Vince didn’t care about what other people thought. Three hours was more than enough for him. What he currently needed the most was a Cultivation Law, and that time would suffice. Anything he’d get more than that was merely an extra.

‘I still have trouble with this goddamn body. It’s too small, and it still hasn’t developed proper muscles.’

‘Also, this lass sure is something. She defied her uncle to help me. I’ll pay back this favour sometime.’

‘In any case, I can’t wait to see the cultivation library. I have three hours, so I have to explore it all quickly.’

As he pondered over the next course of action, Albert von Sideria called out to him.

“Hey brat, we can go to the cultivation library now. Follow me.”

“Yes, sir!”

‘This one sure is an easygoing noble, I must say. I already see him asking me to call him uncle too in a few years…’

The group then started moving towards the entrance of the basement. The library was built underground. This way, even if the mansion were to be flattened due to a fight, the library wouldn’t receive too severe damage.

Anything related to cultivation was considered the foundation of a noble household. As long as that foundation was still intact, it was never too late to build once again a destroyed tower.

While they were walking, Estelle approached him with a questioning face.

“What is it, milady?”

“Why did you stop me from helping you out earlier? You could have gotten more time if you hadn’t…”

“I didn’t want to see milady get into a fight because of me. In any case, milady doesn’t have to worry; I doubt I’d achieve anything relevant even if I had more time.”

While staring at him, the girl started to ponder while stroking her chin. After thinking for a few seconds, she suddenly snapped her fingers and gave Vince a wide smile but said nothing more.

‘What idea did this lass get? I guess only time will tell…’

After walking for a few minutes, they arrived in front of a giant stairway guarded by the strongest guards Vince had ever seen. One could see every now and then a cultivator either going in or out of the stairway. Everybody had to give the guards a token before being able to enter.

‘Security sure is strict. Those tokens must be proof of one’s authorisation. All of the cultivators coming and going are way older than me. I assume I’m allowed here so early only because of the soul contract. It sure has made all of my plans go awry, but at least I get a few benefits. Maybe it’s not that bad of a thing. I only hope this lass doesn’t start to mistreat me later on. I wouldn’t even be able to get rid of her because of the conditions… how troublesome. I better make her grow into someone who cares about her subordinates. Luckily I’ll get to be next to her in two years.’

After talking with the guards for a few minutes, Albert came back and started to explain the rules to Vince.

“So, you’ll have three hours starting from when you go through the stairway. You can learn any technique you want within the first three floors.

If you’re fast enough, you might even be able to learn two. I highly recommend you to go for a Cultivation Law first, as it’s what you need the most. Succeeding in doing so will significantly improve your chances of reaching high cultivation stages. Even though you might be able to change your Cultivation Law mid-way through, it’s still better not to, as it might result in cultivation deviation.

And even if you don’t incur cultivation deviation, you will still experience a bottleneck until you have stabilised your cultivation base. It often happened that some people who have chanced upon a heaven-defying cultivation law couldn’t breakthrough anymore because of their inability to stabilise their cultivation. The smart ones had to destroy their cultivation base and start from scratch, while the dumber ones spent their whole lives without managing to breakthrough. It’s therefore of utmost importance that you immediately get an excellent Cultivation Law.”

“Thank you for the advice, sir! I’ll keep all of this in mind while inside!”

‘Even if you hadn’t told me, I still knew all of that! Now let me go, I want to be back home by night time, you know?’

The blond man then gestured for him to go, and once he gave a slight bow, he quickly went down the stairs, but not before the guards gave him a cold gaze.

‘They probably are thinking that I got this chance merely because of connections! Even though it’s partly true, I still have gone through that rigged exam, you know?’

As he entered the library, a magnificent sight greeted him. Thousands and thousands of manuals neatly arranged. All of them were placed in three metres tall bookshelves that occupied thousands of square metres, and this was merely the first floor. All the manuals were categorised based on their purpose.

There was a section dedicated to movement techniques, one dedicated to combat footwork, one dedicated to spear techniques, one dedicated to sword techniques, and so on… After walking for a bit, he finally arrived in the Cultivation Laws section. Compared to the others, it was way smaller and had fewer manuals, but all of them had neatly decorated covers.

Vince proceeded to pick up one of the cultivation laws. Its name was “Bright Path Cultivation Law” and was ranked as a Low Marshal Cultivation Law.

‘Not bad, a Low Marshal ranked Cultivation Law.’

Vince knew one would be hard-pressed to find a better Cultivation Law in the Flossen Kingdom. He knew that any technique could be classified within one of these categories: Mortal, General, Marshal, Hero, King and Emperor. Within the same rank, there were also three different subclasses. Those were Low, Mid, and High. A Marshal ranked Cultivation Law could only be created by an Enhancement Realm expert, at the very least. Vince was sure that Dawmond’s best Cultivation Law wouldn’t be much better than this one. He thus started reading through it.

‘The Bright Path is a cultivation technique that originates from the enlightenment, an Expansion Realm expert from the von Sideria family received over the nature of Yang. It is particularly suited for males and has an excellent affinity for the light and fire elements of mana…’

Once he was done with the introduction, Vince started reading through the technique, and not long after, he began to read another one. His purpose was to have a general idea about how those Cultivation Laws worked, so he could choose the one he’d stick to in the end.

Three hours later, the little boy came out of the stairway. In front of the entrance, the three he came with were waiting for him.

“Brat, what Cultivation Law did you end up learning?”

“At the end, I chose the Hercules Cultivation Law.”

“That High General Ranked Cultivation Law? Not bad, you didn’t try to reach out for those higher ranked Laws and instead went for one that you could actually learn. I have to praise you.”

“Thank you, sir, for this opportunity!”

“Very well, I expect you to grow stronger in the next two years.”

“I’ll try my best to not let you down.”

The four of them then got out of the library, and the sun was still high in the sky. It was only mid-afternoon. Vince, looking at the gigantic tower, couldn’t help but ask: “Can I go and see the regular library?”

Even though he had a puzzled expression, the blond man still nodded.

“Sure, there’s still some time left before the day ends. I’ll have to leave, as I have other matters to attend to, but you don’t have to worry. The library is completely access-free.”

“Uncle, can I go with them?”

“Huh? Oh, sure.”

Estelle had never been to the library. She always had private tutors coming to her room already with the books. Thus she never had to go to the library. Seeing Vince going, Estelle couldn’t help but grow curious over what the library looked like on the inside.

Once Albert left, the new group of three started to make their way towards the gigantic tower. While in the Dawmond mansion, the library was always a deserted place; the von Siderias' had quite a few people around it. Most of them were dressed like scholars and discussed in small groups.

What greeted them was a shocking sight. There were myriads of bookshelves everywhere, and a colossal spiral staircase pierced the whole tower in its centre. If one were to stand in the centre of the spiral and look above, one would feel exactly how high this tower was.

The library had many floors, all packed with bookshelves. The sheer amount had Vince wonder whether the Dawmond’s library could be even called one when compared to this one. It was like saying a cat and a lion were of the same species.

Although not many people mingled within a single floor, it was understandable as the library had more than thirty floors. When Vince saw all of this, he couldn’t help but be excited.

‘Maybe even becoming a slave would have been worth it! Look at how many books there are! I’ll have enough to read for years!’