The Book Spirit

The Night's Watch Library is located on the lowest level of the base.

The defenses here are much tighter than those up here.

Walking down a little further, two large doors came into view.

The gate was dark gray and covered with intricate and obscure runes. In the very center was a raised sculpture in the shape of a lion's head.

The lion's mouth was slightly open, revealing a palm-sized groove inside.

Lu Yuan put the newly received identity badge into the lion's mouth.

"Click".

The lion closed its mouth, and the loudspeaker blared out.

The next moment, the door was neatly split in two from the middle and slowly slid open to both sides.

A strong, old-fashioned, scholarly atmosphere also wafts over you.

The library has a large interior space, but it is not crammed with bookshelves.

The black metal bookshelves stretched all the way to the ceiling, with each shelf spaced far apart, making the space feel exceptionally empty and desolate.

The ceiling is covered with countless light bulbs, some lit and some off.

The interplay of light and shadow gave this supposedly sacred temple of knowledge a chilling atmosphere.

Lu Yuan walked in, his footsteps echoing in the empty space.

Upon closer inspection, the books on the recent bookshelves don't appear to be too old.

Most of them were handwritten copies or photocopies, while the majority were neatly arranged black tin boxes.

"New here?"

A shrill voice suddenly rang out above Lu Yuan's head.

Lu Yuan suddenly looked up.

At the very top of the tallest bookshelf sat a small creature.

It is only the size of a palm, with human-like limbs, but with a pair of wings on its back that look like folded old newspapers.

Its skin has a pale yellow parchment-like texture, with ink-like black patterns flowing across it.

At this moment, it is holding a thick book and tearing off a page like it's eating a cookie, "crunch crunch" and stuffing it into its mouth, chewing it with relish.

[Sighting of a special contained object: a book spirit]

[Characteristics: It feeds on knowledge and can also serve as an index for knowledge.]

"I am the new consultant, Lu Yuan."

Lu Yuan looked at the strange little thing without showing any surprise.

Since the Night Watchmen are able to fight against the supernatural, they must have some methods they don't know about, and then they continued to speak.

"Old Morgan asked me to do the research."

"That blind old Morgan?"

The little creature spat out a piece of chewed-up book cover, flapped its newspaper wings, and flew down, hovering in front of Lu Yuan.

Those dark, beady eyes sized him up and down, revealing a shrewdness.

"I'm the housekeeper here, you can call me 'Ink'." The Book Spirit licked its lips, its voice high-pitched.

"What kind of book do you want to read? I'll charge you for it—a fresh ink stick, or a story I've never heard before."

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow but did not answer.

After all, old Morgan didn't mention this matter, so presumably he wouldn't have any problem being dissatisfied with this book spirit called Ink.

"I'll bring you ink blocks next time." Lu Yuan thought for a moment, then took out the form. "Right now, I need to read an introductory book on [the study of the supernatural]."

The book spirit pouted, seemingly dissatisfied with this "buying on credit" behavior, but due to the rules, it still flew to a bookshelf in the corner.

"Over there. Those moldy books on the bottom shelf are what you want."

It pointed to the bookshelf, then flew back up to continue munching on its "lunch."

Lu Yuan walked to the bookshelf.

There are several thick, old books here.

The cover was badly worn and had no name on it, only a distorted eye symbol drawn on it.

Lu Yuan pulled out a copy of "Elementary Tales of the Strange" and opened it.

The book's content is very basic, mostly consisting of simple descriptions of why monsters often live in the dark and why people stay in the light.

For example, "the lifestyle of carrion ghosts", "the substances that ghosts dislike", etc.

There weren't even any illustrations, just a few lines of dry text description.

Lu Yuan quickly flipped through the pages.

[Taboo Studies - Voyeur: +0.1...]

[Taboo Studies - Voyeur: +0.1...]

Experience points are gained very slowly, extremely slowly!

This made Lu Yuan frown. At this rate, it would delay his unlocking of the extraordinary path by at least several more days.

Moreover, this kind of initial experience will become less and less as you go on.

In the end, they might not even give you any experience points at all.

"Could you please provide a book that contains more knowledge?"

Lu Yuan hesitated, but in the end he gave up.

Putting aside whether I can even get it, even if I do, how can I explain that I haven't been corrupted by knowledge?

I am completely ignorant of extraordinary common sense.

Moreover, the Night Watchman must have some unknown reason for daring to just throw himself into this library.

With a slight sigh, Lu Yuan could only pull his distracting thoughts away and honestly begin to absorb the knowledge from the book.

Just as Lu Yuan was becoming increasingly engrossed in reading, a gray font suddenly appeared.

Copper has damaged the source of the carrion's mutation, so it can resist some of the mutation, especially against carrion monsters.

Lu Yuan looked at the prompt with some surprise.

Isn't this exactly what I'm looking at?

Lu Yuan looked at the book's mention that "carrion-eating demons fear copper" and fell into deep thought.

It seems my cheat system can see even deeper levels of information?

So Lu Yuan began the test.

As Lu Yuan stared intently at a list of "common types of ghosts," another gray text appeared.

"The ghost belongs to His people..."

The moment the words appeared here, Lu Yuan decisively looked away.

The last time there was a problem with the translation was with that parchment scroll.

Fortunately, nothing "strange" happened this time.

It was at this moment that Lu Yuan became certain that as long as he concentrated, the "translation" ability that had always accompanied him would be activated.

It can decipher deeper information from these dry words.

As these notes continue to appear, the experience bar at the edge of the field of vision will also keep jumping.

[Taboo Studies - Voyeur: +0.2]

However, it is important to note that some texts contain potentially harmful information, so extra caution should be exercised when reading them.

Lu Yuan's eyes flickered slightly, and a barely perceptible smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Since experience can be gained through this analytical method, even if the content of a book is shallow, as long as the quantity is increased, the effect will be the same.

"Then let's read all the books on this shelf."

Lu Yuan calmed himself down and began to quickly flip through the pages.

The only sounds in the library were the turning of pages and the crunching of paper by the book spirits overhead.

Before we knew it, four hours had passed.

[Forbidden Studies Voyeur: +1.6]

Current progress: 7.8/10

Lu Yuan closed the book and rubbed his slightly throbbing temples.

Although he hadn't lost his senses, he could feel a deep sense of exhaustion.

"A month?"

Lu Yuan touched the box containing chunks of ghoul flesh in his pocket, feeling its icy coolness.

"Perhaps, in just three days, I will be able to embark on that path."