LSRO: Chapter 31 - Training Montage (Patreon)

I have to confess. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this chapter. Is it necessary? Yes, yes it is. Do I like some of the interactions - of course. But something is irritating me about it.

Let me know what you think please.

~~

Chapter 31

Training Montage

It was Tom, the cleaning and shelving golem, who arrived. His slightly taller and sculpted hair gave his identity away immediately.

In a whirlwind of movement, Tom righted everything, cleared up the glass, and repaired the damaged windows above them. In no time flat, it looked like a well-organized gymnasium, even if some of the mats and the training dummies were a little worse for wear.

Quinn stood there looking around at the room and then she smiled up at Malakai and Lynx. "Looks like a perfect place to learn some magic, right?"

Lynx groaned. "You'd better teach her theory too. Or at least make her understand what she can look up on her own." He began to fade but Quinn put a stop to that.

“Where are you going now?”

He solidified enough to blink at her. “To set up the recruitment process for our new assistants.”

“Oh.” She paused. “Yeah. Sorry. Just thought you’d help train.” she finished lamely. She’d forgotten about the rest of the damned list.

“Malakai has agreed to train you, and if what Milaro says, he should be fully capable of at least teaching you the basics of combat and magic.” Lynx nodded in the elf’s direction.

Malakai chuckled. "Learning magic isn't necessarily the first and only thing we're doing. Once you’ve absorbed the knowledge we need to get you into the habit of using the actions. Muscle and mind memory.”

Lynx faded out, just as Tom appeared next to Malakai, with five books stacked neatly in his hands.

Quinn took the books from the golem and thanked him. "Thank you.” Tom inclined his head and was gone before she could say anything else. She shook her head, marveling at magic. Where had it been her entire life? Besides in a galaxy far far away that is. “Now, how about we sit down and learn these?"

"Wait," Malachi said. "First things first. You understand nothing about how to interface and integrate with the system."

She pouted. “Spoil sport.”

“Maybe, but I’ll be the spoil sport who keeps you alive.” Malakai continued without batting an eyelid. “Pull up your energy reading and let me explain how this works.”

Quinn knew how to bring up information about creating items for the Library, and she knew how to ask the library to inspect stuff for her and give her a readout on it. So, she assumed bringing up her own information should be as easy as a thought. And lo and behold, it was, except she didn't understand everything in front of her.

Energy usage, tome knowledge, affinity levels. It was all so very intricate.

Energy Usage
472/583

Tome Knowledge: 5

Affinity level: 3

Determination: Wasting

She raised an eyebrow at the last listing. That wasn’t very nice.

“Why the look?” her teacher asked.

“I think the Library has some of Lynx’s attitude, or perhaps vice versa.”

Malakai laughed. “Likely. Share with me.”

He frowned when she did so. “Okay… Wasn’t your Energy lower earlier?”

Quinn shrugged. “Yep. But I assume the Library knows what it’s doing.”

The elf eyed her for a moment and then cleared his throat. “Well, we’ll work with what we have.”

Quinn didn’t say anything, but nodded, allowing him to go on.

"Okay, so you've somehow gained upper energy… perhaps it was with some of the items you created for the Library. That would have used some of your energy, and could have provided you a boost.” Malakai suddenly seemed less confused and more focused. “You’ll continue to regenerate energy and mana you’ve used.”

"Got it. Will it always pull from me?" she asked curiously.

“Right now you’re part of the Library’s main power source. So you should always keep some of your energy as a just in case.” Malakai looked through the tomes Quinn was holding and nodded. “Yeah. Make sure to always leave some left over.”

"So no matter where I am, the library can pull on my power right now because it has to?" She asked, a little worried.

"Yes, as I understand it" Lynx said, "no matter where you are, you always need to make sure that you pay attention to your energy levels because we can't afford to drain you."

She didn't even want to ask the question, but it spilled out before she could top it. "What happens if it accidentally drains me?"

"If you're in the library, you'll be fine. And maybe even later when the Library itself has enough power. But if you’re outside of it… Then you're outside of the protective zone." Malakai shrugged like that was no big deal.

Quinn realized she should probably feel mortified at the prospect of death. But since coming to the library, she'd almost been eaten by bookworms, nearly killed by a giant cephalopod, and then by a snake-man wizard. She couldn't even pretend that she was shocked at the possibility of her dying.

"Look, the best way for me not to die is for me to understand how to defend myself." She plopped herself down in the middle of the floor with her books and opened her interface with a thought. Frankly she didn't understand why Malakai was taking so long. The sooner she learned to defend herself, the sooner she could also technically defend the Library.

And open it.

But who was counting.

"First things first," she finished her glare at him and hefted the books in her hands. "Time to learn me some skills. Show me the energy cost to consume or learn each book in my hands please."

Dodging all the things
Energy Requirement: 84

Counter attacks 101
Energy Requirement: 102

Destruction is my Middle Name
Energy Requirement: 72

Ice Blast Basics for Dual Combat Ideals
Energy Requirement: 89

Earth Manipulation - Branching out
Energy Requirement: 112

Quinn mulled it over in her head.

Energy Status: 491/583

Alright then. It meant her regeneration was pretty fast when she wasn’t using her energy.

Which meant she could technically absorb all of these skills and still have 32 energy left over. Then she frowned and looked up at her mentors. "What happens if I use so much of my energy that I only have 32 points left?"

Malakai shrugged. "It'll fatigue you. Once your energy levels hit 0 you become sluggish, and depending on further expenditure, you could just pass out. It's perhaps best not to learn all five of them at once if that's all it's going to leave you with."

Quinn nodded thoughtfully. So it wasn’t like hitpoints in a game. If this energy was meant as her way to support the Library, either through absorbing knowledge herself or using it for the Library's good, then she needed ways to expand her energy and replenish it faster.

She frowned at the information in front of her. If she was going to be the librarian, then she'd just have to be the best librarian. And, like everything else she'd encountered in life, that meant she had to study. "Okay, so, how do I expand both my energy cap, and my energy replenishment?"

But instead of Malakai answering, the Library popped up its very own answer right in front of her eyes.

The more information you absorb, the larger your ability to absorb it grows. Regeneration is broken down into multiple categories, but should you wish to increase your own energy and mana replenishments, then the following are the Library's suggestions:

Mana through the ages - a definitive look at magical essence
Energy Requirement: 275 - 35 continuous for the duration of absorbtion

Magical Energy Absorption and how it can save you
Energy Requirement: 312 - 42 continuous for the duration of absorption

Energy Absorption pitfalls to avoid
Energy Requirement: 218 - 27 continuous for the duration of absorption

Mana oversaturation is poisonous
Energy Requirement: 287 - 36 continuous for the duration of absorption

It is recommended that you take time between absorption of these intermediate tomes in order to fully process their information. Each book varies in duration, but should not exceed half a day. Be aware of your energy levels.

Quinn blinked at the titles and narrowed her eyes. They sounded so very on the nose. But then, she'd witnessed Lynx's ability to name things firsthand. So she supposed this wasn't too much of a surprise.

Okay then. She could do this.

A plan began to form in her mind as she realized how much work there was to do. So, knowing that he wasn't going to teach her offensive magic yet anyway, Quinn left the Destruction is my Middle Name text out of her absorption cycle.

It was ridiculously fast to simply open a book onto one's lap, place palms face down on the opened pages, and suck in all the knowledge it had to offer.

Fast however, didn’t always mean simple.

There was more to it than that. The words, the images that they conjured - the meaning and the understanding of them all bled through her soul. There was a literal suffusion of understanding the subject matter with the person she was. And each piece of information expanded her worldview and knowledge base just that much.

It tingled as it ran through her, and then using her as a veritable conduit, it moved farther along to her connection to the Library and the core. In short, it came full circle, bringing its cycle of information through all the avenues it needed to light up and be functional.

Technically anyway.

Practically? That was a whole different ball game.

All four of the defensive, or counterattack books under her belt, she pushed herself back to standing, leaving the tomes on the floor.

At first, there was a wave of dizziness, but then, it was gone.

Maybe absorbing the information got easier the more she did it.

Incorrect assumption. The type of knowledge and level of current concentration value dictates the difficulty of absorption.

She ignored the Library, and looked up at Malakai, grinning. "I'm ready now. Come on, teach me, show me how not to die."

"Sounds like a great plan," he said, cracking his knuckles while returning the grin. He rubbed his hands together and looked at Quinn. "First up, I think we need to make sure all of your defenses are well in place, okay? We have to activate that knowledge and beat it into your muscles as muscle memory."

"Got it. Just tell me what I need to do." She braced herself, having no idea what would come at her.

Malakai spoke in a soothing tone filled with patience. "You've absorbed the knowledge. Your brain knows what it needs to do. It's your body we have to train. Then we need to make sure that you can reinforce the shielding you already have with earth magic and or ice magic. Then we're gonna move on to counterattacks and then we'll move on to destructive attacks, okay?"

She counted to five running all the new information in her head and nodded. "So, counterattacks use the opponents energy against them... in a way."

"Sort of," Malachi said, "but also entirely not really. Not when it comes to magic."

"I'm ready." She was almost surprised at how much conviction she felt. Because she really was ready.

He threw a full on spear at her.

Okay, so the tip was dulled and it was made of a rubber like substance, but it still smarted when it hit her.

“Avoiding being hit is the whole reasoning behind dodging.” Malakai stood with his hands on his hips waiting for her to stand up. “Come up. Up and at 'em again. If you can’t dodge something this big and slow… you can never go out in the field, and that’s not an opinion for a librarian.

Quinn groaned, scowled at him, but pushed herself upright again. This time she concentrated harder. And she was rewarded. This time, when he threw a spear, she barely danced out of the way of the tip.

However, he didn’t wait for her to be settled again, and another flew at her. She twisted to the side in such a sudden movement that she tweaked her side. The point of the rubber spear hit her foot, and she crumpled to the ground.

“Damn it, that hurt.” She scowled back up at him. Fiercely this time.

Malakai shrugged. “Access the information. Allow it to flow through you. Let it move your muscles in the way it knows they can be moved.”

That was much easier than he let on of course. Quinn had always been a bit of a control freak. How was she supposed to just let magic do what it wanted to?

She sighed. “Fine.”

This time. This time she wasn’t going to let it get to her.

Over the next couple of hours, Quinn thought she was going to die, for real. Not to an icy blast, not to drowning, not to attack by an octopus, or even a black hole.

No, dodging, it seemed, required a lot of stamina, a lot of energy, and a lot of perseverance, none of which she really possessed.

Yet.

But with each and every attack Malakai threw at her, she could feel herself amalgamating just a little bit more of the knowledge. Her muscles screamed at her, but they began to know what to do.

She felt powerful, proud, and like she was starting to really get the hand of it… until she fell flat on her face, tripping over the tailend of one of Malakai’s magical attached.

"Oof!" she yelled as she fell on the mat, for she'd lost count of how many times. "I really thought I was getting better.”

"You are." Malachi said. "Despite a sincere lack of natural ability it seems."

Quinn grimaced up at him. She wasn't even going to try to put enough effort in to stand up. "Fancy that." She liked the mat, it was oddly comfortable, and she’d rolled up to look at the ceiling far, far above her. Maybe a nap was in order.

"Quinn, now is not the time to be lying down on the job."

"I'm not laying down on the job. I'm contemplating what is apparently going to be my very short future." She was still gasping for breath, so her words came out punctuated.

"It doesn't matter if this is your forte or not," Malachi said in an extremely controlled tone. "If you can’t even manage the basic book, we’re all dead."

"You're being a little dramatic, wouldn't you think, Malachi?" she muttered sullenly.

But the elf was pissed off. "No I’m not. You remember Kajaro. He’s the first of many if what he said is true."

"Hey, I smashed his face with an icicle." Quinn felt the need to defend her pride.

“Because you caught him unawares. Fantastic instincts, but you can't survive all the time on instinct." He sounded tired too.

She pushed herself back up, took a deep breath, and nodded. “Ready.”

Malakai took a deep breath in and apologized. "I'm sorry, I just... it's imperative we keep you alive."

"Yeah, yeah," Quinn said. "I know."

There was a tiny part excited about how her life had turned out, but there was another part, even if it was smaller, that was extremely loud, screaming at her that this wasn't normal. It wasn't the life she'd been planning on, and frankly, it was damn downright scary. But she needed to do this, and she would do this. She was going to be the best damn librarian the library had ever seen.

Or, at the very least, she was going to try.

She hunkered down in a sort of squat and put her hands out to the side like she'd seen wrestlers do on television. "Okay, I'm ready."

Malakai stepped back, looked her up and down, and sounded very bewildered when he spoke. "What are you ready for?"

"To get really serious about this?" she said, even as her thighs began to burn holding the position.

"Serious about squats?" He seemed genuinely perturbed. “Wait… hand to hand? You're too short and too small, and you don't have the muscles right now nor any natural ability whatsoever. So for now, with the amount of work we still have to do, I think we’re going to concentrate on your magical abilities."

"Hey," she said, "I don't suppose you've got a training chamber that extends the time inside it but not out here in the real world? So, you know, I can do a training montage there and get really strong over a period of like four months that's actually only an hour outside."

Malakai scoffed. "You are kidding, right? That's just like a total fantasy story."

She remembered back to all the anime that had obviously betrayed her in this isekai moment, and let out a big sigh. "Yeah, I know. I was just hoping it was real in some part of the universe."

Lynx popped into view, looking thoughtful. "You know, if we were to harness the time dilation from—"

"No, stop it," Malakai said. "We're not going to wait for however many years this experiment you're considering is going to take. She needs to be trained now."

"Of course," Lynx said. "I wasn't considering not training her. I just thought it posed an interesting scientifically magical question."

"Is that speaking as the Library?" Malachi asked.

Lynx nodded. "I always speak as the Library."

"Except when you're not, right?" Quinn asked.

"Exactly."

“Aren’t you busy?” she asked him.

Lynx smiled. “Oh, I’ve completed the advertisement for an assistant. Just running it through a few more processes to double-check the current inhabitants of the worlds I picked to run it in. And then I can launch it.”

“When?” Malakai and Quinn blurted out together, the mood in the room considerably lightened.

“A few hours at most.” Lynx didn’t appear to sense their excitement. “Show me how far the training has come.”

Quinn sighed and smiled. It might not be the worst place in the universe to be here, training alongside these people, being connected to a Library at its core. For just a moment, Quinn felt like things might actually be okay, that everything was going to come together.

And then Malakai threw a fireball at her face.

~~

Maybe it's the fireball?

Okies...onward and upward

Much love

KT