If the contents of that book are real, then perhaps the high-level warriors mentioned within are real as well.

“Lowell mentioned that once a warrior reaches level three or above, they can slowly train their physique and improve their constitution...”

William Clark recalled in his mind.

“If... if all of this is real...” William Clark swallowed hard.

He flipped through the pictographic text he had translated. The level of detail in this content was, no matter how he looked at it, far beyond anything he could have imagined on his own.

There were five diagrams in total, and together, they depicted Lowell the swordsman’s most skilled and proud sword technique—Furious Strike.

“It’s a simple move, but a very effective one.” Although William Clark had never seen any related martial arts before, just by looking at the diagrams, he could sense how fierce the move would be when performed in sequence.

The five diagrams were meant to be viewed together as an animation, collectively forming a single technique.

In the diagrams, the little figure wielded a longsword, slashing down diagonally from above toward the opponent. If the strike landed, the result would undoubtedly be instant death.

William Clark let out a gentle breath and closed the notebook in front of him.

“I’ll try it tonight, see what the other books are about. Also, maybe I should leave the manor and take a look outside. If there’s so much in just one manor, what about outside? What kind of place is it out there? Why have I stayed in the manor for so long without encountering a single living thing? It’s always dark outside the window.”

With a head full of questions, William Clark washed up, took off his clothes, and went to bed.

He had visited his grandfather in the hospital during the day. For some reason, seeing his grandfather lying in bed with a head full of white hair, William Clark felt an indescribable emotion in his heart.

It wasn’t sadness.

In fact, his grandfather hadn’t treated their family well, and the relationship between them was extremely thin. But when real trouble came, the first to offer money without hesitation was still their family.

Putting all that aside, what William Clark saw at that moment wasn’t really his own relative.

It was simply a broken, frail old man at the end of his days.

That sense of life flickering like a candle in the wind made his heart clench involuntarily.

“Forget it, I won’t think about it anymore. Tonight, I’ll see if I can leave that manor in my dream.” William Clark lay under the covers, his bright eyes slowly closing.

Within just a few minutes, he drifted off to sleep with practiced ease.

After a brief period of haziness, his consciousness quickly became clear again.

Whoosh...

William Clark slowly opened his eyes and let out a long breath. He looked at the rosewood low table in front of him, and the swordsmanship notebook on the table.

“I’m back again.”

He looked around.

The surroundings were still the same study as before—no windows, only a single door leading to the living room. Beside him were two large bookshelves, their red shelves filled with thick tomes.

William Clark stood up and carefully examined the bookshelves.

Previously, he had taken a book from the upper part of the left bookshelf. This time, he planned to try the right bookshelf.

Without hesitation, he quickly pulled out a book from the right shelf and flipped through it.

“Hm?” He suddenly frowned, his hand pausing.

The book in his hand had writing on the cover, but it was completely blurred and unreadable. When he opened it, all the text inside was also a mass of blurs.

Some pages were nothing but jumbled characters and lines.

William Clark’s heart sank. He quickly put the book down and pulled out another thick red book from the right shelf.

He opened it quickly, only to find that the pages inside were just as blurry.

Chapter 12

Rustle, rustle, rustle...

William Clark frantically flipped through the pages, trying to find a clear one, but after going through almost the entire book, he couldn’t find a single clear page.

Snap.

He tossed the book aside and went straight back to the left bookshelf, quickly pulling out a book from the upper part to check.

This time, he breathed a sigh of relief—the book was still clear.

“Thank goodness, this one...” William Clark had barely exhaled when he saw that the pages in his hand were starting to blur as well.

In this book, the first half was clear, but the latter half was also a blur.

His expression changed. Even though he was in a dream, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of urgency. He hurriedly began checking the books on the shelves one by one.

As time passed.

Soon, he had gone through dozens of thick tomes on the shelves and roughly figured out the situation.

“On the shelves, only the most prominent dozen or so books on the left shelf are clear. The rest are all blurry.”

William Clark plopped down in front of the low table, deep in thought.

“And the books on the table are all clear too. Especially this opened swordsmanship notebook—the details in the diagrams are incredibly fine...”

After a quick comparison, he noticed something.

Among these clear books, the swordsmanship notebook was the clearest, followed by the stack of books on the low table, and then the most prominent dozen or so books on the left shelf.

“Interesting...” William Clark had a vague guess, but wasn’t sure.

“No rush, I’ll try going outside first and see what’s beyond the manor.”

He was becoming more and more interested in this dream.

Standing still, he calmed himself.

William Clark put down the book and slowly walked toward the study door.