CHAPTER 165: MATERIAL SHAPING; THE SECRET TOME REAPPEARS

The heavy, weathered iron door slowly opened with Headmaster Weston's touch, accompanied by the sound of metal scraping against the ground. The identification process turned out to be much simpler than expected—it seemed that the library itself possessed the ability to recognize the identity of those who touched its door.

"Take note: your time is limited. You have a total of twelve hours to allocate as you see fit. You may freely browse and learn whatever knowledge you wish, but remember—anything you fail to learn while inside cannot be taken out. Your memory will be forcibly purged of any knowledge you did not successfully acquire."

The door was now fully open. From the outside, the library appeared small; looking in from the entrance, however, revealed an endless ocean of bookshelves.

This was a quite different experience compared to the first time Wang Yu had entered the Grand Library, where he had encountered an infinite spiral staircase and layers upon layers of book-filled floors. The rules also seemed different from when Fang had guided him inside.

What remained unchanged, however, was the librarian—a figure without a lower half, floating in midair, his upper body concealed beneath a long robe. Wang Yu recalled that his name was Samuel, but otherwise, he still had no idea what exactly this librarian was.

"Understood. Please allow us to enter."

"We understand, Headmaster."

The students who had qualified for entry were raring to enter, worried about wasting even a second of their precious opportunity to search for knowledge. Both Daniel and the chubby merchant's son were taking this rare chance very seriously.

"Twelve hours from now, the librarian will escort you out. This may very well be the final time this library is ever opened. Just think about the type of knowledge you seek, and the corresponding books will appear on the nearby shelves. Explanatory notes will also be displayed on the side. If you're ready, go ahead and enter. The countdown starts the moment you step into the library.

"As for the opportunity to take an item from within, I don't know the specifics. Those of you who have the right to take something may ask the librarian about it, but I can't guarantee he will answer."

Headmaster Weston turned to Wang Yu and the other student who had earned the privilege of taking a physical item from the library, explaining the rules regarding this unique right.

"Understood." Wang Yu nodded.

The other student who had secured the same qualification also nodded in acknowledgment.

"Very well, then. Enter—and good luck." Headmaster Weston clapped his hands together with a smile.

The students wasted no time stepping into the Grand Library. They quickly dispersed in different directions, clearly having researched the library beforehand and knowing how to seek out their desired knowledge without external guidance.

Avia exchanged a quick farewell with Wang Yu before heading toward a section of the infinite bookshelves, while Wang Yu released a ripple of energy to scan his surroundings.

Just like last time, he could barely sense the presence of the void here. His ripples received no amplification from the void. Then how exactly did the library manifest its unique ability to shape itself according to the thoughts of those who entered?

"You again? Does Fang Stuart really enjoy exploiting loopholes in our agreement so much? I told him that if another person could summon the Dark Ritual codex, I would hand it over to them. But I never said anything about letting someone who had already qualified enter again! Do not insult the value of knowledge!"

As Wang Yu pondered the library's peculiar properties, a familiar voice sounded behind him. Floating in midair, Samuel spoke in his usual strident tone.

It was clear the librarian was displeased with Wang Yu's reappearance. He clearly mistook Wang Yu's entry as a second attempt to claim the Dark Ritual codex—a manual he had previously chosen to forgo.

"My apologies, but you're mistaken. This time, I entered via qualifications granted by Stevenson Academy. I have no interest in this codex and came merely to seek knowledge useful to me."

Wang Yu waved his hand dismissively. He had no intention of taking that manual, and he had no idea what kind of agreement Father Fang had made with Samuel. Had Samuel refused to give up the codex last time?

"Really?" Samuel's floating form circled Wang Yu, heavy suspicion in his voice.

"I have no use for that thing. It wouldn't contribute much to my strength anyway. My talent for wizardry is already terrible—why would I even bother with that book?"

Wang Yu frowned. Why was this librarian so obsessed with the Dark Ritual codex? He had no plans to take it. Even if he did, with his poor aptitude for wizardry, it wouldn't help him much.

"Poor talent for wizardry? Impossible. Then how did you summon it?"

Rather than allaying Samuel's suspicions, Wang Yu's explanation seemed to make him even more curious about how Wang Yu had obtained that manual in the first place.

"How would I know? It's a knight's secret art, not some wizard's technique. If I really do summon the Dark Ritual codex again, I simply won't take it. Happy now?"

Wang Yu had no idea how to convince the seemingly stubborn librarian that he truly had no interest in the book.

"No. This is part of my agreement with Fang. Whether you want it or not, if you summon the book again, I will give it to you. But judging from what you've said, I'll believe you—provisionally."

Samuel's tone softened and lost its edge, much to Wang Yu's surprise.

Wang Yu himself was rather confused. He had assumed that refusing the Dark Ritual codex had alleviated Samuel's dissatisfaction, but the librarian had stated that if he summoned the book again, it would be his no matter what. So what exactly made him believe that Wang Yu wasn't here for the book?

"If there's nothing else, I'd like to start searching for the knowledge I need..."

Wang Yu shrugged. In any case, it was good that Samuel was no longer giving him trouble. He truly did want to make use of this special library to find something useful.

"The codex is far more mysterious than you think. That manual is a gateway between the material world and the void. When someone summons it, they should see a glimpse of the changes it would bring them. A wizard would see the mysteries of the void. A magician would see a means to protect their mind from void corruption. What did you see?"

Samuel's voice now seemed tinged with amusement.

"I saw a knight's secret art that allows fighting spirit and void energy to be converted into one another." Wang Yu sighed. Was his talent for wizardry so terrible that even the manual had deemed it completely useless for him?

"Exactly. That means you weren't lying about your poor talent for wizardry. You didn't even see how the Dark Ritual codex would influence your path as a wizard. This isn't just a matter of bad talent—I'm starting to doubt whether you're even a wizard at all. But then, why did it respond to your summons in the first place?"

Samuel left after murmuring some doubts to himself.

"Go find the knowledge you need. This library is closing for good, so I won't dwell on your circumstances. Let's just consider it an anomaly."

Wang Yu shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it either. According to Samuel, a certain level of talent was required to summon the Dark Ritual codex—in that case, would Avia qualify?

"A method for awakening my latent potential..." As Wang Yu walked through the endless bookshelves, he focused on the knowledge he desired, just as he had done the last time when searching for a knight's secret art. Gradually, the once-blurred titles of the tomes on the shelves became clear and legible.

Methods of Strengthening Potential, Categories of Potential, Potential Evolution as a Grand Knight...

Wang Yu scanned the spines of the tomes as they became legible one by one. However, to his disappointment, although these tomes were indeed related to a knight's potential, none of them explained how to actually awaken it.

It seemed that, in this world, awakening latent potential was considered something that happened naturally, a process that required no deliberate effort. All knights could effortlessly unlock their potential—there was no question as to how it happened.

"This is really frustrating. I thought I'd find something in this Grand Library that would help me out, but is there really nothing out there? Is my Earth-imported body just too unusual for this world?"

Wang Yu felt a headache coming on. He had hoped to find some useful knowledge here, but there was nothing.

Glancing down at his own hands, he couldn't help but reflect on his circumstances. This Earthbound body had granted him many advantages—but now, it was also the very reason he struggled to awaken his latent potential. The irony was real.

"Forget it. If there's no relevant information, then there's no use dwelling on it... But maybe I can try thinking about this from another angle instead?"

Wang Yu pondered for a moment. Although he was somewhat disappointed that he couldn't find knowledge to help him awaken his latent potential, he quickly shifted his perspective. A power similar to a would-be potential was an alternative worth considering, too.

"A secret art allows a knight to possess something akin to a potential even as a trainee. In essence, it's like an imitation of an actual potential—like Blood Tempest."

"However, knights' secret arts don't have the same level of influence over the material world as potentials. What if I search for the secret art that comes closest to a potential? By studying it, could I get closer to awakening my own?"

A new train of thought opened up for Wang Yu. He continued browsing through the bookshelves, no longer focused on how to awaken his potential, but instead on finding "the secret art closest to a potential."

He stopped in front of a bookshelf. Among the indistinct and hazy tomes, a single one stood out, clear and distinct—Material Shaping.

Raising an eyebrow, Wang Yu picked up the tome and flipped through it. To his surprise, this book wasn't exactly a knight's secret art. In some sense, it was even cruder.

Rather than being an ersatz potential, Material Shaping seemed more like an ersatz secret art.

It revolved around a special technique for using fighting spirit—similar in nature to invoking "defense" or "penetration," but in an indirect fashion.

"Let me see..." Wang Yu carefully examined the tome. The first time he had been in the Grand Library, he was effortlessly able to understand the content of all the tomes within. This time was different. His ability to instantly grasp knowledge was gone—but he now had twelve hours, rather than one.

He would have to rely entirely on his own abilities to read and comprehend Material Shaping.

"Luckily, even though I don't have a strong academic background, this technique is much simpler than a knight's secret art..."

Compared to those secret arts, which required circulating fighting spirit in a specific manner and integrating it with the body, this technique was indeed far easier.

Even Wang Yu, who lacked talent for scholarly pursuits, found it relatively easy to understand and learn.

Five hours passed in a flash. Wang Yu had carefully read through Material Shaping and gained a rough understanding of the technique.

He had to admit that the technique described in this book did share certain similarities with potentials.

The technique, as its name would suggest, allowed its user to shape any material into a sword. The sheer audacity of it struck Wang Yu as almost unreasonable, like a rogue technique that simply bent reality to its will.

The way it worked, as Wang Yu understood it, was by injecting fighting spirit into these materials—stone, steel, even liquids and abstract substances like moonlight—and then treating these infused materials as an extension of the self, forcibly altering their state and thereby unlocking the means of shaping them into a sword. It was fascinating—Wang Yu had never known that fighting spirit could be used in such a way.

"It's not very practical. This tome focuses on a model for shaping longswords, which doesn't help me much. But with further study and refinement, perhaps I can shape any material into whatever form I want...?"

Wang Yu frowned. If he simply did as the tome instructed, the technique would only ever be of limited use to him. But if he developed it further, like with Blood Tempest, it could well prove invaluable.

"First things first: I need to master this technique. I can't experiment with anything from the library, so I guess I'll just use my own blood..."

After thinking it through, Wang Yu decided that the most important thing was to fully grasp the knowledge. Even though he doubted that his memory would be affected by the library's special properties, it was safer to master the technique here.

Since there were no suitable materials around to test the technique, and using items like his Fury of the Forge or alchemical potions risked ruining them, Wang Yu settled on something he always had on hand—his own blood.

He took a small blade and made a shallow cut on his tough skin. Activating Blood Tempest, he guided a small amount of blood from the wound and gathered it in his palm.

Once there was enough blood, Blood Tempest automatically sealed the wound, and his body began regenerating immediately. Wang Yu's self-healing ability truly was in a league of its own.

With his other hand, he touched the small pool of blood in his palm, channeling fighting spirit through his fingertip.

Wang Yu had an advantage in learning this technique—his ability to transmit his power through his ripples. For other full-fledged knights, constructing the necessary structures of fighting spirit externally was a complex process. But Wang Yu could pre-construct them within his body and then project them forward with his ripples.

Following the structure outlined in the tome, Wang Yu infused the blood with fighting spirit. Under his influence, the liquid visibly changed, shifting from a fluid state to a more solid form as it gradually hardened and began to take shape.

But just as the blood was about to fully solidify, a faint crack sounded. Its hardened surface fractured as the blood crumbled into tiny flecks.

"I failed—it must be an issue with the details of the structure. Let's try again..." Wang Yu glanced at the remnants of his blood in his palm. He was still far from a proper sword. Without hesitation, he analyzed his failure and attempted the process again.

Though he continued experimenting with the technique, each attempt ended in failure. Material Shaping was far more challenging than he had expected. The hardest part was the process of treating the infused material as an extension of himself.

Every time he felt on the verge of success, some invisible "barrier" caused him to fail, as if the lifeless material was rejecting him. He needed to be more forceful, more seamless in asserting control over it.

Time passed as he repeated his attempts. After roughly four hours, Wang Yu finally neared success. Through sheer repetition, he had gained some measure of proficiency. His structures of fighting spirit formed more quickly. With the help of his ripples, the moment his fighting spirit touched the blood, it spread evenly throughout. Next was the essential step, a shift in mindset. He treated the blood as an extension of himself and began to shape it.

In a flash, the liquid turned into a solid mass. Its form shifted rapidly before settling into the shape of a longsword. At last, a crimson sword, forged from Wang Yu's own blood, rested in his palm.

"Hmm... It's a bit small, but the hardness is impressive. Even the material properties changed."

He pinched the bloodforged weapon in his hand. Due to the limited amount of blood used, it was only the size of a dagger. Still, he was satisfied—he had succeeded. Even more surprising was the durability of his infused blood, which rivaled that of high-quality steel. This could actually be useful in combat.

"Hm?"

Wang Yu's ripples suddenly detected something—someone had appeared behind him. He turned to see Samuel eyeing him appraisingly.

"What are you doing here?" Wang Yu asked. Samuel seemed capable of appearing and vanishing at will within the library, leaving no trace when he moved.

"The Dark Ritual codex has emerged again. I came to see if you were responsible, but I suppose not. Another qualified presence has appeared."

"It appeared again?" Wang Yu blinked.