Chapter 1003: The Guild Library
A while later, a pile of scrolls, books, and jade pieces covered the table in the center of the room, while John and the Prime Shadow sat opposite each other. The Prime Shadow placed down the jade piece in his hand, finally perusing through all the arts John had at his disposal.
Naturally, he left some out, such as the Celestial Lightning Script, Immortal Asura Tome, and Primordial Extermination Lightning Cultivation Art.
The Prime Shadow looked at the arts thoughtfully, then shifted his gaze to John.
"There are some true treasures here," he said, pointing to a scroll, and a jade piece. "This scroll, the Divine Reaping Scythe, is one of the most profound battle arts I've ever seen. It was no doubt created by a powerhouse near the pinnacle of this martial universe. It's just a shame its only up to the Heaven Tribulation Realm, and I'm afraid I've never heard of this art before, so I won't be able to help you with it."
John frowned with disappointment, but wasn't really surprised. He knew the Divine Reaping Scythe was incredible, and was likely not something widely spread. The thing that did surprise him was the Prime Shadow being able to read it, as it was in an ancient language that was lost to his homeworld. However, it wasn't as rare as he had initially suspected. The Nine-Dao World seemed to have knowledge of it, or at the very least, the Prime Shadow himself.
"As for this Dragontail Decimation," the Prime Shadow said, pointing to the jade piece containing that battle art. "It is a very impressive mage art. In fact, I believe this world has this art up the Holy Manifestation Realm."
"Really?" John exclaimed with excitement.
"I believe so," the Prime Shadow nodded. "However, if it does exist on this world, it would be in the hands of the Mage Dao Sect. They owe me some favors, so I'll ask about and see what I can scrounge up."
"Thanks," John thanked the Prime Shadow, hopeful that he would be able to obtain the next steps to the mage art.
'Dragontail Decimation is my strongest all-out attack I have, but I only have it up to the World Expansion Realm, which I'm already following. If I can obtain the Holy Manifestation steps, it should last me all the way through the World Expansion Realm, which would greatly aid my combat prowess.'
"Other than these two, the rest are quite mediocre," the Prime Shadow said. "Your Heavenly Lightning Domain isn't bad, but at the same time, you've reached the limits of what it can do for the most part. The rest of the arts you have are now next to useless, making your combat prowess suffer quite greatly when compared to your talent level."
The Prime Shadow mused over the matter for a bit, then spoke once more.
"Now then, tell me of your comprehensions. What Dao's have you comprehended, and what level have you comprehended them to?" he asked.
John replied in full, detailing all the Dao's he had comprehended.
"I have comprehended the Dao's of Lightning, Power, Annihilation, and Destruction to the Dao Expert stage. As for the Dao Adept stage, I have comprehended the Dao's of Space, Death, Scythe, Axe and Nothingness. As for the Dao Initiate Stage....well that list would be too long for you to believe," John said, shrugging despite the boldness of the claim.
He had comprehended thousands of Dao's to the Dao Initiate stage thanks to the World Dimension Seed. Although he wasn't using any of them at the moment, they were comprehended, nonetheless.
"If I didn't know you personally, I would think you were lying to impress me," the Prime Shadow said, then sighed. "You really are an anomaly, child."
After thinking over the matter, the Prime Shadow stood up, to which John did the same.
Two objects suddenly appeared in the man's hands, which he handed over to John a moment later. John accepted and inspected them.
'A Guild Seal, and a jade piece.'
The Guild Seal was black in color, made from some unknown metal. It was about four inches across, and one inch thick, and contained a detailed carving in the very center of the Mark of Death statue he had seen in the Guild before. Surrounding the small carving were countless runes, more numerous than he could count, and more complicated than he could understand.
"That Seal is the highest Seal of the Guild, which gives you unrestricted access to everything in the Guild, no matter how secretive. Archives, resource vaults, training rooms, mission halls, and more. All will be available for you to enter if you present that Seal" the Prime Shadow said, his words surprising John slightly at how great its value was. "It also serves as a long-range communication disk, so all you need to do is send your Qi into it, speak words, and I will hear them. I can also speak back to you, so it's quite nifty.
As for the jade piece, it contains battle arts and movement arts I think would suit you well. These arts are contained in the Guild Library, some in restricted sections. You can peruse the entirety of the library at your whim, but do find the arts I have listed within first."
John stored the items away, knowing that both were incredibly valuable.
"Thanks," he said, smiling with appreciation. The Prime Shadow was truly going all out to ensure his growth was as optimal as possible.
"Now, I have some things I need to take care of over the next few weeks, so I won't be available much before the start of the Dao Tournament," the Prime Shadow said. "So take your time, explore the Guild, and do what you can to improve your strength as much as possible before the tournament starts. If you have any questions, you can reach out to me through that Seal, or you can send your Qi into that jade piece as well. As long as you do so within the Guild Headquarters, it will alert a Grandmaster, who will come to your assistance."
John fell silent for some time, awed at just how much the Prime Shadow was doing for him. He thanked the Prime Shadow once more, then left the room through the small transportation formation in the corner of the room. The transportation formation had settings for many different parts of the guild, and John selected the Library, then activated the formation.
Flash!
He appeared a moment later near the Guild Library, hopped off his transportation platform, and walked towards its entrance. The surprised look on the gray-robed Archivists guarding the library entrance hinted that they was not used to someone activating that particular formation.
The guild members streaming in and out of the library also looked at him with peculiar expressions. John ignored the looks and walked towards one of the Archivists who stood at the entrance of the Library.
"What floor do you want to access?" the Archivist, a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties asked.
"The Saint Grade Archives," John inspected the contents within the jade piece and then answered, noticing that the Prime Shadow had suggested he start there.
"The Saint-Grade Archives?" the woman nearly belted out with surprise, her words drawing looks of surprise from those nearby who heard her. "That area is restricted to all but the-"
Her words cut off as John took out the Seal and presented it to her. She took the Seal with wide eyes, inspected its authenticity, then handed it back to him, a stunned look on her face.
"Follow me," she said a short while later, clearly trying to figure out who this youth she had never seen before was. The others nearby also looked on with mixed expressions, curious as to who exactly John was.
John followed behind the woman and entered the library proper. A grand, sprawling library came into view, which he looked at with awe. The library was a massive chamber nearly a thousand yards long and wide, with thousands of tables in the center of the chamber. Rows of shelves stretched up over twenty yards on the perimeter of the chamber, lined with more books, scrolls, tomes and jade pieces than could be counted.
Thousands of guild members were going about their business, selecting pieces from these shelves to study. Many sat at the tables in the interior portion of the library, studying their tomes with focused concentration.
As he stepped further into the library, he noticed that the hollow interior stretched up for almost a thousand yards as well. Dozens of balconies appeared above, wrapping around the entire perimeter of the hollowed chamber, each signifying a floor of the library, where more countless books, scrolls and tomes were located.
A translucent barrier of energy, like that of a formation barrier, appeared at the start of each floor, making it impossible for one to just fly up to the next floor. It was without a doubt the most information in a single place John had ever seen, and he couldn't help but want to grab everything and read its contents, as he had done so in his early youth before he could cultivate.
"This way," the Archivist said, following the edge of the first floor. They eventually arrived before an open door, one that was guarded by a formation barrier. The Archivist took out a seal and pressed it against the shoulder-high formation to the right of the barrier, which deactivated a moment later.
John followed her into the room, which had dozens of transportation formations. She walked to one in the far-right corner, then told John to hop on as well. The formation flared with power a moment later, transporting them to another part of the library.
John found himself in another room, standing before another barrier guarding the way forward. However, this barrier was much stronger than the previous one, as if it would kill him just by touching it.
"Place your seal on that formation," the Archivist said, pointing to the formation to the side of the barrier. John pressed his seal against it, at which point a strange energy coated his body, but not the Archivist.
"You can now enter the barrier safely," she said. "When you leave, do the same."
With that, she left, disappearing through the same formation they had arrived in. John watched her leave, then entered the barrier. A large yet cozy room came into view, one that seemed to be completely unoccupied. Lavish tables and sofas were spread about, while hundreds of shelves held countless priceless tomes.
John inspected the room, nodding with satisfaction.
"Now then, time to find the two arts the Prime Shadow mentioned," he said, inspecting the jade piece again.
"The Myriad Spatial Array...and the Thunder Tyrant Law."