novel N.M - Chapter 32
Chapter 32: Secret books of the Academy library (4)
Chun Yeowun felt excited after discovering the sword skill behind the pearl stone.
‘To think no one had noticed this…’
It was fortunate that he had come across such a finding. Yeowun ordered, ‘Nano, memorize these forty-five skills.’
[Understood.]
Yeowun couldn’t hide his smile. The middle-aged man then came over to him with a curious look.
“Huh? Were you still here?”
“Oh.. uh…”
“Ah, so you were looking at the backside. It’s a mess, isn’t it?”
The man smiled bitterly, “Isn’t it shame? It was rumored that the back of the stone held a secret to Father Chun Ma’s founding of the truth with the sword.”
“Oh?”
Yeowun looked at the man with an intrigued expression, but he shook his head as he felt the chaotic marks all over it.
“Whoever did this did a terrible thing. Maybe he wanted to take all of the glory for himself.”
Chun Yeowun was shocked. If this man had been guarding the stone for a long time, he should have had ample time to look at these marks, but he just thought that it was an act of destroying the former record.
‘Nobody has noticed it then.’
But there was one thing Yeowun did not know about here. In order to find what sword skill was used, the one observing it had to have much more knowledge in martial arts. However, two sword skills left on this stone were even beyond Right Guardian Submeng’s level. Yeowun then asked the man, “Are there more stones like this one in the library?”
It was an important question. If the stone only had one formation originally, he thought it was possible that more stones would be left with other formations. The man replied, “I only stay on the first floor, but I heard these exist on every floor.”
It was what Yeowun wanted to hear. He quietly nodded.
‘Oh… it’s almost over.’
Time was now running out, but he didn’t care. He had gotten something better than scanning through books. 2
“Oh, are you almost done here?”
“Yeah.”
Yeowun smiled and the man pointed to a direction in the library.
“Go check on the ‘Origins’ section. There aren’t that many martial arts books that are useful here, but those books might help you.”
“Oh!”
“It’s my apology for taking your time.”
He then patted Yeowun’s shoulder and returned to his seat. Yeowun then bowed to the man and went to the shelves.
“Oh…”
The books here had the basics of all martial arts and the origins. What caught Yeowun’s eye was the book called ‘Origin of Internal Energy’.
‘Nano, scan the book.’
Yeowun then began skimming through the book and realized that the information it contained seemed useful. It was a book that explained the basis of internal energy that might help Nano analyze and help with the breathing skill. Yeowun then used all his remaining time to scan the books on the shelf. He didn’t realize it now, but this would later help him in creating his own martial arts.
“Hmph. You are just in time.”
The instructor at the entrance pursed his lips. Yeowun had barely made it out in time.
“You can go now.”
The instructor said he could leave, but Yeowun wasn’t finished yet. He wanted to go to the second floor to check on something right away.
“I want to go to the second floor too.”
“What?”
The instructor became confused. Most of the students would be busy returning to their rooms so they could write down what they memorized, but Yeowun’s decision to go to the second floor didn’t make sense. However, the instructor just thought that maybe Yeowun didn’t consider the first-floor books to be that important.
“…Write your name down.”
“Yes, sir.”
Yeowun was then allowed to enter. There was a staircase near the entrance right before the first floor. The guard standing at the stairway checked Yeowun’s candle and allowed him to go upstairs.
The second floor was smaller than the first. Inside, a countless number of cadets were reading and memorizing the books.
‘Oh, they’re still here.’
Most of the cadets here had a bit of left time as they entered the floor around the same time as Yeowun. These books did not help much to those from powerful clans, but it was a great help for those from low-ranked clans and they were memorizing as fast as they could.
‘Oh.’
Yeowun then spotted an unexpected person. It was Chun Yuchan from the Blade Clan. Unlike the other candidates who underestimated the books on these floors, he was here looking through various blade books.
‘Maybe I should watch out for him.’
People who put in more effort into things that looked pointless were more dangerous to him. Yeowun then walked silently to the center of the floor.
‘There it is!’
There was the blue pearl stone standing proudly in the center. Unlike the guard on the first floor, the guard here was walking around the stone, checking to see if the students were copying the books here. Yeowun then walked to the back of the stone.
‘I knew it!’
He almost gasped in astonishment. The stone was covered in sword marks too. Yeowun called out to Nano again.
‘Nano, scan those marks and analyze it.’
[Understood.]
Nano began to scan the traces.
[Found marks left by same entities from the first floor. One entity left one formation created with twenty-four movements. Another entity left a total of fifty-six formations over time.]
Nano was much quicker in scanning it since it had prior information.
‘It now has more formations here.’
It seems that the person who covered the original marks had gone on with further training. Yeowun wanted to see how the fifty-six formations were able to counter the original formations, but he could only do it later since there were too many people around.
‘Nano, scan and save the sword movements and formations.’
[Understood.]
‘I got four more formations then… heh heh.’
Yeowun then glanced over at the candle. It hadn’t even melted yet, so he skipped watching the simulations.
‘So, I still have an hour and a half left. I guess the books here are better than the ones on the first floor?’
Yeowun then began going through the books to scan them.
‘Nano, scan it.’
[Yes, Master.]
Yeowun then began walking through the shelves. As Yeowun began scanning at a fast speed, the cadets were drawn to his actions. The continuous sound of Yeowun flipping the pages distracted from concentrating. They were already distracted by the guards walking around, but this was worse. 3
‘Ugh, what is he doing?!’
‘Ughhhhh!’
It was especially irritating as Yeowun was just skimming through those books. However, he wasn’t interfering with their reading directly, so they couldn’t raise complaints either.
‘Ugh, I can’t let him distract me. Let’s focus!’
As Yeowun passed through, all the cadets screamed internally.