LSRO: Chapter 72 - Into her Own (Patreon)

Now is the time to have fun and discover lots and lots of spells and books and stuff!

Best. Time. Ever.

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Chapter 72

Into her Own

Sleep was an understatement, Quinn thought when she woke.

When she returned to her room, she realized her energy was running dangerously low, beneath 200, which was far from ideal. She barely remembered to remove her shoes and protective gear before collapsing into bed. She didn't wake up until the next day.

She'd been out for almost 24 hours.

The sleep rejuvenated her body, but there was something new that she felt. Since having unleashed that power down in the filtration chamber, Quinn realized she'd barely scraped the surface.

She was the Librarian.

While she'd fully understood that absorbing the book knowledge was a part of her position, until now, she hadn't completely comprehended just what that might entail. The power she'd exuded sent all sorts of possibilities cascading through her head.

If she played her cards right, if she really applied herself to learning and training -- couldn't she legitimately defend the Library? Wasn't she in charge here? Shouldn't she be delegating more to leave time to train?

Suddenly, something popped up in front of her.

Priority listing - Librarian: Quinn.

Prioritize:

Strength

Fine definition

Pillar Activation

Task Delegation

Library Returns

Energy Amplification.

Once these are complete, the list will continue.

Quinn raised an eyebrow. She was getting a lot of lists from the Library lately, or perhaps it would be more fun to call them quests. She shook her head. They felt a lot more annoying than that.

Nope, lists it was. She was better at ticking off lists.

Quinn needed to increase her strength, and what better way to do that than to improve on the skills she already had?

And that was how she found herself, with several books she'd gathered, in the training room.

She lay down on one of the training mats and spread the books out in front of her. "Okay, Aradie," she said to the bird who was perched on one of the training dummies, "Let's see if I can do this mental fortitude training myself considering I can't always rely on Milaro to tear himself away from the world he governs to come and give me lessons. He must have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people under his command. I can't keep taking his time."

Aradie hooted in a way that almost sounded like a consoling coo. Still, Quinn smiled at her. "Okay, so Mental Fortitude, Hanalo's Guide to Barrier Mastery." She frowned. "I thought these were supposed to be clever titles to entice you to want to read them?"

Aradie threw an image at her that denoted a beginner and an advanced person. "Oh, this is an intermediate book, so you're telling me that once a student is already interested in the subject matter, you're sort of hooked so the titles no longer matter as much."

Another two hoots from Aradie, which could have meant anything from 'why yes, Quinn, you're correct' to 'oh my god, humans are so silly.' Quinn wasn't sure, but she preferred to think that it was the former.

She spent several hours analyzing her barrier, making sure that the strands she wove were the tightest they could possibly be. There were hints in the book. It described the construction of the barrier by telling her to act as if she was knitting with sticky fabric so that the strands actually stuck together when they were done. Once she was finished with the entire wall, all she had to do was solidify it. That word alone practically acted like an elastic band, and everything became taut between the posts as she had erected it.

Not bad, not bad, she thought, but my work isn't done because this needs to be a reflex and not take me 10 minutes to build.

And so, she ripped it down and began over and over again, playing it in the background of her mind, sorting her thoughts, and turning half of her attention to the next book, Hot Air: Not All Talk. At least that title made her laugh.

However, it didn't go into the detail she'd hoped it would. The original book she got her knowledge of the gravitas ability had been Not All Just Hot Air: That Which Doesn't Float, Sinks. But the thing about that book was that it explained the way air worked in relation to gravity. The explanation was only in the book to show how air and gravity were related.

However, gravity was an offshoot of wind and air, not to mention marginally related to earth, so perhaps her having affinities for everything enabled her to understand the mere mention of it. Still, it was very confusing. Shouldn't she only have the abilities given to her by the books?

The library inserted its own commentary, No, that's not quite how it works. You should have access to any affinity that your mind has the capacity for. As you possess all the affinities, so should you inadvertently be able to interpret and understand information, even if it's not precisely from a tome related to it. As long as there is enough information for you to process into comprehension - it should suffice.

"That sounds very confusing," Quinn said.

It's not really confusing if you think about it.

"I am thinking about it, and it's very... " Quinn scrunched her eyebrows, trying to see the answer she knew was just out of reach. "Oh! So, I have a predisposed ability to understand the subject matter of all of the affinities."

Isn't that what I just said? the Library asked, sounding slightly irritated.

"That's technically what you said; it just took me a moment to understand it." Quinn pouted ever so slightly.

The library sounded like she sighed.

"It's good to have you back," Quinn said. "You've been really quiet lately."

I had several functions that I had to reassess and realign. I think we might be getting close to a solution on the infected sections Siliqua and Hirish have been working on.

"Seriously?" Quinn said. "That's awesome."

Yes, but right now you are busy. I'm sorry I interrupted.

"No, no, no, thank you for interrupting. I really... I was struggling a bit with understanding."

You're okay, Quinn. Just keep going.

It was difficult not to dwell on what the Library said, but it was right. Quinn had far too much to do. The book, Hot Air: Not All Talk, while not exactly what she had been looking for, was still very important. Its title suggested that hot air was capable of much more than people assumed.

From volcanoes and volcanic eruptions to speaking in controlled and influential ways, there were so many different applications of air. She couldn't imagine having to read through every single one of these books without being able to absorb the knowledge to process it.

In the background, she still divided her attention and constantly tore down and rebuilt her mental barriers. Even though she hadn't dreamt of the snaky lizard man the last time she went to sleep, it didn't mean she wouldn't get pulled into that strange dream dimension again.

The next time, maybe she wouldn't be the one in control. To understand how to turn the tables on somebody who had been doing this for millennia, she needed a deeper understanding. That's why she'd sought out Dreamscaping, Not Like Landscaping.

"Somebody really needs to come up with better titles than these," she muttered. She'd liked the funnier titles, they'd been a nice distraction.

Aradie swooped from where she was sitting and came to rest on Quinn's shoulder, tugging at her hair with her beak.

"What?" Quinn said. "You want me to be careful with this one?"

The bird nodded, keeping its solemn gaze very firmly focused on Quinn.

Quinn reached up and scritched Aradie's neck. "I promise, I'll be careful with all of this."

The book went on to differentiate between being in one's own head in a dream state, or being pulled into somebody else's space. If she was pulled into someone else's space, unless her mental barrier protection was at a high enough level, they would have the ability to turn the dream into an actionable space.

This meant that what happened in the dream could actually affect her corporeal body. Quinn shuddered. She didn't like the sound of that. So, she was determined that she would not become a victim to it. She began focusing more of her attention and energy on tearing down and rebuilding those walls.

Dreamscaping, Not Unlike Landscaping, went into great detail about how to create her own world. It explained how badly the first dream had affected her. But what it didn't explain was how they had planted that sphere in her mind in the first place. The sphere that was still trapped inside her mind. She needed to know how much energy leaked out of the prison they'd locked it in.

Also, what if it could break out of that prison without her realizing it? What if it had already seeped into her very subconsciousness inadvertently? Plus, while she knew technically how Kajaro had managed to attach the orb to her, she couldn't help but wonder if it was a Serpensiril-specific skill or if it was something she'd be able to do too.

Basically, she was left with more questions.

It wasn't something she wanted to ask Milaro and it wasn't something she necessarily wanted to tell the Library, which is why she had her thoughts locked down as tightly as she possibly could.

Quinn pushed the book aside with some reluctance. There was no more for her to expand on within its pages. She'd need to dive deeper into Dreamscaping...

Gravity Works, Plummeting as a Means of Attack, Refined was the next one. This book, which she had never seen before and had only just absorbed, was the one where she should have gotten that gravitas ability from. Because it was uniquely primed with gravity attack spells. Nothing in the previous book had mentioned anything to do with coating everything in a gravity-dense shield so that it couldn't move and thus allowing it to plummet to the ground.

Or, as Quinn liked to put it, letting gravity work.

And yet it was something she'd known, which meant some of the wording in the previous book must have unlocked that logical conclusion for her.

She massaged her temples as a massive headache threatened to waylay her. Still, this was the fourth book she'd absorbed. Maybe she was being a little bit too greedy with the knowledge. Her energy was sitting on low. It was only at 321.

But she'd been lower before and not got this hammering headache. Maybe she was just overdoing it. She popped an energy ball into her mouth to give herself a boost.

Aradie held out a claw. "You want some too?" Quinn said. The bird shook the claw. "Okay." Quinn broke off a little bit of another energy ball and popped it in. The bird ate it and fluffed her feathers as if she'd had the best meal in ages. Quinn guessed it was made out of some seeds so it was probably good for birds, right?

Quinn stood up and brushed herself off. "Well, no time like the present to start training what I've learned."

There were a few hours left before she would have to reactivate the newest pillar, and she made use of every single minute of that time. She crafted energy balls of air, infused them with gravity, and watched them drop, smashing to the ground beneath. The first time she managed to make an indent in the ground, she asked the Library to please reinforce the area.

However, instead of reinforcing it, Tim and Tom suddenly showed up with a strange liquid that they poured onto the floor. They waved and left the room immediately thereafter. Quinn blinked at the liquid spreading all over the floor, the main area in the training room.

Once it reached the edges, it solidified.

It should now be like the floor is down with my core. Soft, yet not. And it will absorb more of an impact, the Library spoke.

"Thanks," Quinn said. "But... can't you just create things out of thin air? Why didn't you just..." She wiggled her fingers.

Some things are still better quality if the time is taken.

Quinn didn't want to argue that an instant liquid solution didn't really seem like taking time, but thought better of it. "Thanks again. I should have thought of protecting the floor earlier."

There is no need for thanks they replied.

Quinn wondered what was wrong with the Library. It sounded a little annoyed. Not that it felt like the Library was directing that annoyance toward her, but still.

Quinn resumed her training. Turning air into a substance that could be weighted was more difficult now that she had to focus her thoughts on it. That one moment she'd had in the filtration chamber, that crystal clear clarity she'd had that all she needed to do was wrap the Miasma drones in wind and apply gravity. She wanted her power to work like that again.

"Can you do training simulations?" she asked the Library.

What do you mean simulations?

"Well, like where you give me a scenario and I use my abilities to defeat it." Quinn had watched hundreds of hours of science fiction shows that had similar things.

Like this? And suddenly there was a swarm of about 50 miasma drones.

Quinn grinned. "Exactly like that." She flung her hand out, allowing the wind to buffet out as she yelled, "Gravitas!" For a split second all of the drones halted. Then all of them plummeted to the ground and dissipated, their little projection bodies, or holographic forms or whatever, faded to nothing.

Is that what you were looking for? the Library asked.

"Yeah, that's perfect." Quinn hoped this would help her reflexes, and to figure out ways to navigate her abilities in a constructive and efficient manner.

I will figure out a way for you to access it without directly having to speak to me. You'll have to give me some...

But loud footsteps running down the hall toward her cut the Library off.

"What's that?" Quinn said, turning to see Malakai rush into the room as he burst through the doors.

"You've got to come, Quinn. Hirish and Siliqua have figured it out."

Quinn didn't need to be told twice. She took off after the elf prince, Aradie swooping to join them.

~~

YAY! So we'll finally get Hirish and Siliqua solution next week... maybe... probably, right?

Thank you all so much for being here.

It's much appreciated.

Much love

KT