Noting the apparent lack of response from the System, Zhen Shi shook his head with a knowing grin.

It was as expected... As surprising as Myne's divination had been, he would be even more surprised if the stingy system actually answered his question!

System: (>ლ)

Besides, Zhen Shi had no reason to be genuinely upset.

After all, Myne's X-ray-fate-eyes hadn't divined anything annoying like a 'death prophecy', or an 'end of the world prophecy'.

Instead, it was a prophecy about him receiving a valuable divine treasure from an Empyrean God! So who in their right mind would be unhappy?!

However, unlike Zhen Shi, Myne was in a strange mood. He was rather annoyed by Zhen Shi's 'overpowered physique', but also proud of himself and his far-seeing vision for having snagged such a strangely 'talented' fellow into being his sworn brother!

But in the end, Myne shook his head with a slight smile, "What will be, will be. Ultimately, we can only do our best. And hopefully, this divination will be as fortuitous as it sounds. So don't let the words of fate get to your head. I'm going to leave now. Practice well," and began to walk away while waving his hand.

But as Myne turned around to leave, Zhen Shi couldn't help but spout out a snarky comment, "Wait! It would be rude of me to not give a night greeting to your ass..." suddenly focused on Myne's bottom and shouted, "BOO!"

Myne was utterly confused and turned back to Zhen Shi with judging eyes.

Zhen Shi was 'confused' as well and explained 'innocently', "Who was it that said, 'Night greeting my ass'? I was simply following his directions..."

Myne shouted in annoyance, "Bah! Fuck you kid! I was going to help you, but you can forget it now! Good luck on mastering anything when both of us used our best techniques in one go and you fainted immediately after!"

Myne grinned in satisfaction and began to walk away like a boss.

It was now Zhen Shi's turn to shake his head, 'Idiot great mage! That's where you're wrong! I happen to have a skill that grants me perfect memory AND a golden eye that sees through all flaws and aberrations, courtesy of the BEST system in the world!'

System: "..."

🌔🌔🌔

By the time, Zhen Shi began to practice, the moon had already risen...

And so, with the moonlight to keep him company, Zhen Shi sat down in the lotus position and got to work.

He had already bound the spatial pouch to himself, and so he lightly passed his hand over the bags of ingredients.

Poof!

The two bags disappeared in a small puff of spatial energy.

Zhen Shi who excitedly focused his spiritual energy on the spatial pouch could now sense two lone bags placed within a vast empty land. He could easily discern all the ingredients and items within them, and could just as easily bring them back.

While on the subject of inventory, Zhen Shi suddenly remembered the mysterious piece of the clay tablet he had purchased from that old man with the strange unhygienic teeth.

He took the clay shard out of his ordinary bag and carefully observed it.

Trying to replicate the effect that had happened before, Zhen Shi experimented with qi, spiritual energy, all the types of elemental energy he could control, his bow and arrow intent, he even temporarily shifted his class to the basic {Mage} and tried it out with a speck of Mana!

But nothing happened, so he was ultimately forced to give up...

Zhen Shi fell into deep thought and finally concluded that, since this piece of clay was a mysterious treasure related to the primordial chaos in his dantian, it should be examined later when he had better control of the spatial chaos.

As such, he carefully sent the clay piece into a separate corner of the spatial pouch island.

Putting that matter aside for the moment, Zhen Shi happily opened up the bag of books while making plans to binge read the entire collection of books in one sitting!

But just before he began, he felt that some music might liven up the mood.

As such, he quickly brought out the divine boombox which had been gathering dust in his system inventory ever since he left the 'Anti-Harem Valley', and rather lazily just hit play.

The previously loaded traditional Chinese music began to play and gracefully spread out throughout the pavilion. The moonlit garden and the peaceful music created a magical atmosphere and Zhen Shi felt his cluttered mind relax.

Now that he had a suitable soundtrack, Zhen Shi's inner-bookworm started to itch in impatience. So waiting no longer, he excitedly tucked into the mouth-watering spread of books, choosing the subject of "Blacksmithing" as the starter course.

Huala!

As the sound of flipping pages filled the pavilion, Zhen Shi soon lost himself within the intricacies and mysteries of the three skill books that Myne had imparted upon him. And after three hours, the moment he finished reading the books, identical copies appeared within the Scholarly Library and a series of notifications rang out.

Ding!

Congratulations to the user for discovering the Blacksmithing skill [Druid's Cauldron]!

Ding!

Congratulations to the user for discovering the enhancement skill [Dream Engraving]!

Ding!

Congratulations to the user for discovering an unnamed skill... hereby referred to as, [Taming the Spirits]!

And just like the time he had learned [Descending Bow], Zhen Shi now had access to three new skills! But just like back then, mastering them would take some time...

However, the skills were rather interesting...

[Druid's Cauldron] was exactly what Myne had promised. A high tier furnacing skill that would allow him to manifest a divine cauldron out of pure aether upon mastery.

But just like Vivienne had warned, this skill was completely reliant on blacksmithing through the control of furnace spirits... In other words, it was useless without furnace spirits.

Zhen Shi had faith in the legendary mage but made a mental note to check out some ordinary blacksmithing skills when Laura took him to read more books.

Suddenly remembering that he could examine these skills for flaws, Zhen Shi opened his system status and noted his current wealth...

Otaku Points: 100[+7.25 allocated to the (pseudo)soul for use in the Scholarly Library]

He had put aside some OP for his soul in the dantian world to use on the books in the {Scholarly Library} but so far only 1.75 OP had been used to analyze a total of seven books. So he still had quite a bit to spare...

As such, Zhen Shi decided to analyze the new skills with as well.

Instantly, his right eye glowed with golden energy, and the myriad flaws of the world were revealed before his eyes. Turning his eyes to the skill book, he spent 0.25 OP and (analyze)d it.

To his surprise, he found out that[Druid's Cauldron] only had 9 blurred out sections i.e. only 9 flaws! This meant that it was a skill at least on par with [Draconic Wind Steps]!

Zhen Shi shook his head with a grin, 'That skill was made by a divine wind dragon and Xie Yi who transcended Sovereignty! The legendary mage sure doesn't disappoint...'

Moving on, for the next skill, there was [Dream Engraving]. A mysterious engraving skill based on the Norse divination magic of 'Ohtur'.

While the skill was rather unusual and had a strange portion that was ignored by , it also had a sizable amount of flaws... a total of 43 flaws, in fact. But it was still on par with a good Sovereign tier technique.

But the most surprising was [Taming the Spirits]! It promised to tame any furnace spirit and provide complete obedience from any furnace, despite the realm of the spirit...

However, the (Analysis) of this skill book required 300 OP! For some mysterious reason, just this skill book, required that much OP...

While this was a rather baffling situation, despite the fact that he had been hoping to find it's secrets, Zhen Shi could only shake his head and move on.

Now that he had completed mastering the skills, he moved onto the books on mineralogy, formations, and enchantments.

The book on mineralogy was like a walk in the park as he was extremely familiar with almost every material due to the System's omniscient book for 'dummies'.

Now that he had an idea about the scope of the public knowledge on materials, he had to admit that the System's book was way too detailed... It was like a university thesis compared to grade-school knowledge!

As such, he made a silent prayer of thanks to the System and moved on.

Huala!

As he flipped on, a problem arose. It was the Art of formations.

Myne's book contained information on ordinary formations up to the Peak of the Soul Tier.

While Zhen Shi finished reading the book in a mere half an hour, he was unable to set up even the simplest formation. He could just barely condense one formation talisman, and even that was only because the Aether didn't struggle under his control... perhaps due to the title (Acquainted with Aether)...

But that was far from sufficient! To create even the most basic formation, he needed to manifest three formation talismans!

However, he did sense a strange sort of familiarity with the art of formations and realized that he could probably master the most basic formation within a few hours of practice.

But, Zhen Shi was torn between wasting hours on formation training... or reading the rest of the delicious books.

Fortunately, he was reminded of his 'legendary' self-created outsourcing skill... Letting his (pseudo) soul do all the work!

Since he wasn't in a hurry to accumulate all the books in the {Scholarly Library}, he had the soul-Zhen Shi on the dantian planet stop reading books and put to work on mastering formations.

Now that he had solved that problem, he moved on to the book on Enchantment.

Enchanting, at its core, was rather similar to the art of formations. But instead of using formation talismans to gradually build it up, Enchanting made use of ten letters from the ordinary alphabet, which was referred to as the Enchanter's Alphabet.

By engraving these letters in specific orders one could grant specific abilities on to a piece of weapon or armor.

Myne's book contained several hundred possible enchantments to be remembered and used through memorization. Since the Letters of the Enchanter's Alphabet didn't have a specific or consistent meaning, only these tried and tested Enchantments were usable.

In fact, Zhen Shi found it very strange. Certain letters had logical enchantments, such as an Ice enchantment for I. But then why did C give fire, while F gave Air?

There were even some letters that were 'cursed' and had to be used with 'care'.

However, since Formations could be used for basically the same purpose and grant stronger and better abilities to Artifacts in a much cleaner and versatile manner, without any risks of 'curses', Enchantments were rarely used for this purpose.

The true use of Enchantment was the creation of Artifact Spirits. This utilized the Enchanter's spirit and soul power through certain letters of the Enchanter's Alphabet to create a Spirit Seed and enchant a Spirit into the weapon or armor.

Nevertheless, unlike formations, the art of Enchanting was actually manageable. While Zhen Shi was nowhere close to creating spirit seeds in a weapon, as long as he had enough qi and aether he should be able to engrave any enchantment that used three letters.

Despite the weird Alphabet, he was reminded of Zhen Xixi's [Shine] divine blessing which seemed similar to the creation of Spirits in Enchanting...

Either way, now that he had finished reading the "Blacksmithing" books, he dove into the next delicious course of "Alchemy" books.

Huala!

Within half an hour he easily wrapped up the book on herbology, owing to the System's skill book for 'dummies'.

Within another hour, he finished reading the three alchemy skill books, and as their identical copies appeared in the {Scholarly Library}, the notifications began to ring out.

Ding!

Congratulations to the user for discovering the alchemy technique [Fire Controlling Art]!

Ding!

Congratulations to the user for discovering the pill enhancement skill [Ashes to Ashes]!

Ding!

Congratulations to the user for discovering the pill enhancement skill [Dust to Dust]!

Since he still had some OP points to spare, Zhen Shi once again used his golden eye to discern the flaws of these techniques.

[Fire Controlling Art] wasn't even close to Myne's furnacing technique, but with only 97 flaws it was still a Sovereign tier technique. Apparently, it could also help him improve his control of the fire element.

Therefore despite the excessive flaws, it was still acceptable...

If anyone else heard Zhen Shi's thoughts about Sovereign techniques, they would have vomited a bowlful of blood.

Moving on, both [Ashes to Ashes], a skill that used the trash remnants of used ingredients, and [Dust to Dust], a skill that used the life force of living creatures, were pill enhancement magic that was used in a pair. And both of them, only had 23 flaws in total!

Zhen Shi couldn't help but wonder about the origins of their creator, Nimue, the mysterious second lady of the lake...

Nevertheless, he heaved a satisfied sigh as he realized that he had finished reading all of the books and had learned all the skills.

He grinned to himself, 'Bingeing is such fun!'

Besides, the use of to identify flaws had definitely helped him to gain some mastery over the five skills...

Now that Zhen Shi was a bit free, in a moment of distraction, he looked up at the waning moon and the starlit sky and tried to find any familiar constellations.

Having failed to find any, Zhen Shi laughed at his own silliness.

Figuring that he should get some more practice in, he prepared to continue his training...

But suddenly he was reminded of Myne's divination/prophecy and his potential chance to obtain the treasure of an 'Empyrean God'!

Looking at his system status, he still had a total of 100(+6) OP...

Thinking that he might as well receive the valuable godly treasure right now, Zhen Shi decided to give it a go.

"System, I want a random divine boon! No specific conditions, just make it random!"

After all, according to Myne's 'peeping tom' prophecy, he was going to get the most valuable treasure of some poor Empyrean god anyways.

As such, there was no reason to spend excess OP unnecessarily...

Besides, he was a careful spender! Not some common spend-thrift!

Ding!

This will require 100 OP. Is the user sure?

Zhen Shi nodded in annoyance, "Yes already! Get me my divine boon!"

Ding!

Divine Boon gained.

And once again that familiar scrap of divine paper appeared. It had the single word ~IOU~ written upon it.

Zhen Shi was already getting excited, imagining what treasure he might receive and from which god.

Nevertheless, he calmed himself down and spoke calmly, "System use up the divine boon!"

And in an instant, the piece of paper vanished...

🌳🌻🌳🌻

Back in the divine plane, within a mystical forest of bustling wildlife and thriving greenery, there was a small but beautiful hut.

And right outside this hut, there were three figures.

The most eye-catching was a beautiful woman with shining black hair dressed in a pure white robe. In her left hand was a vase full of pure water and in her right hand was a willow branch.

To the right of side of her was a white parrot hovering while clutching a prayer bead.

Plop!

She wet the willow branch by dipping it the vase and proceeded to flick the droplets of water on to the nearby plants.

The other two figures belonged to a handsome young boy who stood with slightly bent legs, and a beautiful young girl.

All three of them, including the parrot, watched the actions of the beautiful lady with rapt attention as if she was teaching a lesson...

After a while, she stopped watering the plants, and calmly placed the willow branch within the vase.

She turned around and spoke to the children with a kind smile, "Long Nu, Shan Cai, remember that as those born of nature, it is our duty to show our respect and do our part to help the nature. Providing a bit of water for these plants only takes a few minutes. It is nothing much to us but means so much for them. This is but a mere speck of the Dharma... Do you understand?"

The two children bowed politely and replied, "Yes, Guanyin laoshi."

Guanyin, the white-robed teacher, smiled warmly at her two students.

She turned to the young boy and spoke, "Shan Cai, it's your turn to clean and draw the new baths, right? Please enter the hut and go do so now."

Shan Cai simply bowed in reply and obediently walked into the hut. Soon the sound of drawing water could be heard.

Guanyin, the white parrot, and the young girl calmly turned back towards the forest and observed the lush greenery floating in the breeze.

After a while, the young girl turned towards her and asked, "Guanyin laoshi, what is the--"

But suddenly, before Long Nu could finish, Guanyin's ears perked up and she turned back towards the hut in worry and anger. For a brief moment, her figure rippled and thrummed as if to reveal a thousand shadows behind her...

Crash!

And as if bringing her worries to reality, a loud commotion was heard.

Whoosh!

But almost immediately, Shan Cai reappeared outside the hut in a single dash, but he seemed to be rather embarrassed and ashamed...

Guanyin heaved a sigh of relief as she saw that he was fine. As she returned back to her normal self, she asked warmly, "Child, what happened? Who was it? Was it that annoying monkey making trouble again?"

Shan Cai shook his head, "No, no, it wasn't Big Brother Sun."

Shan Cai bowed his head in forgiveness and pleaded, "I'm sorry Guanyin laoshi. I tried to stop it from happening. But that thieving piece of paper was even faster than my divine speed... Please forgive me for my failure."

Guanyin smiled kindly, "I have always preached that even the worst people deserve forgiveness. Shan Cai, why would I not forgive a kind soul like you?"

But in a more serious tone, "Now tell me, what did this 'paper' steal exactly?"

Shan Cai nodded, but still looked rather embarrassed as he began to reply...

🌳🌻🌳🌻

Unaware of the troubles that he had caused in the divine plane, Zhen Shi was innocently relaxing in the garden and enjoying the music from the boombox, with his feet touching the cool water of the flowing stream in the central garden.

But suddenly...

Ding!

The Divine Boon has arrived! Will the user accept?

Zhen Shi was ecstatic as he stood up and answered, "Of course! Do you really think I'd say no?"

Ding!

Divine Boon granted.

In a glow of ethereal light, the divine treasure fell into Zhen Shi's hands. Lowering his head with excitement, Zhen Shi stared with widened eyes.

He stuttered, "This, this, this---"

But ultimately his mouth and eyes began to spasm and twitch as if he was suffering from a seizure, (ಥ﹏ಥ).

He roared in confusion and anger, "What the HELLISH FUCK is this? What... is this... slightly aromatic but weirdly grey-ish watery liquid?"

Because in his hand was a jar... a jar of a grey liquid.

But after a while, Zhen Shi realized that he might've been too fast to judge. He had been slightly prejudiced due to the System's occasional unreliability and had thought that he had been completely screwed over...

But this made no sense, especially since Myne had given his divination of fate! There was a prophecy!

So how could he not get a divine treasure from an 'Empyrean' God?

Having calmed himself with this logic, Zhen Shi turned back to the mysterious liquid. Not only did it have a pleasant and refreshing smell, but he could also vaguely sense Divine Aether...

Zhen Shi was growing even more confident that this was a treasure.

Even if the liquid looked strange, perhaps it could be some sort of mysterious concoction that could improve his power and grant amazing abilities!

Maybe it was a valuable material? Or perhaps a mystical healing potion capable of bringing the dead back to life?

Or on the contrary, an extremely deadly poison even effective on gods?

In the end, realizing that he could spend an eternity guessing but never know for sure. He proceeded to ask from the System, "System what is this mystical liquid? What exactly does it do?"

The System was silent for a moment...

Ding!

Congratulations to the user for receiving a divine boon, from Goddess Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy and Compassion!

Zhen Shi was elated. Goddess Guanyin was no ordinary goddess. Not only was she known for her god-like compassion and kindness, but she was also the {Avalokiteshvara}; she who hears the cries of the world, the one with a thousand eyes and a thousand arms!

While Zhen Shi felt sorry for stealing from the kind goddess, he had definitely hit the jackpot!

But the system continued it's notification and threw a bucket of hot water on his happiness...

Ding!

The item that the user has received is Goddess Guanyin's personally used Divine-tier Bathwater!

As for the jar, it is a complimentary gift from the pinnacle customer service of the GOD System.

Zhen Shi: "..."