traded left and right.
“Perfect.” Himo’s lips curled up. He walked amidst the stalls until he found an empty space. It was in the corner of the hall, but he couldn’t complain. And thus, he threw out all the wooden furniture they had made a few hours before—he hurriedly built a small stall before placing his sign atop the counter.
While most of the crowd wandered in the market’s center, it didn’t take long before a student chanced upon his stall. And when that student read through his sign, he gasped.
*Welcome to Himo’s memory-stall!
Decide on a number of coins, tell me the book’s name, page, and line, and I’ll tell you word by word what’s written there. If I’m wrong you’ll gain x10 the coins, but if I’m right I’ll keep those coins!
The books that are accepted are only those accessible by D class students, and only those in the following libraries:
Formations;
Blacksmith;
Alchemy;
Medicine;
Beast Taming;
Hunting;
Concoction…*
The list spanned to over twenty entries, each of which held over a thousand books. The student gazed stupefied at Himo. While some libraries were missing, claiming to remember each line was ludicrous. The student narrowed his eyes. *He’s the kid that joined less than a week ago.* He fell in thought for a minute before deciding to take his chances.
“Hello.” He walked up to Himo, who was seated behind the counter. He pointed at the sign. “Is this… real?”
“Welcome! It’s real indeed. If you want to try, we can start even now.” Himo smiled.
“This’ll be enough.” The student placed a single D-coin on the counter and pushed it with a finger. Showing a confident smirk, he said, “I’ll choose this book: ‘Smithing a Pentagonal Inverse Shield Using the Reddeg Metal’, page sixty, third line.”
Himo’s lips twitched. “Alright. Just a second.” He closed his eyes and stroked his chin. He frowned for a few seconds, but his lips then curled up. “The line is: ’Grab the heated scale with the tongs and soak it in a scalender's acid, so as to render it malleable.'”
The student widened his eyes. “Y-you actually memorized all that? Just how…” He took a few seconds to retain his calm. Shaking his head, he sighed. “Oh, well. Not bad. I’ll tell others about you. Good luck.” He waved a hand and walked away.
“Thanks for your patronage!” Himo chuckled and waved back. *With this, I’m a step further toward my goal!*
[The user’s just scamming students.]
Himo grinned. *This isn’t scamming! This is selling information for cheap!*
[Now that’s just sugar-coating words.]
Himo ignored the system. Sided by Phylia, who idled by dangling her legs from the chair, he waited for the next ‘customer’. Luckily for him, students didn’t take long to arrive, and he managed to rack up four additional D-coins in a few hours. After that, however, no student appeared for hours.
Himo slumped on the counter. “Why’s no one coming…” He stared at the five D-coins in his hands and sighed. “Oh!” He sprung up. *Right, I can kill time by reading!* As soon as he got the idea, he shut his eyes.
“Hello.”
And someone woke him up. It was a student. With a sturdy frame and over two meters of height, the student covered Himo with his shadow alone. For some reason, several students stared at him from afar.
Himo blinked. “Welcome! Are you willing to try?”
The student shook his head. “I've heard about this place from a junior of mine. I don't care about your game, and I'm here for a single reason: asking if you've read a book titled 'The Fifty Shades of Pills'. I've searched it for several days in vain—in it, there's a formula I need to concoct a pill, but I can't remember it. I'm willing to give you a C-coin."
“Oh?” Himo closed his eyes for a moment and replied, “Yeah. I might need a moment to remember it, but I’m sure I’ve read it. Which formula do you need?”
“Really?” The student slammed down on the counter, shattering the wood. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
Himo glanced at the crack but shook his head. “It’s fine, no worries.”
“Take this as an apology.” He placed a dozen D-coins on the counter. “Anyway, I need to know the ingredients to make a ‘whirlqi pill’.”
“Right away!” In around thirty seconds, Himo found the solution. “They are three: a starstalk, a korrer vine, and empyrely acid. Do you need the procedure?"
The student's eyes lit up. "It's the one where the starstalk was supposed to be marinated with the empyrely acid, right?" He snapped his fingers. "I remember now! Thank you!" He gave Himo a C-coin and turned to walk away, but stopped at the sight of the sign. "There's a few libraries missing here, but most importantly... could it be that you've not found the magic spells' section?"
"The magic spells' section?" Himo sprung up.
Seeing his reaction, the student chuckled. "I know, this place's kinda confusing for newcomers. It's connected to the third auditorium and the banker hall; you can find those easily." He then waved at him and walked away. As soon as he blended in with the crowd, the few students that were watching from afar vanished alike him.
Left by himself, Himo frowned as he stared at the bustling crowd. "Third auditorium? Banker hall? What?"
