Michael quickly realized that the books stored in the Library of Laxartia were extremely valuable to him, his subjects, and his territory.
They were not just ordinary novels of ancient times but had detailed information about the Origin Expanse, guides related to raiding ruins, manuals on how to train Grandmaster Artisans, martial art techniques, training techniques, how to combine different techniques to create a superior technique, and much more.
All in all, Michael was unable to leave behind any of the books. According to him, the extraordinary knowledge stored in the books shouldn’t stay in the Lord Rift. It should be taken outside and utilized properly. That was also why Michael never stopped using Extraction to extract the Wisps of Knowledge even after his head began to ache.
At one point, Michael’s sight began to blur, his legs grew weak and blood began to trickle out of his nose, eyes, ears, and mouth. The headache grew intense to such an extent that Michael began to wonder if he would faint in the next second.
Despite that, he never stopped using Extraction – not until the countdown of the Lord Rift went down to less than one hour.
His head was overflowing with knowledge that had been deeply imprinted in his mind, and he felt nauseous. Michael swayed left to right when he got up from the ground, his legs shaking like leaves in the wind. The next moment Michael began to vomit.
Tiara and Masked Saber appeared next to Michael and tried patting his back soothingly. They stared at him with worry, unsure what they could do to help him.
“How about a potion? No…you will just vomit the content before the potion takes effect…” Tiara mumbled staring at Michael while her lips were pressed together, “Why did you have to be so greedy? It’s just a bit of knowledge. The Lord Rift has yet to close, but you’ve just turned yourself into an easy target for everyone!”
For a moment, Tiara lost herself in anger. She even forgot to call Michael ‘Master’, and was glaring daggers at him. Michael’s greed had put him into an extremely difficult position. He was vulnerable, and an easy target for any Lord and Monster in the Lord Rift. 𝒏𝒐𝗏ℯ𝓵𝐍𝗲xt.𝗇𝓔t
“Don’t worry too much. There shouldn’t be too many Lords left behind, and Monsters seem to avoid the abandoned town as well,” Masked Saber reassured Tiara though his tone was slightly cold.
Tiara imagined seeing a glint of anger behind Masked Saber’s mask, but she thought that this couldn’t be the case. She was definitely not wrong for lecturing Michael for doing something dangerous like putting himself in a vulnerable position.
“We just need to protect him since he endangered his life for the sake of his people and territory,” Masked Saber continued to speak, “Or do you think Michael did all of that for himself? Do you really think he was that greedy because he solely focused on his own gains? Seems like you forgot about the Zentika Empire after we entered the Lord Rift.”
The longer Tiara listened to Masked Saber the more she believed that Masked Saber’s impression of her had worsened gradually. It was almost like Masked Saber was angry at Tiara for lecturing Michael after he deliberately jeopardized his health to collect more knowledge for his people and the territory.
However, Tiara didn’t say anything. She recalled the warfare against the Jungle Expedition, and how the fight against the 13 Paladins had ended. Tiara was also fully aware of the pain Michael went through at that time.
After the warfare, it was also quite obvious that Michael had been agitated with himself. He had been forced to use the Chaos Pills to kill the 13 Paladins, destroying the majority of the Untamed Jungle’s outer area – nearly destroying his territory as well.
The Lord Rift was likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – something Michael couldn’t ignore. He had to make full use of it, gaining as much as possible even if that meant he would have to suffer.
“Alright, alright. We will protect our Master…” Tiara mumbled quietly, throwing Michael’s right arm around her shoulders to support him.
Masked Saber did the same to Michael’s left side, helping him up.
The Library of Laxartia seemed the most secure with the Librarian around. However, it didn’t seem like Michael wanted to stay in the Library.
“Magical Smithy…” He mumbled weakly while blood continued to trickle down his seven orifices.
Even though Michael gained lots of knowledge, he didn’t want to miss out on the Magical Smithy either. If he could take it with him, the researchers in his territory could thoroughly analyze the magical construction. As long as they researched it long enough, they may even be able to figure out the exact technique used by the Magical Smithy to forge weapons. The chances were slim but if they could mass-produce the unique technique used by the Magical Smithy, Michael’s Underground Forging Hall would be able to create Artifact-like Armaments for his Summons as well.
If that was truly possible, Michael’s army would turn into ferocious wolves in sheep’s skin. The thought alone was more than enough to nudge Michael to take a step closer to the exit.
“Just rest for the next 15 minutes. The library will close down afterward, either way. You’ll be on your own from then on,” The Librarian said calmly.
He had been silent since Michael began to greedily devour the Wisps of Knowledge of the Laxartia Library and only spoke up now.
“And believe me when I tell you that you need these 15 minutes of rest. If you really want to take the Relic of Draka with you, you’ll have to empower your ancient power a lot more than you did to obtain the Wisps of Knowledge,” The Librarian revealed, fully aware of what Michael intended to do.
He looked up in the air as if he could see through the library’s ceiling and shook his head.
“I will also give you a final tip since you’ve exceeded my expectations. You proved me wrong, so make sure that I won’t regret telling you this- Either hide until the end after you collect the Relic of Draka, or run for your lives, hoping that ‘it’ won’t be able to catch you,” The Librarian said, causing three heads to flick to him at once.
The Librarian gave a cryptic warning and turned silent. He didn’t say anything else. However, the snippets of information he had forwarded and the serious tone in the Librarian’s voice were already enough to show that something big had happened.
“It? What do you mean by It?” Tiara asked but she didn’t receive an answer.
On the contrary, the Librarian turned away and disappeared for the next 15 minutes.
In these 15 minutes, Michael forced himself to take a wide variety of potions. He also used Extraction to drain the origin energy in the surroundings. Utilizing Extraction right now was akin to subjecting himself to mental torture but given the Librarian’s tips, Michael figured that he would require every single ounce of the origin energy in his storage to extract the Relic of Draka.
Michael tried his best to improve his condition in 15 minutes, but the time was simply too short compared to the strain he had subjected himself to by extracting and digesting Wisps of Knowledge for tens of hours.
Nonetheless, his condition improved quite a bit thanks to the high-quality potions he had extracted from a bunch of Lords before. Each of the Zentika Empire’s Lords had been given two unique potions that were likely to provide them with a means to improve their condition in an emergency.
Luckily, they hadn’t been able to use their unique potions, leaving more than enough for Michael to stop the bleeding all over his head, and tend to the extreme headache.
Even his sight was a little bit clearer when the Librarian returned.
“It’s time for you to leave,” The Librarian merely said, pointing at the door.
Michael nodded his head subtly as he turned to the door. He was just about to take the first step to leave when he turned back to the Librarian.
“Thank you very much for helping us out. Your guidance was very helpful. I will never forget what you did,” Michael said sincerely, feeling grateful to have met the Librarian.
The Librarian didn’t say anything in response, but that was not necessary. Michael just wanted the Librarian to know that his help was appreciated and that he felt thankful.
Afterward, Michael and his subordinates stepped outside the library, where they were greeted by searing heat and luminous shades of red that painted everything in the surroundings wherever they looked.
Even the sky was drenched in a luminous shade of red, which cast an eerie atmosphere all over the Lord Rift.
Yet, instead of feeling a chill creeping up their spines, all Michael, Tiara, and Masked Saber could feel was the searing heat that permeated every inch of the Lord Rift.
The temperature outside the Laxartia Library easily exceeded 100 degrees Celsius, forcing Michael and the others to cover their body with a thin layer of origin energy to keep themselves cool.
“What the hell happe–…” Michael was about to ask, only to be interrupted by a terrific explosion that originated from the mountain range.
Following the explosion the temperature increased once again.
However, none of them could pay attention to this.
Their entire focus was pulled to the ginormous being that soared through the air, issuing a terrifying roar that caused every single hair on their bodies to stand up on its end. They were paralyzed in fear and could only watch the being that spit out blazing hot flames from its maw.
From inside the library, the Librarian kept watching Michael and the others as they stood frozen in place.
‘I hope they make it out alive.’