Chapter 3 - Royal Library

The old book has hard vellum pages with clear and precise text on the first page portraying the words ”Demon Slaughter Tomb” written in what appeared to be dried blood. Aiden tosses the book in his maybe, but probably not, pile on the library cart, a tool he does not think fits in the Royal Court Library’s atmosphere.

After lunch, Aiden and Du Jun were escorted by an official court servant to the Royal Court Library. Aiden had once seen the Pantheon in his life on earth and thought that the great dome of the library had a similar appearance except it being four times the size. Inside, the dome is painted with a starry sky that does not match either of the worlds Aiden lived in.

On the main floor under the dome, rows of bookcases form aisles like a labyrinth to navigate through. Along the walls of this 200-meter wide circular room, there is a second and third floor just composed of bookcases lining the outer wall and small walkways all the way around to access them.

The Library entrance leads into the domed room after a short corridor but there are also three other doors in the domed room in every cardinal direction. Two of these doors lead to the even larger but less spectacular annexes, one carrying a collection of books about worldly affairs and the other housing the court records leading back thousands of years since the founding of the Tian Dynasty.

With all of these books and records stored in adjacent annexes, then what is stored in the domed room? Cultivation techniques! This gigantic room filled with bookcases is the Heavenly Courts repository of cultivation techniques, martial arts, and other esoteric knowledge about cultivation.

The second and third floors of the domed room are restricted sections but mostly because the level of the techniques stored on those floors is a too high level for most people who are allowed in the library. Behind the last door opposite the main entrance of the domed room, there is the true restricted section of the library. This is where the Tian dynasty stores its core techniques and techniques banned for various reasons but still too precious to destroy. Only the Emperor and a few he instills the privilege to can give access to this section.

Banned techniques seem like a relative term to Aiden however as he glances over to the Demon Slaughter Tomb on the library cart he is pushing in front of him. He has been navigating the labyrinth of bookcases in the library for two hours at this point. After the first hour of searching together, Du Jun and he split up to cover more ground.

Aiden also had another reason to split up from Du Jun. Since he did not have an ”Isekai cheat” his best option at this point was to stumble upon an old decrepit book with a secret technique no one had been able to understand in generations.

The Demon Slaughter Tomb is not the first book he has found since there are currently four other books and scrolls piled up on the cart. Wind Dragons Breath is an outstanding breathing technique that would work very well with Aidens wind affinity and it was the first he picked up, while still together with Du Jun. Cultivation techniques can take many forms but the most common type, especially in the early stages, is breathing techniques that teach cultivators to circle Qi in their body to build up their strength.

Wind Dragons Breath, other than being great at accumulating Qi also has a special attribute to it that allows the practitioner to transform and store Qi in their lungs. This Qi can then be expelled in an instant and be used to power a martial skill for a devastating effect.

This Wind Dragons Breath is obviously the safe option he picked up earlier, it is a great breathing technique. Outside of the Royal Court, it might be considered a core technique of any great sect or clan that only their most prestigious disciples would be allowed to cultivate. To Aiden however, it is vanilla milkshake and not something that will give him the advantage he needs.

After splitting up with Du Jun the first thing that caught his eyes was an old scroll with a diagram and a page of text. This old scroll was called the Fire Ice Chaos Principle and is more of a concept than a cultivation technique. The concept relates to fusing the opposite elements of Fire and Ice to create a higher elemental force with a multiplicable effect on the sum of the parts. Fire Ice Chaos principle can be used in a multitude of situations but the author of the scroll suggested that the ideal situation to do so was when one is entering the Core Formation Realm. This will theoretically result in a Fire and Ice chaos core that is many times stronger than a normal Qi core.

Aiden had some interest in this Fire Ice Chaos Principle but realistically he has a mediocre affinity for fire and no affinity for ice so it seems unlikely for it to be helpful. There is also a lot of speculation in the text of the scroll that makes Aiden think that maybe the author just wants some idiot to test his crazy ideas.

The last book and scroll are called the Tyrannical Flame Scripture and World Body Quenching Technique.

Tyrannical Flame Scripture is also a breathing technique but one that forces the user to literally breathe in fire and circulate it throughout their body. It is apparently very harmful to the body and will result in the practitioner gathering a tyrannical aura in higher stages of cultivation that burn people in proximity to the cultivator's Qi and body.

World Body Quenching Technique on the other hand is a body tempering technique. In the early stages, it requires the practitioner to quench their body in the four main elements but every higher realm requires more and more different axillary elements to keep progressing. Cultivating it to the peak will give the practitioner a body that is connected to the world and destroying them basically requires the opposing party to destroy the whole world. It might not need to be said but of course, it also came with unimaginable pain every time the practitioner quenches his body.

The four main elements are water, fire, earth, and wind with a huge amount of auxiliary elements. Most of these auxiliary elements are amalgamations of the four main ones but some are completely separate to themself like, light and dark.

Demon Slaughter Tomb which Aiden just added to the pile seems just like your basic go-to ”slaughter everything and take a small amount of their strength to enhance yourself” anti-hero main character technique. An overpowered choice in theory but slaughtering everyone he meets in a world without any psychiatrists can be problematic.

”Maybe I will be betrayed by Du Jun and left for dead somewhere, having to rely on this technique to survive and then slaughter my way to vengeance.” Aiden chuckles to himself as he pushes the library cart along.

-

When the aisle he is currently in ends, Aiden arrives in an open area in the massive sprawl of bookcases. These open areas seem to be distributed at random on the first floor and usually have some sort of study area or administration point for the convenience of the library’s visitors and staff.

This open area has a big rectangular oak table with sturdy chairs around it and a few library carts parked to the sides. At the moment there are multiple tall stacks of books and scrolls arranged at one of the ends of the big table.

Behind this skyscraper skyline of books, a woman sits with her nose in an old scroll. Since Aiden split up with Du Jun earlier he has not seen a single person so curious to find out who this architect is he rolls up his cart next to the woman.

This woman did not seem to have noticed Aiden, her attention still focused on the scroll in front of her. She is dressed in an expensive-looking yet simple robe with ink stains all over her arms. With long black hair tied up in a bun, Aiden can see her face accessorized with a pair of big glasses and slightly smaller dark bags under her eyes. ”Woman” might not be the appropriate word since she looks somewhere in her mid-teens and looks kinda cute in that nerdy ”living in the library” way.

The books in front of the teen girl have titles like ”Uncontrollable Elemental Interaction Principle”, ”Higher Elements Theorie Vol.4” and ”Chaotic destruction Principles”.

”Are you really supposed to be alone here?” The girl asks without looking up.

According to the rules of the library, children should be accompanied by a member of staff when searching the library. Aiden had actually been accompanied by a librarian earlier but when he split up with Du Jun the librarian followed along with Du Jun instead. The librarian was not happy about it but Tian Yan is a prince of the court after all and not able to split himself in two, the librarian chose to escort the kid who kept insisting he wanted to learn how to shoot fire from his hands.

”Sorry for disturbing big sister, this Tian Yan was previously escorted by a member of staff but was told he could continue to search by himself.” Aiden answers in his best interpretation of Asian politeness.

Aiden had been considering how to present himself in this new world. He can not act like a 21-year-old college student from Earth so he crafted a few personas based on stereotypes he knows. This was his polite young master persona.

Finally looking up from her scroll the girl looks at Aiden and mutters. ”Ohh, you are one of the princes. Some of you end up coming here from time to time.”

”This Tian Yan is indeed the 42nd prince” Aiden answers.

The girl looks back down on her paper, all interest in Aiden seemingly lost after finding out who he is.

Aiden looks over the girl's shoulder to peek at the scroll in front of her. ”What is big sister studying?” He asks.

With a glare, the girl answers. ”The principle of Chaos, some of us have to work to achieve knowledge of higher powers. What are you even doing here?”

Taken aback by this girl's sudden hostility, Aiden answers. ”This one is looking for interesting techniques, this one has a wind affinity and has high hopes of finding an interesting art to cultivate.”

Mentioning his affinity is in case the girl is inclined to help him.

”Good for you, now go away so that I can study.” The girl says as she looks down on her scroll again.

Standing there for a moment, Aiden is uncertain about how to proceed.

”Sorry, for disturbing big sister.” Getting the impression he is not welcome anymore, Aiden apologizes, goes back to his cart and starts pushing it towards the next aisle.

Disappointed with himself for screwing up a simple conversation Aiden considers what he did wrong. The girl was taciturn from the beginning but she seemed to get angry when she found out he is a prince. Maybe she is jealous of the prince's advantages, that would make sense. She was also researching higher powers, that might be knowledge the other princes usually gained from the Soul Awakening Ritual.

Aiden abruptly stops. He looks over his cart, picks up one off the scrolls and walks back over to the table. As he puts the scroll on a free space next to the girl he says. ”In case this relates to big sisters current research.”

Going back to pushing his cart, just as Aiden is about to enter the next aisle the girl says. ”The aisle to the left, third bookcase to the right on the bottom shelf, an old black book. It might be of some interest to you”

Changing direction to the indicated aisle, Aiden cast a glance over to the girl. She is now immersed in the ”Fire Ice Chaos Principle” scroll.

-

Aiden scans the bookcases in the aisle when a book on the lowest shelf catches his attention. Carefully he pulls out the book. The binding is made from black leather with multiple cracks in it but there is no title on the binding. When he opens the first page of the book he is greeted by the words ”Space Wind Mantra”.

The book is brittle and Aiden feels a need to handle it carefully to avoid the pages crumbling apart. Sitting down right there on the floor in the aisle, he devours page after page of the black books content.

It is an extremely complicated cultivation technique, requiring a strong wind or space affinity, preferably both and only the initial step of the technique is fully intact. With other words it is basically impossible to achieve anything with it. Perfect if you need to make a main character style rise to power from nothing. Aiden conveniently ignores the fact that he is a prince of the royal family ruling this entire world as he crafts plans to change his underdog status.

Aiden closes the black book, carefully putting it down on his cart. With lighter steps than any other time during this weird day he starts to push his cart towards the main entrance.