"No… not this one… not this one either…" Once at the second floor of the tower that was the Myriad Archives, Valyr beelined towards the various bookshelves that were in his vicinity, looking through the selection of books and other documents the floor had given him access to. At some point, he noticed that all of the documents on a certain bookshelf were focused on a certain topic, prompting him to change his search method and find the bookshelf that contained books regarding lifespan.
While doing so, he would pass by the tables and chairs placed behind certain areas of the floor, briefly glancing at the people that were doing their own things, such as research or leisure reading. Unsurprisingly, within a couple of back-and-forths through a few bookshelves, Valyr noticed that there were a considerably less number of people that were on this floor.
Of course, at the very instant he wondered why that was the case, the answer to his question swiftly appeared on the surface of his mind, with the young man recalling from the teenager's words from earlier that his Archive Card had Rank 2 authority due to his identity as a Rank 2 class holder. With that, he put two and two together, faintly shrugging his shoulders as he placed the thought at the back of his head before proceeding to look for the books he wanted.
…
"Finally." Inwardly letting out a sigh of relief, Valyr looked at the books and scrolls that were placed on the bookshelf in front of him, taking a look at the titles each document had. Seeing that a great portion of them mentioned the word lifespan or was referring to the act of extending one's lifespan, it was then that he knew that he was standing in front of the right bookshelf.
With that, he looked through the various books and scrolls he could grab from the bookshelf, eventually settling on one, which was a slightly thin book that had the title 'Theories on Extending One's Natural Lifespan' on its front cover. Heading towards a nearby table, he grabbed a chair and opened the book, going through its pages in the hopes that his query would be answered.
"Hmm…" As it was a book that did not surpass a hundred pages, it only took a few minutes for Valyr to read through the entire thing, especially with the aid of his high INT stat. Nevertheless, by the time he closed the book, a slight frown adorned his face, closing his eyes for a bit as he digested what he read and got the gist of it.
'Basically, it's a book that goes into detail on how one could extend their lives naturally.' Opening his eyes, Valyr went over the main points of the book he had read in his mind. 'Though it says it's a theory, with how much evidence the author has added in this book, as well as how in-depth the research the author has done on the topic, it's better to say that it's just a confirmation of one's speculations.'
'Unfortunately, it doesn't answer the question I want to know at all.' Softly shaking his head, Valyr let out a faint sigh before heading back to the bookshelf where he had grabbed the book and placed it back, only to grab a couple more articles of literature from the shelf to see if any of them offered another perspective.
"I guess it's time to head to the higher floors." Seeing that the first book he had grabbed from the shelf was the one that contained the most knowledge out of all of them, Valyr stood up from his seat and proceeded to head to the higher floors of the Archives, always making a beeline for the bookshelves that contained documents that talked about one's lifespan.
Sadly, just like the result he had obtained from the second floor, the third and fourth floor of the Archives gave him an answer that was only slightly better than the answer he obtained from the second floor, with the documents he read from the latter two floors acting as confirmation for the theory the book on the second floor had.
"So, aside from moderate exercise and a well-balanced diet, a high VIT stat allows one to get closer to reaching the maximum natural lifespan a person could have." Consolidating all of the information he had obtained from the books and documents he had read thus far, Valyr muttered these words to himself as he made his way up the staircase that led to the fifth floor of the Archives.
"I hope this or the next floor has a book that contains the answer that I need."
Taking in a deep breath as he entered the fifth floor, Valyr quickly noticed that the number of people that were on this floor only hovered around a couple dozen, making him feel a hint of tranquility at how few people there were. Not wanting to disturb any of them in their own work like how the others he had come across in the previous floors did not disturb him, Valyr searched through the various bookshelves of the fifth floor in a way that allowed him to only make little to no noise.
Thanking his high DEX stat for giving him incredibly high control over the various muscles in his body, he eventually found the bookshelf that he was looking for, noticing that the number of books and documents on the shelf were significantly less than the number on the ones from the previous floors.
Briefly wondering why that was the case, Valyr took the document on the bookshelf that seemed to contain the most information on the matter, being a leather-bound book that had its title engraved in silver. Heading to a nearby table, the young man sat down and took a look at the book's title before opening it.
"A General Guide to Lifespan and Its Methods of Improvement."
While going through the first few pages of the book, Valyr quickly had a frown on his face as the information he read was more or less similar to what he had figured from the documents he had read beforehand. With that, he was inclined to think that the remaining pages would just expand on it and go into far greater detail, considering that it was a book that could only be found in the middle floors of the Archives.
However, it did not take long for him to find out how wrong he was.
"Hmm?" Continuing to read through the book, Valyr raised his eyebrow in curiosity, only for his eyes to slightly widen in interest and excitement as he quickly realized that the book was talking about something else other than what he already knew. "There are two components to lifespan: one's natural lifespan and one's potential lifespan. One's natural lifespan is usually around 60-80% of one's potential lifespan, though if one has a sufficiently high VIT stat, one's natural lifespan could be equal to one's potential lifespan, perhaps even exceed it by a small bit."
"Here are the potential lifespans one could aim to achieve per rank…" As his eyes hovered over these words on the book, it was only then did Valyr realize that he had hit the jackpot with the book he grabbed.
