Ethan thought the teacher’s idea was a bit problematic, but a good student shouldn’t embarrass their teacher. Seeing Lindong’s face nearly reddening to her neck, he decisively skipped over the topic.
Ethan: "Three hours is enough, but in a place where forbidden books are stored, there should be other restraints, right?"
Invisible potions aren’t expensive in the black market. If a bottle of medium-level magic potion can easily access all kinds of forbidden books, the world’s mystical knowledge would have long been rampant.
The content in forbidden books is far more valuable than magic potions, and he knows that many people, like Lindong, have a penchant for them — the more others forbid them from looking, the more they want to see.
If the same content were written in ordinary books, placed where it could be easily accessed, they’d lose interest instantly.
"Of course, breaking the restraints is a necessary part of sneaking forbidden books."
As expected, Lindong has extremely rich experience, "The restraints of the library in the Imperial Capital Cathedral are a faith test. Only followers of the Goddess of Life can pass the test and enter."
"How did you get through at that time?"
"This type of restraint is the easiest to break, you just need to find a follower to help lift the restraint."
Compared to the bizarre restraints devised by the academy’s professors, the cathedral library can only be considered beginner level.
Of course, the academy library’s restraints aren’t that formidable either. After Lindong infiltrated it numerous times, it evolved into a battle of wits between the professors and her. To prevent Lindong from trespassing into restricted areas, professors united to pool their wisdom and devised many extremely complex mechanisms.
Lindong briefly recounted a few that left a deep impression on her to Ethan, who was greatly shocked.
It was a competition covering astronomy, geography, mathematics, and physics, where one must control elements to fill in the answers. If a mistake is made, it triggers an element explosion — the explosion’s impact isn’t significant, but it marks the person who failed with an elemental imprint, lasting for several days!
This was specifically designed to safeguard against Lindong’s invisible potion, so that everyone would know she was caught trespassing, with ample evidence to dock points.
The professors exhausted their lifelong learning. Ethan could imagine them gathering together, with grim expressions, discussing how to make Lindong, a student who disregards school rules, pay the price.
The professor’s dignity was completely lost in front of a student; they had to restore their reputation!
Ethan asked curiously, "Have you ever been caught in an explosion?"
Lindong shrugged, justifiedly saying, "But I’ve caused several explosions for them."
"Isn’t it their question bank? How can’t they answer it themselves?"
"They can, but I later discovered that the question bank had a loophole."
"While others are answering, you can interrupt and answer. If you answer wrongly, the person answering gets caught in the explosion."
The restraint of the restricted area applies to everyone; even professors have to answer when accessing materials. The more complex the question bank, the more they have to memorize, since it’s set with the collective knowledge of all professors, each having knowledge blind spots, thus they must answer according to the ’reference answers.’
Ethan listened in astonishment. It’s not an exaggeration to describe Lindong during her student years as a Black Demon King; she didn’t do any good indeed!
He couldn’t help but mourn for the academy’s teachers, "So they got caught in so many explosions because of you that they canceled the question bank?"
"No, professors are very determined; even after several explosions, they wouldn’t cancel the question bank."
With the calmest tone, Lindong recounted her misdeeds, "But there was once I blew up the principal; the next day the question bank disappeared."
Speaking of it, she somewhat missed her student days.
Ethan dared to guarantee the academy professors certainly wouldn’t miss Lindong’s student days.
"So, you only need to know that there’s no restraint in the world that can limit your teacher!"
Lindong was very satisfied, since Ethan was her favorite student, how could he not learn to trespass restricted areas? Today was a good start; sneaking forbidden books would become uncontrollable, until it turned into a daily pleasure.
Drinking the magic potion, they swaggered into Saint Hilman Cathedral.
Before long, it would be the church’s busiest time; middle-class families finishing work would come for prayers, while residents from the slum would usually arrive later, since their off-duty time is typically late, sometimes working overtime till midnight.
The lower level of the church library is almost entirely young priests, mostly boys fifteen or sixteen years old, mostly fair-skinned, wearing priest robes, reading mystical books is their daily required course, followed by meditation, as for evening arrangements, that depends on their mentors’ mood.
Under the Chief Priest’s lead, the life of Gear City’s priests is very... open.
Ethan didn’t linger downstairs much. He and Lindong went up the staircase, the invisible potion allowed them to easily avoid the librarian’s sight. Lindong sized up the restraint, uninterested, "It’s the most ordinary faith examination, nothing different from the Imperial Capital Cathedral. Wait a moment... Hmm, done, you can go in."
"Did it just get unlocked?"
Ethan was stunned for a moment but took a few steps forward out of trust, indeed not being recognized by the restraint.
"It’s simple, just harness the properties of the elevated element to do it."
Lindong explained the principles, "My ice element can stop time; during this period, move the librarian over to scan, then put her back, and the restraint is lifted."
Time-stop moving occurred!
Ethan was shocked; had his teacher advanced with Mr. Dior in using time-stop?
According to his observation, the duration of teacher’s elevated element is linked with the strength of Magic Power, although he doesn’t know the limit of how long it can last, it’s certainly far beyond 10 seconds.
"How did you move her?"
The librarian appeared much more "robust" than Lindong, she was a burly woman with an unfriendly face, young priests were evasive during registration, seemingly disliking dealing with her.
In studying witches, Ethan found his teacher is typically a magic type, light of body and weak in strength.
"When wielding area magic, static objects lose their mass."
Lindong said, "Alright, go find your book, I’ll keep watch here, if anyone comes, I’ll inform you."