Omni-Mastery

"I appreciate the offer, but I really can't accept it. Now if you will excuse me… I'm in a bit of a hurry."

I was actually silently applauding for White in my head after hearing his complete scheme of thought…

Ignoring the coincidence that I appeared when he was recently invited for the new division establishment, he seemed to have been making plans above plans to make use of me and obtain even the slightest of benefits.

At first, I thought he might just be too interested in Light or at least the 'Lightning of Acknowledgement' that he caused, but if my assumptions were correct, he had already disregarded that and started to focus on me instead.

He probably attributed the situation to me, thinking that it was some sort of luck or as if it was all initiated by me, which was partially correct, and thus decided to use opportunities that wouldn't make him lose much to do me favors.

Asking me to join on the journey to 'Battle City', the auction invitation ticket, and even making use of his recent rise to grab me along.

If I was personally just someone who cared about positions, I might have just accepted his offer and achieved another ascension as soon as I stepped into the sect, while he would have received a genius apprentice, a win-win situation that seemed like too much of a coincidence.

'Too bad…'

Sadly for him, achieving a simple high position wasn't my target, it was actually a crucial part in my plan that needed to be done in a certain way for the plan to work, or else I would have to switch to a completely different plan, and since my current plan didn't seem to be failing nor did I lose anything yet, I had no reason to switch for the sake of some 'fast-forwarding' when I still had confidence to be almost as fast on my own.

"Hahahaha… he really guessed correctly… no wonder he let me do it this easily. Hahaha… to think you were that steadfast once you have set a high target…"

Turning away to look at White whose expression wasn't of sadness, bitterness or even being simply disappointed as he was instead laughing with a bright expression, I couldn't help but feel that another big misunderstanding was taking place in his mind again…

'This guy… really…'

"Alright alright, you have beat my expectations, and I lost my bet, I guess I will have to wait a new year before the Ice division shall be established…"

"Hmmm?"

'This…'

I had originally believed the fact that an Ice division would be set up. After all, White always seemed to be more than just a sect master for a border sect, but it seemed that there was even more to this.

'Was I just used as a gambling machine…?'

"Don't worry too much about it, I wasn't enthusiastic about it anyway, this all had another meaning to it and I think I'm pretty satisfied with what I saw today. Here, you can have this…"

White's words only grew more confusing, which he probably did on purpose, as he took out a book and placed it on the chair he was sitting at previously.

"It was supposed to be something else, but you deserve something better. This is something good from my personal collection. You can take this instead of picking another book, and of course, you can choose not to, haha… I will be leaving now so as not to waste your time."

White simply left these words before rushing out of the door, leaving behind the book without much care…

"Oh, it's White, what were you doing inside…?"

"Nothing, just checking out something interesting!"

"What do you mean by that, you had already mastered all the Ice tomes-"

"Now now, I never said it was a tome… talk to you later, I have an important appointment to catch!"

Hearing the quick conversation outside, I grew a bit interested in the book as I picked it up since it didn't seem to be rigged anyway.

'Mhm.'

Expectedly enough, as soon I opened the book, the 'Archaic Guidance' took effect, this book was definitely another tome.

In fact, the technique inside of it seemed to be a bit unique, something that didn't seem to suit the general selection of techniques in the last two libraries...

'Let's check the ones here first…'

Resisting the temptation to just take this tome and leave, I walked into the Ice section of the library as I started browsing it, hoping to find something better or at least in the same level. However, in the end…

'It's just too different…'

After I retrieved the book cover that was hung in the same place as it was in the other two libraries, I ended up putting the tome that White left in it before exiting the library…

"You are done?"

The green haired division master, Wind, seemed to be still wondering about what White meant as he asked me half-heartedly.

"Mhm."

Instead of giving him a proper reply, I simply nodded before giving him the token which should count as me handing him the special score points that are slightly higher than the amount required for the three tomes that I have 'rented ' for one week.

"That's okay then, I will transfer the left-over score for achievement points for you, though don't expect much… let's get going, I will drop you off at the Central Division on my way back."

Not bothering to refuse Wind's offer, I got on the carriage which had the other two books hidden in the special cover and put the third above them while thinking about White's strange discussion with me.

It was pretty obvious that the whole 'meeting' in the library was actually something set up, not by White alone, but most likely with the other end of the 'bet', but in the very end, I wasn't that annoyed by it as I still ended up profiting somehow, the Ice tome was definitely going to be a neat addition to my skill set!

'Let's hope my own gamble works as well!'