Tom grabbed a book and open them page by page as the internal chip inside his brain scanned them and upload them to the Mechanicum's database immediately.
After he was done, he grabbed another one. "Magical Vision Through The String Theory."
"What Are Those Spinning Disk In The Sky?"
"What is That Spinning Black Thing With A Ring Of Light Around It?"
Tom read the name of the books before he began scanning. Some of these books were about the study about space, the place outside this planet.
The Mechanicum and Duria had studied the stars and space for years, at least that was what the data told him. But they never made a ship to leave this world.
Why was that the case?
Tom tried to access more information about this within the Mechanicum's database, but he founded nothing.
'Hmm, perhaps, I need to ask Naley about this."
Naley was Victor's daughter. She was the one who now manage Duria. She also held Victor's core which contain everything his memory and everything he knew about the world and technologies.
It did not make sense for Duria to not expand outside this planet because their technology was far too advanced compared to Earth. And Even Earth's humans manage to land on the moon.
Tom began to read the books as he scanned them one by one. Most of the books were just about simple observations of space objects such as asteroids, planets, and stars. Apparently, the magic societies still lack the necessary tools to observe space. Technologies win in this regard.
But as Tom read on, he began to see how magic might benefit the space observation. Apparently, magic could see things that telescopes could not see. For example, the movement of dark energy and dark matter that accelerate the expansion of the universe was very clear to the eyes of these magicians.
They described it as: "An infinitely multiplying forces that filled empty space."
Tom got bored the further he read so he just skimped through them and let the scanner do its work.
After an hour, he had finished the entire bookshelf.
"Are you done, mister?" The fairy asked.
"Can I take a look at every book in this library? I am hungry for knowledge."
"You can, but what's the point of reading if you don't spend the time to meditate and comprehend them completely?"
"I want to have a wide range of knowledge first, before I decide to point which field I want to comprehend."
"In that case, I will leave you to your own device. Look as much as you want."
"That will be fine."
The fairy left.
Tom looked up and saw thousands of bookshelves floating around in the air. He sighed. 'So many books in this place. I wonder if I can finish them all in a day.'
"So many books in this place. I wonder if I can finish them all in a day."
Tom gasped and turned around as he saw a beautiful woman with eyeglasses looking at him. As Tom began to observer her, he realized she was not a human, but a mermaid!
Colorful scales covered her breast down to her... tails. She got not one, but multiple and she was floating in the air.
"Why do you want to finish all the book?"
'Crap! Quick, empty my mind!'
"Empty your mind? How would you empty your mind?" The mermaid asked.
Tom's eyes turn blank and his face lack any expression.
The mermaid frowned. "So why do you want to finish all the books?"
Tom's face began to be more expressive again. "I want to learn as much as I can."
"Is that so?" The mermaid's eyebrows vibrated as if trying really hard to read his mind. "Your mind... it's empty. No mind is ever empty before. How did you do it?"
"That's a secret."
"Humph! I am watching you. I am one of the Keeper in this library. Any suspicious activity is not tolerated."
"I am just here to gain knowledge."
The mermaid let out her tongue at him then left.
After making sure she left, Tom's body jolted and he let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank God. If not for Corduul setting up this device in my head, she would have read my intention."
Corduul had predicted all kinds of disaster to befall on Tom. One of them was a mind reading entity. Corduul had the tech to absorb information, so there might be something of similar function, therefore, he created something called 'mind copy'
Basically, it analyzed Tom's behavior and kept them in storage. The internal chip within Tom's head could takeover his brain, making his brain asleep without any activity except for consuming energy and nutrients. This disable his brain from 'thinking', but his body still able to act and behave like him.
If the mermaid knew that Tom wanted to absorb all the knowledge here and then bring them to the Mechanicum, he might be kicked out from the library.
In this continent, knowledge was extremely valuable. Thousands died every single day just to obtain a book, a scroll, or a piece of writing containing valuable information.
The path of Magicians was hard, filled with confusion and mazes. Knowing where to go was already a big step, otherwise they would spend most of their time in a circle.
'I have to do this quickly.' Tom flipped his hand, and thousands of micro drones came out of his sleeves, flying all over the place, invisible to the eyes. They were as small as dust, and they even mimic the movement of these dust particles so they look less suspicious.
The drones landed on nearby books and patiently scanned all the pages. This was actually very risky. If he got caught, he might get into a big trouble.
As Tom opened another book, a pristine scale floated in front of him. It twitched left and right like an eye.
Tom turned around and saw the mermaid pointing at her own eyes and then pointing at him.
Tom ignored her and continued reading the book. Suddenly, the scale shone and the mermaid appeared in its place.
Tom immediately activated his chip.
The mermaid frowned and circled around him. "I am pretty sure I can hear your thoughts earlier. So you can do that multiple times, huh?"
"Can you stop bothering me?" Tom replied. "You are disturbing my focus."
"I am the Keeper of this library. I keep the knowledge of this library from being misused."
"Does reading the books here allowed?"
"Yes."
"Then I am not doing anything wrong, so please stay away from me."
"Humph! I have heard of you. Little troublemaker. Tom was it? You fought against Russam to a draw?"
"Yes, that is me."
"That's a good way to get fame the moment you enter the school. What did you give him for him to willing to fight you to a draw?"
"I gave him nothing. It was truly a draw."
The mermaid's eyebrows vibrated at greater frequency. "Gahh!! I cannot read your mind!"
"So stop trying."
"I will keep watching you! Humph!" The mermaid left once again.
Tom's brain was re-activated again and he looked at the mermaid. 'If you try to peer into my brain again, I will let you see what's inside. Hehe. Corduul, when that mermaid tries to read my mind, fill my thoughts with all the dirty stuff."
"..." Corduul was basically a robot by now, but even he became speechless after hearing his idea. "Yes, master."
"Now, let's get back to reading."
Tom spend the next hours reading books after books. It was a boring task, but one that had to be done. He prefer the job of conquering lands and killing enemies, but currently, it was too dangerous to blindly do something like that.
His best option was helping the kingdom fight a war and ask some territory after winning it. With his army of golems, he could contribute a lot which will justify his action of asking for more territory. Beside, he had Duke Hushum as his ally which was an influential figure in the whole kingdom.
Also, Aldred seemed to have a reputable reputation among the Adamantite Ranks as well. Apparently, his action of boosting the kingdom's economy pleased them.
What a surprise. Most Powerful figures could care less about economy and the state of a nation. They only care about their well-being and only use the state to fund their live style.
Well, that was a welcome surprise. This way, it was easier to please them.
Hours passed, and the mermaid appeared once again. "I am back haha! Let me see what's on your mind."
Tom smiled and activated his internal chip.
The mermaid's eyebrows vibrated and suddenly, all the images within Tom's head was clear for her to see. Even the sound was as loud as it can get.
"Kyaa! What... what were you thinking in this sacred place? How... How dare you think of such things!" The mermaid blushed. "I never heard of such positions before. Doggy? Corkscrew? Cowgirl? What are these?"
