"The Fourth Tier... The Profound Tier Arts," Lin Feng gulped.
"Only Elders and the Sect Master can enter. It requires a massive amount of Contribution Points, thousands of Spirit Stones, and the direct permission of the Sect Master. It contains the secret legacy of Sect and its founders, the Heaven Devouring Wolf Art."
The Caretaker, an old man with dirty white hair, smoking a pipe with a bored expression, leaned over his desk, tapped his long pipe.
"Are you done whispering, boy?"
He gestured dismissively to the dusty shelves on the ground floor.
"If you want to read it all, then start with the trash on the ground floor. Help yourself. Just don't drool on the pages. Paper is scarce here."
T-800 was waiting for this, a direct permission. "I will read the trash."
The Caretaker snorted. "Suit yourself."
T-800 walked to the first shelf. He picked up a thick, dust-covered book titled Commentary on the Origin of Spiritual Roots.
He opened the first page.
Flip.
Second page.
Flip.
Third page.
Flip.
To everyone else, it looked like he was dusting off the book or fanning himself with the book. He turned the pages so fast the paper almost tore.
His eyes didn't move left to right; they remained fixed on the center of the pages, his internal high-speed camera eyes capturing the text, diagrams, and footnotes instantly.
[Text digitized. OCR complete. Cross-referencing... storing.]
Flip. Flip. Flip. Slam.
He closed the book after ten seconds, filling every page. He put it back and pulled the next one. Atlas of the Four Eternities Jungle.
Flip. Flip. Flip.
"Hey!" The Caretaker shouted, standing up. "What are you doing? I told you not to play around! If you aren't going to read, get out!"
Lin Feng looked anxious. "Master Tie Yuan... you are... merely glancing at them? Perhaps we should find one good book and study it slowly?"
T-800 didn't stop. He grabbed two bamboo scrolls at once, unrolling them. His head swiveled left, then right.
[Data point acquired: The "Dantian" is a bio-metaphysical storage organ located two inches below the navel.]
[Data point acquired: "Meridians" are energy channels acting like a vascular system for Qi.]
[Data point acquired: Skin pores connected to Meridians function as sensors to scan for environmental Spirit Energy.]
Within twenty minutes, the T-800 had physically scanned every single book on the first three shelves. He had absorbed the basic geography, the political history of this prison realm and the fundamental theory of Qi.
The Caretaker sat back down, shaking his head. "Mad. A madman. Or an illiterate posing as a scholar. Just my luck…"
If it was anyone else, he would have thrashed them out but T-800 intimidating size and Enforcer's outfit made him only grumble, observe and mumble under his breath, he will report this to Elder Jin later.
T-800 stopped at the section labeled Cultivation Methods. He picked up a fragile book: Introduction to the Five Elements Breathing.
[Analysis of Qi Absorption Process.]
[Step 1: Mind guides the Spirit Energy.]
[Step 2: Spirit Energy enters pores.]
[Step 3: Refined in Meridians.]
[Step 4: Stored in Dantian as liquid gas.]
The T-800 neural engine found the problem with his own Artificial & Synthetic physiology as per the new data points.
[Problem Detected.]
[T-800 Unit 101.]
[Anatomy: Hyper-alloy Endoskeleton. Nuclear Power Cell.]
[Absence of Meridians: Confirmed.]
[Absence of Spirit Roots: Confirmed.]
[Absence of Organic Dantian: Confirmed.]
He cannot cultivate. Not like a human.
However, his earlier logs showed his Power Cell efficiency increased by 200% after absorbing the ambient radiation of this energy.
[Hypothesis: The Nuclear Power Cell is functioning as an artificial Dantian.]
[Hypothesis: Nanobots distributed throughout the Living Tissue and Endoskeleton act as artificial Meridians.]
But it was all passive, nothing active like these methods are describing. He needs a method to consciously draw the energy in, rather than passively waiting for it like a solar power cell.
The books described "meditation" and "visualization." Would that work on him, he has no reference point to clear this doubt.
T-800 approached the Caretaker. The old man looked up, annoyed.
"Done destroying my books? I will report you to Elder Jin and ban you from the library, now begone!"
"Question," T-800 ignored the threat. "If a cultivator has no Meridians... can they circulate Qi?"
The Caretaker stared at him. Then he laughed wheezily, started coughing smoke as he felt choking hearing that question.
He could tell that this brute has no cultivation and maybe that's why he is here to learn cultivation, and this question means he has no meridians in him.
"No Meridians? That's a cripple. Or a walking corpse in my eyes. Without meridians, Qi is just... wind. It comes in, it goes out. It doesn't stay."
"Can metal hold Qi?"
The Caretaker stopped laughing. He frowned, stroking his beard. He didn't understand the connecting point of this question, how does this relate to not having meridians.
"Metal? Of course. That is what Spirit Weapons are. Ores like Blackvein Iron or Star-fall Steel have natural 'veins' that can conduct Qi. A blacksmith forges them to channel power. But those are spirit metals to begin with, mortal metal has no such spirit veins in them and I don't know anymore about it."
"I need more data on human meridians. And Spirit Weapon."
The Caretaker scoffed. "Meridian charts are in the medical section, Shelf 4. Spirit Weapon forging diagrams? That's a profession. We don't have blueprints here, only general theory. If you want blueprints, go buy a sword and break it open. Or go to Sect's Forge…"
T-800 walked to Shelf 4.
"Rude…" The caretaker noted the rudeness of T-800.
T-800 picked up the Divine Doctor's Guide to Acupoints.
He scanned the human diagram.
He overlayed it with his own internal schematics in his internal knowledge base.
[Human Dantian position matches: Auxiliary Power Couplings.]
His neural engine has found a theory for himself.
T-800 didn't stop after it, he continued to read every book and scroll and in two hours he finished everything.
"Lin Feng," T-800 turned.
"Y-Yes, Master?" Lin Feng was currently reading a book on basic herbs, trying to be useful.
"We are leaving. I have all the trash data."
"Already?! But... Master…" He wanted to say how it is possible but stopped himself.
The T-800 turned to the exit. Lin Feng could see the annoyance and hostility in the caretaker 's eyes.
"Master…" Lin Feng quickly came forward and bowed at Tie Yuan.
T-800 paused and looked at him.