Chapter 13 - Greencrest City Library!

With a satisfied smile on his face, Raymond went back up to his room again and took a shower. After washing away the sweat, Raymond decided to take a stroll around town. He could cultivate more if he wanted to, but Raymond didn't want his entire life to just be cultivation session after cultivation session. He didn't mind cultivation itself, but he wanted to relax and enjoy himself a bit too, if not, what's the point of living?

Walking around the marketplace, Raymond bought a bunch of different snacks and foods from stalls along the way. Some of them tasted absolutely delicious, whilst others tasted pretty bland. Raymond enjoyed a lot of taste, and bland food was almost a sin in his book, which is why he decided to buy himself some spices that he could always carry with him. If he encountered food without taste, he could always spice it up a little himself right?

Luckily for Raymond, the prices of spices were pretty cheap. Compared to his old world, where some spices were worth their weight in gold, here, they were all pretty cheap. This was mostly because there was an abundance of them, and people didn't really use them that much. After supplying himself with a few different spices and condiments Raymond was at a loss. He didn't feel like going back to cultivate just yet, but he was also unsure of what else there was to do.

He was a man from the 21st century, after all, he was used to the vast amount of entertainment that was only a few clicks away from him. To be in a world without phones, TVs or the internet is less glamorous than it might seem sometimes. If there was one hobby that Raymond had, that he might be able to keep doing in this world, it would be reading. He was unsure about the level of literacy and how widespread literature was in this world, but since he didn't know, he just needed to find out.

Plenty of big cities had libraries, and although Greencrest city wasn't the biggest, it still had a library. After getting directions, Raymond noticed that the library also seemed to be located close to the city lord's mansion. Maybe it was a coincidence, but Raymond was pretty sure that most of the important establishments were close to the city lord's mansion. As for why, he wasn't completely sure yet.

It would naturally be convenient for the city lord and his people if every major establishment was next door, but to keep it that way, the city lord probably had to pay some kind of price. What Raymond didn't know was that he was only half right. The city lord did give them some minor benefits, but it was also because the city lord was strong. Which place would be the safest if the city was attacked? Next to the nearest expert of course, and the city lord was the strongest expert in the entire city.

The public library was a little hard to find, at least harder than Raymond had expected at first. The reason it was a little hard to find was because of Raymond's expectations. He was expecting a large and grand library that would be easy to spot. What he didn't expect was that the library only had a single floor, a pretty small one at that. Raymond still tried to be optimistic about the whole situation, but after entering the library, his expression darkened.

The shelves were covered in dust, and the air was pretty stuffy. To be able to read the books, Raymond had to pay for a token that he could use to access the library. With it, he could read as much as he wanted inside of the library, and he was also allowed to borrow a book at a time. Although it wasn't the best, at least he could still find something interesting to read.

It became pretty apparent that the literacy level of this world was a bit behind when Raymond went around and looked at the different books. Most of the books related to martial arts in one way or another, whilst the others had a lot to do with more simple and mundane stuff. Raymond thought that it might be because the library wanted to cater to ordinary people that couldn't understand more difficult concepts and more complicated literature. But after seeing the amount of dust that had accumulated over time, it was obvious that most people simply weren't interested in reading.

If they had time to read a book, then they had time to either train or earn money. This was the mindset that people in this world usually had. Then again, maybe this all just applied to this particular city, Raymond had no way of being sure yet. That isn't to say that there were absolutely no interesting books at all because after looking around for a while, Raymond still found a few that piqued his interest. To begin with, he picked out a novel that he could bring with him when he left, as well as an encyclopedia on demonic beasts.

Next to one of the few windows in the library stood an old wooden table and a few chairs. Taking a seat, Raymond was quickly engrossed in reading the encyclopedia on demonic beasts. Even though the book was a factual book, and it wasn't really made to be interesting, Raymond found it fascinating. I mean, who wouldn't find it fascinating to learn more about the myriads of different beasts and species that existed in the world?

Time passed quickly whilst he read, and before he knew it, 3 entire hours had already passed. Although he felt that it was a bit of a bummer, Raymond left the encyclopedia behind for now and left the library. There were a few other interesting books that he wanted to read, but for now, he decided to just borrow an interesting novel. Since he was going to spend a lot of time cultivating, he wanted to have something fun to do in his downtime.

According to the librarian, he could borrow the novel for a month before he had to return it, and the later he returned it, the more he had to pay. If it was way too late, his token would be revoked too, but Raymond wasn't planning on that anyway. In the worst-case scenario, he wouldn't be able to access the library. Since he would still be able to use libraries in other cities, Raymond didn't really think too much about it. He wasn't going to stay in this city forever anyways, it was just a temporary stop.

His topmost priority was to get into the Silver Sword Pavilion through the tournament that would be held in half a year, but there was nothing stopping him from attending the tournament in another city. For now though, Raymond just wanted to get more familiar with this world and get stronger gradually whilst doing so.. The only cultivation criteria he had to meet was to reach the 3rd revolution of body-refining in 6 months, but Raymond wasn't satisfied with just participating in the tournament. If he was going to participate, he had to place in the top ten at the very least!