Chapter 65: The Stranger in the Library

**Chapter 65 The Stranger in the Archives**

Seeing Wu Yue frozen in place after binding her weapon, Jie Chen assumed it had bad stats.

Most weapons, upon activation, depend not only on their base rank but also heavily on the user's abilities.

Those with higher mental energy levels are more likely to unlock higher-tier weapons. Even Jie Chen’s Zen staff and Richard’s cruciform gunblade each have additional blessing skills that enhance attacks.

Jie Chen patted Wu Yue’s shoulder, trying to comfort her. “Don’t sweat it. If this one isn’t good, you’ll find a better one later.”

Wu Yue looked puzzled and asked, “What was your weapon’s activation rank?”

Jie Chen’s Zen staff shone with holy light. “Duh, S-rank.”

Wu Yue pressed further, “Then S+ is stronger than S-rank, right?”

Jie Chen nodded. “Of course. But S+ weapons only exist in myths—I’ve never seen one in reality.

Come to think of it, I heard the captain’s weapon is about to upgrade to S+.

Why do you ask?”

Wu Yue replied, “My weapon activated at S+.”

Jie Chen nodded absentmindedly. “I knew your weapon’s rank wouldn’t be great, but no worries—the next major dungeon reset is coming soon—”

He suddenly froze mid-sentence and whipped his head around. “Wait, what did you say your weapon’s rank was?”

Wu Yue enunciated clearly, “S+. Jie Chen, are you going deaf at such a young age?”

Jie Chen nearly smacked her on the spot. “You’re serious?! S+?!”

Wu Yue hummed in confirmation and brought up her weapon stats to show him. “See? It really is—”

Before she could finish, Jie Chen bonked her on the head with a knuckle sandwich.

Wu Yue yelped, clutching the freshly raised lump. “Why did you hit me?!”

Jie Chen was furious. “In this world, everyone keeps their aces close to their chest. Yet here you are, flaunting your weapon stats? What if I used your weakness against you and robbed you blind?

What happened to all those crafty tricks you had when dealing with the Shadows?!”

Wu Yue, now equally irritated, shot back, “That’s different! The Shadows would claim anything shiny for themselves.

But you gave me this weapon—who cares if I show it to you?

All that scheming should be aimed outward. Who has the energy to play mind games with their own allies?

Besides, didn’t we agree to be sworn father and daughter? If I show my weapon to my old man, would he really betray me?”

“Old man”—Jie Chen burst out laughing at her shameless use of the term.

He scoffed, “You and that motor mouth of yours, always running your mouth.”

Wu Yue grinned proudly. “Turns out I might be a prodigy.

Jie Chen, backing me won’t be a loss. Mark my words, someday *you* might be relying on *me*.”

Jie Chen snorted. “You? A prodigy? I’m more worried you’ll leech off me for life.”

Here’s an S+ weapon for you to show off with; don’t act so inexperienced. Wait until you enter the major dungeon where geniuses and experts gather.

Only then will you truly understand what the most exceptional genius in this apocalypse is like."

Wuyue had just begun to feel like she was about to make a comeback from being a cannon fodder character, but Jiuchen’s one blow knocked the wind out of her sails, leaving her dejectedly doodling circles in the corner.

Jian Suiyu watched for a moment from the side, then suddenly smiled.

"Fog Moon, I seem to have noticed several skills appearing on your weapon interface."

Wuyue nodded, "Mm."

She showed it to Jian Suiyu straightforwardly. In Wuyue's heart, Jiechen was her living father, who had contributed both financially and physically.

Jian Suiyu is the male parent, guiding her and handling matters she hasn’t considered with great care and thoroughness; they all treat her exceptionally well.

Jian Suiyu carefully read through the descriptions of the three skills on the weapon, then looked at Jiechen in surprise.

"I remember, S-class weapons can have at most one weapon skill?"

Jiechen’s face was also full of shock, "That’s right, apart from the captain’s weapon which has two skills, I’ve never seen a weapon with three skill attributes until now."

And the last one, Ice No. 7: Frozen World, feels like its attack power has already exceeded the upper limit of a weapon."

Jian Suiyu nodded, "It's this attack power that scales with mental strength..."

Jian Suiyu hesitated to speak, while Jiuchen’s words cut deep, “Don’t even think about it. With her current undetectable mental power, creating a small snowflake is already considered her ultimate move.”

Even an S+ weapon is now nothing more than a pair of ordinary dual swords in her hands.”

Under Wu Yue's angry stare, Jian Suiyu rubbed his forehead. "I'll check with Fu Yanqi again—he said he'd be back today."

....

After lunch, Wu Yue diligently practiced each movement of the twin-sword technique with Jie Chen, striving for perfect mastery.

Jie Chen was very pleased with Wu Yue's seriousness today. Kids always learn better with rewards.

By 8 p.m., night had fallen completely.

Jie Chen called it a day. "That's enough for today. Go rest well."

Wu Yue bowed. "Thanks for training me today."

After leaving the training ground, Wu Yue made her usual trip to the hillside garden for her daily seed cleansing ritual and egg collection.

Once these tasks were done, she finally had time to visit the library.

Retrieving the obscure text she had recorded from the *Celestial Master Manual* the day before, Wu Yue headed to the research section of the library to search for dictionaries specializing in rare characters.

After some digging, she finally found a pre-Cataclysm traditional Chinese character dictionary in a neglected corner.

After comparing it several times with the text from the *Celestial Master Manual*, Wu Yue confirmed that this dictionary matched the language used in the manual.

However, simply finding the traditional character dictionary wasn't enough. Some characters in the *Celestial Master Manual* were mixed with special fonts, differing from the standard, rigid strokes in the dictionary.

Wu Yue vaguely knew that pre-Cataclysm culture was as dazzling as the stars, with endless variations in writing styles.

She needed to find corresponding calligraphy models to truly achieve seamless reading.

While engrossed in her search, Wu Yue didn't notice an unnoticed presence in the corner behind her—a book covering their face, obscuring their appearance.

In the deep of night, only the soft sounds of Wu Yue shifting the ladder and the faint noises she made while searching for books could be heard.

After a thorough search, Wu Yue finally found a calligraphy copybook on the top shelf, its script closely matching the three characters on the cover of the *Celestial Master Manual*.

Thrilled, she scrambled to the top of the ladder and reached out for the copybook.

Just as she stood on tiptoe, a drawling, unfamiliar male voice cut through the quiet of the library:

"So, you're the new teammate Jian Suiyu mentioned—the one with sealed spiritual power?"

Wu Yue whipped her head around toward the source of the voice.