Free Web NovelChapter 28: The World of Astrae
Nova politely explained that he was searching for books related to the world’s history, geography, races, kingdoms, and major political powers. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Since he had entered this world with almost no knowledge beyond his small village, these were the most important things he needed to understand first.
"The third floor, last row," she answered casually. "That entire section is reserved for history, geography, and world-related books. You’ll probably find what you need there."
Nova nodded politely after receiving the directions before quietly heading deeper into the enormous Grand Library.
The third floor of the Grand Library was mostly silent and empty. Only two or three people could be seen sitting quietly around different tables while reading books peacefully beneath the dim morning light entering through the large windows.
Nova followed the librarian’s directions and soon reached the last row of the floor. Towering shelves filled with thick ancient books surrounded the entire section.
After searching for a few minutes, he collected several books related to world history, geography, political divisions, kingdoms, races, and the major powers ruling this world.
Honestly, Nova wouldn’t have needed to go through all this trouble if Liya simply transferred the information directly into his mind. But when he asked her earlier, she immediately refused.
According to her, learning about the world personally was an important part of his growth experience, and due to certain system restrictions, she couldn’t directly bypass the rules and dump all the world’s and other important information into his head.
So in the end, Nova had no choice but to come here personally and gather knowledge himself. And honestly, he already had a strong feeling that sooner or later he would need to travel across this world if he truly wanted to become stronger.
Remaining in one place forever would never allow him to grow. Soon, Nova quietly sat down alone at a corner table before opening the books one by one and beginning to read seriously.
An ordinary person would probably need five or six hours to properly go through such a large amount of information.
But Nova was different now.
With his Intelligence attribute already surpassing one hundred and his mental capabilities evolving far beyond normal humans, his reading speed, comprehension, and memory had reached an absurd level.
In only around one hour—he had already absorbed nearly all the important information from the books.
To summarize everything Nova gathered from the books, this world was called ’Astrae’ , a massive world divided into five major continents, each ruled and inhabited primarily by different races.
At the center of the world lay the human continent, ’Kaelor’ . To the south existed the continent shared by the elves and dwarfs called ’Ilythar’ , a mysterious land filled with ancient forests and isolated kingdoms where elves preferred living far away from outsiders.
In the east stood ’Vaurk’ , the homeland of Beastfolk or Demi-Humans, which was also known as the greatest trade hub in the entire world because merchants from all races gathered there.
Meanwhile, the western continent ’Pyraeth’ was ruled by a race that genuinely shocked Nova after reading about them—Phoenixes.
And finally, in the far north existed the continent ’ Drakthar’ dominated entirely by Dragons.
Still, what confused Nova the most was how other races could even stand on equal ground with Dragons and Phoenixes who were considered supreme mythical beings in almost every legend from his previous world.
Unfortunately, the books provided very limited information regarding the Dragon and Phoenix continents. From what Nova understood, ordinary people from other races were not allowed to casually enter those lands. Only extremely powerful individuals or important figures possessed the qualifications to visit them.
Most of the books only covered surface-level knowledge . For example, Vaurk was described as the greatest commercial center in Astrae, while elves were known for their solitude and natural affinity toward mana and spirits.
However one particular piece of information shocked Nova more than anything else. Each continent was ruled by a supreme emperor belonging to its dominant race.
Humans were ruled by the Human Emperor.
Dragons by the Dragon Emperor.
Beastfolk by the Beastfolk Emperor.
Elves by the Elf Emperor , yes their was no dwarf emperor.
And Phoenixes...were ruled by a Phoenix Empress instead of an Emperor.
According to the records, all five rulers were terrifyingly powerful beings standing at the absolute peak of Astrae. Among them, the Human Emperor and Dragon Emperor were considered the strongest.
And that was exactly what left Nova struggling to understand. How could humans possibly stand on equal footing with dragons?
Coming to the human continent itself, Nova learned that Kaelor was divided into four major kingdoms. At the very center stood ’Valedryn’ the imperial territory where Human Emperor resided , while the three surrounding great kingdoms acted as pillars supporting human civilization.
To the south lay ’ Kaelmor’, a kingdom famous for its fertile lands and massive military forces. In the west stood ’ Varkhess,’ a harsh kingdom known for producing powerful warriors and mercenaries. And finally, in the east existed ’Aureth’—the kingdom where Nova currently lived.
Interestingly, there was no northern kingdom at all. Instead, an endless ocean stretched across the northern border of Kaelor, separating the human continent from the land of dragons far beyond the sea.
Among the four human powers, Aureth was considered the second strongest kingdom after Valedryn . It was especially famous throughout Astrae for its advanced medical knowledge,and healing arts.
Because it shared borders with the Beastfolk continent Vaurk, trade between the two regions flourished constantly, making Aureth both wealthy and politically important.
Aureth’s capital was Vaunis, the royal city where the King and Queen of Aureth resided. Beneath the royal family existed three great dukedoms that governed different regions of the kingdom, one of them being the Frost Dukedom whose main city was Frostholme—the very city where Nova currently stood.
This was more or less everything Nova managed to gather from the books available inside the Grand Library. Although it still didn’t answer all the questions he had about this world, it at least gave him a proper basic understanding of where he currently stood and how insignificant he still was compared to the true powers of Astrae.
More importantly—it gave him a rough understanding of just how enormous this world truly was.
From the records and maps, Astrae appeared to be at least three times larger than Earth from his previous life. Even though the world only contained five major continents, each one was unbelievably massive in size, with the Dragon Continent Drakthar being the largest among them.
And honestly that made complete sense to Nova .
If this world were as small as Earth, it probably would have collapsed long ago considering how many terrifyingly powerful races and beings lived here.
Ding—
[You have understood your standing in the new world.]
[You have acquired 100 Evolution Points.]
"Heh... so I get Evolution Points even for reading books now?" Nova muttered with amusement after seeing the notification appear before his eyes. "Well, it’s not like I’m complaining."
{It’s not simply because you read books, Host~} Liya corrected him immediately.
{You gained a fundamental understanding of the world you now live in, which greatly contributed toward your personal growth and evolution. There’s a difference.}
"Yeah, yeah..." Nova replied in slight annoyance while closing the final book before standing up from his seat. "Enough about that."
"When are you finally going to explain all those new upgraded functions you got? You can tell me while we travel."
{Sure~ I was already planning to explain them soon anyway. But since you’re being so impatient, I guess I don’t have much choice, do I?}
Nova ignored her teasing as he quietly exited the Grand Library. Once outside, he searched for a less crowded area away from the public streets before stopping briefly.
The next moment—
lightning suddenly flickered beneath his feet.
Crackling blue arcs surged around his body as he lowered himself into a movement stance. Now that his understanding and affinity toward the Lightning Element had grown drastically, the speed he could unleash at his current level had become extremely frightening.
BOOM.
His body shot forward like a flash of lightning toward the city exit leading in the direction of Coldrock Village.
He still needed to return home, explain the situation to his parents, and warn them about the incoming beast tide. Though honestly, he wasn’t even sure whether his father would still be there by now.
As the captain of the duke knights , there was a high chance Duke Frost had already summoned him back toward Frostholme in preparation for the upcoming battle.
Meanwhile, Liya’s voice echoed inside his mind again.
{Some upgrades you’ve already noticed yourself... like me talking to you this way now, or the System Store.}
{I gained three more major upgrades after evolving, Host~}
{First, I unlocked a new Gacha Function. You’ll be able to spin a special wheel using Evolution Points, and depending on your luck, you can obtain extremely powerful rewards... or complete trash~}
"What?! Seriously?" Nova was genuinely shocked after hearing that.
Of course he knew what a gacha system was. He had read enough webnovels in his previous life to instantly understand how ridiculous this ability could become. Although it sounded somewhat cliché, he couldn’t deny one thing—
systems with gacha mechanics were usually absurd when it came to gaining power quickly.
{Yes, Host~ exactly what you’re imagining right now.}
Liya sounded extremely amused by his reaction before continuing proudly.
{And second... I unlocked a Personal Training Space.}
{Inside that space, the flow of time is completely different from the outside world. If you train there for thirty days, only one day will pass outside.}
Nova became completely speechless. For a moment, he genuinely didn’t know what to say anymore. A separate training dimension with time dilation? Wasn’t that practically the perfect cheat ability for growth?
With something like this, he could train continuously without wasting much real-world time at all . Honestly—how the hell was his system this overpowered?
{Well~ what can I say? You already know how amazing I am.}
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[A/N]
I know this Chapter had a lot of info dump, but it was necessary since our world is quite large. Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of Nova’s current footing . If anything is still unclear, feel free to ask in the comments.
Now for the good news—the novel has officially been contracted! In a few days, you’ll be able to send Golden Tickets and Gifts to support the novel and this poor author.
And one more thing: starting tomorrow, I’ll be posting two Chapters daily. Thank you all for your support!
Thanks for reading....
