Chapter 7

When Yang Yi and Yang Yue arrived at the corner desk, a waiter quickly came up to them.

"Sir, Miss, may I ask which spiritual book you would like to read?"

The waiter held a regular notebook and a brush pen to record the books requested by the guests.

When asked by the waiter, both Yang Yi and Yang Yue blushed a little.

Because they were not there to read books, and they didn't have a single spirit coin on them.

"Cough, cough! I'm here to write a book. Please prepare a set of writing tools for me, including a brush, ink, paper, and an inkstone."

Yang Yi cleared his throat twice to ease his embarrassment and then stated the purpose of his visit.

"Sir, you are a man of great talent. May I ask what grade of writing tools you would like to use?"

Writing tools are also divided into grades, similar to the Holy Book Rankings, which are divided into Heaven, Earth, and Human levels.

However, writing tools are further subdivided into four grades: Superior, Middle, Inferior, and Supreme.

Among them, Human-grade writing tools are made by humans.

Earth-grade writing tools are nurtured by the earth and sky.

Heaven-grade writing tools are bestowed by the heavens when great virtue and transformation are achieved.

Therefore, Heaven-grade writing tools are priceless and cannot be bought.

Earth-grade writing tools are very expensive; a set of Earth-grade writing tools could bankrupt a medium-sized family.

There are many Human-grade writing tools, but most people use Inferior or Middle-grade ones.

Superior-grade Human writing tools are still very expensive.

Moreover, the higher the grade of the writing tools, the easier it is to transmit the written words into the void.

In the void of the Barbaric World, there are many wandering wills of deceased Book Sages, Book Immortals, Great Scholars, and Literati.

If an article, though not very good, happens to align with the will of a certain Book Sage or Book Immortal, their will would descend upon the spirit paper, helping the author to revise the article, turning an article that could not become a spiritual book into a true spiritual book.

This is the benefit of higher-grade writing tools.

"Please give me a set of Superior-grade Human writing tools."

After some thought, Yang Yi made his choice.

"Sir, a set of Superior-grade Human writing tools costs one thousand spirit coins. If you successfully write a book and agree to transfer the reading and exchange rights to us, we will refund you two hundred spirit coins."

"Furthermore, we will immediately list your book and set a fair reading price. The spirit coins earned will be split fifty-fifty, and we will settle with you monthly."

"By the way, you can also choose to buy out the rights, but we need two days to determine the buyout price."

The waiter informed Yang Yi of the prices and rules.

It's important to know that while the Holy Book Rankings can record all books and rank them, the content of the books cannot be seen on the rankings.

If scholars want to read a book, they must borrow it from the Spirit Book Pavilion or reserve and purchase a copy of the spiritual book.

Moreover, in the human kingdoms of the Barbaric Continent, there is a clear regulation: only the top one hundred spiritual books on the Holy Book Rankings can be listed in all Spirit Book Pavilions.

As for spiritual books ranked outside the top one hundred, they can only be listed in one Spirit Book Pavilion.

Unless the Spirit Book Pavilion decides to share the spiritual book and signs a bookshop treaty with other Spirit Book Pavilions, a book cannot appear in different Spirit Book Pavilions.

Otherwise, even the author of the spiritual book cannot give the book to other bookshops.

If an author transfers the reading and exchange rights to another Spirit Book Pavilion without signing a bookshop treaty, it is considered a crime and will be punished by law.

As for piracy, plagiarism, and copying, there is no need to worry about these in the Barbaric World.

Once a spiritual book is successfully written, it gains a spirit. Even a copy made in a study, without the author's personal signature, is just an ordinary book.

Therefore, every spiritual book is a target for all major Spirit Book Pavilions. The more spiritual books a Spirit Book Pavilion has, the greater its reputation.

"Uh..."

Yang Yi already knew the price of Superior-grade Human writing tools, and Yang Yue's Fire Spirit Dagger was indeed worth one thousand spirit coins, but it was still hard to say.

After hesitating for a while, Yang Yi finally said, "Sigh, actually, I don't have any spirit coins!"

Upon hearing this, the waiter's face turned a bit sour.

"However, I have a permanent spirit weapon, the Fire Spirit Dagger, which I exchanged from 'Heavenly Weapons.' Its value is definitely over a thousand spirit coins, so I would like to use it as collateral. What do you think?"

Seeing the waiter's expression, Yang Yi quickly had Yang Yue take out the Fire Spirit Dagger.

"Sir, although 'Heavenly Weapons' is our human race's top Holy Book, it contains many divine weapons. I am not sure if the Fire Spirit Dagger is from 'Heavenly Weapons,' so I need to have it appraised."

"Of course, you can have someone appraise it right away."

Yang Yi felt relieved that the waiter did not oppose his proposal to use collateral.

As for the appraisal, he was not worried at all.

"Sir, please wait a moment!"

The waiter left for a short while and returned with a middle-aged man.

This middle-aged man had an ordinary appearance but exuded a faint fragrance.

Yang Yue, upon smelling it, whispered, "The fragrance of books, having read over a thousand books, one can become an official without taking the imperial exams!"

Indeed, the fragrance on the middle-aged man did not come from a sachet or perfume but was the fragrance of books accumulated through reading.

To possess the fragrance of books, the minimum requirement is to read over a thousand books, all of which must be spiritual books.

Reading alone is not enough; one must also understand the essence of the books.

Otherwise, one can only gather the aura of books, not the fragrance.

Once one has the fragrance of books, they can become an official without taking the imperial exams.

However, gathering the fragrance is extremely difficult. Not only does it require a lot of time and understanding of spiritual books, but reading a thousand spiritual books alone requires a huge amount of spirit coins.

"Ah, it's Lord Longwu. Since it's Lord Longwu, there's no need to appraise the Fire Spirit Dagger."

The middle-aged scholar recognized Yang Yi and confirmed the authenticity of the Fire Spirit Dagger without even asking to see it.

"Thank you!"

Yang Yi stood up and thanked the middle-aged scholar.

Although he had questions, he did not ask to avoid revealing anything.

Now, Yang Yi had put aside most of his distractions to prepare for writing the book.

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