Library System Reset: Damaged: A Magical Library LitRPG, page 34
Quinn groaned. “I’m even broadcasting my pranks now.”
Lynx actually chuckled. “Actually, I’ve just gotten used to your tricks. Anyway, we’ll get this fixed, it’s just going to be more involved than I remember. Keep in mind, the initial influx of information never reached your brain and you started out a little behind in knowledge and application ability. This is just all going to take time.”
“But I have direct access to the system now, right?” Quinn asked. “Doesn’t that mean I should be able to access it and just download all the things now?”
Lynx shrugged. “In a way, yes, but only to a certain extent. Also, that means you have to know what it is you need to do in order to rectify whatever is glitching.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” she asked, not even bothering to look at Lynx. “Come on. We’ve got the Library back to a decent standard, but we have a long way to go. And I know you always think you’re protecting me by not telling me stuff.”
“We should probably just check with the core to see what it thinks.” Lynx sighed. “We don’t always agree on everything.”
Quinn just needs to give the core and HUD proper access to her mind, beyond her walls.
Quinn blinked at the statement that floated in front of her eyes. The answer seemed so simple. Here was the Library trusting her with copious amounts of power and an age-old legacy, and she hadn’t even let the damned thing in past the mental walls she’d built.
“You haven’t let the connection propagate?” Lynx asked incredulously, turning his full stare on her.
Quinn didn’t even need to look up to know his gaze was locked on.
“Maybe,” she mumbled into the desk, suddenly feeling extremely silly for not having thought of it. In all of Milaro’s teachings about building up her mental barrier, she’d never come across the option to let a friendly foreign presence back in.
She moved back and sat in her chair, centering herself. Reaching in, she pulled through to her mental barriers and felt the thickness of the walls. So many levels thick to protect her mind from the attack by Kajaro, and now, she had extremely dense protections.
All it took was one simple thought, and she could feel the core so much closer to her. All of the control reverted back to her instead of outside of her, and everything immediately became simpler.
She sat up straight, opening her eyes in surprise. “It was that easy?”
Lynx shrugged and the Library practically pulsed with laughter.
Quinn tested the connection once more, and felt the flooding of information come toward her. But this time it was controlled, and coherent.
It shouldn’t have taken her days to come across this. Why didn’t you tell me sooner? she asked the Library, somewhat put out.
There was a pause before it replied like it had weighed its answer heavily. I won’t always be able to help in the moment. Most times, yes, but sometimes you’re going to have to figure out things yourself. Think outside the box more often. Or, in this case, within it.
That was cryptic. Quinn pouted.
Sometimes a little cryptic is good for all of us.
Quinn ran a hand through her disheveled hair. The messy buns and ponytails just weren’t keeping her loose curls contained anymore. It had gotten so much worse since she’d synchronized. She’d have to check and see if any other part of her appearance had changed too.
Well, apart from when the excess mana overlaid her skin with glowing scales. But she’d get to that another time.
Your eyes change too.
What? Quinn thought at the Library, too shocked to say it out loud.
Just when you’re using magic.
The Library fell silent again and Quinn digested that for a moment before slotting that information away and moving on.
“Now that’s sorted.” She turned to look directly at Lynx. “I believe we have some information to go through. We have to fix all of these holes in your memory, in the Library’s memory, and frankly in my instructions. Where should we begin?”
Lynx radiated uneasiness and Aradie swooped into the room like she’d been summoned, landing with a soft hoot on Quinn’s shoulder and dropping a bag into her lap.
Quinn swore the bird knew when she was suddenly starving. The bag held a sandwich and one of those apple-like fruits. “Thanks, girl,” she said, reaching up to scritch her neck.
“Now, no avoiding Lynx. Talk.” Quinn ignored the sense of foreboding she’d begun to feel once more. This time it resonated through her head instead of the soles of her feet, telling her she wasn’t radiating concern out to the rest of the Library at least.
No, this doom and gloom was all in her own head right now.
“You have to understand that this isn’t one of your computers,” Lynx began, but Quinn held up a hand.
“You’ve told me this about twelve times I think. I could be mistaken; it might be twenty. Either way. I know the Library is not a computer. We’ve been over this. Stop stalling.”
He frowned briefly. “It’s an all-encompassing neural network.”
Quinn kept her temper, pretty sure they’d been over this before too. “Like a brain.”
“Almost exactly like a brain,” Lynx answered, still sounding too evasive for Quinn’s liking. “And right now there are areas of it that require healing more than it requires restoring, if that makes sense.”
Quinn’s eyes widened as she connected the dots. “So that means we need to apply mind healing, right? Sort of like when Milaro helped me with my own . . . issues, thanks to Kajaro.”
“In a way, yes. It’s just that.” Lynx paused for a moment. “I did send for Milaro yesterday when you were having issues. He should be here soon, so it’ll be easier for us to address this.”
“You know he has a kingdom to run, right?” Quinn quipped. She’d been glad that he had actual duties, it had given her a few days to avoid him and her own complex thoughts.
“But this is a part of his council duties too, so technically, he also has a Library to help.” Lynx winked at Quinn.
“Remind me to ask about that council one of these days,” she said, the niceness oozing from her in a completely fake way. They were almost like her parents after all, and she had no idea who all it involved.
Lynx raised an eyebrow but, perhaps wisely, didn’t comment.
She smiled and pushed the council business to the back of her mind. Not too deep. She needed to figure out all that crap sometime soon. The least of all because of the new heritage she’d discovered. “Okay, so mixing mind magic and healing together would give us elements of mind healing that should allow us to retrieve or repair some of those fragments of missing . . . brain? For want of a better phrase?”
“In theory,” Lynx said, not sounding the most convinced. “I mean, healing goes both ways.”
Aradie hooted that Milaro had entered the Library and was on the way. Quinn didn’t need to ask the owl about it, considering the night owls all lived in the rafters and generally had the run of the entire Library.
They saw everything.
All the time.
It was an excellent information network that none of the patrons seemed to notice much.
“Have you guys had any luck piecing together what the other missing books from the restricted vault are?” Quinn asked her owl softly. Aradie shook her head and pushed the soft feathers of her face into Quinn’s cheek for a moment. “That’s too bad.”
“Well, that’s part of the whole dilemma.” Lynx took the conversation and ran with it.
“Oh, do fill me in. I love me a good dilemma.” Milaro swept into the room, his long robes flaring out behind him for dramatic effect.
Quinn narrowed her gaze. He was awfully good at perfectly timed entrances.
Lynx rolled his eyes. “The problem is that the books we require that would most likely work the best for healing the missing parts, are all from the restricted vault.”
Quinn groaned. “And let me guess, they’re all the ones we’re missing?”
“Three of the four we’ve identified, yes,” Lynx practically whispered, even though his voice managed to echo through Quinn’s office.
She closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself, and then pulled up the listing in front of her. “Essentially, we need: Chatfield’s Force Fields of the Mind, Uglandia Theories of Mind Manipulation, and Sethrovian Rings of Dream Entrapment.”
Milaro nodded. “And that’s really just the start. I’m actually quite certain we’re missing two more. Mainly because I wrote two of them. Seveshall Lineage of Mind Healing and How to Break It is the first one. I have to admit that if I were to develop those tactics today, I would not share them with the universe. I would bury them so deep that no one else could get access.”
“You know knowledge shouldn’t be restricted,” Dottie snapped disapprovingly.
“But just because it can be done, my dear Dottie,” Milaro said, his tone melancholy, “does not mean it should be.”
“True,” Dottie said begrudgingly and fell silent again.
“You said there was a second book?” Quinn prodded, filing away Milaro’s regret to examine later.
Milaro nodded and frankly, he paled. She’d never really pegged him as the type to feel fear. “The Ashelan Mind Capitulation Device. It’s a magical engineering book that creates a device. Well, I mean, it’s in the title. We should have locked it up and thrown away the key.”
“Hindsight is always great.” Quinn tried to reassure him, but she could see it fell flat.
“It really is,” he muttered. “Anyway. I only know that those two are missing from the list of available titles that Lynx gave me to peruse. And again, I only know because I helped with their contribution. But if those are missing, I don’t like the chances of what else was likely taken and is probably floating around out there.”
Quinn groaned. It kept getting better and better. But that was the thing right? She pushed herself to stand. “Okay. We have direction.”
For the first time since the synchronization, her head felt full but clear, focused and with a purpose. “Aradie, I need the owls. Dottie, I need some assistant volunteers to help us scour memories. We’re going to find out what the other books were, and we’re doing it now. And then we’re going to get them. Meet in the training room in an hour so we have more space.”
Milaro smiled, falling into step with her as Quinn marched out of her office to get more food. “I like this plan. I will assist you to the utmost.”
“Of course you will.” Quinn half-grinned at him. There was still a tiny bit of resentment simmering in her. “After all. This is kind of, sort of, a little bit at least . . . all your fault.”
Okay, maybe a little more than a tiny bit of resentment.
“How do you figure?” The elf king raised an eyebrow.
“You keep writing really dangerous books and someone is eventually going to use one.”
“Can’t fault your logic,” he said.
She knew it wasn’t all going to be as simple as that, but they had to start somewhere, and they may as well start now.
As she bit into the food Aradie had brought to her, Quinn was determined that this time at least, she wasn’t going into anything with an empty stomach.
39
IN THE LOOP
Lynx and Quinn stood in the training room.
Or, at least, what she’d once used as a training room.
Quinn blinked as she took in her surroundings and realized it wasn’t what she’d expected. After all, she’d been in the room with Malakai numerous times to hone her skills, practice her reflexes, and beat the ever-loving knowledge she’d gained into her sad little reflexes.
Now, however, it was an entirely different space.
Where there’d been copious mats on the ground and training dummies, there were now tree-like perches growing out of the walls and floor so the nightowls would have comfortable spaces to sit upon while they helped the Library figure out what transpired.
Granted, Quinn wasn’t entirely sure why the nightowls’ information wasn’t simply immediate Library knowledge, but any time she tried to ask the question, the answer was very specifically sidestepped.
It was like Aradie could read her mind too, because she’d simply look away when Quinn wanted to inquire about it. Perhaps the nightowls and the Library had a special agreement or something.
Quinn had started to wonder just how much the Library had truly lost and how dire the peril was when they finally fetched her. From the state of it when she got here, even to now, little things get itching at the back of her mind—so much didn’t add up.
She was still getting used to the way the entire mechanism worked. Even with the extra reach, control, and sensations she’d amassed since realizing how close she was to the Library, Quinn still needed time to practice. Time to get used to everything.
Time to get stronger and understand just how and where that strength came from.
Lynx watched her, a frown on his face. “I don’t know why you seem so astounded by the changes in here. You did ask for them. You’ve seen what the Library has done on a whim and a request before. Like your office, the jail cell . . . you know it can transform at whim. It’s sort of our thing.” He grinned widely at her.
Quinn sighed. “It wasn’t that I wasn’t expecting it, I guess, I just didn’t think all this would happen.” She waved her hand around as the hall continued to transform into something almost like a cinema. It was obvious she needed to start thinking in broader terms, in ways that were more encompassing than her human habitation on Earth led her to believe.
After all, the scale of things that concerned the Library was quite cosmic.
Eric flew directly in front of her face to hover there, his impish grin dripping lava into his mouth.
“I won the coin toss,” he said smugly.
“Coin toss?” Quinn asked, despite being fairly sure she knew what he was talking about.
“Geneva got stuck with the front desk.”
“She volunteered,” Lynx pointed out.
Eric flashed him an annoyed glare. “Fine. Finn is absent today, and Geneva volunteered, but I won the coin toss anyway.”
There was a pout to his words.
“Let me guess,” Quinn asked, “Double-sided coin?”
“Maybe you know me too well, Librarian,” Eric laughed and darted back out of view to the other side of the training hall where Dottie and the aracnio twins had gathered.
“Sometimes I’m not sure if he’s on our side,” Quinn mused. She frowned at the small gathering. Jim and Bob were standing slightly apart from the others. She’d never noticed a tendency to do that before. They appeared to be chittering amongst themselves. She hoped everything was okay.
Misha chose that moment to pop into view. “Excellent. I knew I would find you here.” Misha blinked those pearlescent eyes rapidly, like they were accessing reams of information.
Quinn took a step back. “Should I like how happy you are to see me?” She crossed her arms and regarded Misha suspiciously.
“I simply have several reports that only you can go over with me,” Misha stated. “Your connection through the console is no longer entirely necessary for anything other than dire circumstances. In which case you could also link directly to the core, given your unique set of circumstances.”
Quinn blinked at the sudden onslaught of words. Misha often had a lot to say, but didn’t necessarily do so with a lot of words. Resigned to having more work to do while waiting to do other work, Quinn sighed. “Fine. Show me what you need from me.”
She could have sworn Misha smiled outright.
A list began to pour out in front of Quinn’s eyes. She hadn’t realized how much her access had been refined since the synchronization. Sure, she’d been able to pull up her lists, but this was a lot more information, and far more detailed, than she’d expected.
Malachite shards on hand: 3,789,043
Expected expenditure per day rounded for the next week: 12,761 daily—up to 89,327
Note: As daily expenditure will increase as the Library branches open, it is recommended to reach a minimum of 10,000,000 shards in perpetual stock and not fall below this threshold.
Do you wish to set up delivery to correspond with these goals
Yes or No?
“What’s the cost?” Quinn muttered under her breath, knowing the system would answer her.
Current market pricing has risen due to increased demand that wasn’t present for the last 465 years. This brings current market pricing to a total of 1 generic Library coin, to be configured into the local relevant currency per shard purchased. Bulk purchases are recommended to curtail costs.
Do you wish to proceed?
Yes or No?
Quinn glanced at Misha out of the corner of her eye and saw the supervisory golem just nod their head. She chose yes. Several pages of information flashed before her eyes so fast that she couldn’t tell what was on a single one of them.
Purchase orders initiated. Delivery estimates will reach reserve levels within ten days.
Quinn blinked. This put bureaucracy back on Earth to shame. Maybe they all just needed systems to run everything for efficiency levels.
I’m a Library. It doesn’t work like that.
Quinn cringed at the offense in those words. Sorry.
The Library didn’t reply, but Quinn got the feeling it wasn’t holding a grudge. Maybe. Hopefully.
Golem Components
Phosphorus clay required as an upgrade component: 32,985
Insidious clay required as an upgrade component: 18,958
Quinn stopped reading the list to look up at Misha. “Are you just having me approve a heap of spending for purchase orders?”
Misha looked away, and didn’t make eye contact. “It is one of the duties of the Librarian that you must oversee the finances and supply runs for the entire Library.”
“There’s no way for me to delegate this?” Quinn said, finding that very difficult to believe. “Not to mention that I thought we were short on funds.”
Misha turned back, momentarily having forgotten they were trying to avoid looking at Quinn. “We have never been short on money. Only on power levels.”
