High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 161: Chapter 85 Library_1

The top student of Jiuyou Academy didn’t realize his words had become prophetic.

Not far from where she and Nicholas were sitting, two students behind another desk were feeling truly uncomfortable.

However, they were not resentful about the public-funded student’s remedial classes.

In fact, one of the students behind the other desk hadn’t yet noticed his classmates sneaking in some extra studying. He was solely annoyed with the library itself.

”I did not get lost!” Zheng Qing emphasized in a low voice, carelessly riffling through the books in front of him and complaining, ”All I did was looking for books for a little while... how could that possibly trigger the alarm?”

”You weren’t just looking for a while.” Across from him, Xiao Xiao took out her own timer, tapping the numbers on it and scoffing, ”You disappeared in the bookshelf labyrinth for two hours. For freshmen who enter the library for the first time, disappearing for more than an hour and a half triggers an emergency alarm. I guess there must be quite a few newcomers lost in the library these days, so it took the library staff almost half an hour before they started to look for you.”

Feeling wronged, Zheng Qing huffed angrily, holding his silence.

Indeed, if not for the librarian who came to lead him out, he would’ve still been in a daze near the cold bookshelf.

He’s been enrolled for over ten days, and this was the first time he entered the library.

There was a saying going around in the First University:

”If the statues of the gods and their holy words are the beliefs of Atlas Academy; if the noble bloodlines and excellent talents are the faith of Alpha Fortress; if iron and blood are the faith of Starry Sky Academy; then only at Jiuyou Academy are the library and the books and exams held as beliefs.”

For a Jiuyou Academy student, not visiting the library at least once after enrolling is, like a devout believer never making a pilgrimage to the holy land, a cause for lifelong regret.

Although he had heard many warnings and rumors before entering, only after stepping into the library did Zheng Qing truly realize how large the library was and how abundant its collection of books was.

With its undulations and stacking ridges, it evoked both awe and longing.

These words were not an exaggeration at all.

As the Academy with the most extensive history at First University, Jiuyou Academy had many things to be proud of.

The most envied by students of other academies was the Book Mountain Library.

The Book Mountain Library was the library of Jiuyou Academy, but its collection could rival the First University Library.

It’s even said in wizard circles that ’There are ten volumes of books in the world, eight are in First University, and five are in Jiuyou alone’.

In the eyes of the proud Jiuyou people, this was not an exaggeration.

The Book Mountain Library is located between the central and rear courtyards of the academy.

Not far from the museum, there is Lin Zhong Lake. Sitting at a window-facing desk in the library, you can see the vast Lin Zhong Lake, and even the golden bell hanging on the white seven-story tower on Lake Heart Island, sometimes by the reflected sunlight.

The entire library building is mountain-shaped and oriented east-west.

The entrance is in the first-floor lobby, with three doors at the front and back, allowing easy access for Jiuyou Academy students.

At the north entrance, there is a bronze sculpture, said to have been given by the Wizard Alliance’s grand wizard meeting.

The main body of the sculpture is an old man with a long beard, supporting himself with a staff in one hand, and holding a scroll in the other; next to the old man are a boy and a girl, with long, yellow hair, holding an exquisite compass; a small monument stands next to the old man’s feet, on which an inscription reads, ’Faith is your compass in the ocean of knowledge’.

The south entrance has a screen with a sketch of the library’s floor plan. Tall vermillion columns stand on either side, each holding a couplet. The couplet reads, ’There’s a path to the top of the book mountain if you’re diligent, the sea of learning has no limit - use hardship as your boat’.

This, too, became a well-known slogan after adding three characters to the official motto of the First University, better representing Jiuyou Academy’s educational philosophy with the characters ’diligence’ and ’hardship’.

Students coming from the main teaching building and passing by Lin Zhong Lake to enter the library can see this couplet.

In the center of the first-floor hall is a huge sand table, displaying the full view of Jiuyou Academy. It includes the main teaching building, school medical hospital, cafeteria, Book Mountain Library, East Peach Garden, and the West Chinese Garden, as well as Yunfang Garden and even the seven-story tower and parked small boats by the wharf on Lake Heart Island. All the pavilions, walls, corridors, and streets in the park are clearly distinguishable.

Climbing up the stairs located on both sides of the main hall, you’d enter the inner hall, known as the ’Book Mountain’.

This place was solidified by countless space magic, and standing at the entrance and looking inwards, the unending rows of bookshelves seem to have no end in sight.

Just as its name implies, the books held within the Book Mountain Library are too many to count.

Not only does it house various types of books used by wizards, but it even contains many treasured readings circulated within the layman’s world.

For wizards, books are the medium for knowledge, and knowledge does not discriminate between race and portal.

As the acquired time of the books keeps varying, the dimensions of the shelves inside Book Mountain Library also differ in height.

The older bookshelves located deeper inside the library are mostly made of oak, beech and willow wood. There are also a few shelves made of nanmu donated by generous alumni mixed among them; these shelves aren’t too high, most of them are around three meters, but these racks often have elaborate decorations and beautifully carved figures. Occasionally, you could even see sculptures that were solidified by magic.

Books stored on these shelves are generally more valuable, many of them are unique copies donated by alumni.

The more recent shelves generally located towards the outside are more modern in material; according to the librarian who was guiding, the most recent batch of shelves is even made of stainless steel and plastic.

”These shelves are good,” the chubby librarian pointed at those gleaming bookshelves while speaking to the newcomers with a smiling face: ”At the very least, they will not get moldy and won’t attract insects... God knows why such monsters called ’bookworms’ exist in this world! My lifetime was devoured by these little bugs, they are even more detestable than ’sand hours’.”

Zheng Qing nodded in agreement as he was taking in all the various books on the shelves; he did not pay much attention to the librarian’s explanation and warning.

In his view, coming in and out of the library to read books is just a simple process of borrowing and reading books, and he didn’t perceive any danger.

However, he overlooked that this is the world of wizards.

This library belongs to the wizards.

According to the librarian’s previous explanation, the Grand wizard who established the Book Mountain Library arranged these shelves in the form of a Bagua array. Any person who covets more knowledge will lose their direction inside.

When walking amongst the winding bookshelves, if you don’t pay attention, you can easily get lost in the sea of books.

This was a reminder set by the Grand wizard who originally built the Book Mountain Library; it tells the students that they must maintain a clear mind at all times when entering the Book Mountain.

”There is only one trick: three left turns, one right turn.” Before entering the maze made up of bookshelves, the librarian reminded Zheng Qing one more time: ”At all costs remember... if you can’t find your way out, don’t panic and run around. Keep your book list close and stay where you are, we’ll guide you out very soon.”

”No problem, no problem!” Zheng Qing stuffed the book list into his pocket, waved his hand in a carefree manner, and excitedly darted into the bookshelves.

Passing through the dry report area, the abstruse divination area, soon, Zheng Qing found the section that interested him: the spell area.

From simple beginner spells, advanced multi-person spells, to the construction of basic spell formations, complete spell condensation, and even included were the ritual for summoning devils and the taboo of witch-demon transformation. The multitude of spells made his eyes dazzle.

”Leaving these books out in the open like this, aren’t they afraid that people will fall into disgrace?” Zheng Qing sneaked a look at the thick book with green flames on the top of the shelf, sighed, shook his head and picked up the book ”Master 100 Spells in 3 Minutes” from the bottom.

For the newcomer Zheng Qing, finding a few favourite books was not very difficult, but not getting lost in this place and managing to find his way back from the ocean of spirit was a difficult task indeed.

Unfortunately, on his first visit to the library, he got lost in the vast ocean of knowledge.

The thoughts of the wise were full of philosophical flavor and resided within him.

His mind is full of powerful magic from the books.

Guided by the knowledge, he takes one step at a time towards the deeper part of the library.

It was not until he was tired that he suddenly realized. He could no longer see any semblance of human life around him; as far as his eyes could see, there were bookshelves of varying heights.

He was lost.