"Furan, right..."
"Yes."
"The items you wanted to exchange for are here. This card is the keycard for the first floor of the Library; you can take it to the Library. The copies of both books are here."
Furan received the items from an old man. The two books were not very thick; she could easily pick them up with one hand.
"Finally, I must remind you that none of the knowledge exchanged using points can be widely disseminated. The consequences could be severe."
"Alright..." Furan's expression didn't change much. These rules probably didn't concern her, as she was essentially selling the books indirectly.
This wide dissemination rule doesn't actually restrict someone from passing the book to the next person after finishing it; small acts of gifting in between are ignored.
The regulated wide dissemination refers to printing the books on a large scale and giving a copy to everyone who joins your club; that constitutes mass dissemination.
It had nothing to do with her. The person controlled was the one doing the dissemination, regardless of who exchanged points for the knowledge.
She didn't rush out of the room to exchange these books for silver coins. Instead, she decided to take a quick look. After all, she was the one who got them first, so glancing at them wouldn't be too much, right?
She closed the book *The Structure of the Soul* when she flipped to the third page. It was full of specialized terms—'Detectable Aim Point,' 'Soul Raw Material,' 'Lakshi Combination Method'—that she couldn't understand at all. Since the panel didn't show any prompts, she stopped reading.
*Star Chart and the Sea*, however, completely overturned her understanding of books. She opened it to find large areas covered in images, with only a few spots containing text annotations, which surprisingly allowed her, someone who only half-understood things, to keep reading.
It wasn't until her head started aching that she realized she had read half the book. The old man, meanwhile, casually opened a book to read, completely ignoring her.
Furan closed the book and walked out. By any measure, she had stayed a bit too long; it was time for her to leave.
On the way, she silently called up her panel, and sure enough, something new had appeared in the Skill section.
[Star Gazing Technique (Uninitiated) (Proficiency: 2/10): You can predict upcoming events based on the arrangement of stars in the night sky, but you find it difficult to pinpoint the direction of the prediction.]
She tried to recall it in her mind, but her brain still felt empty, containing only the few diagrams from the book and no other knowledge.
She knew it was because she hadn't truly learned it. If she had genuinely become initiated, a flood of knowledge would suddenly appear, just like when she leveled up her herbalism-related Skills.
Furan handed the items to Milanke, who gave her a pile of coins. She counted them; it was exactly 50 silver coins.
With this money, she had to figure out how to spend the sum next.
In fact, she could go all-in on Magic Stones and just practice with them for the next three months, as she wouldn't have money to practice anything else.
Of course, she didn't want to do that. Her plan was to first buy dozens of portions of grey tree root and soul-entwining vine to raise the level of the Harmony Method, then buy a few portions of materials needed to normally brew potions, make a few bottles, and then assess the price.
She estimated that buying all of this might only cost a dozen silver coins; she would save the rest and wait to see what other needs arose.
Her goal wasn't just to pass the year-end Assessment and avoid going to the Battlefield; she also wanted to use this panel to gain the ability to protect herself in this world.
Simply learning a few Spells wouldn't guarantee peace of mind after leaving the academy. Her current goal was to first become a Formal Mage.
Just as she was thinking and walking, she saw an Apprentice walking toward her who seemed to look at her and then quickly turn his head away, right as she shifted her gaze toward him.
That Apprentice actually turned around and ran away immediately, not even giving her time to think about it carefully.
Furan frowned. She knew instinctively that there was definitely something wrong with the Apprentice running away the moment he saw her, but she couldn't do anything about it.
Currently, she had no Skills whatsoever, like a Blank Slate Mage who knew nothing. If a fight really broke out, that Apprentice's sandbag-sized fist could probably take her down twice.
Fortunately, the management of Emerald Academy was good; Apprentices were not allowed to harm other Apprentices. However, this incident gave her a sense of urgency, reminding her that she needed to quickly develop some Combat Capability.
---
The fleeing Apprentice turned several corners and finally stopped in front of a house without a sign. He knocked four times according to the secret code, waited two seconds, and then opened the door directly.
Inside, he saw a person cutting a rat's body with a scalpel. When that person saw him arrive, he slowly paused.
"Boss Richter... I..."
Seeing that he couldn't organize his thoughts for a long time, Richter interrupted him directly.
"Calm down and then speak. Stop rambling about useless things..."
The Apprentice took two breaths before continuing to speak.
"It's like this, Boss. Last time you asked me to find an Apprentice, kill him, and bring the body back. I searched for a long time before finding an Apprentice who hadn't left his room for a long time..."
Richter listened to his account while tidying up his instruments.
"After I used your Drive Evil Spirit Scroll, I personally watched that Apprentice die under the Evil Spirit. I had originally planned to transport the body a few days later, but the day after I used it, I discovered that the Apprentice had gone out to buy Medicinal Herbs..."
At this point, the Apprentice's voice began to tremble. It was clear that he was terrified, as it was quite frightening for someone presumed dead to get back up.
Richter also became interested and began to carefully inquire about the specific process of the operation.
"Did you follow the instructions I marked, attach your perspective to the Evil Spirit, then directly order the Evil Spirit to launch a Spiritual Attack on the target, and finally confirm that his Spiritual Power had dissipated?"
"Yes... I did exactly that. I specifically commanded the Evil Spirit to ensure the target's Spiritual Power was scattered... After using the scroll, I felt mentally drained for several days, and since many people were in the Dormitory during that time, I decided to wait a few days first."
"Interesting... You didn't go to that Apprentice's room to check, did you?"
"No, I didn't go. I was afraid of attracting attention."
The reason Richter instructed this Apprentice to kill another Apprentice was that 'High-level Apprentices' like them had privileges, and he just happened to need an Apprentice's corpse.
Naturally, all of this had to be done secretly. If this matter were exposed, no privilege would be effective. So, he arranged for this Apprentice to search because he trusted the Apprentice's capability and didn't need to act personally.
The benefit of not doing it himself was that if the matter was exposed, he could righteously cut ties, and given his status as a 'High-level Apprentice,' he would at most lose some other things.
Why did that Apprentice 'die' and then come back to life? He was intrigued by this.
However, he currently had more important matters and couldn't investigate this right now.
"Just keep an eye on that Apprentice. I'll give you the Spell you requested after you complete this task."