The next morning, Darius walked towards the Great Library with zest. He had long since noticed that he was carefully being tailed by some assassins who had concealed themselves quite smartly.
Unfortunately, Darius had thought of a way to counter such things during his 5-year seclusion, and among the slew of spells he had leaned was one belonging to the Spirit element.
[Soul Sense - Level 1 Spell
Grade: Intermediate
Cost: 10 MP
Description: Send out waves of spirit force in all directions, echolocating all other spirits/souls within a certain range of yourself. The range is 100 meters.]
This was a supremely useful skill. No matter who or what, everything that existed had a spirit or soul, especially among orthodox races.
There might be entities like automatons or machines that had neither spirit nor soul, but Darius would find ways to guard against such things when he had the means.
It was with this skill that he had sensed the same three spirits trailing him for more than 10 kilometers. No matter what, even if they were going to the exact same destination as him, there was no way they would use the same street.
Not to mention that they passed alleyways or rooftops. Which sane citizens jumped across rooftops during the broad daylight?
Unfortunately, there wasn't any Journeyman skill that could let him detect the level of hostility a person held towards him remotely. Something like that was at the Adept level, so Darius could only use this method.
Coupled with the fact that he knew for a fact that Deia's church would be either trying to investigate or kill him, it was easy enough to guess who they were.
Darius entered the Great Library, frustrating the fellows who were tailing him since they could not enter for obvious reasons. As such, they remained waiting outside, pretending to be various types of people over time to keep their anonymity.
Darius headed for the top floor, where the stairs led to two large doors that blocked out all entry. In front of the door were a few fellows who were submitting various information they thought was unique in order to acquire access to restricted knowledge.
There were two lines, one for those submitting through writing or oral, and another for those from Gravitas who were submitting from their databanks. Darius walked past the empty line and connected his HoloBrace to a blue-gold terminal that looked far more impressive than the ones used below.
"Daddy, this terminal has wireless capabilities, so there's no need for me to plug-in!" Miranda reported to Darius directly through his nerves into his mind.
Darius nodded. He noticed that the terminal was activated and displaying some rules and guidelines for submitting information. Darius read through it, and placed his membership card into a slot so it could scan his identity.
From what he could see, information in the restricted section was separated into 5 categories; Technology, Culture, History, Professional and Magical.
One could read as many books from one section as they wanted within their reading time. If you had ways to scan the information or memorize it with a flip, that was up to you.
God Krona would be too short-sighted and despised if he acted greedily at this juncture, for access to restricted knowledge was given through fair exchange. Anyway, a deity like him only benefited or increased his divine power when new knowledge was provided.
Knowing all the restricted stuff in the world was just a flavor to him.
However, the rules were that one could only use their acquired reading time in the section of info they themselves provided. In other words, if Darius provided unique Magical knowledge worth 5 hours reading time, he could only peruse restricted knowledge in that section and was forbidden from touching any of the other four categories.
"Miranda, provide entry-level information on Technology from Earth, featuring modern weaponry in contrast to Gravitas magitech. Also provide entry-level Culture from Earth, about the breath and magnificence of racial cultures across the world from language, to dance, to food."
"After that, give entry-level knowledge on Earth's History. Highlight the various wars that occurred and the philosophies behind them. As for Professional, share some of the business tactics and their benefits I myself used on Earth."
"Finally, for Magical, hmm… let's tackle it like this, share the Scientific Method of Earth as well as the basics of Chemistry, Physics, and Biology." Darius ordered after pondering.
Miranda acknowledge his instructions and complied the information before transferring it. The terminal opposite Darius got to work digesting and verifying the information.
Looking at the other line, Darius could see that there was a crystal orb hovering on a table. When information was penned or spoken, it would respond in a slow tone, telling the provider if their information was unique or not, as well as if it were false or not.
If the person succeeded, it would inform them of how many reading hours they had been granted, as well as the rules they should take note of. Darius smiled softly as he guessed that it was either an avatar or consciousness of the God himself.
After all, what better way to verify if the information was true than to see if it strengthens you? If the God of Knowledge felt his Divine Power growing, he would know that your information was unique and true, and he would reward you reading hours based on the quality of his power growth.
It was a good idea. This made Darius wonder as to how much his information would power up the deity. He chose to use Earth's knowledge because it was a fact that Earth existed.
All the information he was providing was true and no one ever said it had to be limited to Faust.
Well, if it didn't work, he would simply shrug and leave, not bothered that Krona would 'get free info' because it would mean that Earth's information was useless on Faust.
This was literally the best way for Darius to check whether he could implement certain things into Faust to increase his arsenal and power base!
For one, introducing nuclear weapons!
