Chapter 86: Library

"These tools might have been made according to human proportions, meow?"

"Perhaps, since they aren’t using them, I’ll take them, I’ll let the Fox Beastmen know when we get back."

Ethan felt that since the Fox Beastmen had never used these tools, there shouldn’t be any problem with him taking them, he packed up the tools and walked out of the building.

Returning to the main ruins, he found that Zharok and Walter had also finished their investigation.

"Where did you go?"

"I wandered around the area and found some good stuff." He told Zharok about the blacksmith shop discovery.

Hearing this, Zharok couldn’t help but laugh out loud. "I knew it, you definitely wouldn’t return empty-handed."

"What’s so strange about that?"

"Alright, let’s head back."

Having finished their business, Ethan and his group set off to return to the Fox Beastman village. Ash had been waiting for them at the village entrance, seeing Ethan return, he smiled and went to greet them.

"Welcome back, so, did you discover anything?"

"Yeah, we found a few things, Zharok, why don’t you explain."

"It’s like this..." Zharok relayed their findings to Ash, after listening, Ash’s expression instantly turned solemn.

He was quiet for a long time before letting out a heavy sigh. "I see, no wonder I always felt that place was a bit off... I never expected it to be the entrance that sealed the minions of Chaos."

"Thanks to you all, the Dimensional Gate was prevented from being repaired."

"You’re welcome, it was the right thing to do, however, we can’t be certain whether the minions of Chaos will try again, in any case, you should strengthen the defenses there."

"Thank you, by the way..." Ethan remembered the blacksmith shop and mentioned it to Ash.

After hearing about it, Ash patted his head in sudden realization. "Ah! I remember now, there is indeed a blacksmith shop there."

Ethan asked, "Yeah, since the iron ore mining is about to start, I’ll need to use those tools, can I take them with me?"

"Of course, we can’t use those things anyway, help yourself."

"Thank you."

"I’ll have someone transport the tools over together with the iron ore."

"Then I’ll leave it to you."

"Hahaha, there’ll be quite a few people making the trip, so you’d better prepare plenty of Fairy fried tofu pockets." Ash winked.

Ethan smiled wryly and nodded.

...

With their business in the Fox Beastman village concluded, Ethan’s group prepared to leave.

Pearl jumped down from Ethan’s shoulder, looked at the group, and suggested, "Since we’re already here, why don’t we go check out Lady Witch’s library, meow?"

"Sounds good." Ethan felt that the witch’s library might contain records about the World Tree, so far, all he knew was that planting the World Tree required World Fragments, beyond that, he knew nothing, to obtain more clues, a trip to the library wasn’t a bad idea at all.

"Hmm... do we really have to go that far?"

"Meow! It’s not far from here, meow! Zharok, if you don’t want to go, then don’t go, meow! Ethan, are you going or not, meow?!"

"I’m going, of course I’m going."

"Since you put it that way, I can’t exactly not go, Walter, what about you?"

"It suits me perfectly, if we can enter the witch’s library, I might find the clues I need."

"You need clues for something too, Mr. Walter?"

"Yes. I want to improve my magic and blood magic, if I can find relevant material there, that would be ideal."

"Then it’s decided, meow! The library is northeast of here, only a few days’ walk, meow~"

"Then we should set off soon, is everyone ready?"

"Prepare what? We can head out right now."

"Yeah, I’m good to go." Neither Zharok nor Walter needed anything.

Seeing that everyone was in agreement, Ethan got up and headed to the chieftain’s house, preparing to inform Ash of their plans.

"What is it?"

"We’re planning to make a trip to Lady Witch’s library."

"The witch’s library? Are you referring to the library in the northeast?" It seemed the library was quite famous, everyone knew about it.

Ethan nodded, but a strange expression crossed Ash’s face, he hesitated, then shook his head.

"What’s wrong?"

"It’s nothing, just that it’s a bit dangerous over there... However, with your level of strength, there shouldn’t be any problem."

"What exactly is it, meow?" Pearl asked curiously.

Ash’s expression turned serious, he lowered his voice. "On the road leading to the witch’s library..."

"There are ghosts!"

The room plunged into dead silence, just as the suffocating quiet was about to stretch on indefinitely, Pearl spoke up. "Where in the world would there be ghosts, meow?"

"N-no, there really are ghosts!"

Zharok shared Pearl’s skepticism, he narrowed his eyes, sized Ash up and down, and slowly shook his head. "Tsk tsk, have you been scared silly?"

"You..."

"I’ve lived for so many years and killed at least eight hundred, if not a thousand guys, not a single one has ever come back as a ghost and come looking for me." Walter paused.

"Have you been feeling unwell lately?" His tone was one of genuine concern.

For Ash, this was adding fuel to a fire, he gritted his teeth in anger, but Zharok and Walter continued to look at him as if they were looking at an idiot.

"Ethan! Do you believe me?"

’Hmm... are there no ghosts here?’ Ethan recalled his time in the Ascendant Tower, that place had been crawling with all sorts of danger, not just monsters, but evil spirits too, bodiless entities that could only exist in soul form, if this world followed similar rules, such things should exist here too, but judging from Zharok and Walter’s reactions, it didn’t seem like it.

"Meow? Were there ghosts in the place you went to before, meow?"

"Yeah, evil spirits, ordinary attacks can’t touch them, only specific elemental attacks can do damage, they are very difficult to deal with."

Ethan’s words plunged Zharok, Walter, and Pearl into silence, their reaction was entirely different from when they had heard Ash mention ghosts just moments ago.

"If that’s the case, we’ll need to make preparations."

"Meow-meow, when you say specific elemental attacks, do you mean magic, meow?"

"I can infuse the power of fire into my blood magic, but..."

"...Wait, why is your reaction so completely different?" Ash stared at them in disbelief.

But Zharok and the others ignored him completely, Ash was so angry he was just about to lash out, but Ethan beat him to it. "What kind of ghost is it?"

"Huh?"

"Do you know what it looks like? How does it attack?"

"Ah... the ghost paralyzes people so they can’t move, makes bone-chilling noises, and then lunges to attack, ordinary attacks are useless against it, and even magic passes right through its body."

Pearl piped up. "Meow, what about the Holy Sword, meow?"