Chapter 718 – Dreamweaver World 56

Chapter 718 – Dreamweaver World 56

Back in the stone grotto, the flames in the fireplace still burned quietly under the watchful care of the shadow bugs, their warm glow filling the entire room.

Matina walked straight to the bookshelf and took down a thick, leather-bound tome:

“This 《Shadow Tribe Hereditary Training Manual》— you’ve memorized everything in it, haven’t you?”

Mo Lan nodded. “Every last word.”

“Good!” Matina slowly settled back into the stone chair before the fireplace, laying the book flat across her knees. Her callused palm glided gently over the cover, as if caressing an old friend.

“Every family in our Shadow Village uses this book. Every child is raised step by step according to its methods, trained to become a qualified Shadow Hunter.”

The firelight danced across the creases of Matina’s wrinkles, casting shadows of varying depth.

“Originally, I planned to train you the same way. But I’ve discovered that your ability to teach yourself far surpasses the village children, and your control over the Power of Shadow is simply inconceivable.

If I kept following the steps in this book, I’d only be holding you back.

So starting today, I’m going to change my approach.

You’ll primarily study on your own and set your own pace.

My role will be to prepare more books and materials for your self-study, point out problems you haven’t noticed, answer your questions… and keep you safe when you’re recklessly practicing dangerous magic.

Does that work for you?”

“Of course!” Mo Lan’s eyes lit up. This teaching method was practically tailor-made for her. “I’ve been used to learning from books on my own for ages!”

A soft creak sounded from behind her. Mo Lan turned to look and saw the grotto’s wooden door being slowly pushed open.

Matina’s shadow slid in, curled around an enormous stack of books.

The covers were all different — some were simply bound in yellowed parchment, others were obsidian tablets inlaid with crystals, and there were even a few thick volumes made from the leather of unknown creatures.

Matina’s shadow gently set the pile of books down in front of them.

“Teacher, these are…” Mo Lan asked in astonishment.

“These were brought from the village’s Heritage Library. My personal collection is fairly comprehensive, but it’s nothing compared to the Heritage Library.

Every text collected by everyone in Shadow Village is preserved in the Heritage Library — what people keep at home are just backup copies. From shadow magic to dream realm history, from floating island ecology to Exploration Zone records… you can find it all in the Heritage Library.”

Matina pulled one book from the pile — an exact copy of the 《Shadow Village Hereditary Training Manual》 she already held in her hands.

“You weren’t born and raised in the village, so you can’t enter the Heritage Library yourself. But I can check out some transcribed copies under my name for you to read. So once you’ve finished this batch, I’ll go borrow the next.”

Matina suddenly tapped Mo Lan’s knee with her stone cane, just hard enough to get her attention.

“Listen here, little monster. Since you’re so good at devouring books… then devour all of this knowledge.

Whether it’s books related to shadow magic or other books that seem useless! In this world, there’s no such thing as useless knowledge — only knowledge whose time hasn’t come yet.

Of course, the shadow magic texts are the most numerous by far — far more than this old woman could ever teach you!

All of this knowledge will become the sharpest weapon in your future.”

Mo Lan nodded solemnly. The dancing firelight reflected in her pure black eyes, and deep within her pupils flashed a glimmer of shock.

She had never seen so much as a hint about Shadow Village’s Heritage Library on the Dream Forum!

This made her realize that what adventurers understood about this world might not even scratch the surface.

She eagerly picked up a copy of 《Origins of Shadow: A Scholarly Inquiry》 and began reading.

She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but the text on the pages seemed to carry a faint residue of the Power of Shadow — and it wasn’t just this one book.

The firelight gently enveloped her focused reading figure.

The white-spotted earthworm shadows she had just tamed split into two teams — one took over the shadow bugs’ task of tending the fire for Teacher Matina, while the other organized the books on the floor.

Meanwhile, the subterranean worm shadow was undergoing its first division under the direction of Mo Lan’s own shadow.

Matina lightly tapped the floor with her stone cane, and an almost imperceptible wisp of the Power of Shadow quietly merged into the fireplace. The light immediately grew warmer and steadier, providing perfect illumination for nighttime reading.

She turned and headed upstairs. Her shadow lingered at the top of the staircase for a moment, its blurry silhouette on the wall secretly making an encouraging fist-pump gesture.

With a creak of the closing door, the shadow barrier around the Second Floor bedroom activated automatically, sealing out all sound.

But Mo Lan knew that her teacher had surely left shadow pets watching over her. This silent care was more reassuring than any words could be.

When morning light spilled across the land of Moonshadow Isle, the book in Mo Lan’s hands before the fireplace had already been swapped out several times.

She hadn’t noticed the passage of time at all. It wasn’t until her shadow gently tugged at the hem of her clothes, gesturing toward the wall clock, that she realized the hands had already pointed to morning — the Gate of Dreams was about to close.

Mo Lan immediately set the book aside and scrambled up to the attic, where she quickly fed all the materials she had previously bought at the Shadow Grocery Shop to her Book of Cards.

The next moment, her consciousness was pulled back to the real world. The Gate of Dreams closed and reverted to the shape of a key.

Mo Lan stared at the pristine white ceiling and slowly let out a breath. “Good thing my shadow reminded me, otherwise I’d have been bored all day again.”

Teacher Matina required her to stay in the public area on the first floor of the grotto while studying, so that she could send shadows to watch over her.

While this was for her own good, it also restricted her movements.

She couldn’t take out the Book of Cards to absorb those books as materials and then produce identical replacements to swap back in, which meant she had no way to bring those books back to the real world to read.

Fortunately, the attic was the private space her teacher had set aside for her. None of the shadows of the objects inside had been tamed, so she could feed materials to the Book of Cards there — allowing her to practice shadow magic in the real world.

Thinking about how she still wanted to prepare breakfast for Teacher Matina when she returned to the dream realm that evening, an idea surfaced in her mind: if Culinary Magic was inconvenient to use, she could train shadows to cook instead!

Shadow pets tamed from inanimate object shadows mostly retained the functions of their original forms — for instance, a teapot shadow would lift its original body to pour water, and a chair shadow would move the chair into position for someone to sit.

Shadow pets tamed from kitchen utensil shadows would naturally possess a certain capacity for cooking tasks. And if the owner was skilled in cooking, the results would be quite good, since tamed shadows carried their owner’s usage habits.

Mo Lan decided to tame a set of her own kitchen utensils as well. After all, she would be spending plenty of time in the Dreamweaver World, and always cooking for herself was hardly convenient.