Undead Mage from a Cell

Chapter 449: Chapter 447: The Lost Tree of Wisdom

As they spoke, a face slowly grew out of the fallen tree.

But the face was somewhat horizontal and twisted.

Gu Xi could only discern that it was a feminine face, which was somewhat different from his initial guess.

After the face appeared, the tree tried hard to grow out arms, but it couldn’t, only managing to move a withered leaf in front of itself with a jitter.

”Oh, now I understand how you found me; this is the traditional means of contact with the Tree of Wisdom. If I hadn’t read many books, I might not know this.

This feels uncomfortable, don’t resist, wake up...”

In the next moment, Gu Xi felt as if something shattered in front of him, and he found himself appearing in a massive library.

Within the library, countless students were reading, transcribing, and a few were gathering around to study something.

Upon closer inspection, Gu Xi noticed that the situation with these students was somewhat peculiar.

Some students appeared normal, wearing black student robes and scarves of various colors around their necks.

But some other students were different.

They had heads of squirrels or rabbits and seemed slightly bewildered compared to the proper students.

Gu Xi quickly understood the situation.

These were the bodies asleep in front of the tree.

”Young man, come this way, follow me, don’t touch a single book here.”

At that moment, an elderly lady dressed in a purple gown, with her hair neatly tied up, approached Gu Xi.

She held a feather duster made from some sort of plume, cleaning each book that floated past her as she moved.

Only after guiding Gu Xi to a sofa and letting him sit did she introduce herself.

”Hello, outsider. I am the librarian of the academy, you can call me Madam Sha. I assume that since you trekked through these mountains, you must have heard about the academy.

The academy is gone, no one knows where it went.

The deans used their last ounce of strength to shelter their students.

Us ordinary teachers or academy staff couldn’t do much, we either went mad or perished; only a few managed to create a small domain for themselves, preserving a sliver of life.

What you are seeing now are fragments of my memory.

The library that originally belonged to the academy.

All the books here are real, yet also fake.

If you open any book, you must keep reading until you’ve finished all the books here before you can wake from the dream.”

Madam Sha glanced at Gu Xi, seemingly warning him not to covet any of the books here.

Initially, Gu Xi paid attention to these books. This library had far more books than his, and judging by the covers, they contained advanced learning materials for magic.

Gu Xi even noticed that the library was divided into sections, including a Forbidden Book Area.

If Madam Sha hadn’t warned him, Gu Xi might actually have picked up a book to peruse.

But now, he had lost the desire to do so, lowering his head and avoiding looking at the books.

”By the way, you came to find me to enhance your skills, right? I’m not naturally the Tree of Wisdom, only a librarian hidden within the tree.

But this job I can take, albeit not very well.

I had a glance at your skills below level 4.

I present to you two options.”

”Please go ahead.”

Gu Xi usually respects knowledge very much.

”One option is to upgrade your professional skills, bringing any one of them to level 4.

The other option upgrades all your skills, including passive skills, though some you only have rudimentary understanding of, correct?

However, you can’t choose the passive skills; they are randomized, what you get is what you get, and if your luck is bad, don’t blame me.”

Saying this, Madam Sha looked at Gu Xi again, ”Of course, the quest needs to be completed, if you don’t do the quest, I cannot help you, as upgrading your skills consumes energy from me, which I need to replenish.”

Faced with this choice, Gu Xi pondered seriously, then looked at Madam Sha one more time and finally said:

”All skills under level 4, completely random.”

Gu Xi clearly understands his current advantage; he can always practice skills at the Chaoyang Radiance Guild, elevating his professional skills to level 4 easily.

But passive skills are different; they require study.

After Eldest Princess Anna became a Contracted Undead, the various items she had disappeared, reducing her level to 4, no different than the blank version.

Gu Xi now found it unlikely to borrow the Griffin’s Necromancy Book from Eldest Princess Anna.

So many of his passive skills were stuck at this level.

If there’s a chance of randomness now, Gu Xi would naturally choose to take a gamble.

Hearing Gu Xi’s words, Madam Sha looked at him in surprise.

She hadn’t expected Gu Xi to make such a choice; she thought he would choose suitable skills for an upgrade.

Yet, Gu Xi made his choice, and Madam Sha naturally had no objection; she took out a few sheets of paper and quickly folded them.

”I need you to find these three items in the mountains and deliver them to me; then I will help upgrade your skills.”

Gu Xi was just about to open the papers to see but was stopped by Madam Sha.

”Don’t examine anything here, once you start, you can’t stop.”

Gu Xi’s heart tightened, and he stopped his actions.

He knew very well that his mental resistance to hypnosis and similar influences was low, and he wouldn’t let himself be trapped in such dreams.

”Thank you, I understand. Once I’m outside, can I look at this directly or keep some distance first?”

”You can look upon leaving. You seem very cautious; have you suffered losses before?”

”Yes, I was affected by psychic abilities before, so I am extremely careful now.”

Gu Xi said with a helpless expression.

Although he received some Orange Armor, the incident with the Life-taking Stone had profoundly impacted him.

”Rest assured, I have no intention of controlling you, but the items I asked you to find must be sufficient; if there’s any mistake, don’t expect me to help you.”