Chapter 835: A day at the Library- Part 2
“You know I actually don’t need assistance getting around, right? I’m starting to get the feeling in my toes again, I swear.”
“You say that, but you set yourself flying towards the skeletal remains of a bipedal dragon, less than a minute ago.”
“I didn’t crash.”
“Still though.”
Despite having gone off in random directions, the Zhen Clan scions had eventually opted to go off into teams of two, forming them on a first encounter basis.
It was under these conditions that led to Zhen Yue pushing Zhen Hai around in his wheelchair, after the latter almost gotten himself injured…again.
It was mildly annoying sure, but it was better than him accidentally hurting himself and angering the Temple of Nowhere people…moreso than they already had.
Their leader might’ve been cool with them poking around, but even the Zhen Clan scions knew that such organizations were anything but monolithic in their opinions.
“Wait…now that I think about it, wasn’t that Harriet lady supposed to be keeping an eye on you, right now? I saw her with Zhen Liu earlier when we met his master. Did you scare her away with that cologne that Gianna made for you?,” Zhen Yue asked as she pushed Zhen Hai’s wheelchair through a section of books that was labelled, “Otherworld Histories”.
“No, Harriet tagged out with this other disciple that looked incredibly…wait, you met Zhen Liu’s master, like…officially? What’s he like?,” Zhen Hai asked with genuine curiosity.
While the Zhen Clan scions “met” Zhen Liu’s master back on Roaring Tide, it wasn’t exactly official.
The old man just showed up out of nowhere, saved their asses from causing an international incident, then proceeded to screw off after giving them some advice about cultivation and life in general.
No names were given, and they were fairly certain that was going to be the last time they’d ever talk with the man again.
Evidently, they were proven wrong.
“Well…for starters, turns out his name is Anton, and the old man look was actually a disguise. He’s like…our dads age,” Zhen Yue answered. “Granted, he also proceeded to make himself look like Matriarch Zhen Xun Tian, down to the tattoos, but still.”
“Seriously? Wow…kind of wish I got to see it myself,” Zhen Hai griped with a mild tone of disappointment.
“Back to what you were saying though, Harriet tagged out with another disciple that was…?”
“Huh? Oh. Uh… familiar. She looked incredibly familiar, I think she was one of the women that accompanied Master Anton when we first him.”
“Ah,” Zhen Yue nodded in understanding. “Did you happen to catch her name by any chance, or…”
“I think it was Nicole or Naytri or something.”
“Neytri, my name is Neytri.”
“Whoa!”
“Bah!”
The aforementioned Neytri had unexpectedly appeared right in front of Zhen Yue and Zhen Hai while the two of them were locked in conversation and were just about to enter a new section of books marked as being related to philosophy.
With a fiercely beautiful face, Neytri gave the two eldest scions of the Zhen Clan a look that seemed to be a mix between annoyance and condescension. Then again, it was possible that this was her face by default.
The duo and single lady stared at one another for a couple of moments in complete, awkward silence until Neytri decided to break it.
“You know, I didn’t exactly appreciate the fact that you zoomed out to the infirmary the moment I planted your ass in that wheelchair. Appreciated it even less when you almost face planted into a wall when I did.”
The moment Zhen Yue heard this statement, she shot her eldest cousin a dirty look.
“Zhen Hai…”
“Hey, can you blame?,” Zhen Hai asked in mock offense. “I literally regained the sensation in my arms the moment my ass was in this mobile seat and I just had to take advantage of it.”
“Aish…”
Coincidentally, both women released sighs of annoyance at Zhen Hai’s asinine defense for his recklessness. The two warrior women then proceeded to share a look of sympathy. While Zhen Yue didn’t know Neytri personally, she could sense that she too was used to dealing with reckless fools on a personal level.
Shortly after this moment of secondhand camaraderie, Neytri decided to move this conversation along.
“Alright, if my hearing is still working as intended, you and your family was given free reign to explore the library and borrow whatever you want, right?”
“Yes,” Zhen Yue concurred, “Harriet even gave us these library cards.”
“In that case, I suggest you guys not waste your time poking around these shelves and follow me. I think I know some aether arts and informational texts that will be of significant use to you both.”
“Really?”
“Why would you help us?,” Zhen Hai asked, aware that they hadn’t exactly made the best impressions of themselves these past few hours.
“Because for reasons beyond my understanding, my…master…is insistent on giving you guys a hand,” Neytri admitted. “So in that regard, I figured I might as well help to fullfil his desire to the best of my ability. Now, are you coming or not?”
Zhen Hai and Zhen Yue looked at each other for a moment, silently communicating in that way family members do sometimes, before collectively shrugging their shoulders and deciding to go along with it.
“Lead the way.”
“Good.”
As the trio began to walk with Neytri in the lead, Zhen Hai and Zhen Yue couldn’t help but feel that this exact moment felt strangely…familiar.
…
[They’ve grown so much since the Prospector’s Challenge…I suppose giving them access to the big stuff wouldn’t be completely detrimental…]
________________________________________
“I’m sorry, you want me to do what?”
“You heard me, big guy,” Zhen Xing said as he gestured to a nearby shelf. “I need your help reaching that book up there, so I need you to give me a boost.”
“By…acting like a launch point?”
“Yeah!”
“Bruh.”
“What?!”
Through a twist of fate, Zhen Xing and Zhen Feng had somehow paired up and were now browsing through the same shelf that was located in a section of the library that they believed to be marked as being related to Ignati aether.
At least, that the impression they got from the books and scrolls radiating Ignati aether and the bookshelves appearing to be made of volcanic rock and obsidian.
Regardless, as of this moment, Zhen Feng and Zhen Xing were currently staring up one of these shelves, because the latter was wanting one of the books on the top of the shelf.
Zhen Xing apparently sensed that the energy coming from that particular top shelf book was a match to his own, and he wanted to figure out why.
The only issue was that it was bit out of reach…by about several dozen feet or so.
This would normally be the part where he would get a ladder, use his aether to extract it from its resting place or even his [Flying Fox Wheels] to reach up there and grab it.
Unfortunately, none of these were applicable at the moment.
Zhen Xing couldn’t find any ladders in the nearby vicinity, any attempts to use his aether ended in failure due to the aforementioned book actively repelling it and Zhen Xing didn’t want to risk activating his aether treasure in the Library of Nowhere for fear of retaliation.
He wasn’t entirely sure why, aside from the obvious possibility of the books catching on fire, but Zhen Xing had the distinct feeling that if he tried to activate his treasure in this particular space, it would end badly.
Luckily for him, he had assistance in the form of his cousin, Zhen Feng.
“Dude, I’m not gonna let you use me as leaping point to grab a-”
“No no,” Zhen Xing interjected, “I am not using you use as a jump pad, I’m asking you to just…help me get up there.”
“How?”
“You know just…throw me up there.”
“I’m sorry…what?”
“Look, you’re strong, I’m light and that book is like…twenty… thirty feet above our heads? Just throw me up there as hard as you can and I can handle it from there.”
Zhen Feng looked at Zhen Xing like he was crazy…scratch that, he was fairly certain his cousin was actually crazy at this point.
“I can think of like…two reasons why this is a really stupid idea.”
“If you’re thinking I’ll injure myself, you don’t have to worry about that. We’re all Aether Masters, a fall from that height won’t do jackshit to me, let alone any of us.”
“Okay, one reason then.”
“Which is…”
“How do you know that you can only remove that book, physically? For all you know, grabbing it will cause some chain reaction that will fuck you up or drain your aether. After that, blunt force trauma becomes a real issue.”
“That…huh.”
As the realization of self-harm through reckless action began to dawn on Zhen Xing, a sudden chill ran up his spine.
A chill that was apparently felt by Zhen Feng as well.
“Did you feel that too or-”
“Over…here…”
“Holy shit!”
