Chapter 36

In the small wooden house, only Liu Rushi and Hero were left. Liu Rushi gave Hero a micro-machine shaped like a wristwatch, which all her direct disciples would wear. However, Hero's was a bit more special than the others.

After briefly explaining the use of the micro-machine to Hero, she changed the topic, her gentle expression turning stern as she looked at Hero and said:

"You will stay in the inner courtyard for three days. During these three days, you cannot go anywhere; you will stay here to learn the basics of the Life System. If you have any questions during these three days, feel free to ask me. The next time you want to come in, either you become an inner courtyard student, or you earn the opportunity with your progress."

Whether Hero was an inner courtyard student had nothing to do with her conditions for taking on disciples. With her status in the inner courtyard, pulling him in was just a matter of a word, but she did not do so.

Hero reined in his casual posture, knowing that a tough book-reading life was about to begin.

Liu Rushi led Hero to a massive bookshelf on the east side and pointed to a corner on the bottom shelf, saying:

"Before you fully understand these foundational textbooks, teaching you about runes or other things would only harm you. These are the basics you need to learn for the Life System. You decide how to proceed."

Hero felt his scalp tingle when he saw the number of books on the first shelf. He cursed in his heart: compared to those who cry for a lighter load while holding just a few broken books, wouldn't he be crying his heart out?

Liu Rushi glanced at Hero's pale face and mocked, "This is just the foundation you need to learn. There's a long road ahead, little one. Don't be impatient."

Hero followed the direction of Liu Rushi's finger, looking up and was immediately petrified.

The massive bookshelf was twenty meters long and ten meters high, with thirty levels! The first level alone had over ten thousand books! There were still nine more levels. What about after he entered the inner courtyard?

"Anyone who dares to boast about reading ten thousand books in front of me, I will make them feel utterly ashamed."

Life is short, and even stepping into the realm of awakened abilities only gives you a hundred years. Just reading these ten levels of books would take a lot of time.

Hero had already been shocked by the books in the inheritance jade slip, which contained twice as many books as here. Now, he was only half as shocked.

Liu Rushi was pleased that Hero did not collapse on the spot: "Indeed, he is the chosen one of that ancient and powerful Life System tradition. His temperament is suitable to be my disciple. Even Lu Ying, who was mentally prepared, was still in shock for several days when she saw this bookshelf."

Liu Rushi only received the natural creation rune array from the inheritance jade slip and did not know that it contained even more books.

Hero's intuition told him that the books on this bookshelf were the wisdom of countless Life System predecessors from ancient times to the present. Many of the concepts and insights would differ from the ancient inheritance he received, and there might even be contradictions.

But all methods lead to the great path. The most valuable foundational theory he obtained from the jade slip was the basics of rune arrays. The numerology and mathematical techniques on it could deduce and verify the laws of nature.

Not everything needs to be memorized; one only needs to grasp the patterns and changes. Reading books to death is worse than having no books at all.

Hero was only shocked for a moment before he composed himself, pulled out the first book from the corner of the first shelf, and began reading while sitting on the ground.

Seeing how proactive Hero was, Liu Rushi's face remained stern, but she was secretly delighted, praising Hero as a good student.

She did not know that Hero's mind was already filled with a thousand curses. If it weren't for learning the deeper path, he wouldn't have forced himself to sit down.

Hero read the book while repeatedly saying to himself: "Only death can stop a man from reading, but no book can stop a man from conquering the world. A man can conquer the world and its women, so why fear a mere bookshelf? There are countless women in the world, and this bookshelf has only about three hundred thousand books! I will conquer them all, even if I have to tear the entire bookshelf apart!"

"Seems like this guy treats these books like women to conquer," Old Turtle couldn't help but praise, "You're strong, man!"

Old Turtle was a restless turtle. Out of boredom, he climbed out of Hero's pocket, picked up a book, and sat down to read it, much to Liu Rushi's astonishment.

Old Turtle had few interests besides making deceptive pills and reading books.

Liu Rushi did not pay attention to Old Turtle's peculiar behavior. She took out a pair of glasses from her pocket and gave them to Hero, saying: "This is my latest invention, called 'Focus Glasses.' They can speed up your brain's processing power. The stronger you are, the better the glasses will work. However, using these glasses requires a lot of energy rune crystals. If you don't have any crystals, you can use your own abilities for a few minutes. In the future, you will have to earn them yourself."

With Old Turtle's envy and roaring, Hero almost danced with joy when he received the glasses but then felt bitter. He was penniless and had to support Old Turtle, who was a bottomless pit. He didn't know where to earn the rune crystals.

Seeing Hero's pitiful eyes, Liu Rushi turned away and said, "Only destruction masters die of hunger, not life masters of poverty. Figure it out yourself. If you want to ask me for help, show some results."

It seemed that this learning tool consumed a lot of energy, but he had no money. Hero looked at Old Turtle, hoping he had some private stash, but Old Turtle bared his teeth and gave a sly laugh before returning to his book.

Hero narrowed his eyes and said, "In the future, I will meditate alone and quietly ponder my path."

As soon as Hero finished speaking, he saw Old Turtle's tongue curl out a small piece of lightning rune crystal. This was the energy residue Old Turtle had dug out from the lightning rune crystal scraps.

The glasses had a storage pattern for energy. Hero extracted the energy from the small piece of lightning rune crystal and sent it to the storage pattern, activating the glasses and connecting them to the micro-machine hidden under his wrist skin.

The micro-machine was set by Liu Rushi to only record and store books that Hero had personally read.

After putting on the glasses, Hero's brain did not feel any difference, but the gourd heart extended several roots to connect with the glasses. The soul within the gourd heart instinctively reacted, sending dozens of natural patterns to the glasses.

The natural patterns combined with the focus pattern in the glasses, instantly transforming it into a focus pattern integrated with nature. As soon as he started reading, Hero's consciousness unconsciously merged with nature, entering a state of emptiness where there was no self, no other, and no heaven or earth. The knowledge in the books came to life, forming faint images in this state of emptiness.