When Yaxiu flipped open the pages, he felt as though he had become the protagonist inside, experiencing memory after memory firsthand.
Interestingly, however, this book did not recount a blacksmithing tale.
Or rather, it was not merely about striking iron, which left Yaxiu, who had been looking forward to blacksmithing, somewhat disappointed.
The sorcerer who had left behind these memories appeared to be a multi-faction creation sorcerer who possessed an exceptionally high attainment in the mind faction.
He could enslave a knowledge creature in the Void Realm and imbue it with miracles from multiple factions, including the biology faction's "Hormone Rampage," the alchemy faction's "Iron Scales," and so on, before riding the creature to slaughter in all directions across the Time Continent.
Although the sorcerer in this book was probably a super-genius among Two-Winged Sorcerers, Yaxiu vaguely recalled that the Blood Moon Country had hundreds of millions of people, and the Gospel Country also had a massive population, not to mention other realms. Among these hundreds of millions, the emergence of tens of thousands of super-geniuses was practically an inevitability. Hence, talented sorcerers like this who could run rampant through the Void Realm likely numbered in the thousands or tens of thousands.
This realization caused Yaxiu to quietly rein in his contempt. Thanks to the sorcerer manual, the map, and the motorcar, he had never believed that sorcerers of the same rank in the Void Realm could pose a threat to him—he hadn't even thought any peer could catch up to him.
Yet reality told him that even without cheat codes, sports cars, or maps, a genius could still fashion a monstrous mount that broke the current meta, steamrolling the Void Realm and plundering sorcery power!
All creatures compete for freedom under the frosty sky—that was the sole law of the Void Realm.
I have cheat codes, you have talent, he has luck; we all have a bright future ahead.
The book recorded this sorcerer's process of enslaving and modifying Void Realm knowledge creatures. Had a sorcerer of the mind or alchemy factions read it, they might have gained immensely. But Yaxiu's mind faction was purely a showy facade shared over from the Sword Princess; he recognized every single concept on its own, but when strung together, he couldn't comprehend a thing—just like sitting in an advanced calculus lecture.
After leisurely flipping through to the end, Yaxiu immediately learned what reward he had received.
The swordsmanship sorcery spirits on his person all emerged, and a golden hammer materialized from the book, striking each of them heavily with a hammer blow.
Clang! The Thrust Sword sorcery spirit became two-winged.
Clang! The Cut Sword sorcery spirit became two-winged.
Clang! The Heart Sword sorcery spirit became two-winged.
In the blink of an eye, all of Yaxiu's swordsmanship sorcery spirits were promoted to Two Wings!
This was the reward for reading the book, as well as the miracle the genius sorcerer in its pages had once cast: "Refining Swords into Wings"!
Because the genius sorcerer enjoyed enslaving knowledge creatures skilled in close combat, such as Fishcleaver Dragons, Ragecleaver Dragons, and Umbrella Bird Dragons, which frequently carried swordsmanship sorcery spirits, he had devised a method to make them even stronger: forcibly elevating their unevolved sorcery spirits to Two Wings!
Forcibly elevating a one-winged sorcery spirit to two wings sounded like blatant cheating, but to a genius, cheating was what made it a miracle. Thus, "Refining Swords into Wings" was born: so long as one cast this miracle, all of the target's swordsmanship sorcery spirits could be promoted to Two Wings!
However, this miracle was not permanent. It even required the sorcerer to constantly expend sorcery power to maintain it; once the supply ceased, the temporarily promoted two-winged sorcery spirits would regress to one wing.
On top of that, the threshold for this miracle was exceedingly high—impossible for anyone other than an alchemist to learn. Yet why would an ordinary alchemist ever need to cultivate the swordsmanship faction? Consequently, "Refining Swords into Wings" was a miracle of extremely low utility, meaningful only in the hands of that particular prodigy.
But when bestowed as a reward, things were entirely different.
Right now, all of Yaxiu's swordsmanship sorcery spirits had been elevated to Two Wings, but this miracle had not been cast by a sorcerer; it had been activated by the Legendary Library.
Or rather, this miracle carried the endorsement of the Void Realm itself.
This meant that even though "Refining Swords into Wings" had originally been merely a temporary buff, when the caster was the Void Realm, that temporary buff transmuted into a permanent one!
Perhaps hidden pitfalls remained—for instance, these three sorcery spirits might never be able to advance to three wings—but Yaxiu clearly didn't care. Setting aside whether he could even reach Three Wings himself, even if he advanced rapidly, he could simply replace them with other three-winged sorcery spirits to alter his tactical build. There was no need to cling to these few like family heirlooms.
Perhaps many sorcerers obsessively nurtured and evolved their favorite sorcery spirits all the way up, but as a mudblood sorcerer, Yaxiu felt neither attachment nor devotion to "swordsmanship," "conviction," or "spirits that had accompanied him for years."
If an enslaved sorcery spirit proved more useful, Yaxiu would willingly swap out the very first spirit he had ever acquired, "Substitute"!
Operators are like limbs, sorcery spirits like clothes—that was Yaxiu's law!
Moreover, setting aside Cut Sword and Thrust Sword, Yaxiu had never expected Heart Sword to be promoted to Two Wings as well. Because Heart Sword was exceptionally valuable, rare, and practical, the Sword Princess had always hoped Yaxiu would raise it to Two Wings, and Yaxiu himself had been reluctant to give up such a nimble offensive spirit. Yet his own swordsmanship faction was so utterly abysmal that he could only rely on feeding it swordsmanship materials to slowly fatten it up.
Now that Heart Sword was elevated to Two Wings, there would be no need for Yaxiu to squabble with the Sword Princess over swordsmanship materials in the future. Better yet, his offensive power could finally bid farewell to dealing chip damage—now he could at least break through defenses!
Hmph, when the Sword Princess logs on tomorrow night, this will definitely give her a huge surprise!
Thoroughly satisfied with his haul, Yaxiu placed the book back onto the shelf. What remained was to leave behind a portion of his own memories here.
Which memory to leave was hardly a question—memories of his past life were out of the question, being treasures and secrets he refused to share with anyone; as for his present life, the prison break was the only chapter that could remotely brush against "legendary."
Yaxiu placed his finger against the bookshelf and quickly entered a state of recollection. In the empty space beneath his fingertip, a new book was slowly taking shape...
...
...
Meanwhile, on the first floor of the Legendary Library, a red-haired lady dressed in black gauze pressed her finger against a bookshelf. Her body was like burning ash, ethereal and illusory, looking as though she might dissolve into a wisp of smoke at any moment.
Threads resembling memories gradually wove into a new book. The moment it fully materialized, countless hoarse, frenzied shrieks rippled outward. Dark red blood seeped from every bookshelf, and the floor seemed to turn into a soft, rotting quagmire, swallowing the visitor inch by inch.
Yet the moment the red-haired lady pulled the book out, all anomalies vanished.
"Hmph, just as I thought," she chuckled. "Although the guide says to read a book first and record memories after, there is actually no strict order to the two steps.
"In other words, one can record memories first and then read, including... reading the memory one just left behind.
"Sonia." She flipped open the pages. "I hope you like this gift."
Chapter 261