The Book Repository was one of the most mysterious places in the The Clark Family, housing a collection of various martial arts manuals. The Book Repository was semi-closed, open only to family members who had reached the second level of martial arts. Every practitioner who advanced to the second level was entitled to enter the repository once for free. After that, if they wished to enter again, they would have to pay a certain fee.

William Clark strode up to the entrance of the Book Repository and was about to go in when suddenly a boy of about twelve or thirteen, dressed in blue and full of arrogance, emerged from inside. Upon seeing this boy, William Clark frowned slightly.

It turned out that this boy was named David Clark, a half-brother of William Clark. David Clark was in the same group as Richard Clark, and had always been at odds with William Clark. With the strength of a mid-stage second-level martial artist, David Clark had made things difficult for William Clark many times, which left William Clark with no fondness for this half-brother.

“Hm? William Clark?” David Clark looked at William Clark and said with slight surprise, “This is the family’s Book Repository. Only those with second-level martial arts strength are qualified to enter. William Clark, what are you, a good-for-nothing, doing here?”

On the Wild Continent, the law of the jungle prevailed, and the strong could call the weak whatever they liked without restraint. Calling William Clark “trash” didn’t seem wrong to David Clark at all. In fact, he had always referred to William Clark this way.

William Clark gave David Clark a calm glance, didn’t reply, and walked straight into the Book Repository.

“You…”

Normally, if David Clark saw William Clark act so indifferently, he would have flown into a rage, blocked William Clark, and bullied and insulted him. But now, every move William Clark made seemed to carry a subtle, mysterious aura, as if he was merging with the Book Repository itself, exuding an undeniable presence. For a moment, David Clark didn’t dare act rashly.

“Second level of martial arts! That trash William Clark has actually advanced to the second level! How is this possible…” Staring at William Clark’s figure, David Clark’s face darkened, his thoughts unknown.

Entering the Book Repository, William Clark saw an old man with a white beard sitting cross-legged on a stone bench, silent and motionless, yet exuding a weighty, mountain-like presence.

William Clark bowed to the old man and said in a deep voice, “I have advanced to the second level of martial arts and request entry to the Book Repository.”

The old man didn’t open his eyes. With a sweep of his long sleeve, he tossed over a piece of animal hide and said, “Record your name, your parents’ names, and the time of your advancement on this, for our verification.”

William Clark took the animal hide, wrote down his information as instructed, and then returned the scroll to the stone table in front of the old man.

The old man opened his eyes, glanced at the scroll, nodded slightly at William Clark, and said, “Your aptitude is rather low. Ordinarily, you might not advance even by the age of forty. Now, being able to reach the second level at thirteen shows you have good willpower and determination! According to the rules of our The Clark Family, every second-level family member may select two suitable low-level martial skills from the Book Repository. Now, you may enter and search for skills that suit you. Remember, you have only the time of three incense sticks. When time is up, whether or not you have found a suitable manual, you must leave the repository.”

William Clark bowed to the old man and turned to enter the repository.

Although the The Clark Family was just a small clan, after hundreds of years of accumulation, the repository still held quite a few manuals. William Clark glanced around and saw that the spacious room was lined with more than a dozen rows of bookshelves, all filled with various martial arts manuals—by rough estimate, no less than a thousand volumes.

Time was limited, so William Clark couldn’t afford to linger and immediately began searching for martial skills suitable for himself.

The first thing William Clark looked for was a movement technique. Movement techniques could be used for traveling, dodging, and escaping; almost every martial artist would cultivate at least one, and William Clark was no exception.

After searching for a while, William Clark finally selected a manual. This manual was called “Jinghong Art.” Once mastered, it granted speed as swift as a startled swan, making it one of the fastest movement techniques among the lowest-level skills.

Having found a movement technique, William Clark next sought an offensive martial skill. After searching for a long time, a damaged saber manual caught his interest.

This saber manual had only a little over twenty pages, and it recorded only a single saber move. This move emphasized “a gentle breeze brushing the face—one sees the breeze but not the blade,” making it an extremely mysterious saber technique.

“This damaged saber manual was obtained by one of our The Clark Family elders by chance. In terms of grade, it should be a mid-level martial skill, but because it’s incomplete, it’s placed here among the low-level skills. The name of the manual is lost; all we know is that it originally contained three saber moves, and our The Clark Family possesses only the first.” At some point, the old man with the white beard had come over and said, “To master this saber move requires exceptional comprehension. Without outstanding perception, even decades of practice will yield little. William Clark, your comprehension is quite average. I advise you to give up on cultivating this damaged manual.”