Darius handed over his membership card and his entry was logged. He walked past the speechless woman who was the clerk for the Magical Section without looking at her.
She shook her head and refocused on the book she was reading before then. As for Darius, he entered the void-like area that made up this section and gazed at the floating bubbles of information hovering around him.
With higher stats than before, he was able to notice a lot more. For one, the sizes of the bubbles were slightly different, and the physical distance from himself and them was not as great as he thought.
The farthest he could sense was about 1,000 kilometers from where he stood. Based on Darius already acquired knowledge from below as well as himself as a base, he guessed that one needed a total of 1,000 points of Intellect and at least Elementary Psychomancy to reach that far.
After all, the current him could only stretch out about 150 kilometers from where he stood, which coincided with his150 points of Intellect.
If the Grandmaster stage truly was 200 points and beyond, then even Grandmasters should not be able to achieve this feat. This would explain God Krona's confidence when he was negotiating with Darius.
Darius had already formed a hypothesis that if Gods existed in the area between Supreme and Grandmaster, they must have at least 500 points in each stat (or the stats that are relevant to their Divine Attribute) and at most 1000 points.
Darius set a limit for 1,000 because he could not fathom what power would look like beyond that, and he was only establishing a hypothesis in the first place.
He believed he would be to verify his theory once he got more stat points and climbed to higher stages.
Darius began using his mind to connect with as many bubbles as he could. Not only that, he took out one of the many Rare Intellect Boost Potions he had transmuted and drank them.
With this, it was easy for Miranda to use his body as a sort of hub or springboard to download the information in the bubbles. This was what separated Darius from those who normally came here.
Even if they could connect to all these bubbles - or at least, those within their range - they would have to absorb this information slowly as they would overburden their minds otherwise.
Like a librarian, they would pick up the books and neatly arrange them on categorized shelves so that they could review that information properly on their own.
This would take time depending on how much each person could reach in terms of the bubbles of info and how sturdy their minds were.
Just to handle information within 1 km, Darius estimated that the slowest person would take about a week. This was why the people would spend hours at a time to come here and absorb the info that they could acquire.
With Miranda, Darius skipped the second stage. The AI being able to instantly categorize and continuously receive endless information with her capabilities, so all Darius needed to do was increase his Int so he could reach even farther.
The amount of time he had, whether 25,000 hours or just 25 minutes, was not the issue at all and had never been. It had been an issue of stats, which was why Darius had attempted to increase his by using Lord Darm's Event and why he had made the potions in the first place.
It only took Miranda about 20 minutes to clear everything within 375 kilometers. After all, the Rare Intellect Boost Potion increased Intellect and Learning Capabilities by 150% for 1 hour.
This was enough to greatly enhance Darius' magical knowledge after he returned to digest it, so he left the Magical section, happy with his gains.
Outwardly, however, he wore a frown as he moved to the Culture section.
The clerks noticed this and smiled. They were used to seeing such things and it seemed even the almighty fellow who had exchanged for 25,000 hours couldn't escape the clever scheme their God had created.
Then again, it was normal. How could a 20-year old looking fellow outsmart the God of Knowledge that had lived since the beginning of time itself? Simply impossible!
Darius entered the Culture section and swept through 375 kilometers of information in about the same amount of time. When he exited once more, he wore an even darker expression that made the clerks smirk with schadenfreude.
Heh, as expected, God Krona was the sharpest of them all! Their deity was truly one with endless foresight, wisdom, and clarity of mind!
Darius then went into the History section and did the same. However, by the time he exited, his one hour of Enlightenment had come to an end, so his aggrieved expression was somewhat real.
He then locked onto the Professional section and greedily absorbed all the information with the same range from there after drinking another Rare Intellect Boost Potion.
Darius prized this and the final section's information the most.
After clearing the Technology section out, he eventually went back for his membership card and snatched it rudely from the clerk, glaring at all five of them before stomping his way out.
However, none of the five were offended or bothered, rather they smiled playfully, their eyes curling into crescents.
Another one duped, hehe!
This was the second time he had come, but just like a junkie, he would be back for more after digesting what he had gained today.
All of them were the same.
This wasn't some cheap info like the one down below.
This was the knowledge that even the God of Knowledge felt was too precious and valuable to give out easily, so one could imagine just what amazing things were hidden in there.
A little know fact was that their best customers had always been those who had tasted the restricted knowledge, despite those down below outnumbering them by the thousands.
They would become like servants of God Krona, going crazy to search for or create unique information just to exchange for a few more reading hours.
This was how it had always been since before each of them were here and also how it would always be.
