Fantasy Writers 1860

Dislife smiled gently: "As a civilian employee, the tasks you need to complete are not difficult, not much different from other civilian employees in the Imperial Government." She paused slightly, "But if you were a field agent, it would be more interesting."

What does this mean? Does this mean I'm being rotated through different positions?

In his previous life, Dorian had heard this kind of talk far too often from the project leaders.

"Next, we'll train you on how to use the Phantom Book. Then we'll issue you a Phantom Book for self-defense—civilian staff also need to receive regular combat training. This is both a work requirement and a guarantee for your safety."

"Perhaps after a period of training, you might find that you are actually more interested in combat? Many of our clerical staff only realized later that combat scribes are more suited to themselves than office workers."

Issuing a magic book? Does that mean every staff member here gets one?

At that moment, Dislife jumped off the chair and shouted, "Come with me!" Lily followed closely behind.

However, instead of leaving through the door they came from, they pushed open a section of what he thought was a decorative wall panel, opposite the armchair where Dorian had been sitting.

It turned out to be a door.

They walked along a long corridor covered with soft carpets, the walls of which were hung with many ancient paintings depicting all sorts of people and scenes.

At the end of the corridor stood a heavy wooden door bound with iron bars. Dislife placed her hand on a recessed area on the side of the door, from which a soft light shone. After a moment, the door opened slowly with a low click.

Behind the door was a surprisingly spacious area. The floor was paved with some kind of rock that had a strange metallic sheen, and the walls and roof, which were tens of meters high, were also made of the same rock. This large space had no lights or windows, yet it was as bright as day.

Is this some kind of advanced magic? Or is it that the strange rocks that make up this space are glowing?

Dorian looked around curiously.

He immediately spotted several young people in the center of the field engaging in what appeared to be a rather peculiar training exercise:

Each of them held a book, thick or thin, which floated in front of them, its pages turning rapidly on their own, emanating different powers as they recited the words.

Dorian saw a short-haired girl, in front of whom a whirlwind suddenly arose, shattering a heavy-looking stone target not far away; on the other side, a boy wearing glasses, from a book floating in front of him, emitted fine rays of light that wove into a net of light, steadily catching a large iron ball that fell from somewhere.

"This is the training ground of the Cultural and Creative Industries Research Institute. Whether you're in civilian positions or field operations, everyone here receives combat training," Lily said with a slightly relaxed tone.

Dorian wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that Lily seemed to have become more relaxed since she came here.

Upon hearing Lily's voice, everyone training in the hall stopped what they were doing and turned to surround her.

"Oh, Miss Lily, you're finally back!"

"Look, my dear sister, I did it! You promised to go on a date with me!"

"I just returned from my hometown, Amp County, and brought you some local specialties, but I haven't seen you lately..."

It seems she's quite popular.

Disrifi led Dorian away from the crowd and walked to a stand where they found a seat.

"The training of civilian personnel mainly focuses on defense and basic self-defense capabilities. Field personnel, on the other hand, need to master more complex combat skills such as attack, defense, reconnaissance, and healing, as well as the use of different types of illusion books." Dislifei smiled as she looked at Lily, who was surrounded by many young talents from the Cultural Affairs Bureau.

To Dorian, it gave him a strange feeling of an old man at the village entrance watching the village children play under the big locust tree.

This little guy is so small, why is there always this strange sense of vicissitude surrounding him?

At the same time, Lily, who was surrounded by people, smiled slightly, with a movement of about one pixel.

"Alright! Go back to your training!"

Although the tone was stern, there was clearly not much blame involved.

Everyone chuckled awkwardly and obediently returned to their positions to continue their training.

"Polina! Come here for a second!" After everyone had gone back, Lily suddenly remembered something and called out the name.

"Is my big sister finally going on a date with me?" Dorian asked, watching the short-haired girl who had just created a whirlwind in front of her skip and hop over.

The person in the crowd who said Lily agreed to go on a date with him was actually a girl?

Is this version really that advanced?

"Okay, okay, next week we'll go to the Mayfair Theatre to see 'The Voice of Janus'..." Lily said helplessly, as if coaxing a child.

"That's great, big sister, I love you the most..." Polina hugged Lily's waist tightly.

With just a few words, Dorian, who had seen countless films in his past life, immediately realized that Polina was probably really in love, while Lily was just treating her feelings as those of a younger sister towards an older sister.

Alas, what a tragic couple.

Just as Dorian was silently reflecting on his feelings, Lily pushed Polina away from her. "Polina, bring out the 'Secret Long Poem'."

Polina looked bewildered, but still obediently listened. Numerous pale golden light particles, extracted from the air, began to gather in front of her. They converged and instantly transformed into an ancient book in a medieval style.

"Alright, you can go back now. I'll use this for a bit and return it to you later." Lily caught the book in mid-air.

Polina still looked confused, but she obediently went back, looking bewildered.

Lily then walked up to Dorian and Dislife with the book in her hand: "The Long Poem of Secret Words, the standard combat magic book for everyone in the Academy of Literature, let's start with this one."

A combat-use phantom book? A long poem? How is this supposed to be used in combat? Is it like a bard in a game, moving around the edges and adding buffs?

Seeing Dorian's expression, Dislife, who had seen countless new faces, immediately knew what he was thinking:

"Although this book is titled a long poem, it is not actually a simple literary work. It is a long poem in which Johannes Richard, a medieval swordsmanship master, recorded his swordsmanship skills in an encrypted form."

"Those manuscripts originally had no names, but after becoming phantom books, they were given the name 'The Long Poem of Secrets'. Later, Sigmund Ringer, the sword master under Duke Abrecht of Bavaria, annotated these secrets, which became known as 'Annotations to the Long Poem'."

"The illusory book 'The Long Poem of Secret Words' also includes Sigmund Ringer's 'Annotations on the Long Poem.' Its effect is simple: it can grant the user swordsmanship 'inspiration' through possession, allowing them to learn the techniques within the book."

Directly learning swordsmanship through initiation? It turns out to be a martial arts secret manual.

Dorian took the book from Lily; in terms of weight and feel, it was just an ordinary book.

Upon opening it, it was indeed a sword manual, with many abstract illustrations of little figures wielding abstract greatswords and waving them at each other.

"Are there really that many fantasy books? And everyone gets one?" Dorian glanced through it briefly, then closed it after realizing he couldn't understand it, asking a question he'd been pondering from the beginning.