The Legendary F Rank

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Haru called out as he looked around the room before stepping out into the corridor to see and hear nothing at all. There wasn't even the slightest sign of life as he walked through the halls trying his best to find Ralph.

He spent what felt like an eternity trying locked doors and walking into rooms that he had been in before while trying his best to find Ralph but it was no good. No matter how hard he looked he still couldn't find him.

'I wonder where he went… There aren't many places he could hide in a place like this unless he has access to rooms that I don't.' Haru thought as he gave up his search.

'I wonder if there are any techniques that could help me cultivate try Qi around here? This mansion holds many secrets so it wouldn't be too surprising. And I'm pretty sure that Li Jun mentioned that there was also a library here too.' Haru began to hope that he would find something interesting as he made up his mind that he was going to search for the library.

He walked around the corridors for a while and noticed that there were labels to each room that were written in Gaohen. He saw that there was an alchemy station and pill refining room along with a cultivation room and thought to try to open them but stuck to his original plan instead before eventually finding a double set of wooden doors that was labelled as the library.

Haru reached out towards the door and tried the handle but it didn't budge an inch as he pulled with all his strength. 

He then looked down before noticing the small keyhole below the handle and realised that if he wanted to enter the library that he would need to find the key. Which was easier said than done as he had only been there a few times and he certainly didn't see any keys anywhere.

Haru sighed to himself as he thought that it would be impossible to get in there without Ralph's help and then walked outside into the garden and stood beside the pond as he watched a few vibrant fish swim in circles and occasionally splash on the surface. 

Haru stood there for a few minutes as he decided that he would wait for Ralph to come back from wherever he had gone but as he looked at the surface of the water something drew his eye a little closer as a flash of gold light appeared from below one of the fishes.

Haru leaned over the pond and looked down below the surface to see a golden key sitting on the ground surrounded by a thick layer of mud.

Haru gasped in shock as he reached down into the water and pulled it out without any trouble when suddenly a flash of blue light appeared in front of him and a text hovered in began to hover in the air.

"Congratulations, You have found the first key. Please select your reward." The text read as a list of options came out of nowhere upon what looked like a floating screen made out of Qi.

"Study key, Training room key, Laboratory Key, Refining Key, Workshop Key, And Library key?" Haru said aloud as he read the list of rewards of the floating screen before hesitantly holding out his hand and reaching towards where it had library written and touching it with his index finger.

A flash of light shot out from the screen as his hand made contact with it and a beam of light shone down from the sky as Haru looked up to see that there was now a black metallic key floating in the air in front of him. 

"What was all that about? Was the person who created this place a fan of video games or something? It seems a little bit childish for someone with enough strength to create such a mysterious place." Haru said to himself before shrugging and reaching for the key in front of him.

It didn't really concern him how and who created the mansion just so long as he got to use it to help him progress on his path in cultivation. He then walked back to the door labelled as the library and tried the Qi.

He didn't expect it to work so easily since he had to fight his way past monsters to gain access to the last room that he had unlocked with Li Jun.

But to his surprise, the door opened up to reveal an endless amount of bookshelves that were all over twenty metres in height. It was like nothing that he had ever seen as the only thing that he could describe it as was a sea of books.

"There is bound to be something that could help me in here right?" Haru asked himself before taking a step inside and feeling his strength quickly get zapped away from him as he felt his body shrinking as everything in the room seemed only to get bigger around him until the point where he could now see that the books were taller than him.

"What is this? Some kind of protection formation or something?" Haru thought before looking around to see if he could find out where the source of the power was coming from, but the power that had just shrunk his body was too much for him to even comprehend. He couldn't feel a single thing, let alone find the source of it.

It took him a few moments to adjust to the size of the room but he wasn't going to let the formation that had just activated around him affect his chances of finding a technique that was suitable for him to absorb True Qi with. 

But the only problem was that he had no idea where to start. If he was going to look for something in a sea of books then the first thing he would need to know is where to start from but the sight was so overwhelming that the thought was hard to come by and he decided that it would be easier just to pick the closest shelf and start there.

Haru turned to face the shelf that was against the wall closest to the entrance and walked over to it before climbing up onto the first row to be met with the books that were now a lot bigger than he thought they were no he was so close to them.

But just as he was about to reach out and touch the first book a voice called out from behind him.

"Excuse me, young man… But who exactly are you? I don't ever recall seeing you before… Does that mean that the mansion has a new owner?" The voice asked as Haru quickly turned around as fast as he could since it caught him off guard.

As he turned he was quickly met by the sight of an old man with a long beard but he wasn't quite exactly a human. It looked more like he was the projection of a soul seeing as though his whole body was transparent and had a blue glow to it to signify that it was made out of Qi.

"Whoa, where did you come from? I didn't think that there would be souls floating around this place." Haru exclaimed as he was surprised to see the ghost in front of him. 

"I'm the one asking questions here. I'm the guardian of this Library I have the greatest job of being a Librarian! So if your answers don't satisfy me then you won't be able to take any of the master's books or be allowed to enter here ever again." The ghost explained as Haru looked up at the man with a smile on his face.

"Ah, you are the great Librarian of this Library? I apologise for my disrespect. My name is Haru. I am the new owner of this place like you previously assumed." Haru explained in a mocking tone as he knew that the ghost wouldn't be able to understand the sarcasm in his voice since he thought that being a Librarian was an honorary title. 

Haru's words seemed to honour the ghost as he crossed his arms and smiled before flying down to be on eye level with Haru before speaking again.

"It's been a long time since someone has appreciated my greatness. You will do well around here. Here let me guide you to what you're searching for." The ghost said as he seemed to understand what Haru was searching for without him even telling him.

"How do you know what I'm looking for?" Haru asked as the ghost turned back to him while continuing to float towards one of the bookshelves in the distance without taking his eyes off Haru.

"All the people who come here looking for the same thing. And the master has instructed me only to entrust it to people I deem fit. So you will be the second person to ever receive it." The ghost said as Haru's body quickly felt heavy as his height shot back up to what it previously was.

"It will be much easier for you now that you are back to your normal height. That formation is a defence mechanism that activates when a new Qi frequency enters the room." The ghost said as Haru became confused.

'A qi frequency? What in the world is that?' He thought as he continued to follow the ghost before stopping in front of a shelf that had a dark black chain around it with only three books in total on the whole shelf.

'It looks like he really meant it. This has got to be the most valuable set of skills in here or they wouldn't be protected like this' Haru thought as the old man held out his hand as a golden light shot out towards the chain, causing them to shatter and fall to the ground in a neat pile before vanishing.

Haru looked back up at the ghost who was smiling towards him.

"These are the master's original techniques. I think they should suit you just fine." The ghost said as Haru reached out towards one of the books. But as he put his hand on it his mind went blank and he opened his eyes to see sunlight was now beaming in through one of the windows in the room where he had cultivated the night before.