LSRO: Chapter 42 - The Universe and Everything (Patreon)

And if you don't get the title ... then I'm REALLY showing my age.

Okay, so... I had left you all on a cliffhanger and really felt bad about it. But I got super sick over Thanksgiving, so it took me longer to edit my first draft dictation and get it to you in some sort of decent form.

Right now this is an extra chapter ahead of RR. It'll fall in line again during the week. But I hope this helps make up for making you all wait.

Enjoy!

~~

Chapter 42

The Universe and Everything

Quinn blinked at the empty spot where Lynx had just been.

That he disappeared wasn't even the most perplexing part. It was the announcement before his departure that made it that much more worrisome. Logically, she knew he was currently in the core. Or at the core...

Frankly, she usually would have been freaking out, but there was this calmness suffusing her. Like she knew despite how desperate the system message had appeared... it wasn't as dire as it sounded.

Probably.

Maybe it was the mental fortitude given to her by those books. Perhaps she understood everything on a more visceral level now. And she'd assessed the whole situation in a fraction of the time she would usually have spent.

"Quinn." Milaro spoke softly to her, pulling her out of the several seconds of shock she'd just been standing in. "You should go and check on him."

"Yeah..." but she glanced over at the group of new assistants, worried about how to get the last step finished. She could sense that Lynx wasn't in any imminent danger, but there was still something tugging at her.

"You're the only one who can go down there." His voice smooth like velvet, and she wondered if he had some of that soothing magic too. "We can take care of the rest, the system allows us to at least give them rudimentary permissions. It's enough to get them started. Go."

Quinn realized he was right. She couldn't recall anyone other than Misha entering the lower level. And once the golems were created, they didn't venture back down. A wave of urgency entered her mind, rushing through her like a gasp of air after almost drowning.

Resolve in place, she turned without a second thought and sprinted for the stairs.

Darting down the spiral staircase two steps at a time, she gripped the railing tightly as she moved. While she might be able to communicate with the core and access information, she needed to see it, to touch it. There was still something about her connection that felt missing. It wasn't whole.

And hell, even Lynx's announcement said her connection wasn't complete.

So, running to see him was her only choice. Being there was so much more of a suffusion of the Library. It was all around her, encasing her.

The clarity in her mind made it so much easier to think without attaching particular emotions to it. There were feelings, of course, but she could sense them, understand them, and relegate them to the side while she allowed the rest of her mind to address the problem at hand. This would have been a really handy tool to have while she was studying on Earth. That way, she could have just put the stress of the exams aside and done the studying easily.

As it was right now, she had to get to Lynx. Her feet planted on the soft floor of the tree level, as she liked to think of it. It was no longer that beautiful blue hue; instead, there was this orange underlay to the lighting, like a warning light.

Sort of like the amber streetlights where you should stop, but not everybody did. Caution. She could sense in the thrumming that went through to her feet and up into her entire body that this wasn't something that should have occurred.

It definitely wasn't something the Library had foreseen or expected.

She walked with purpose toward the center where the trunk was. Even now, some of its veins were suffused by the same orange glow as if an infection slowly crept up toward its heart. She didn't like the look of that. Placing her left palm on the tree so she didn't have a complete circuit of a connection, she closed her eyes.

A pulse entered through her hand and suddenly images flashed through her mind. She could see Lynx and the trunk, but where their usual connection would be, the pathway was fragmented.

It wasn't obvious at first, but as the library got more power and especially when all of the new applicants entered the library, something within the core shifted. The ambient mana couldn't flow the way it needed to in order to give the library the energy it wanted.

While Lynx wasn't exactly impeding it, he definitely wasn't helping it. At first it appeared like a blockage, but that wasn't the correct way to describe it. Not even fragmentation that she'd first thought it was, was accurate.

It was like some of the pathways had deteriorated so much they were broken.

Fresh blue pathways looked like they were growing into place. Like blood vessels needing a work around to make the body functional again.

Quinn couldn't figure out why and the worst thing was it appeared neither could the library. Instead, it was simply trying to fix things the only way it could figure out how.  We need to find the root cause, she thought.

Lynx is currently unavailable. For his own protection and to prevent the damage from spreading further, he has been placed in hibernation mode for now. The library almost sounded worried, which was something Quinn hadn't witnessed before. The Library was always in control of its emotions. It was, as far as Quinn knew, an entity, so it suddenly having emotional reactions worried Quinn a bit. It made her wonder.

After all of the creatures she'd just met, she wouldn't put it past the library being some sort of massive spatial entity.

That's nothing to concern you right now, the library said, the words flowing into Quinn'd mind. Lynx requires incubation for approximately 68 hours. During that time, you will need to do the following: You will need to start your own training, and make sure the assistant training meets the folllowing guidelines.

A list of fifty things shot up in front of her eyes and were suddenly gone, leaving only a flashing access exclamation mark in the top corner of her vision for later recollection.

The library must open. More books must be returned. We also need to research the serpensiril, their allies and their actions over the time period we have been indisposed. We must discover the truth behind Kajaro's words.

Is Lynx gonna be okay? Even though Quinn got the gut feeling he'd be fine as long as they could recalibrate him, she still needed to make certain.

Lynx is always okay in the end, but he's currently fragmented, thus must be defragmented. His alignment is off, his pathways are infected with a sickness.

Like a virus? Quinn asked. I thought you weren't a computer.

We aren't a computer, but virus is an apt analogy.

Quinn mulled that over.  Okay, what about our connection? Mine and the Library's. It said something about it not being solid.

The petrified bark beneath her hand rumbled and became warm briefly, pushing something out into her palm which she took with the other hand. It was like a small rounded precious stone - about an inch and a half in diameter. It was polished and the same color as the trunk.

This will help deepen our connection and bond until matters are resolved.

Quinn blinked at the strange grey, pulsing, smooth stone in her hand. A better connection to the core was a great thing. Thanks.

There are multiple books you must pull. These books must be absorbed as quickly as possible.

The list popped up in front of her:

• Mental Fortitude and Time Dilation or How to Think Faster
• Communication Through Mental to Therapy
• Mental Defense is More Than You Think
• Cognizant Recognition of Complex Tasks
• Familiars and Their Real Reasons for Seeing Just You
• Hovering as a Defense Mechanism.

And next, there was a pause, You require more combat spells: 'Ice Ages Never Apply to Ice Mages', 'Advanced Ice and Snow', 'Master of the Blizzard'. Make sure Cook has prepared you enough food to tide you over. These books must be memorized immediately. You require these skills.

Quinn knew she needed skills, but this was a lot all at once. Still. A deep breath to recenter herself

Milaro can guide you through the techniques you will learn from these mental aptitude books. This is of vital importance. It will allow you to absorb more, quicker, faster, and become what we need to make sure that the library doesn't suffer the same fate it did 500 years ago.

The last thing the library said felt like an opening to ask a bazillion questions. So, Quinn went for it, speaking out loud this time. "Do you know what actually happened when you had to shut down 500 years ago when Korradine quit?"

The Library usually sounded a lot like Lynx, maybe with very slight variations, but this time... the feelings through the bond she shared with the core were more substantial than usual. We are currently unable to access all of the information in the 50 year period leading up to it. I believe we are missing certain pieces of memory that must be restored and to do that, we require a lot more power. There's nothing the library will have forgotten completely. It's a matter of unearthing it from wherever it was buried and we will find out what reason it was buried for.

The last words had an ominous overtone and Quinn did not want to be the person or people responsible for having made this dent in the library's armor.

Is that all the questions you have?

"Ah yes, yes." Quinn paused. "For now, anyway."

You can connect more easily now you have the token.

Quinn fingered the smooth stone in her hand again and nodded.

There is a list of repairs which much be addressed. Golem Components are low in stock. This needs to be rectified. The filtration replacement devices are currently damaged and are not filtering correctly even with our slightly increased power capacity. The chaotic sludge has built up and they are in dire need of cleansing.

"How do we do that then?" Quinn asked. She knew the chaotic magic needed to be filtered, so this sounded like a much bigger deal than the Library seemed to be making it.

Misha requires workshop access and will assist you in gaining the raw materials that are required for the bulk of the library's production line. Permissions for your new assistants need to be set however...

calculating...

calibrating...

error...

error...

too many assistants. Eight new assistants. They are not vetted. Your assistants must be vetted.

"How do I vet them?"

Have Milaro, Misha, and Malachi assist. Do not trust anybody who has not been vetted.

Quinn hesitated. "What about Narilin?

Narilin is not vetted. Aradie should be able to give you a vague answer as to whether or not these people are trustworthy. Once power levels are higher, background checks will be easier.

"You told me one of them was telling the truth." Quinn pointed out.

The truth does not mean they're trustworthy. It simply means they were not lying at the point in time that they were scanned.

"Good to know." Quinn murmured. At least she knew it wasn't a fail-proof way of assessing whether somebody was trying to get one over on her or not. But then a thought occurred to her. Hadn't Milaro said that he was going to be bringing some trusted people from Lynx's past? "What about that Harish and Siliqua that Milaro is bringing from his homeland? They should have arrived by now."

The parents are known to me, but much time has passed. They will also need to be vetted via Aradie and the system. Milaro may not be the best judge of character when it comes to his childhood friends.

Yet another tidbit Quinn filed away. These were actually Milaro's childhood friends. Very interesting. For just a moment she wondered who Malachi's parents were. She'd never heard mention of them. Maybe they were dead.

Correct, Malachi's parents are deceased. You need to work on your mental fortitude and keeping your thoughts to yourself when you don't mean to direct them to me.

Quinn suppressed a sigh. She really was going to have to concentrate more on where she wanted her thoughts to go.

You don't have time. Start working on it as soon as you've absorbed the texts I listed.

Quinn pressed her second hand against the tree, wanting more of a connection to it. "Can you show me Lynx?"

There was almost a sigh coming from the branches and the orange in the tree leaves above her flickered through to yellow before returning to orange. He slumbers. I can show you an image of what it would be like but you realize he isn't currently solid. Correct?

"But you are," Quinn said. "I can feel you beneath my hands. So how is Lynx not real?"

Lynx is an aspect of my consciousness. He is a projection of a part of me that is me and yet is not me.

Quinn digested that information and asked in almost a whisper. "He's safe. He won't disappear, right?"

Not if I can help it.

And for just a moment, Quinn thought the library sounded very oddly like a human, like a person, like a being of some sort and not just an object or an entity.

Keep those thoughts to yourself, Quinn.

Quinn did. She locked them down as tightly as she could and thought, I will for now.

~~

Finally, things are starting to come together. I mean, what? It's been like 8/9 days... right? It just seems longer haha

Come on, please tell me someone got the chapter title?

Much love

KT