Alex continued reading some more books. After Geography, he went for History to learn not just about the land, but also the people that lived in it, the stories that took place in it.
He learned about how the Wei family, the current royal family of the Luminance empire came into existence, how their patriarch at the time used his exceptional poison art to win a war against other factions to become the emperor some 5000 years ago.
It also said that the patriarch then died fighting off invaders from other continents, although records of those fights were rather sparse.
It mentioned how the Families of the 7 colors came into existence. Alex read the name of the 7 great families and recognized 2 of them.
Fu family, a family that mostly used Fire techniques was the same Fu family as the one Fu Tao had been from.
They represented the Red color in the 7 colors, which consisted of Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Brown, Black, and White.
The royal Wei family donned the color purple, and could also be considered a pseudo-member of the Family of the 7 Colors, but they were far above the others in reputation, so only a few considered it.
Alex went on to read about the other historical events, one of which caught his eyes.
Nearly 1300 years ago, the western continent was shone bright with light from a meteor shower.
People from all over the empire said stories of the meteor striking close to them, and from those crash sites, people had discovered a lot of different types of weapons, artifacts, techniques, and many other things.
Alex reckoned that most consumables such as talismans and pills should have been destroyed by now, but the techniques and artifacts, as well as formations flags, should have been usable.
There were at least 3000 different instances of meteor strikes that were accounted for, and like more that weren't.
Alex wondered if there were some that he would be able to find as well, but he doubted that given how long it had been.
However, he did then read about secret realms popping up out of nowhere around most crash sites, especially in places that had a lot of different items in them, so he still had hope.
He then went on to read about the history of different sects and people that had appeared in the world. Most of the sect information only gave a vague description about the sects and Alex would likely have to find information about them from someplace else.
A few of the historical figures caught his eyes, but aside from them, there weren't a lot of extraordinary figures.
He continued reading for a little longer until the book ended up at the history of about a hundred years ago. Information about the last century would just be considered information and not history.
Alex wondered what he should read next and decided to go with a book that gave information on the various plants and beasts.
He knew most about the plants, but he read it with the hope that it would have more information than what he could find in the Crimson Empire.
As for beasts, with the lack of a game system to help guide him, every single piece of information would be vital for him.
He spent the next 4 hours learning about the plants and animals. After he was finished, he put those books back and decided to leave the library.
In total, he had spent about 22 True Spirit stones on those 4 books. While the one with geography didn't cost must, the others cost him somewhere between 5 and 8 True spirit stones.
Alex had also noticed a bunch of techniques in the library that he could learn from, but he decided not to get them and left.
When Alex walked out of the library, he was a little shocked.
"It's already night?" he thought as he looked around. The daylight had already disappeared, and darkness had taken its place.
The moon reigned high in the sky where the sun previously hung. It wasn't just evening, but actual night.
Alex wouldn't doubt it if someone told him it was close to midnight.
Still, it didn't look like it mattered that it was night. The city still roared and shouted like the lack of sunlight couldn't stop it.
Shops and services still were available everywhere Alex looked towards.
And for some reason, everyone else looked towards him as well. He couldn't walk 5 paces without someone turning their heads towards him.
They wouldn't linger on him for much longer, but he was starting to wonder why they were doing so.
'Am I that skinny looking?' he wondered as he checked his right hand. Indeed, he was skinny as a skeleton, but that should not bring this much attention back towards him.
'I should go cultivate more,' he thought, becoming more self-conscious towards his skinny body.
He could have gone to the Alchemy guild as he had wanted to, but he decided to go look for a tavern instead.
Avoiding the gazes of the people as much as possible, Alex located a place that said he could rent a place to stay.
It didn't look like a tavern, but Alex still went inside.
The moment he entered, the clerk looked towards him with his eyes narrowed.
"How may I help you, Fellow Daoist?" the man spoke.
"I'm looking for a place to stay," Alex said.
"We have places that cost 10 True spirit stones a month to places that cost 100 True Spirit stones a day. Which one would you like, Fellow Daoist?" the man asked.
Alex was a little surprised. The price difference was so much.
"What is the reason for such difference, if I may ask," Alex said.
"It's the facilities, fellow Daoist. As may be required, we have houses with training halls, Alchemy room, formation rooms, and other various rooms all fitted with top of the notch formations for your smooth rests and cultivation," the man said.
"Oh," Alex finally understood. He thought for a moment and realized he didn't need any of the facilities. He was going to spend most of the time outside of his house anyway and was also going to leave this town very soon anyway.
Still, he didn't want one that was completely worthless. So, he asked, "Is there one that costs about 10 spirit stones a week?"
"Of course, fellow Daoist," the man said as he handed Alex a talisman to look over.
When Alex looked at it, he was a little surprised. He hadn't expected the places he was going to rent to be actual houses on the outskirts of the town.
He had just expected them to be rooms in a tavern somewhere.
He looked through the list and chose one. "This," he said and told the man.
The man looked at it and nodded. "How many weeks would you like to stay, sir?" he asked.
Alex thought for a moment and asked a question of his own. "I heard there was an auction that was going to take place here soon. May I know when that is?"
"Yes, the Three Faction's auction will take place in 2 weeks," the man said.
"Then 2 weeks," Alex said and brought out 20 True spirit stones.
Once Alex got the talisman that acted as the key to the house, he was about to leave.
However, just as he turned around the man spoke once again.
"Fellow Daoist, do you want me to send a physician to your place as well? Our Three Faction alliance has the best physicians in town," the man said.
"Sorry?" Alex looked confused. "I don't need any physician."
The man's eyes widened. "My apologies. I didn't realize you were using a technique then. I assumed you had a fever. Please have a lovely stay."
Alex walked out of the location and frowned. Immediately, he drove his senses into his body to look for something he seemed to have completely skipped over.
Yang.
His body was radiating Yang like a man radiating heat when he had a fever. His body was giving of yang a lot more than previously either.
'I thought I had it under control,' he thought, but he had thought wrong. He realized that due to the last many days of constant cultivation, his constitution had gone out of control again.
'I need to go cultivate Yin,' he thought and left towards the new house he had rented.
