BXBX NOVEL Chapter 36 Obsession
"One is known as Leah, and the other goes by Suzy."
Leah's face scrunched up for a second before she muttered to herself, "Leah and Suzy… those are our names?"
Suzy turned bright red, but she felt as an adult, she should still be able to control the situation, "Young man, I don't know who you're accusing of being-"
"Beautiful? I'm accusing the two of you." Ryan interrupted her.
"I don't mind you gawking at me. I just thought I should introduce myself since I've attracted the attention of two lovely ladies such as yourselves."
Leah finally understood and pulled nervously at the corners of her dress. She had never been called pretty before.
All the guys she saw went for the athletic girls, she'd never seen a guy come into the library before except for assignments. She had been fascinated by why a guy as handsome as Ryan would come into the library in the first month when there were no assignments. These past three days, she indeed had been gawking at him. But she didn't dare hope he would come to her and say this.
As her insecure thoughts plagued her mind, she stammered while looking down, "B-But I'm not attractive."
Tilting his head, Ryan asked, "Are you calling me a liar?"
Looking up, Leah frantically shook her head, saying, "No, I'm sorry." She started tearing up from the stress of the moment and wanted to run away.
She closed her eyes and turned her body to do just that, but she felt a warmth radiate from her head, soothing her worries.
"There's no need to apologize, Leah. My name is Anthony, but I like to be called Ryan." He said while patting her head, calming the distressed girl.
While the two were flirting, Suzy was handling her own distress.
She had been the librarian here for over 70 years, and even though she looked in her late 20s, she was several hundred years old on the outside.
Yes, she had been gawking at this extremely attractive boy, but it was all harmless looking.
She had never envisioned Ryan coming up and talking to her in such a forceful manner before, even having the balls to interrupt her.
But hearing him call her beautiful, she felt a flame inside her that had been dormant for many years spark to life.
She had tried having relationships before. Living a few hundred years causes you to yearn for the pleasant things in life.
But the past relationships she had tried didn't seem to work out.
Eventually, she found a man to impregnate her, and after trying for a few months, she got lucky and was successful.
She didn't have any feelings for the man and just wanted her daughter, who she loved more than anything in the world.
She had raised her in this library, which might have been a mistake.
As a mother, she wanted to see her child live a happy life with a man she could love, but even though her daughter could cultivate, she only wanted to read love novels alone in the library.
This made her nearly invisible in the eyes of the enhancers at the school, and even though she was a student, none of them had approached her.
But when Ryan stated that he found her attractive and her daughter, it raised a new emotion in her.
She could only identify this emotion as . . . obsession.
===
Ryan left the two at the counter with a cheeky grin, having accomplished more than he sought to.
He had successfully gained both of their bracelet's numbers so he could contact them later, but he also learned their secret.
Knowing that they were mother and daughter, Ryan thought that Suzy would be more inclined to give way for her daughter, but unexpectedly she not only didn't do that, but she also became more aggressive.
By the time he left, the look she was giving him made Ryan sure if he asked to take her to the back room for some fun, she would oblige.
But as much as he wanted to, that wouldn't serve his purpose.
For starters, he had to continue studying, but the more important thing was that asking her now was counterproductive.
Aliza always taught patience. Women crave what they can't have. Sometimes that meant leaving them only with a taste like he had done with Mara and Avery.
But other times, it meant presenting the meal with no utensils. If they wanted the meal, they would have to get their hands dirty to taste it.
As Ryan picked up the book he scouted yesterday, he read the title once more. "How To Take Over A Heavenly Blessed Empire."
The title sounded intriguing, and after scanning the synopsis yesterday, he knew it was worth a read.
Picking up the book, he flipped to the first page and began to read.
"The Heavens may seem like a high and mighty force that you have no contact with in your day-to-day lives, but I am here to inform you of your misconceptions."
"The Heavens have control over almost everything on Ravier."
"In the Dark Days, kingdoms rose and fell countless times, but that all changed when the Heavens descended."
"While you probably don't quite understand it, I'm sure you've heard about a Heavenly Invasion." Ryan was surprised because that was something he was aware of. He remembered Valery mentioning it before his exam.
"Heavenly invasions are the only way for one force to take over another on Ravier."
"For instance, if the Red Dragon Empire decided it wanted to take over the Holy Phoenix Empire, it would first have to apply for a Heavenly Invasion."
"If they decided for some reason to attack without one, the heavens themselves would strike them down for attacking a Heaven Blessed Empire."
"To understand Heavenly Invasions, however, you first have to understand how one becomes a Heavenly blessed empire, or blessed in anything for that matter."
"When creating a force, you first have to specify what type it will be. Will you rule over the land like a king? Or will you become someone who is merely allowed to stay on that land?"
"For instance, the Dawn Pavilion, who, as of writing, is Ravier's biggest force, is of the ladder and is a civilian force."
"Civilian forces have different requirements and are not protected like Kingdom forces."
"To qualify for a heavenly blessed citizen force, you must give a specific amount of taxes to the heavens. You can raise your forces rank, which will lower the tax you are required to give."
"But this offers little in the way of protection. Rather it serves to enhance the force in other ways."
"But for a kingdom force, the requirements are not only stricter, but also almost impossible to accomplish."
"First, to qualify for the test to become a kingdom force, you have to occupy and control an area of at least 100 miles for ten years."
"At the end of that term, your force has to have at least 1 B-Rank Cultivator, 10 C-Rank Cultivators, and 1000 D-Rank cultivators."
"This is only to qualify for the lowest kingdom's test."
"The test itself is said to be virtually impossible to accomplish without at least twice the required amount of forces."
"If you pass it, congratulations! The heavens officially will bless your kingdom."
"That means that no force can take over your kingdom from the outside unless they have applied for a heavenly invasion (Keep in mind that you can still die, and the leadership would be passed to your second in command. So on and so forth)."
"But you're not reading this to understand how to keep yourself safe, you want to know how to take over an empire!"
"After gaining the blessing of the heavens, they will impose certain rules on you. Such as not recklessly slaughtering your citizens and all that nonsense."
"But you're interested in the rule that allows you to attack a heavenly blessed kingdom or empire! All you need is an invasion pass."
"However, gaining an invasion pass is a lot more tricky than one might think."
"On Ravier, there are thousands of kingdoms, but why? Is it because the four great empires can't control such vast land? No."
"It's because once you established a blessed Heavenly Kingdom, in order to uproot it, you need an invasion pass."
"No one knows of a surefire way of obtaining them, but the forces on Ravier have gotten them from heavenly-sanctioned events like tournaments and sporting events on rare occasions."
"Currently, only one force on Ravier is known to have an invasion pass."
"The Dawn Pavilion."