The next book he picked had a Kirin drawing on its cover that seemed to be jumping out of the book but it didn't move, it just gave that strange impression, moving his eyes to the top of the cover he saw ,written in an imposing manner, a name that read “ Kirin Body Art “.
[ Whoa, seems interesting!] Fascination and curiosity flashed in Aegon's eyes.
Not wasting any time he started reading and the introduction left him even more excited.
“If trained to a high enough level the Kirin Body Art will grant a cultivator an affinity for thunder similar to the Kirin itself, a mythical beast.”
Claiming to be able to grant an affinity for thunder similar to the Kirin was the epitome of a bold claim any other time Aegon would have been smart enough to either distrust the claim entirely or worry about its difficulty, yet this time the young Aegon was too distracted by this prospect of power that he seemed to turn dumb for just a moment and not realise the implications that came with the power promised in the book’s introduction.
However as he read the actual method of body training his naive dream was shattered.
[ WHAT?? To get an affinity for thunder similar to one Kirin I have to kill 5 Kirins and fuse their horns with my body? How many Kirins are even going around? I doubt there's even one in an area of 500km around Grandfort City.]
[ Even the basic training involves getting shocked for hours on end...this just isn't worth the effort and pain.]
Feeling dejected, Aegon moved on to another book and a few minutes after, another one, and a few minutes after, yet another one. His face had been getting gloomier and gloomier with each new training description he read, every single one involved either killing or suffering some kind of torture, granted the promised effects seemed incredible but who would have the motivation to get stronger if even solitary trainning was basically torture?
Aegon answered his own question. [ No one, I refuse to believe there are people out there that willingly practise these training methods.]
Yet, as if intentionally refuting him, a young man that, as far as Aegon remembered, had received a high grade Mortal affinity in thunder picked the Kirin Body Art from the shelf, gave it one last look and with renewed determination descended the stairs to register his choice with the library clerk.
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Aegon was flabbergasted. He felt genuine pity for that youth.
[Well, it seems there are indeed people crazy enough to torture themseves for a theoretical edge over their peers.] He sighed loudly and looked at that young man with the same look an elder would give to an arrogant youth that didn't know how high the heavens were.
It was a completely hypocritical behaviour coming from someone who picked the twin swords as his weapon for the same exact reason, the only difference, which made his choice somewhat reasonable, was the fact that he didn't consider the massive amount of training he had ahead of himself as torture, not because he was particularly determined, it was mostly due to ignorance and arrogance, he didn’t really understand how much he would actually have to train or else he would’ve never picked them.
After reading a few more books and confirming that all of them were, according to him, ”A miserable and tormenting way towards power”, he decided to once again revisit the first book he had come across and dismissed out of pure arrogance.
Reading it a second time made it seem like a completely new book, a promise of power devoid of torture, killing and luck. It looked like the “Electric Meditation Technique” that he so quickly dismissed the first time around had turned into the most incredible method on the face of the planet.
[ I really was blinded by my arrogance…. Whoever wrote this Technique was a true genius that disdained mundane things like killing or torturing oneself to get power.] Picking up the book and adopting an enlightened and humbled expression he walked towards the clerk to register his choice.
The person in question was an old man with a large white beard and a rugged face, his body was crooked and unlike every other elder in the martial house he didn't emit an expert’s aura that commanded respect, he was an ordinary old man.
He was standing next to Mentor 1 with his eyes closed and only opened them when Aegon was already in front of him. He glanced at the youth in front of him with a deadpan expression and then glanced at the book that said youth was carrying. A hint of curiosity surfaced in his eyes but it disappeared without anyone noticing.
“Are you sure about your choice?” he said with an aged voice, still looking at the book.
“I am.” Aegon responded without much hesitation.
Moving his hands in a flash, he stamped the book cover with a letter seal that slowly merged with the book and disappeared from sight.
“You have 4 months, after that you need to return it or else you will be punished.”
With the class done Aegon left the library and walked home, excited to start practising.