'Could it be a treasure?'
With this possibility in her mind, she felt fearful towards the crystal ball.
The thought of playing with it for a long time vanished in her mind. God knows how much a treasure is worth, be it a common, uncommon, or rare treasure and it is not something an ordinary person like me could afford.
'Even if I save my lifetime salary, I can't fork out even half of a treasure's price...'
Thinking back to her actions, Lillian's heart bled.
'Good thing that I didn't damaged it even for a bit.' She cried inwardly.
Lisa, who already snapped out of her deep thoughts, saw her staring fearfully at the crystal ball. A confused expression appeared on her face.
She left the library counter and went near to Lillian while she stared at Lillian and the crystal ball repeatedly with a confused expression.
"What happened?" She asked.
Lillian stared at her with the same fearful expression and glanced at the crystal ball with vigilance.
"That... crystal ball..." Lillian muttered while stuttering.
"What about that?"
Lillian looked at the crystal ball and was lost in her thoughts.
After a while, Lillian removed her gaze from the crystal ball and looked once again at Lisa who was staring back at her.
"Is that... a treasure?" She asked cautiously.
Lisa gave her a blank look. She walked towards the crystal ball and lifted it up with both her hands.
"Nope." She said while staring at the crystal ball.
Eh?
It wasn't?
Lillian was dumbfounded.
'Then what am I worrying for?!' She complained in her mind.
She calmly exhaled. It was like the pressure that was put on both of her shoulders had been finally lifted up.
"Actually, I got this from an acquaintance of mine who told me it was from a royal family." Lisa said.
"Huh?!"
As soon as her words reached Lillian's ears, who had calmed down, she became shocked once again and a horrified expression appeared on her face.
As if not noticing Lillian's exclaim and horrified expression, Lisa continued to speak.
"If estimated, it should cost about 90,000 to 110,000 jewels."
Hearing her speak the price of the crystal ball as if it was a common vegetable sold in markets, Lillian almost fainted.
Meanwhile Naomi, who was oblivious to what happened between Lillian and Lisa, was continously browsing for books in the shelf where a lot of new books was displayed.
Her hands continued to brush against the book covers. Everytime a book catches her attention, she would pick it up.
There are a lot of books in different kinds of litsrature. Some were about history, a guide to a better archery, how to properly handle a sword, steps in forging an armor, and etc.
There were even books that are forbidden to be displayed in public. They were mixed among books that were displayed in each shelves. Those were books that aside from this library located in an alleyway, no other library dares to display those books in their shelves.
Naomi also wanted to have her hands on one of those forbidden books but she dared not to.
'Why is Lisa displaying those forbidden books in these shelves?' Naomi couldn't help but ask herself out of curiousity.
Despite being curious, she didn't dare to ask Lisa about it. After all, she was in no position to ask and it isn't her business in the first place.
She was continously browsing for books but when she reached the end of the shelf, something caught her attention. It was a tainted gold covered book in the corner of the shelf.
She went to grab it and was satisfied with the book. The book title was "Art of Medicine".
Naomi didn't have any skills when it comes to medicine but when she remembered the protagonist of a novel she had read before, she was full of expectation towards the book.
The novel was about a lady, the protagonist, being an unparalleled genius in the field of medicine. She was praised for her skills in medicine but something unexpected happened. She transmigrated in another world and the glory she had in the field of medicine was gone in an instant. She became a daughter of a wealthy family who is known to be useless. It was fortunate for her that the skills she had in medicine was still embedded in her mind that she was able to use it to her advantage as she slaughtered her way towards the top.
Thinking back at it, Naomi couldn't help but feel excited. There were even times where she would dream about her being the protagonist of that novel.
She was soon lost in her dreamy thoughts. As she regained her wits, she looked at the book with a face full of excitement. Slowly, she opened the book.
The excitement on her face disappeared in an instant and was replaced with a blank look.
'I CAN'T UNDERSTAND A SINGLE THING!' She roared inwardly.
The characters used for writing the book was different from theirs that not even a single character was familiar to her. Even the writing system of the other kingdoms was different from this.
She wasn't disappointed but EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED towards this book that she picked up while being full of expectations.
She was about to put the book back when a photo fell from the book.
It was impossible for Naomi not to notice the photo that had fallen. Curious, she went to pick it up and stared at it.
It was a photo of a kingdom. Just like the characters, Naomi was unable to recognize the kingdom.
It had to be known that at the libraries in Florence, there are books where photos of each kingdoms were shown including their language, writing system, traditions, and etc. The kingdom shown in the photo was not included in those books.
Due to being full of colors, it was so vivid and looked like it was full of vitality despite being a photo. Compared to the other kingdoms, including Florence, the kingdom in the photo looks more beautiful.
Naomi's attention was immediately snatched by this single photo. She was calm at first but the longer she stared at the photo, it feels like something was wrong.
There was like an invisible suction in the photo, trying to draw her soul into it. She felt weird. She wanted to remove the photo out of her sight but it was like her eyes were glued into it as she was unable to retract her sight. She don't know what to do.
"Young miss!"
Lillian's voice reached into her ears and the suction feeling disappeared in thin air and everything was calm again.
She stared at the photo and found out that it was in black and white. Compared to it being vivid, it was utmost dull. It shocked her.
Trying to clarify things, she called Lillian who was walking towards her.
"Lillian, take a look at this photo. Can you notice something weird in it?" She held out the photo in front of Lillian.
"There isn't. It's completely plain black and white. Why do you ask, young miss?" Lillian said as she stared at Naomi.
Naomi couldn't help but frown at her answer. She looked at the photo once again and it was indeed what Lillian said.
The vivid photo had now became dull. She find it extremely weird.
'Are my eyes playing tricks with me? But it's clear as day that it wasn't like this earlier!' She thought.
She contemplated for a while while frowning. Lillian noticed her expression and became curious.
'Did I say something wrong?'
After contemplating for a while, she inserted the photo back in the tainted gold covered book and returned it to the place where it was displayed.
Naomi turned to look at Lillian with uncertainty in her eyes.
She heaved a sigh.
"Let's go home."
She bypassed Lillian and headed towards the library counter where Lisa could be seen reading the book she had with her earlier.
Lillian followed behind Naomi puzzingly.
Naomi talked with Lisa for a while before heading home with Lillian together with the books she had picked earlier.
The moon had already risen into the dark evening sky with the sun nowhere to be found.The once bustling streets of Florence became quiet, with the streetlights illuminating the darkness.The lights in every residences were already turned off which was the same in Naomi's residence.The door and windows of Naomi's room were closed and the heavy curtains were dropped to cover the windows. The atmosphere was warm.The room was quiet that the sound of Naomi's steady breathing could be heard.Her dream was nothing out of sort. What was happening in her dream was something she always wanted to experience in real life.Suddenly, the air enveloping the whole room became chilly which caused Naomi to frown due to the sudden coldness and grabbed the duvet tightly and draw it closer to her.At the same time, something bizarre is in her dreams. Compared to the usual vibrant dreams she would have, her dream this time was the complete opposit
Naomi crouched while hugging her knees, staring into the crystal clear glass shards with an emotionless face.Some crystal shards were scattered in the floor. Naomi picked a few and then threw it into the wall while still crouching.'What should I do?'Thinking of the circumstances she was in, Naomi wanted nothing more than to weep.'I never wanted to be transmigrated in an unknown world! If I did, atleast give me something that can help me!'Naomi was sullen and continued to pick and throw crystal shards as she remained silent and went deep into thoughts. Only the sound of crystal shards being thrown could be heard.This scenario continued for a while.Heaving a sigh, Naomi stopped and stood up, shaking the dirt off her snowy white clothes."I can't keep staying here and do nothing." She muttered to herself.'Okay. I need to get out of here.'She stared at the surroundings once again until her e
The dead branches and leaves that had fallen into the ground created a crisp sound as someone walked and happened to step on them.As Naomi walked forward, she kept looking around the area she passed by. Whether she walked into the right path that can lead her out of the forest, she wasn't sure about it herself.When she went out of the place she came from, on which she knew that it was a huge cave when she glanced at it from the outside, she just started to walk in the opposite direction of the cave and continued to walk forward.There was once a time where she thought that she had gone far away from the cave but when she looked back, she could still see the opening of the cave.Naomi continued to walk forward, venturing deeper into the forest. Looking around, she noticed that aside from the lush greenery and herself, the only beings that accompanied her were birds chirping as they fly away into the sky or stop by in some trees and there was still
The big black wolf fell into the ground as a silver arrow pierced its back where scarlet red blood oozed. It laid into the ground without making any moves.Naomi was still frightened with the sudden appearance of the big black wolf and how it attempted to kill her, its eyes appeared as if it can't wait to eat its food.She stood still, looking at the big black wolf, who was lying in the ground with its own pool of blood, with a frightened expression.She couldn't help but think, 'What if it succeeded?' Naomi couldn't continue to venture deeper in that thought."Are you okay?"The sound of the dead branches and fallen leaves being stepped upon sounded on which reached Naomi's ears.Naomi, with the same frightened expression she displayed on her face when she saw the wolf was going to pounce on her, looked up only to see a young man, who doesn't look like to be much older than her, approaching her.He was tall but fairly skinny. His loo
"So, how do beasts improve their cultivation?" Naomi asked.As Lucas patiently explained things regarding beasts and cultivation, Naomi listened attentively."Just like us, they gather the spiritual energy in the surroundings and absorb them. It may sound easy but doing it is pretty hard. Some beasts and people, commonly those with poor innate talent, even took several years just to take their first step in the cultivation realm. Things with spiritual energy should help them as well."'That should be hard...' Naomi thought.A cold glint flashed through Lucas' eyes. It was gone in a blink of an eye that no one would be able to notice it."There is a much more easier way for humans and beasts to improve their cultivation." Lucas said.Naomi became curious, "what is it?""The wolf's beast core I showed you earlier was silver, wasn't it?"Naomi nodded."Some humans and beasts would kill other beasts who are of higher c
Occasionally raising her head to look at the sky, Naomi saw how the smoke up in the sky was getting larger than it was from when she first saw it as she was getting near the smoke's direction.Lucas was also following behind her. It was a good thing that Naomi wasn't a fast runner that he was able to cope up with her speed without making much of an effort. As they were in a forest, when Naomi was rushing forward, there were countless trees in her path although their leaves weren't really covering the sky which helped Naomi rush forward easily."Just a few steps and we'll be out of this forest!" Naomi said.Lucas couldn't help but shake his head with her attitude.Stepping into the wide dirt road, Naomi found herself to be finally out of the forest. She heaved a sigh as a slight smile appeared on her face. Lucas stood besides her and felt relieved to be finally out of that forest."Look!"Lucas turned to lo
The chilly breeze passed by the forest, making the leaves of the trees sway in response. The sun that was up above the sky was nowhere to be found.It was evening.The surroundings was still quiet but compared to the silence earlier morning until afternoon, it was much more quieter after the sun had set.Aside from the noise coming from the bonfire, it was too quiet that Naomi had become scared. Adding to the fact that they're in the middle of nowhere where aside from them, there weren't any people around that can be seen. This fact even made her become more scared.Not even her nor her two companions were speaking.Yes, two. There are three of them currently present."Good. It's finally cooked." The sound of Lucas' voice reached her ears.It was only then that Naomi smelled the rich aroma of the grilled fish Lucas had cooked. The fish could be said to be medium-sized. She was too occupied with fear that she fa
"Are you sure?" Naomi turned to look at Lisa with surprise visible on her face. Lisa nodded. Seeing her nod, Naomi was about to burst with excitement. "But it would take a long time." Lisa added. The excitement vanished and Naomi was like a deflated balloon as she stared at Lisa with disappointment. The latter just shrugged. Naomi went to look at the bonfire and staring at the skewered grilled fish as she raised her hand, her hunger was once again agitated. She carefully took a bits of the skewered grilled fish and as soon as she came into contact with the fish, there was only one word to describe it: DELICIOUS. Not only the appearance of the grilled fish but the taste is just too hard to resist! After swallowing the first bite, she went on to take another bite again and again as she eat the fish with delish. Her previous disappointment was gone in an instant and was replaced with the t