195 Library (2/2)

”Directly absorbing knowledge will drastically exhaust your mental strength, so you should use it carefully.”, he warned him.

Ivan had already experienced the feeling of exhausting his mental strength yesterday, so he wasn't willing to do it anytime soon again. Thus having received his warning he was thankful, ”Thank you.”

”If you don't need the information card anymore, then please return it to the library. You can just throw it into the box at the entrance.”

Although it didn't cost anything if you didn't return the information card, the library would still ask for it, since it was cheaper to recycle them than to get new ones. But they wouldn't insist on it.

After once again thanking the servant, Ivan left the library with Clara. He wasn't planning to use one of the reading rooms. These seemed to be mainly used by those who had rented information on skills. They had a time limit and couldn't be taken out of the library.

Now that he had gotten a picture of the sect, Ivan decided to go back to his room. To be honest, walking around wasn't that interesting. Everyone seemed to be focused on cultivating and improving. He had seen all these useful buildings but none that were solely for enjoyment.

He couldn't help but ask Clara about it.

”Enjoyment is seen as a waste of time by most of the disciples. It is seen as something those that have given up, do. And not they, who are oh so hardworking.”, there was quite some spite in her words. It was clear that she didn't share these views. Or to be precise she thought that they were hypocritical.

”You seem to think differently.”

”Of course. Enjoyment is a good way to relax and it can even help with cultivation. Besides if you see how they act outside the sect you would think that they have completely given up if you use their standards.”

”That bad?”

”Yes. They often just play around while going out. And they often disregard the rules of the mortals as well.”

This seemed to be a sore point for her, as she continued to rant about their horrible behavior while outside the sect.

While listening to her retelling tales of how disciples of the sect misbehaved outside Ivan reached his room. Only then did Clara seem to come back to her senses. ”Oh sorry for going off to a rant.”

Ivan just shook his head, ”No. It was entertaining and also gave me a lot of information.”

This was the truth. To really tell these tales it was also necessary to point out how things were in the mortal world, something he had lacked any understanding of. Now with her rant, he had a much better understanding than before.

”Thank you for listening to my rant.”, she smiled apologetically.

”Did something happen to you or someone you know, or why are you so angry about it?”, he asked curiously. For her to completely forget her position, it seemed like the topic had a large impact on her.

”Mmm, my family owns a tavern, and one time a cultivator messed around there. Luckily nothing serious happened, but ever since then I just can't stand their behavior outside. Especially towards mortals.”

”Oh, so that's what happened. By the way, how come you call them mortals as well? Aren't you technically also a mortal?”, he asked his next question. Since she couldn't cultivate, wasn't she a mortal as well?

”Yes and no. Although I can't cultivate I'm a member of a sect so I don't strictly count as a mortal.”, she explained. ”We servants who can't cultivate are something in between. Neither cultivator nor mortals.”

It didn't seem as if this mattered to her. ”We are better off than mortals while also not having many of the problems of the cultivators.”