Old Buck coughed and hurried towards the study on the third floor.

After passing through two corridors and four rooms, he quickly arrived at the largest room on the third floor.

This was the study, or rather, a modified study.

Baron Carlos had converted the original third-floor reception room into a huge study to store the books he had collected from all over.

The territory's money, except for daily expenses, was all spent here every year.

Those merchants even set up a special team to collect books for Baron Carlos, just to earn the high annual book purchase expenses.

Because of this, the territory didn't even have money to expand its army, and everything was just enough to maintain the basics.

Thinking of this, Old Buck felt a sense of exhaustion.

He reached the study, the door ajar, and he immediately saw Carlos sitting behind the desk.

Recently, Melissa always liked to run to Madam Lisa's side. That woman was a famous socialite in the nearby territories.

This seemed to be the limit of flesh and blood in this world.

Li Cheng Yi had been practicing, and actually didn't have any friends.

The family crest on the magnificent heavy armor shone brightly in the candlelight; it was a strong and beautiful stag.

Standing outside the study, Old Buck looked at Carlos. The baron, even just sitting there, exuded an unspeakable sense of oppression.

"Your Excellency, Viscount Tisilan has sent an invitation regarding the coming-of-age salon. As you know, as nominally subordinate nobles under him, we must give him this face. Otherwise, we may be considered rebellious against our superiors, and thus be targeted, or even become enemies, by the Tisilan territory." Old Buck had been feeling better and better recently. His previous illness seemed to be weakening and disappearing little by little, and even the aging of his body had been slowed down a lot.

This was a special personal diary that a friend had sent him some time ago.

It was written by a low-level traveling mage named Andrein, and although it didn't contain any cultivation meditation methods, it involved a lot of information about mages.

And to enhance his own strength, he started collecting information about mages again.

Old Buck felt a little helpless when he heard this.

"Uncle Buck, what brings you here so early?" Li Cheng Yi asked as he stood up.

"That's good." Li Cheng Yi nodded.

At the age of fifteen, his strength had completely exceeded the limit of knights and entered a new level.

"That's good then... Then I won't disturb you anymore." He bowed and prepared to retreat.

Because modifying it meant subverting his family's ancestors, but Carlos had done it anyway.

Family crests should only be registered and designed when they are created. This was tradition, this was the inheritance of the ancestors, and few people would modify them.

The image of mages was also becoming clearer and clearer in his mind.

"By the way, Uncle Buck, has Mother gone to Madam Lisa's house again?" Li Cheng Yi suddenly asked.

And apart from the Council of Elders, an institution without real power, other nobles with real power would not condemn a territorial noble for such a small matter.

Such bravery was already enough to ensure that the current Black Fortress would firmly hold the position of territorial ruler.

After all, this salon was nominally a coming-of-age ceremony, but in reality, it was meant to select husbands for the viscount's two daughters.

In the past few years, he had read a large number of various books.

This fifteen-year-old young baron was now tall and well-proportioned, with smooth black hair hanging down to his lower back, simply tied up with a hair rope. He wore silver heavy armor that covered his vital joints at all times.

'I heard that he has already started one-on-many training in the training ground... Even Milton has to join forces with multiple soldiers to put pressure on him.' Thinking of this information, Old Buck felt an unspeakable sense of relief.

He ignored it and forcibly passed his government orders, and gave no reply to the inquiries from the Imperial Noble Council of Elders.

"Well, I'll go." Li Cheng Yi took the invitation and looked at the time. "I've finished reading the books I have on hand. I heard that Viscount Tisilan's territory supports a mage to serve him. Maybe I can go and ask for advice."

Watching the other party bow again and leave the room, he sat down, pulled open a drawer, took out a yellowed book, and began to flip through it again.

"Is that Uncle Buck? Please come in."

Since the death of the previous baron, the Okla Territory had not received such courtesy for a long time.

This was the new crest of the Okla family, forcibly modified by Carlos to this point, and reported to the Empire.

So, in order to protect his safety, he customized a full set of heavy armor, polearms, and large shields.

But to his dismay, no matter how he trained, his physique was stuck at 6.7 times that of Knight Milton, and never moved again.

Even if he used Flower Language enhancement, it was meaningless.

At this time, Li Cheng Yi in the study seemed to have noticed Old Buck standing outside the door for a long time, and put down his book and spoke.

"Yes, they specifically stated that they hope you will attend in person. This is a very respectful gesture." Old Buck smiled.

Carlos was good in every way, but his pursuit of mages was always incomprehensible.

His cold and handsome face indifferently flipped through the books in his hands, his burly and strong body wrapped in armor, giving people a heroic spirit and a special temperament like a just-adult lion.

Although he knew very well that they should have issued the invitation because of the baron's handsome face.

This gave him more energy to serve the territory, and he felt much lighter in his heart.

"I understand. You need to make time to attend, right?" Li Cheng Yi nodded.

"Don't worry, the old lady is mainly going to attend the concert." Old Buck replied.

He had put in a lot of effort to temper his body to the limit of flesh and blood in this world at the age of fifteen.

Other peers of this age were not even ordinary warriors, at most just little brats with the strength of an adult.

They were still pursuing poetry and beautiful members of the opposite sex, and even those who were more precocious were just immaturely and ignorantly comprehending the life experiences taught by their elders.

None were like him.

And this so-called friend was actually a book friend when buying books. Because at a book auction, the two of them almost fought over a book, and later the organizer came up with a way to ask both sides to exchange books to read, which calmed the dispute.

But he didn't expect that the two of them had never met, but became more and more familiar with each other through constantly exchanging books and exchanging ideas.

According to this friend's description, she should also be going to Viscount Tisilan's territory to attend the salon.

This made Li Cheng Yi want to go there in person and exchange more information with her, especially about mages.

'I've collected almost all the basic information around here. The largest knowledge system in this world should be in the hands of mages. If I want to quickly integrate and reach the point of omniscience, I must obtain the accumulation from the mages as soon as possible.'

In his current Yuanshen Sword Palace, the fire in the Sword Furnace was becoming more and more scorching and intense.

A large amount of knowledge and research on various aspects of the world had allowed him to gradually construct a cognitive prototype of this world over the years.

This was the construction of a worldview.

And as such construction proceeded, the fire in the Sword Furnace began to become more and more vigorous, and it was clear that this path was the right one.

But now, as the number of books became less and less and the content became more and more repetitive, the growth of the furnace fire began to slow down.

Therefore, he urgently needed to open up new channels.

This salon was an opportunity, an opportunity to contact mages.

After confirming the goal, four days later, Li Cheng Yi took a carriage with several Black Fortress guards and headed to the Tisilan Territory.

After several days of long journey, they successfully arrived at the location where the salon was held - Xiangguo City.

A small city famous for producing Xiangguo (Fragrant Fruit).

The size of the city was equivalent to three small towns, which was considered the most prosperous place nearby, but for Li Cheng Yi, the scenery was secondary, and collecting books in the city was the key.

After purchasing a few books he had never seen before, he took a carriage to a large manor in the suburbs to attend the salon.

Nobles of all sizes brought their children to attend.

Carriages of various grades were parked in a row outside the manor, and the accompanying soldiers were in groups of three or five, drinking and bragging in the snow.

The firelight from the sentry towers in the distance added a touch of light to the surrounding night.

Inside the manor, nobles whom Li Cheng Yi didn't recognize were coming and going, toasting and chatting about topics that he had no interest in at all.

Anyway, he was just doing it to get it over with, and then he would go meet that friend, so Li Cheng Yi was too lazy to deal with it, so he found a corner on the first floor, sat on the balcony, and slowly drank juice alone.

Music kept floating out of the reception room on the left, occasionally mixed with the laughter of guests.

The little brats ran around, occasionally making mischief, and then being scolded and crying.

The noisy voices made Li Cheng Yi frown slightly.

He simply turned his gaze to the night sky outside, and soon began to doze off slightly.

Sleeping at such a salon was undoubtedly a bit impolite, but he was only fifteen years old and still a child.

Children can always be tolerated, can't they?

But while he was dozing off, among the few young men and women gathered in the reception room, someone had already noticed him.

"Is that Baron Carlos of the Okla family??" A beautiful girl in a beige dress and flesh-colored stockings looked curiously at Li Cheng Yi and asked her companions in a low voice.

"Yes, that guy who changed his family crest himself. I didn't expect him to be quite handsome." Another freckled girl in a green dress laughed softly. "He's in good shape too... Much better-looking than Jane and the others."

"Hey, hey, can't you compare me to others? You have to compare me." Jane was immediately unhappy.

"Being strong doesn't mean you can fight. Can you look at people more deeply? Don't be so superficial. If you have a good-looking face, will the enemy let you have an extra knife on the battlefield?"

"He's sitting alone on the balcony, not even greeting us, obviously he doesn't take us seriously." Another handsome, scholarly young man said lightly.

He was right, that was indeed Li Cheng Yi's idea.

"But he's in better shape than you. If you really fight, you might not be his opponent, right?" The beige dress girl said with a smile.

"Mina, do you want to hear what you're saying? Besides, even if you praise him so much, he won't look at you. Who among the young people here isn't here for the Alice sisters?" The handsome young man said lazily.

"Is it so difficult to admit that others are excellent? You one, Jane one, are men so stubborn?" Mina frowned.

"I heard that he likes to read books and collect books. If you like it, you can use this to strike up a conversation with him. Do you think he will pay attention to you?" The handsome young man said lazily. "It just so happens that we can pull a noble with real power into our Youth Association."

Mina's eyes suddenly lit up, and without saying a word, she puffed out her chest and walked towards Li Cheng Yi.

But someone was faster than her. Jane rushed forward in one step and stood in front of Li Cheng Yi.

"I heard that Baron Carlos likes to read books and likes things related to mages. I have a blue star stone that mages like the most. It's a souvenir left to me by my mother. I wonder if the baron is interested in having a one-on-one fight with me?"

Li Cheng Yi's slightly closed eyes suddenly opened, and he looked at the little boy who had suddenly rushed over.

Well, fourteen years old, with short curly brown hair and a very stubborn expression.

What did he want to do?

Come and get beaten up?

Couldn't he see that his arm was almost as thick as his thigh?

"Blue Star Stone?" Li Cheng Yi opened his mouth and said, "You're giving me a gift in disguise. Is there anything you need my help with?"

In his opinion, any fight was fake. He could beat a group of these little brats with one hand, so the other party was just finding an excuse to give him a gift.

Jane had originally rushed up angrily, and the words had slipped out, and he had already regretted it a bit. After all, he had also seen the other party's thick arm circumference.

But when he heard this, and in front of the girl he secretly loved, his face immediately flushed with blood.

"You are insulting me!! Insulting a future knight!! I want to duel with you..."

Pfft.

His mouth was firmly covered by a handsome young man behind him, and he didn't say the last word.

"Sorry, he just drank too much."

A group of young people dragged Jane away, forcibly covering his mouth to prevent him from speaking.

Li Cheng Yi looked at this scene, speechless, and then looked at the beautiful girl next to him, knowing what was going on, he closed his eyes silently and prepared to continue to rest.

"I don't have books about mages, but there are always griffins in my territory, which are one of the mounts that mages like the most. It is said that they also have spell-like abilities. I don't know if you are interested?" Mina suddenly spoke out.

As soon as these words came out, Li Cheng Yi, who had originally closed his eyes, suddenly opened his eyes, staring at her with bright eyes.

Studying the supernatural creatures that make up this world was undoubtedly a way to greatly increase his progress in igniting the divine fire.

(End of this chapter)