NOVPUB67: Chapter 67: Qi Induction (Please Follow, Favorite, and Vote for the Monthly Ticket)
67: Chapter 67: Qi Induction (Please Follow, Favorite, and Vote for the Monthly Ticket)
Indeed, He Ao had tried to use his wristband to connect to the network and search for this symbol the previous night, but just like with the Talent Sequences, no search results were shown.
The Copy World seemed to offer transparent access to information and had a developed network, but as soon as anything secret was involved, it was as if it had been deliberately erased, leaving no trace.
That’s why He Ao attempted to see if he could find some relevant clues in the library.
The Dawn City library’s collection was divided into two parts, digital and physical books.
Digital books were those for which the library had purchased copyright, and citizens with library cards could log on to the Dawn City library’s official website and borrow these books online.
Physical books, however, were the physical copies stored inside the library, which citizens had to borrow or read by visiting the library with their library cards.
The physical books collected by the Dawn City library were mostly reprinted classics or some masters’ theoretical books.
However, the Dawn City library had been in existence since the founding of Dawn City, with a history of hundreds of years.
Although the library had relocated several times, it also had a mix of odd and old books among its collection, Regit’s discovery of the Body Tempering Technique being one of them.
On the digital books interface, readers could directly search within a book’s content to find the book they were looking for.
The physical books interface, on the other hand, only allowed the search for a book by title.
He Ao first searched on the digital books page, hoping to find an e-book containing this ‘symbol,’ but all he found were a heap of drawing books or some books on physical and chemical diagramming.
He didn’t find a single book about this type of symbol.
He finally left the digital books page and entered the physical books page, where image searches weren’t supported, requiring either the book title or keywords.
He Ao thought for a moment and then typed ‘symbol’ into the keyword box.
With a click, thousands of book titles containing the word ‘symbol’ popped up.
······
It was impossible for He Ao to search through each one, so he began to contemplate which type of book the pictographic-like symbols on the small book might appear in.
Pictographic script was the earliest form of writing used by humans.
The origin of writing was the depiction of all things in the world, first concrete then abstract.
For example, ancient ancestors would sketch the appearance of an elephant with simple strokes.
Then, by fixing a drawing to represent the elephant, they created the first characters; over time, the characters evolved into the word ‘elephant.’
This was the transition from pictographic to ideographic writing that resembles pictographs, where the symbol itself holds meaning.
The groups using this type of ideographic writing were either ancient ancestors themselves or they had a history of passing down ancient traditions.
Their civilization must have continued uninterrupted from the ancestral era for the writing to have evolved step by step from pictographs.
The Federation in the Copy World used a phonetic script, with characters that had pronunciation but no specific meaning, completely different from the ideographic script resembling pictographs found in the small book.
This presented two possibilities: either the small book originated from the Federation’s ancestors, a product of ancient times, or the book came from some other place in this world.
He Ao pondered for a moment.
Then he added another keyword, ‘Original Federation,’ next to ‘symbol.’
The Original Federation had existed for a longer time and covered a broader area, so perhaps related books could be found.
After this filtering, only five books remained on the catalog page, as there were very few books on the writing of the Original Federation’s regions.
Apart from four books that discussed the writing used in the Original Federation during the Federation’s era, there was one book whose cover was printed with various characters, including some that resembled the symbols in the small book.
The title of the book was “Restoration of Partial Texts from the Original Federation’s Regions.”
“7th floor, Section I, I-725.”
He Ao looked at the reference number behind the book, quickly stood up, and stepped into the elevator.
He soon found “Restoration of Partial Texts from the Original Federation’s Regions”; the book was tucked away in a corner of a shelf, its pages yellowed as if it had been left untouched for ages.
He Ao picked up the book and returned to the first floor.
Just as the clock struck nine, he placed the book on the counter and opened the library’s main doors.
Beep—
No sooner had he opened the door and returned to the counter than he heard a crisp sound of a card swipe; someone had entered the Dawn City library.
He looked up and saw a woman with beautiful black hair, dressed in a neat shirt and suit, walking into the library.
Her figure was slender and straight, with delicate skin.
Her overall stature was somewhat smaller than the other women He Ao had seen in Dawn City, but she was still around one meter seventy, with an even more delicate face.
As He Ao looked up, the woman also noticed him.
“Old man, good morning.
Did you take a day off yesterday?”
The woman walked in, asking with some confusion.
“Yes, I haven’t been feeling well these past few days.”
He Ao nodded; this woman often came to the library to borrow books, and over time he had become acquainted with Regit, “The law books are on the third floor, and a batch of new books recently came in, you might want to check them out.”
The woman’s name was Yi Jiali, and she was a lawyer.
“I saw them yesterday,” Yi Jiali waved her hand and headed for the elevator, “Old man, remember to take care of your health.”
“This old body of mine is still pretty tough.”
He Ao laughed and watched as Yi Jiali entered the elevator.
Then he slowly opened the book in his hands.
At that moment, an idea stirred in his mind, and he stopped what he was doing.
With every breath he took, wisps of subtle energy appeared in his chest.
Previously, a wound in his chest had caused the energy brought by breathing to naturally dissipate; last night, he had also tried to see whether he could cultivate, but almost none of the energy that entered his chest stayed.
And now, this wisp of subtle energy meant that the wound in his chest had healed, or at least was now able to fully take in energy.
He Ao opened the attribute interface,
[He Ao (Regit)]
[Access Level: Ordinary Player]
[Physical Condition: 16 (30)] 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝘤𝘰𝑚
[Skills: Talent Sequences 272: Super Memory (Soul Binding) (E-rank), Basic Firearms Proficiency (Soul Partial)]
[Mechanical Modification: None]
[Martial Arts: Qi Induction (F-rank) (Unusable)]
[Character Ability: Body Tempering Technique (F-rank)]
He Ao was curious about what effect it would have once Regit’s body began to cultivate.
After all, this was the werewolf who had simply through Body Tempering brought his physical condition up to 30.
And this was the result after he had aged and his body had started to decline; at his peak, he was likely even stronger.
He Ao opened the book in his hands, began to absorb the energy in his chest and guided it to course through the meridians of his chest and arms.
Regit, with just one breath, absorbed much more energy than Ande, and he could gather enough energy to circulate without the need for rapid breathing, even just after his chest injury had healed.
Looking at this, does it seem that everyone absorbs energy to a different degree?
Is this what Talent is?
As the energy was guided out of the chest, unlike the blockages in Ande’s body, He Ao felt like this time he had entered a grand avenue leading straight to Heaven.
A crackling sound of bones vibrating suddenly surged from within his body.
