The Tale of Hero Alice's Social Death - Chapter 113

Chapter 113 – Don’t Rashly Meet a Netizen

“Huh? The way to the basement?” After handing Alice the foundational books on magic to Alice, Zauna couldn’t help but be surprised by Alice’s question. “Did this library have a basement? I’ve never heard of it before.”

Alice wasn’t particularly surprised when she heard Zauna’s answer. After all, Zauna was only an ordinary student. It had also only been half a year since she entered the high school section.

When Alice was browsing the forum before, she had seen many people posting help requests saying that they had gotten lost. It should be known that the academy was currently in its second semester, so apart from Alice, there shouldn’t be any new students enrolling in the academy. Hence, the people asking for help were most likely people who had already been studying in the academy for at least half a year.

If students could still get lost after studying in the academy for half a year, one could easily imagine how massive the academy campus was. So, it’d be amazing already if Zauna could memorize all of the publicly available facilities on this massive academy campus in one semester. Hoping for her to know about secret locations such as the library’s underground magic workshop was asking too much of her.

“That’s right. There’s a taboo that I want stored in the basement of this library.” Alice didn’t have anything she needed to hide from Zauna. After all, Zauna was the first person she met after coming to this world. The other party had also helped her out a lot. “But I don’t know how to go down there for the moment.”

Originally, Alice had thought that Kristine should know how to go to the basement. However, Kristine’s answer rendered her speechless—this library had long since been renovated, so it was significantly different from what Kristine remembered it to be. The spiral staircase that led underground was also switched out for the current elevators.

“Underground, huh… I’m not too sure about this. The library’s elevators don’t have a button that leads underground. I’ve never seen any staircase leading down, either,” Zauna said, scratching her head. She thought she had already memorized most of the facilities on the campus. She didn’t think there were still secret facilities that she wasn’t aware of. “But how did you know that the library has a basement?”

“It’s the Hero’s privilege,” Alice said, chuckling. Then, when she saw Zauna’s puffed-up face, she explained, “Actually, the previous generation’s Hero’s soul told me about it. She says that there is a record of a powerful taboo stored in the library’s basement, so I wanted to go get it.”

“It seems you have a lot of trust in this child, huh?” Kristine’s voice rang softly in Alice’s ears. “But this child is quite talented indeed. She can become your comrade if properly cultivated. Although she still won’t be able to stand up to the Demon King, she should be able to help you hold back the Four Heavenly Kings.”

“That’s a high evaluation.”

Alice was a little surprised when she heard Kristine’s evaluation of Zauna. One shouldn’t underestimate the Four Heavenly Kings just because they were no match for the Hero and the Demon King. If one excluded those two exceptions, the Four Heavenly Kings stood at the apex of strength in the demon realm. So, it was already plenty amazing that Kristine felt that Zauna could exchange blows with the Four Heavenly Kings in the future.

“My psychokinesis magic has many uses. If I scan a person with it, I can get a rough estimate of their talent,” Kristine said proudly. Although her soul didn’t have any mana, she could still use simply psychokinesis magic by relying on the mana inside the Soul Gathering Tablet. “While I’m on the topic, your maid seems a little strange.”

It’d be strange if she wasn’t strange, Alice inwardly retorted. Luna was a maid who had absorbed a portion of the Demon King’s Power’s strength. If it came down to a fight, the Four Heavenly Kings would be fortunate if they could last more than a few moves against her.

“The previous generation’s Hero’s soul?”

Zauna couldn’t help but look at Alice skeptically. She kept getting the feeling that Alice was messing with her. However, after hesitating for a moment, she eventually chose to give up on prying deeper into the matter. She had personally witnessed Alice’s birth as the Hero, so she felt that whatever Alice was up to wouldn’t be a bad thing.

After all, God would only choose people with a firm and noble soul to become the Hero. There was no way God would make a mistake.

“Although it is true that I don’t know about the library’s basement, I think I know someone who would know,” Zauna said after giving the matter some thought. “There is someone who goes by the ID of Academy Know-It-All on the forum. He knows a lot about this academy, and he has yet to encounter a question he couldn’t answer. Maybe we can ask him about the basement?”

“This name sounds like a marketing ID…” Alice commented. However, she did have an impression of this ID. Previously, when she was browsing the academy’s forum, she would occasionally come across a user named Academy Know-It-All, and this user was almost always answering someone’s question. By the looks of it, this person seemed to truly know everything there was to know about the academy. However, she still couldn’t help but find this user shady.

Regardless, seeing as Zauna had already made such a suggestion, Alice decided to give this person a try. Immediately, she pulled out her phone and searched for Academy Know-It-All’s account on the forum. Then, she privately messaged the other party. After all, this wasn’t a matter she could ask in a public thread. If Academy Know-It-All knew the answer and replied to her thread, many people would end up seeing it. If that happened, the basement would probably be flooded with people by the time she visited it.

“Are you really asking this person?” Luna asked in a dubious tone as she leaned in to look at Alice’s phone. She felt that it was reckless to place their hopes on a stranger on the internet.

“We might as well try. We don’t have any other leads, after all.”

Sitting in the corner of the 13th floor, Alice idly stared at her phone’s screen as she waited for a reply. Honestly, though, she didn’t put too much hope on getting an answer. However, just when she was about to read one of the books Zauna brought her, her phone suddenly vibrated.

Did this Academy Know-It-All really reply?

Alice quickly picked up her phone and checked her message window. Then, she was stunned by the answer she saw. Her question to Academy Know-It-All was, “Do you know about the room in the library’s basement?” She had avoided mentioning any details about the room to see if this Academy Know-It-All truly knew about it. However, the other party’s answer had ended up surprising her a little.

“I do. It’s a magic workshop left behind by a Hero’s companion long ago.”

“This person…knows quite a lot.”

Alice felt surprised and a little wary. She was surprised that the other party knew so much. It was unlikely that the other party was someone who had lived for hundreds of years like Kristine. In that case, the other party should know the new way of entering the magic workshop. However, Alice also couldn’t help but grow wary precisely because of this situation. If the other party knew about the magic workshop, could he have read the Psychokinesis Transcendence there already?

Meanwhile, Luna, who stood behind Alice, blinked in surprise when she saw the message displayed on Alice’s phone. She didn’t expect the other party to know of this matter, either.

“Do you know how to enter the magic workshop, then?” Alice replied in such a way after thinking over the situation.

Previously, Alice had only casually asked about the underground room, yet the other party had replied with the room’s specific information. By the looks of it, he had treated her question as a sort of test for him. Since that was the case, Alice decided to send the other party another question in a similar tone. If she got lucky, she could secure the information she needed without having to pay anything.

“Trying to get information for free?”

Unfortunately, the other party had instantly seen through Alice’s shameless attempt as soon as she sent her message. Fortunately, Alice wasn’t very thin-skinned. Although she blushed a little after getting called out, she powered through and replied:

“How much do you want?”

Zauna also sat beside Alice. So, she huddled closer to spy on Alice’s conversation with Academy Know-It-All. Then, when she saw Alice’s reply, she couldn’t help but comment:

“You sound very much like a wealthy upstart, Alice.”

However, it couldn’t be helped. It was a fact that Alice wasn’t lacking money right now. Although Chris looked to be in a miserable situation, he was still the king. The amount of wealth he possessed was astronomical. If Alice wanted to, she was entirely capable of becoming a homebody.

“I’m not interested in money.”

Unfortunately, the other party’s reply quickly dashed Alice’s thoughts. Then, the other party’s subsequent message caused Zauna’s and Luna’s faces to darken:

“I know how to get to the library’s underground workshop, but I want to meet with you alone.”