Molting the Mortal Coil

The old man didn’t stick around to say any more. Turning around and walking back out into the courtyard. When Sage finished examining the room and before he even processed the question about of True Immortality he turned his head only in time to see the old man turn back into a little bird and flutter off. Guess that means I’m on my own. Whatever… I only have three months, I have to copy down every single stone tablet in here!

Sage started browsing through the stone tablets and found them to be a huge scattering of different techniques. Surprisingly, they were somewhat organized, each shelf was divided into with sidewalls like a big mailroom shelf. In each cubby was a single stack of stone tablets, at least four per stack but some had more than ten. Each stack seemed tailored to a specific goal. For example, the first cubby he looked in had a Qi Cultivation Technique, two combat Qi Techniques, a Martial Technique, and even a Body Strengthening Technique. All five of the techniques were somewhat of a complete set, being geared towards a Fire natured Cultivator and each of them geared towards cultivating and manipulating a pale green fire they called ‘Green Lotus Heartfire’.

Each of the techniques in the set seemed pretty powerful and valuable, but with a complete set like this, the value was astronomical. If someone were to master the whole set of techniques they would have a balanced Qi and Physical base. Their combat power would also be much higher than others at the same rank due to the suitability of the techniques for the Cultivation Technique and Martial Art. The other stacks had similar sets. They covered all sorts of different innate natures, special body types, and even a few special bloodlines. Other stacks were all related to a specific type of weapon, each tablet in the stack being of a different style and nature.

Of course, the library wasn’t comprehensive. Sage made a quick count, there was two hundred different shelf cubbies on the wall which was far from enough to cover every possible weapon or innate nature. In fact, many of the groups of techniques were quite similar. He found four different sets of fire natured sets in the first few minutes. The old man said this was set up later, so it made sense that the more common natures would have more options available. With only three months of time to study, Sage’s guess was that he was supposed to pick out a good set for himself along with some weapon techniques then practice them in the training room.

The old man might even be in charge of the training room like he had been before. Maybe he could ask him for advice? Sage contemplated this idea for a moment before putting it aside. He had a golden opportunity in front of him, so he didn’t want to waste it. The old man didn’t give a limit on this library so Sage was going to make full use of it. After the expedition last time, he’d learned how useful Memory Sphere’s were so he carried a few dozen empty ones around with him now. Taking out the Memory Altar, the set the small iris of metal on the ground and started to work.

In order to keep things organized he recreated the shelving unit, and even the whole room, inside the memory sphere and as he copied over a stone tablet he stored the knowledge inside a stone tablet inside the memory sphere. Later on, using this memory sphere would be like being here in this library again. Learning and memorizing even a single one of these tablets in front of him would probably take a few days, but Sage had prior experience in this regard. He wasn’t trying to learn or memorize the tablets. With the practice from the library in the Soul Taming Abode he was able to activate the Memory Altar and then at the same time sink his consciousness into a stone tablet. Everything he read and experienced in the tablet would get recorded into the Memory Sphere. Some of the techniques included demonstrations of different techniques by an ancient cultivator, the remnant feel of a certain type of aura, or even the roar of an ancient beast. All were guides to perfect comprehension of their respective abilities.

With the memory sphere to copy it all down, Sage slowly built up a virtual version of this library. He recognized the value of all this knowledge and also his own limits. A genius cultivator with overflowing talent might learn a whole set of techniques and use the probably marvelous training equipment in the training room to advance rapidly. Sage on the other hand knew it would probably take him weeks to learn each of the techniques he saw in front of him. It was certainly a waste for him not to use the training room, especially when he still had the old man’s first ‘gift’ fresh in his mind. He understood that he needed to increase his own personal power, but at the same time he knew his own limits.

His talent was limited, so he had to gain outside assistance to progress. If he had more time he would be using the assistance of the training room to improve. This seemed like just what he was looking for to boost his strength. At least, it would be so for a genius. They would need these special methods to become even more powerful than they already are. Sage on the other hand knew of dozens of methods that could make him more powerful if he just had the resources. Without even including the hundreds of helpful alchemical pills, special foods, or natural treasures… the Holy Flame Sect had the Sunfire Pagoda. The Sunfire Pagoda has eleven different types of training with nine levels of intensity for each type. Sage had only been into two or three of them. He’d saved for years to make the final push in the Sunfire Pagoda that had broke him through the bottleneck and pushed him into forming his Qi Sea to reach Rank 3.

If he made a copy of just one or two of these sets and contributed them to the Sect he would gain an immense amount of contribution points. The expedition to the Soul Taming Abode had earned him ten thousand points last time, and that was just for discovering the library. The Peak Master and other elders had been there to claim the real gains. If he was the sole beneficiary of turning in a set of techniques like this, Sage could only imagine how many contribution points he could earn. The old man didn’t give him any rules in this regard about not sharing or distributing the techniques, so he wasn’t going to be shy.

The real reason Sage felt it would be okay was the second gift. That mysterious state the old man had pushed him into was actually imparting a special technique directly into his mind. He knew he couldn’t share this technique with anyone else, even against his own will. It was like there was a seal in his head locking the knowledge. He could pass through the seal, but if the seal was broken then that part of his mind would destroy itself. The technique was so profound and complicated that Sage guessed it would take him months if not years to fully master it. For now he had only barely scratched the surface of what it was and what it could do.

The strange state he had been in where he saw his memories flying past was a method of preparing his mind to accept the technique. It was like how certain Qi Techniques required specific Qi Pores to be opened up before they could be performed. Or how some Qi Cultivation Techniques needed certain meridians to be strengthened to unusual levels. The way his memories were sorted and organized in his mind were miraculously reorganized by the old man’s energy when he touched Sage’s forehead. As it was now, Sage could not yet begin to try practicing the technique as he still needed more time to let the changes sink in. The time he had been asleep was just barely enough for him to recover to a state where he could properly differentiate between the past and present. Before he had fallen asleep he was unable to tell what he was experiencing directly with his senses and what he was just vividly remembering.

Currently he could once again separate past and present, but it was still hard for him to draw up specific memories. When he touched upon the area of his mind where the new technique was waiting for him he was able to call up the basic description, but not yet ready to start training it.

The technique was called ‘Timeless Eyes’.