After spending a few hours’ time with Alex and Kane, Caroline came out of their room and used her partial owner privilege to teleport herself to the underground library, where she was surprised to find Jason and Laura Jensen.

 

“So you’re here as well?” Caroline chuckled: “What brought you here?”

 

“Trying to find a way to help Boss, even if we can’t join the war directly.” Jason shrugged: “What about you?”

 

“Essentially the same.” Caroline nodded: “Some superhero named Captain Wonderia got it inside Alex’s head that no matter how small we are, we could still try to make this world a better place.”

 

“Huh, never heard of this superhero.” Jason smiled: “Something in the room TV?”

 

“Yeah exactly.” Caroline started walking towards the inner part of the library: “So, what are you hoping to find here?”

 

“Just some books about the Defilers and if there’s any way we can fight them - Wait, that’s restricted, we’re only at the 4th layer, I don’t think Boss will allow us to go in there.” Jason put down the book in his hand.

 

“I know. But he’s not here, I don’t imagine knowledge about Defilers would be low tier and not restricted.” Caroline went into the deeper part of the underground library and started browsing the books one by one.

 

Jason sighed and looked at Laura, then stood up and said: “Okay, looks like the books we’ve found so far aren’t telling us much anyway.”

 

“Huh, told ya.” Laura Jensen patted Jason on the back and jumped up with him.

 

“Looks like a lot of spell books and manuals.” Caroline swept through one bookshelf from top to bottom and said: “I wonder what spells could help us - here, ‘Advanced Cultivation Techniques and Signs’.”

 

“I think if you’re going to go against ancient evils like the Defilers, you’d probably want to find some historical records. Not sure if your boss has it here?” Laura Jensen started browsing through another shelf and said: “I don’t know much about these things either, but I do know there are some research papers and old tomes about ancient evils in my family’s library, and some of them have mentioned Defilers, just not a lot of details.”

 

“Okay.” Jason nodded, then he raised his head and said to the ceiling: “Historical records please.”

 

The slightly high pitched creaking sound of wooden furniture sliding across the ground came from the side, and one tall bookshelf with three sides came from somewhere deeper in the library. One side of this shelf was all scrolls, while the other two sides had a lot of books and tomes with different covers and even completely different media on it - some of which were even stone tablets or turtle shells.

 

“Uh-Oh.” Jason went forward and sensed the books and other various media of information placed on the shelf: “These are not books for you to read. These are Records of Aspects.”

 

“Huh, that’s gonna be a loot box of information.” Caroline shook her head.

 

“What - um, what are Records of Aspects?” Laura Jensen raised her hand and asked: “Pretty sure we don’t use that name on anything.”

 

“It’s a kind of memory, which can be replayed, transcribed or even info-dumped into one’s mind directly. But it works best if you immerse yourself in it and experience the information from the narrator’s perspective.” Jason sighed: “Well, this is probably going to take a bit of effort - let me see: find me the ones with information regarding the Defilers!”

 

The bookshelf with three sides shook a bit, and still stayed in place.

 

“So querying doesn’t work.” Jason scratched his head.

 

“Or did it work, but all of these records have information regarding the Defilers.” Laura Jensen walked to the bookshelf and looked at all the records closely but with caution: “Do you know if there’s a summary of what kind of information each of these contains?”

 

“Okay, let me try.” Jason’s eyes glowed up in silver as he looked at the records on the bookshelf: “Boss has put some kind of basic information restriction on these records. They don’t seem super complicated, I’d take it that he wanted us to crack them someday when we’re ready.”

 

“Sounds like Boss.” Caroline shrugged.

 

Jason took a deep breath, then extended his right hand at some of the items on the bookshelf to try to read some surface level information about the knowledge that was stored in those artifacts. Within seconds, whispers from different voices in various different languages started appearing in his ears. Though he did not speak many of these languages, he could still understand most of them, for most of the items of record bearing these information came with the enchantment enabling them to convey information to the listener directly though the mind.

 

“ … it is through a long hard process of meditation and self conjured tribulation, that I was able to peek through the shrouds around the entrance of the abyss, and see the corruptive creatures lurking below …”

 

“... the blinding shines of the stars shall not hinder the eyes of the seeker, and the nature of the gods and their kingdoms is revealed to me …”

 

“ … the burning of the sky and the collapse of the sun showed me that the darkness should be repelled by unconventional means…”

 

“ … the existence of Godhood itself is a dangerous luxury - it places the command of order itself into the holds of sentient and very fallible beings, the very beings that should have adhered to the decrees of order …”

 

“... the kingdoms of Gods, in many ways, are parts of the Gods and their Godhood, in fact, the kingdoms are more the representation and aspect of Godhood than the Gods themselves - they are solidified, concentrated constructs of order, with the most dense concentration at the center and less so around the edges; the more concentrated the order is, the more powerful the Godhood tends to be …”

 

“Woah!” Jason immediately retreated his hand and looked at the bookshelf with a worried look on his face.

 

“What? What’s wrong?” Laura Jensen asked.

 

“I just heard some very very heavy knowledge. So I cut the connection to not hurt myself.” Jason rubbed his shoulders and checked his own body and mind: “But somehow - I don’t feel anything.”