In the library, Ray went inside a room with the caretaker of the library. The library caretaker had given Ray a challenge to be accepted by the relic. If the relic accepted Ray, then he would be given four days to read all the books—but these four days were worth one year outside, inside a formation. So, Ray walked toward the relic.
The caretaker had tried this method countless times on the geniuses of the royal kingdom and nobles who were allowed entry with a pass like Ray. But every single time, he had been disappointed. He was so disheartened that the task had become more of a chore given to him by his master long ago. The caretaker was not in high spirits, nor did he have any hope for Ray. He was simply doing his duty—brooming the floor, not even looking at Ray, thinking he too would fail like the others.
Ray, who walked toward the relic, saw the same type of relic he had found in the Qi Stage Vault. He tried the same method as before—attempting to feel the relic with his matrix—and boom! he felt it. The next second, the relic went inside him. Again, the same warning appeared. But this time, Ray was prepared. Even though he felt the same amount of pain, his preparation helped him endure it.
On the other side, the caretaker, who was brooming the floor, heard a groaning sound. Ray had fallen down after absorbing the relic. The caretaker saw Ray shouting and rolling left and right and knew that Ray had done something unbelievable. His eyes went wide with surprise.
Quickly, the caretaker rushed over and began giving Ray soul pills, activating a soul cultivation formation. Then, he started throwing soul cultivation stones around Ray.
This actually helped Ray to feel less pain and allowed him to absorb the relic faster. The pain lasted for quite a while, but the system error and rebooting took even longer.
[Warning: System Error]
[Rebooting]
[Warning: System Error]
[Rebooting]
[Warning: System Error]
[Rebooting]
[Fixing the Error]
After hundreds of errors and reboots, a new notification appeared, stating that the error was being fixed. Ray felt the pain beginning to lessen.
Another few new tabs appeared:
[Matrix System absorbing an ancient relic]
[The system completely absorbed the ancient relic.]
[Update Complete]
After absorbing the ancient technological relic, he reactivated his system to check for updates.
[Name: Ray Walker]
[Spiritual Cultivation: Not Awakened]
[Soul Cultivation: 7th Wood Stage]
[System: 2/3]
[Attributes:]
Strength: 8 (+3)
Stamina: 10 (+5)
Health: 135 (+20)
Agility: 15 (+3)
Intelligence: 18 (+3)
[Swordsmanship | Formation | Talisman | Library | Ancient Relic]
After clicking on the Ancient Relic tab, he saw more details:
[Ancient Relic: 2/9]
[Information: ???]
[You need to learn an ancient language to understand this information.]
He had managed to break through twice in a single day. He was now at the peak of the 7th Wood Stage in soul cultivation. He clenched both fists in excitement—he was very close to the Iron Stage. If he could reach the Iron Stage, he could start building his army soon. He needed more people to protect himself from both King Daymond and enemies like Montclair.
He couldn't stay on the system screen for long, as the caretaker asked if he was alright. Ray looked at the caretaker and nodded in confirmation.
The caretaker then asked, "Do you know what the relic does? Did it say anything to you or give any hint?"
Ray shook his head and said, "I cannot understand at all. What is this? Does it help me in cultivation?"
The caretaker shook his head and said, "My master tried absorbing it by force before, and it almost killed him with the backlash. Then he had a vision that, in the future, someone would appear who could receive this relic. He sent me to this place and told me to wait for that person. And in exchange, he asked me to request that, if our kingdom is ever in trouble, you help."
Ray asked, "Which kingdom are you talking about?"
The caretaker shook his head. "You are too weak to know of that kingdom. So let's forget about this talk—for now. We should focus on the current problem. In this kingdom, the inventors are facing trouble because of King Daymond. It seems the third concubine brought you here because of that."
Ray nodded and asked, "Can you help us?"
The caretaker shook his head. "I can't—because my cultivation is far higher than this realm can handle. If I activate my cultivation, the lower realm will not allow me to remain here and will forcefully eject me elsewhere. I'm only staying here using a special formation. My master anticipated this problem in his vision.
"So he gave me three things to pass on to you as an advance payment. First is the relic—which you've already absorbed. Second is the time formation that will allow you to cultivate faster and grow stronger. And the third is this library. You can read all the books here whenever you like."
Ray then asked, "Will the king not stop me from coming to the library again?"
The caretaker had been waiting for this question. He handed Ray a teleportation talisman. With this, Ray could teleport to the library from anywhere. He could also use this talisman when in danger. Additionally, he could set up a location and teleport back to that point whenever needed.
Ray became excited upon receiving this reward. But it seemed the caretaker had more to say, so Ray waited for him to finish.
The caretaker, who had been speaking with a smile, suddenly turned serious. He looked at Ray and said, "When I came to this realm tens of thousands of years ago, I arrived with my young master. My young master created the Richard Kingdom, and it lasted for a long time. His cultivation reached the peak of the Golden Stage, and when he went beyond that, the lower realm sent him to the upper realm upon his breakthrough.
"Long story short, his descendants have been ruling this kingdom generation after generation. But in this generation, there's a problem. I cannot help them directly—but I need you to help the current descendants of my young master."
Ray asked, "How can I help your young master's descendants when I'm this weak?"
"To do that, you need to meet someone. Follow me. He will tell you what to do," the caretaker said.
Ray followed the caretaker into another room, which was secretly protected by a formation. Inside, Ray met a person—or more accurately, a soul. And what shocked him most was that the soul in front of him was none other than Daymond himself.