Above The Sky
Chapter 554 - 554 523 It's All Fiery Flame LandSpirit Wisdom Institute's Fault!

554: Chapter 523 It’s All Fiery Flame Land/Spirit Wisdom Institute’s Fault!

(3/3) 554: Chapter 523 It’s All Fiery Flame Land/Spirit Wisdom Institute’s Fault!

(3/3) The development of the situation had clearly exceeded everyone’s expectations—within just one hour, all the staff of the Imperial Capital Grand Library had experienced the theft of a collection in the Precious Solitary Tome Collection Room, an incensed Count Phoenix, and the young Alchemy Genius accusing Deputy Librarian Derunk of being the Traitor.

Everyone’s heads were still reeling, but that wasn’t the end of it.

Shortly, as Derunk declared that the person who instructed him to steal the books wasn’t a force from outside Terra, but rather a ‘bigwig’ from the Upper City District, the entire Grand Library went completely silent.

A bigwig from the Upper City District might not be considered a real heavyweight to Count Phoenix, was it really not?

Even if it were the Great Prince, he dared to drag the other party to His Majesty to file a complaint.

But the issue was that when a case involved old colleagues or acquaintances, it wasn’t something that Count Phoenix could solve with his own strength alone, and the matter was likely to blow up completely.

The emperor might not pay too much attention, but the ever-present Great Prince in the capital would definitely have to step in.

And most importantly,

A bigwig sending someone to stealthily steal books instead of using their connections to borrow them…

This surely meant there was an even bigger conspiracy behind it!

Thinking of this, Count Phoenix couldn’t help but inhale sharply, “Things have gotten troublesome!”

Indeed, things had gotten troublesome, and Ian also began to feel that meddling in these murky waters might not be so wise after all.

But since he had already started to meddle, he had to see it through—if not, his own situation might become even more awkward.

Thus, while Count Phoenix was deep in thought, he approached him and made a suggestion.

“You said you want to observe Derunk, maybe we could find some clues?”

The elderly earl glanced at Ian, now legitimately recognizing Ian and understanding the level of this young prodigy—putting other things aside, just with his Spirit Energy alone, he could achieve significant accomplishments on the path of an Appraiser and an Alchemist.

So, after pondering for a moment, Count Phoenix voiced his protective concern for the younger man, “Forget it.

You’re too weak.

If Derunk has some kind of Spirit Energy restriction inside his mind, and you die probing around, how am I supposed to explain it to Afrina and Michael?

I wouldn’t even know how to account for it to these three Fairy Misses behind you.”

“Let’s just drop it.

And don’t worry about getting into trouble, just stay behind nicely, this time I’ve got you covered, you definitely won’t run into any issues!”

Even though Count Phoenix was indeed very concerned about Ian, his manner almost caused Ian to lose his composure.

In the end, Ian took a deep breath and slowly said, “It’s not about probing the soul, my Spirit Energy doesn’t have that effect—Count Phoenix, I just want to see where he has been recently, that’s all.”

“Just to look at his clothes and surface of his body.

Because I noticed that one of the books was only recently swapped out, if there are no accidents, I might discern something noteworthy.”

Count Phoenix hesitated for a moment—he certainly did not want Ian to face any danger, he didn’t even plan on adding Ian’s name to the list of those involved in this incident, he would just write that the group of Fae observed and then left.

No one cared what the Fae did; they would certainly divulge any information they knew.

But if it was just looking at clothes, then perhaps there was no great risk?

So he nodded and then turned to Mo Feng and Hua’an, “Aren’t you going to persuade him?”

“Eh?

Why should we?” “I believe in Ian.”

“Right.” Count Phoenix felt he had said something unnecessary—he had actually tried to make the Fae less casual, which was quite uncharacteristic of them.

Upon receiving permission, Ian promptly activated the Silver Chip.

Foresight View, of course, didn’t have any ‘observation of the traces left by time’ capabilities… um, watching past movies might count as one?

But that clearly wouldn’t work on someone like Derunk.

Ian was simply, by reading some of the detailed information within the Silver Chip, tracing back to where Derunk had been recently.

This was not a difficult task.

Until now, Ian still hadn’t figured out the source of the information from the Silver Chip; it seemed to know everything, even theoretically very secretive information that perhaps only a few people in the world would know, yet it could still provide clear answers.

But even when it came to common knowledge that seemingly everyone knew, the Silver Chip would give an uncertain answer, a very vague and indefinite description.

Originally, Ian couldn’t be bothered to think about it, but after visiting the Domain of Void, he began to understand, guessing that Inega II’s aspiration to become the ‘Master of the Labyrinth’ was perhaps the ruler of the Domain of Void itself, the Great Labyrinth.

And the various characteristics of the Silver Chip, perhaps it was a ‘Void Entity’ that Inega II brought back from the Domain of Void?

Therefore, the source of the Silver Chip’s information could very likely be the Domain of Void…

or rather, the subconscious of all human souls.

That would also explain why it provided some information so quickly and clearly, while other information was vague and fuzzy—because too many people were involved in the cognition, it couldn’t provide a clear definition.

Of course, Ian had no intention of continuing to explore the origin of the Silver Chip now.

He simply stood up and then turned back to give Count Phoenix an answer.

“It’s the Spirit Wisdom Institute.”

When Ian uttered these words, he felt as if he was framing and incriminating someone—but the fact was just so; Deputy Librarian Derunk, in recent times, had visited nowhere as frequently as the Spirit Wisdom Institute, aside from having gone to the Upper City District three times.

So even though Hua’an, who was aware of the friction between Ian and the Spirit Wisdom Institute, cast a doubtful glance, the youth still blinked, giving a ‘trust me’ hint, and continued to the now-raised eyebrows of Count Phoenix, “It’s a big shot from the Spirit Wisdom Institute—perhaps a professor?

I can only sense a strong scent of books emanating from the person, and Mr.

Derunk is very fearful and reverent in his presence.

He must be a big shot.”

“I see.”

This rough, unclear information, which almost seemed like nonsense to others, was nevertheless as if pinpointing the target for Count Phoenix, and even for some members of the Book Guard Knights.

The elderly man had an epiphany, “I see, it’s that fool Yidul.

I wondered why he hadn’t bothered me for half a year after requesting to borrow ‘City of Conviction’ and ‘Messenger of Attila’; turns out he had planned to steal them if he couldn’t borrow them, didn’t he?”

“By your command!”

Raising his hand, Count Phoenix issued the order—in an instant, all members of the Book Guard Knights rose from their kneeling postures and, raising their weapons, responded in unison, “Yes, sir!”

“Let’s go, to the Spirit Wisdom Institute, to take back the books!”

“Take them back!” came another unanimous response.

Ian remained where he was, silently watching Count Phoenix and the Knights leave the library in a grand manner, heading toward the Capital Headquarters of the Spirit Wisdom Institute, feeling like he still didn’t quite understand the internal workings of the Imperial Capital.

The scene, at first glance, seemed just like gangsters leading a raid to smash up a rival’s place, and upon closer examination…

it was still a gang of ruffians smashing up the joint.

—Not so?

What about the etiquette of the Nobles?

The rules?

Could it be that resolving conflicts is all about fighting?

What about benefit exchange, compromise?

Was it just Count Phoenix who acted this way, or was the entire struggle of the upper echelons of Terra World like this?

At this moment, the feeling in Ian’s heart was as if he thought the business wars were about ‘hostile takeovers,’ ‘cutting off the capital chain,’ ‘undercutting competitors,’ but in reality, it was about ‘stealing business stamps,’ ‘hiring thugs to beat up the rival boss,’ and ‘slashing the tires of rival products’…

But that’s also to be expected; in Terra, if you don’t have the power of a Sublimator to back you up, getting bullied is just getting bullied, what else could it be?

“Wow.”

At this moment, Hua’an was sitting on the young man’s left shoulder, a Frost Butterfly on the right, while Mo Feng floated in front of Ian, and she couldn’t help but remark, “Raziel is more interesting—such sights I haven’t seen in two or three years.”

“Two or three years?” Ian asked in confusion, clearly thinking that frequency was too high, but Mo Feng misunderstood, “Actually, it’s because in recent years the external situation has been a bit tense, so the Imperial Capital has been relatively peaceful—according to seniors, back when Inega II was around, there were daily brawls between nobility scions and imperial loyalists in Above City, and during the years when Axel was still a Prince, he too would often engage in street duels with scions from various major Noble families.”

“It’s only the Imperial Capital that is sturdy enough to hold; any other city would have collapsed by now.”