After putting the box away, I left and made my way to the library, which felt like a long awaited visit.
I approached the big Pagoda that was the library, it had no security, but I imagine it didn’t really need any. Walking in, I found that the inside was decorated with dark wood and was pretty well lit, but not super bright, at a perfect level for reading in a nice environment.
Directly after walking into the entrance, I was met with a large desk with a stern looking woman behind it. Her desk was extremely organised, and she looked to be writing something.
She glanced up at me and slowly put down something that looked to be a mix of a pen and a quill, but not quite either. “How can I help you?” she asked me directly.
“I would like to look at some of the books please.” I said politely. She politely smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “What kind of book would you like to read?” she spoke with slight signs of annoyance, as if telling me to stop wasting her time and be direct.
“I don’t have anything specific, so I was hoping to just look around.”. To this, she just waved her hand. I took this as permission and went to look around for a bit.
I browsed the first of what looked like three floors, there was quite a magnificent collection of books here. I tired to look for the basics, things would be useful to me.
Considering I’ve seen things that I never thought possible here, I can’t really just assume everything is the same as I once knew.
Even if they were minor details, they could be very important to know.
After taking my time to browse and selecting a few books, I sat down at one of the tables that where around the place, clearly to give people places to read.
I took a book each on history, plants and herbs and valuable ores along with a handy looking book called “Cultivation, need to knows”. I briefly flipped through them, but there was no way I could read them all right now.
I got up and walked over to the stern woman behind the desk, I considered how to be respectful for a moment. I wasn’t sure what was considered polite here, but I decided to take a risk from what I understood.
“Elder, please could you let me know what your rules are for borrowing books are?” I said in a respectful tone.
She seemed a little surprised by my words and tone, but in a good way. “Hm, you may select a total of three books at any given time, and they need to be returned upon an agreed date. The fine for a late return is 50 tales, however losing the book or otherwise being unable to return it is 200 tales. Know there are also harsh fees if there is damage to the book, they are calculated based on how much damage there is.”
I bowed slightly “Thank you Elder. May I take these three?”, I placed down the books on plants and herbs, ores, and finally the one on cultivation. I considered that since I’ve already read a little on history, I could always come back for it later.
“Yes. For how long?” she spoke while taking three pieces of parchment out form a draw on the side of her desk. They looked like relatively official documents.
She wrote down the date and my name, which I didn’t tell her, so she clearly knew me already. Her writing speed was outstanding and finished it all before I considered it and told her my answer.
“5 days please.” I asked, she silently acknowledged it by writing down the number of days.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
She then looked at me with mild interest, “I didn’t know you to be a reader, I trust you will be able to return these in good condition, right?” she said in a tone that reminded me of my old vice principle, a very scary woman. Woah, she isn’t someone to mess with.
“Of course! I’ll make sure they are in pristine condition when I return them.” I replied, reassuring her. “Good.” She said as she finished writing the papers, she gave me the hybrid pen and quill and told me to sign the bottom line on each of them.
I had a mini dilemma here, I wasn’t sure on what signature ‘Song Duyi’ had, so I just winged it a little.
I decided to add a little flair from my previous life, writing my family name last instead of the way they do it here, so I wrote in the fanciest way I could possibly do, and signed the characters for “Duyi Song”. She didn’t even glace at it…
She put away the papers somewhere and I left to put back the History book on its rightful shelf before leaving.
I stopped back at my place to put the books away before I went to go the training grounds.
While making my way there, I just enjoyed the walk. The sun felt nice on my face, and I was starting to like this place. It felt peaceful, other than the whole murder of my family stuff, it was quite pleasant here. Again, other than the murderous stuff...
I thought about what I should be doing later, practicing the fundamentals and working on my body seemed like the thing to focus on for now, practical application would be for once I got those down properly.
I knew it would be gruelling, but I really wanted to make progress, so hard work was needed. Knowing you are about to go through some difficult training is a weird feeling. It sucks, but it’s also quite exciting, don’t ask me why it is that way, it just is.
The sight of sweaty men greeted me once again, it’s my favourite view, but I had no choice. I noticed Li Tian sparring on the platform. He was against not just one person. There were two. At the same time.
I had come to realise that this guy wasn’t normal, he’s a monster when it comes to anything physical or fighting related. And although he wasn’t smart in the way most people understand, he can be very intelligent. Sometimes.
Li Tian swiftly dodged a wooden sword strike that would’ve knocked me out, as he did so, he saw me and gave a little wink.
Damn show off.
I ignored him and got ready by doing some stretches while watching people spar, Li Tian’s was by far the most interesting, but the others were very informative too. So, I took the opportunity to observe them all and tried to learn from it.
After properly warming up I took a wooden sword and moved to a more desolated place to train the fundamental moves.
I closed my eyes and imaged the way Li Tian striked, he was swift, full of power and his precision was incredible. I knew I couldn’t get to that level easily, so I just took one step at a time.
If you can do things slow, you can do them fast… sort of.
I carefully performed the moves, moving with moderate force, at least for my standards, and focused on performing them properly rather than powerfully.
Remember, technique over power, with good technique power comes naturally.
Time passed in a blur as I focused, and the intense concentration left me sweating. I would guess about an hour after I started, I noticed someone standing behind me.
Li Tian smiled in greeting as I turned to face him, “I was wondering when you would notice me.”.
How greedy, a brute and stealthy, pick one damn it.
It kind of annoyed me that he could sneak up on me like that, and envious of his skill, but I put it past me.
“When did you get there?” I asked him. “A little while ago. I must say though, you’re improving rapidly. How about some more practical training?”. Translation: Can I beat you up for fun?
His ambiguous answer pissed me off a little, so I accepted, fully knowing I’d be in for a world of hurt, but unfortunately it was the best kind of learning.
We faced off on the platform, each of us holding a wooden sword. I looked into those emerald eyes with determination. I set a goal; I would land at least one strike today.
We were silent as we faced off, neither moving yet, the tension in the air was palpable. I acted, darting within striking distance. I raised my sword with all the power I could, already ignoring me previous idea of technique over power.
I didn’t intend to do this, but it was natural for my body to do so in this situation.
My sword arced around to hit his temple, even though I aimed for the neck. As a consequence of using too much strength, I couldn’t control it well.
Li Tian effortlessly parried my pathetic attempt and his sword blured as he hit the top of my head with his sword. He brought it straight back in a guarding stance right after
“Dead once. Try again.”
It was infuriating.
Game on.
What's your favourite colour?
