"Don't you know that educating kids through starvation and suffering has detrimental effects on their psychological well-being?"
Diana scolded Ken the moment he walked inside after returning from the training rooms.
"What are you talking about, I just helped Emrys learn a lesson in delayed gratification. Besides, he isn't a kid, he is a wolf pup."
"Raising a pup is a huge responsibility, and you can't brush it off like that. Emrys needs your attention!"
"Right. Anyway, how much MP did you earn?"
"Hehe, we both had 3 ranked disciples in the top 200 and one in the top 1000! I earned 3440!"
Jane spoke enthusiastically once the topic came up. She agreed with Ken regarding raising the pups and was only forced by her best friend to place so much effort into raising her pup.
"I earned 3380."
"I see, that's great. If theoretically, you get 100,000 MP, would you join the Divine Sword Sect to grow stronger?"
"Of course not, we aren't ingrates. Our masters invested a lot in us, and we won't turn our backs on them just for a few benefits. Why, are you considering changing sects?"
Diana asked with a nervous voice. She almost forgot her original task was to get close to Ken; she learned to appreciate his talent and personality during their time adventuring together in the Outer Ring.
"I don't think I will. Maybe if I was on my own, but my clan is still in the Phoenix Feather Sect. I was just amusing myself with this question since it seems possible for us to collect enough MP."
Ken said with a smile while lying in his bed. His smile soon turned sad when the two couldn't see him.
'It's a shame, it seems like their connection to the sect is too strong; they don't fit being by my side in the long run.'
---------
Ken returned to the Exchange Office the next day, finding there the same male outer disciple that gave him service the other day.
"Hello, Junior Brother."
"Hello, do you have an answer regarding my request to get access to the library?"
"Yes, I've passed your request on to the elder in charge, who said you can have access to the libraries. The charging will be by the hour, and the cost depends on the level you want access to."
"Tell me about all of them."
Ken had to learn about Runology from start to finish, so he needed access to all levels.
"The costs are consistent between libraries. The first floor consists of knowledge of the three first ranks, then each rank has a separate floor. The first floor costs 10 MP per hour, and each floor costs double the floor below it. It should be irrelevant, but I should tell you that you can't have access beyond the third floor."
It meant that Ken could only have access to knowledge of fifth-rank masters or lower, but he didn't mind, it was enough for the current him. He mainly used fourth-rank pills for himself as he was at the fourth stage.
"All right, good. How do I get to the libraries?"
"You need to purchase access first as you've done with the training rooms. It will be 5000 MP per library."
Ken looked irritably at the man and just nodded when he understood he didn't have any other choice. He'd demand the clerk to call for the manager, but he doubted it'd help.
"I would like to purchase access to the Formation Mastery Library."
"Sure thing."
The man took Ken's discipleship token and imbued it with a rune that granted him access.
Ken chose the Formation Mastery Library since he could make out the most of it. Learning Runology now wasn't as important since he already had a weapon and didn't need talismans. His Alchemy skills were great as they were, but his Formation Mastery was still lacking.
'I have slightly over 3000 MP left. Let's go and use them.'
Ken headed toward the library and soon faced a guard at the entrance. After showing his token, he was granted access and entered the library. The formations in the library were advanced, and everything worked automatically; 10 MP were deducted from his discipleship token.
Stepping into the grand library, the child's gaze swept across the vast expanse of the first floor. Rows upon rows of meticulously organized books beckoned to him, their wisdom waiting to be discovered.
There were local disciples wearing yellow robes everywhere, but the sheer size of the building prevented the place from getting too cramped.
Yet, this floor didn't contain what he needed; he was sure he already knew all there was to know about the formations of the first three ranks. With a sense of purpose, he moved toward the stairs.
Nothing blocked his way when he tried climbing to the next floor. Ascending to the second floor, Ken's footsteps echoed against the polished marble floor. The shelves stood shorter, but their contents delved deeper into the science of Formation Mastery.
Ken looked around him, seeing considerably fewer disciples than on the former floor. Here, everyone was a professional who planned to take Formation Mastery as his future path, unlike the previous floor where many of the current readers were destined to quit.
Ken started reading everything he found. Most of it was overlapping with the knowledge he gained in the past, but he didn't have the time to separate old from new.
He glanced at every page for under a second before moving on to the next page, fully intent on reading the books later from his mind rather than wasting his precious MP by reading them inside the library.
Ken passed the next few hours glancing at books too fast for it to be even considered skimming. The formation automatically deducted 20 points from his token every hour, but he had long forgotten about the passage of time as he took one book after another.
It took him 14 hours to go over everything the library had on Formation Mastery despite skipping every book he recognized from the clan's library.
The next day, Ken found himself on the third floor, ready to grind again. This floor had even fewer readers than the previous one. Not only they were all considered talented for being fifth-rank masters, but they were also all past their thirties, making Ken look out of place.
The young child ignored the people around him, and after a glance or two, they did the same; their goal was solely to improve themselves.
He repeated his actions from the second floor, but one day wasn't enough to cover it all. It took Ken 3 days before he finally covered everything; his clan was much less knowledgeable in the higher ranks.
'Now I need to pretend to be a curious child.'
Ken returned to the first floor and spent a few hours reading some of the books for third-rank formations. More precisely, he pretended to read the book he held in his hands while he was going over the books in his memory.
Although Elder Benjamin might know he can make formations of the fourth rank, he believed the man wasn't the type to gossip.
After allegedly reading 3 books in the course of 8 hours, Ken stood up and left the library.
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