LSRO: Chapter 30 - Picking Books (Patreon)

Hopefully this chapter gives you some insight into the workings of the Library.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 30

Picking Books

“He does that an awful lot.” Quinn grumbled underneath her breath. There was no time to dwell on that however.

She needed to get stronger now. She needed to get stronger five days ago. There was no way she was going to wait for a bow-wielding elf to rescue her when she needed it ever again. But there was so much to learn. Still to do.

“He really does do that a lot.” Malakai spoke softly, gesturing at the spot Lynx disappeared from.

“Yeah. I know.” She knuckled down trying to wrack her brain to figure out directional thoughts she could give the console… the core.

“Have you even figured out how you work within the system as the Librarian?” Malakai asked gently.

She flashed him a scowl. “Literally what I’m trying to do right now.” But then she sighed. She’d done it again.

He gave her one light pat on the shoulder. “I get it. It’s all good. I can’t imagine being pulled into a world with no magic, so I can see how coming here and suddenly having magic would be jarring.”

Quinn flashed him a grateful smile. “It is a bit. Very different, and yet…” She took a look around the brighter entrance area. It was beginning to look like a majestic Libarary. “This… this seems like one of my wildest dreams.”

Malakai chuckled. “Good. Good. Let’s figure your stuff out then. Shall we?”

Quinn nodded.

Summoned by her thoughts, the HUD popped up in front of her with her statistics.

Energy levels 438 of 438.

She looked at it and said, aiming the question directly at the Library. “Okay, is that what I use to cast with?” Instead of giving her a direct answer, there was a description that showed up underneath the bar and numbers that had appeared for her. She ignored Malakai who was trying not to answer the questions for her.

Mana capacity.

Trying not to get frustrated with the apparent lack of intuition, she took a breath and phrased another question in her mind. “So that’s the capacity I have for mana? Does that mean that’s my mana count?”

No.

Mana Pool

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Quinn was getting very confused.

Malakai cleared his throat. “The first is your energy. That’s the ambient mana your body produces. It’s very unique to Libarians from what I can understand. It allows you to absorb much more information, connect with the system when it might need an extra energy boost, and enables your connection with the core.”

“How did you know…” But she tapered off when she realized exactly that was now flashing up on the console. She laughed. “And here I thought you’d suddenly become all Libaray knowing.”

“Okay. So it’s like excessive mana that exists close to yet outside of my own core.”

… Yes.

Quinn nodded.

Something else flashed up on the screen.

Mana capability is separate from capacity and pool.
Do you wish to calibrate for assessment?

She glanced over at the elf, who shrugged, and basically decided what the hell. “Sure.”

Calibrating culmination of mana based specialization: allocation: Librarian

Calibrating…

Aligning…

101%
error miscalculation
error miscalculation

The error message kept spamming beneath each other. She directed it to stop, just as Lynx flashed into place right beside her.

“That’s not supposed to happen.” He said. And his form flickered briefly, momentarily massively cat like, and back to his human form. The runes in his hair ran wild, and wound all the way down his body.

He frowned again, and Quinn could feel him pushing enquiries through the system so fast she couldn’t understand them. Which made sense, right? He was the Library, wasn’t he?

The scowl on Lynx’s face deepened, and an aura began to radiate from him. A softly glowing almost black-like purple. It bled around him, suffused with anger and confusion.

The light that played through the Library windows, shifted through the light, dappling the interior with both shadow and light.

“Lynx?” she asked gently, suddenly worried for him.

He blinked at her, double blinked with the way his eyelids flickered. “Sorry. It’s just…” he gestured at the console read outs. “This isn’t right. I know we’re nowhere near full power right now, but this shouldn’t be … doing this.”

There was a mild frantic undertone to his words that sincerely concerned Quinn. “Is it… glitching?”

“That’s precisely what it’s doing. But there’s no way it should be able to do that.” Lynx flickered again. This time the forms practically superimposed over each other. From the lynx to the phoenix type creature he’d once demonstrated, through to a scaly creature that passed back out of view so fast she almost thought it was an alligator, and then back into himself.

“Settle.” Malakai did that calming pat thing on the manifestation’s shoulder. Lynx’s flickering subsided.

Quinn determined then and there that Malakai had some sneaky magic shit he hadn’t told her about. There’d be words about that later.

“It’s not sneaky magical shit.” Lynx breathed the words out, like he’d had trouble finding breath. “He’s part darigháhnish… you’d probably call them dark elves. It lends a sense of emotional manipultion ability. He can, essentially, soothe you.”

Quinn blinked. “Like I thought. Sneaky magic shit.” She cleared her throat and changed the subject. “So why isn’t the system supposed to glitch. Like I get that it’s not ideal, but… why wouldn’t a system not glitch sometimes? Especially after a few centuries of inactivity.”

Lynx stared at her. “You realize the Library isn’t some super computer, right?”

“Well, of course…” She had known that… but probably not truly understood it. “But it is a system, right?”

“Yes. But it's not powering up properly out of its hibernation.” Lynx seemed perplexed. “Certain information and calibration tools should just be available and functional. It’s not like they can rot over time or anything.”

Quinn got the distinct impression that there was a lot about the system she didn't know. But neither Lynx nor the system itself seemed inclined to tell her what it was just yet. There had to be a reason for that. Right? “Okay, so what is it missing?”

“It’s connected to you, through you. Able to use your energy even… there should be no problem with assessing you, or calibrating with you.” He frowned again, trying to activate something else that made him flicker and then tsk with annoyance. “Something isn’t sitting quite right. I’ll have to spend time in the core to sort it out.”

Then he paused, the frown deepening. “Wait… you need to check your affinities.”

As soon as he spoke, the console scrolled letters and runes across its screen so fast it was hard to identify any of them. Several question marks flashed through with them though, they were easy to see.

What is my strongest affinity? She willed the thought at the system.

1722...

Calibrating.

Calibrating.

Insufficient data.

Quinn blinked at it. Lynx looked like he wanted to kick something again, and Malakai frowned. “How can it have insufficient data. I’m standing right here.”

Lynx shrugged uncomfortably. “You are. But you’re also a bit of an anomaly. When I pulled you through the door, it was the first time the Library had ever been to your solar system. There isn’t anyone around you who has magical access to us. It didn’t go exactly as planned…”

Several other whispers lingered in Quinn’s head just out of her reach of understanding as Lynx queried more avenues. He was practically growling under his breath.

“So, I’m guessing you’re not liking what you’re telling yourself?” Wait. That sounded wrong. Quinn tried again. “Not finding solutions then?”

“None. No answers. No reasoning why it won’t calibrate your affinities. It’s okay with access though. You have the access…” He sighed and rubbed his temples in yet another very human gesture. “At least that’s something.”

“So I should at least be able to have some books pulled for her to use right away, right?” Malakai asked. “I mean, we’ve got to train her. Even if the Library is having a few… issues right now.”

“Yeah.” Lynx seemed highly preoccupied again. “Sure. Of course.”

He snapped his fingers, which gave an entirely different sound than when Misha did it, and suddenly Carty was just outside the check in desk. “Carty will fetch you whatever you need.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow. “Hey Carty.”

“Hello.” The strange delivery cart responded in his wonderful accent. “I will bring you books.”

Both Malakai and Lynx had their heads bent over the console, so Quinn shrugged and pulled up information herself so Lynx didn’t have to personally add her questions to the mix.

So I do have all of the affinities. She mused to herself, not actually expecting the reply she got.

All of the current affinities, yes.

She’d come back to that later. Okay, well, how much mana do I require in order to absorb a book? She asked it.

Dependent on type, level, affinity of book targeted.

"That's not helpful," she muttered at the Library, and in response to her thought, it elaborated up underneath the initial statement.

Each book has its own mana requirement for learning the spells within. Should you have insufficient mana energy, you cannot absorb the book unless you have exceeded the capacity for that affinity.

She glanced at the 101 with the error and thought, I don't think I'm gonna be not compatible with any affinity.

Apparently, that didn’t give enough for a question to be asked. Okay, so what would I use if I were an all-powerful magician and I wanted to really be able to protect myself and my books and my Library.

Insufficient data

…

Damit it.

“Will you stop making me do that, Quinn.” Lynx snapped at her.

“Sorry.” She hadn’t really thought that through.

“Don’t worry. We’ve almost got it nailed down. I have four so far.” Malakai frowned and Lynx pointed at something Quinn couldn’t quite see from the angle where she stood.

The elf frowned and then shrugged.

“I think we’re good.” Lynx said. He glanced around. “I have to get back to the core. There’s got to be some reason this won’t align properly.”

And then he was gone.

Malakai raised an eyebrow but turned to speak to Carty anyway. "Okay, we need 'Dodging All the Things', then we need 'Counter-Attacks 101', 'Destruction is My Middle Name', 'Ice Blast Basics for Dual Combat Ideals'.” He turned to Quinn and gave her a wink. “My ancestor wrote that one. You'll probably get a kick out of it."

Quinn rolled her eyes, and Malakai cleared his throat, continuing. "The last one we'll need is 'Earth Manipulation: Branching Out'. Those should be enough for some good steady defensive and offensive abilities. If you could get them to us, we're going to be in the training room."

Carty simply nodded and vanished. How did a cart simply vanish? Yet another thing to add to her list.

"I wish I knew how they did that," she muttered under her breath.

"Why don't you just ask the lLibrary?" Malakai asked quietly.

For some reason the question irritated Quinn. "Because there are enough rabbit holes for me to go down information-wise as it is. What I need to know, right now, is how to fight."

"That's solid logical thinking." There was a hint of approval in Malakai's tone. "Let's get you to the training room."

"Where's the training room? Is it the little room I used when I learned how to sword fight?" she asked, hurrying to catch up as he left the check-in area. She had seen a lot of the Library when Misha took the golems to their divisions, but she’d not seen a training room.

"You think you learned how to sword fight?" He asked with some amusement. “Even your machete skills are more akin to flailing.”

She ignored that. "Well, I got to practice bashing things for a little bit before I had to go and kill some damn engorged earthworms and then fight an absolute maniac down in a cavern in a subterranean world who appeared to really want to kill me, not to mention destroy the Library as a whole." Quinn scowled and took a breath before continuing. "Speaking of which. Why aren’t we talking about that?”

MAlakai shrugged. “Pretty sure some of that is what Lynx is doing right now.”

“I hope so.” she muttered, oddly conscious of the target on her back.

Malakai was quiet as they made their way through the Library. “You're not what I expected when my grandfather told me about librarians."

"Well, you're not what I expected when I read about elves, so we're both even,." she shot back at him.

Malachi grimaced. "Okay, you got me there. Expectations are a bitch. Fine. Where is Lynx?"

"I don't need Lynx. I can pull up a map myself." And Quinn did exactly that. The map flashed in front of her face. It was a very simple drawing of the library. It reached through to where the worms had been killed and off a right-handed corridor. She shared the vision with her teacher just like he'd taught her to do with skills while they fought Kajaro. "Hmm. Can you read this? Because I'm thinking we're gonna have to go past a bajillion worm corpses to get to where we're going."

"The worm corpses shouldn't be there anymore. They were probably your golems' first task, so I'd say they've already cleaned them up." Malakai reassured her somewhat. "Let's just get you through to the combat room and we can take it from there."

Malakai hadn't taken them far when Lynx flashed in front of them and dropped into an amicable stroll with them. "What are you two doing?" he asked. There was an odd edge of suspicion, perhaps even mild jealousy, in his tone, which didn't make sense. After all, the Library could track her every move, couldn't it?

Quinn nodded toward Malakai. "He's taking me to the combat room. Training, remember?" she explained.

"I'm well aware of that. I just didn’t think you’d use the training room" Lynx was in an odd mood. Quinn cocked her head to one side and squinted at him.

"What's your problem?" she asked, stopping in her tracks and glaring at him. "I thought you had things to check with the core.”

The Library manifestation shrugged. “I wanted to double check he wwas giving you the right instruction.”

There was a lot Quinn wanted to say, but thought better of it. She’d already gotten her way after all. “Well you picked the books with him so there’s not that much else, right? I need books to absorb and I need fighting skills to use against the next crazy-ass magician that you send me up against who doesn't want a librarian to exist. This is important."

He looked taken aback. "You've only been here a week."

"Yes, and in that week, I've almost died to an engorged massive Wormzilla, bookworms, and Kajaro, who was a snake-like freaking magician who wanted to blast me away. And that was if the cephalopod or whatever that he had summoned from the depths of an underground lake didn't kill me first." She realized just how much it had been, and for a brief second, it really felt like a weight.

At least Lynx had the grace to look sheepish. "Well, when you put it that way," he said.

"Yes, when I put it that way," Quinn retorted. She was getting worked up about this, but that wouldn't help anyone right then. “I know you have your reasons for not talking about the massive elephant in the room called Kajaro admitted to not wanting the Library around - but I’m only going to wait so long."

“Got it.” Lynx said and fell back, following them silently.

They made their way up the couple of steps and into the area she'd fought all of the worms in. She noticed that there was still some goopy guts lying on the ground, but mostly the gag-worthy smell had dissipated. And apart from some books that were stuck in the goop, well, most things seemed cleaner.

They made their way through and then took a right into a massive what looked like a massive gymnasium. It reminded her of where she had PE lessons while she'd been in elementary school. It wasn't quite as big as a high school gymnasium, but it was still very large. There were mats scattered everywhere and dirt and grime. Some windows had broken and there was glass lying on the ground, but otherwise it looked mostly usable, especially the few training dummies that sat at the end.

They looked in much better condition than the ones she'd practiced her sword work on.

Malakai glanced around, frowning slightly. "Well, it's not perfect, but I suppose it'll do for now." He snapped his fingers. "See? Nothing happens when I click my fingers. How do we summon a golem so they can clean it up for us?"

Lynx actually smiled at her for the first time since he’d appeared. "You know you have the power to command them, right?"

"Oh," Quinn said, directing her thoughts directly at the Llibrary, directly at Misha. I need one of the cleaning golems to come and just give a really quick tidy to my location. It was much easier than telling her that they were in the training annex because she wasn't even sure if that was what it was called.

The golem was there before she'd finished that last thought.

“Wow.” She breathed out. She was really starting to like this telepathic link thing.

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Hope you enjoyed it!

Much love

KT