LSRO: Chapter 309 - Flummoxed (Patreon)

Soooo! I had a freaking wonderful mothers day. I played Oblivion, and got comfy lounging clothes for at home, and pretty rose things, and my kid wrote me a song that made me cry happy tears.

All in all a great weekend.

And would you look at that?

I know right - it's a chapter before tomorrow (as in I've been posting so late lately that it's been tomorrow before they post up in some time zones haha)

Anyhu!

I like this chapter. Hope you do too. Tomorrow I see hand doctor dude!

~~

Chapter 309

Flummoxed

Dottie seemed somewhat disappointed by Quinn’s reaction, or lack thereof, to the news. Quinn tried to be more upbeat about it, but she couldn’t get over her worry about Ashiron. Her smile turned into more of a grimace while thinking of the soul-bomb timer ticking down. She attempted to appear more harried than panicked before she spoke. “I’m sorry, I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now about how we’re gonna even make another branch work power-wise, you understand?”

Dottie appeared confused, or at least that was the type of sensation that Quinn read from her aura, considering Dottie couldn’t make any facial expressions. 

Quinn sought to clarify. “The power levels, you know, like from the pillars, pumping through the mana, doing their thing, will need to pull on more power as soon as possible so we can open the two branches. It looks like we’re super close to opening in quick succession again, right?”

“Right. Yes,” Dottie said, “I’ll worry about the components that allow us to open the branches, and you can do your Librarian thing and take care of the power levels.”

Dottie made it sound so simple, and matter of fact, Quinn wished it were only that easy. “Have you got some numbers for me, then?” she asked.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Dottie said. Several seconds went by, and then there was a strange blip in Quinn’s ear.

“There you go,” Dottie said. “it’s all in your head now. Now you just let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll be right here to answer them.”

Dottie turned around and peered, her aura fluctuating with what could only be curiosity, and turned back to Quinn before Quinn could pull up her HUD. “Everybody seems rather tired.” 

“We just had a very long day.” Quinn murmured, almost absently as she sent her request to the HUD.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I should have waited till tomorrow.”

“Nope, it’s all good. No time like the present,” Quinn mumbled as the numbers pulled up in front of her eyes. She stared at them for quite some time. Her brain really did feel slower than usual. Maybe she’d overused her abilities while fighting the spinnaboli in Halschius. However, as long as she shocked herself awake, she should be fine.

Main Branch Tome Report

1875 are still outstanding from the initial overdue amount. 16167 books returned. No books in reproduction. 287 in repair status. 14 missing restricted books.

Horticulture: 664/720

Bardic Musical: 882/897

Crafting: 721/730

Academy: 712/785

Culinary Arts: 282/282 - Culinary Branch Open - 2563 Books of 3795 remaining, 1232 total culinary specialist books returned, 23 of which are in repair status. Would you like a categorical breakdown? Would you like a categorical breakdown?

Yes, or No?

Alchemical/Medicinal: 384/384 - Alchemical/Medicinal Branch Open - 4628 of 5892 remaining, Medicinal ingredients verified and stocked, 1264 total specialist books returned 395 of which are in repair status. Would you like a categorical breakdown?

Yes, or No?

Combat: 837/837 - Combat Branch Open - 7423 Books of 9085 remaining, 1662 total combat specialist books returned. 241 books in repair status. All books location verified. Would you like a categorical breakdown?

Yes or No?

Note: All branches must be opened in order for the Academy to open. Should all books for the Academy be returned prior to other branches, then the Academy will have to wait. It cannot operate without access to all branches of knowledge.

Please Note: These numbers are those vital books that were overdue while the Library was offline. Please note access for all post re-opening overdue books is compiled elsewhere.

She ran down the numbers, noticing that when she’d first arrived, they’d had over 18,000 books and seven branches to open, to retrieve, to get back, to take from people who really didn’t seem to understand what borrowing a book meant. And now, what, seven months later, they were down to their last four branches, most of which were seriously close to completion, including the Academy, considering how close the others were. They could be done in a matter of days, depending on how effective Dottie and Betty’s retrieval process was.

Not to mention, the numbers of books from the initial sweep had reduced significantly. At least there was a silver lining in that the Library was indubitably making actual progress, even if Quinn sometimes felt like she was running backwards.

If she discounted her worry about Ashiron, Quinn was actually over the moon, excited even, because the Library was truly becoming what it once was, what it had been before all of their sabotage drama. She couldn’t wait to see it in its full glory, as it was supposed to be. Yet, because of the plethora of things she still had to do, the books they had to retrieve, the power they had to regenerate, and the pesky old bomb sitting in Ashiron that they had to disable, she felt a bit out of her depth.

She looked at the waiting bench and smiled. “Thanks,” she said to Dottie, and meant it. The bench watched her for a few seconds and then spoke softly.

“You know, we’re here if you need us. You just let us, Betty and I, know if there’s anything we can do to help you. Anything at all, dear. We’re right here.”

Quinn looked at her for several seconds and nodded. “Okay, I hear you,” she said, and Dottie trotted out, as if everything was right with the world. Quinn watched her go and glanced around the room. Dottie had been right. Everybody was just slouched. Even Nishpa and Milaro, who were still in whispered discussion, seemed to have melted into their couch that they were sitting on.

Malakai slumped, about to doze off, too. And Aradie, sitting on her perch, even had her head tucked under her wing. It was rare for Quinn to catch Aradie actually sleeping. She wondered if she could just curl up and sleep, too. The couch she was on was so comfortable and plush. She was sure she could summon a blanket if she needed to.

But she also knew that there were things to do and one of those things included talking to the Library about the pillars and energy requirements for opening more branches. A Librarian’s work was apparently never done. She sucked it up, decided that after this chat she would grab some food and, unable to summon the energy to move back to her couch manually, she warped there.

Instead of needing to contact the Library, it contacted her. 

Did you just warp yourself ten feet? The Library sounded incredulous.

“Yes,” Quinn said, speaking out loud because she had a slight headache. Then she added for emphasis. “Yes, I did. I’m so tired.”

“But it would have taken you more energy to move and warp,” the Library said.

“Not necessarily,” Quinn mumbled. “You realize that the magical energy pool I have is huge and the physical energy pool I have is currently drained. I had plenty of magical energy to move with. Thus, this made a lot more sense to me.”

But still, that was so much energy.

“Not as much as you might think,” Quinn grumbled.

I guess, the Library said.

“Well, it’s good that you’re talking to me,” Quinn piped up, “because I really needed to talk to you. I have questions.”

Questions, the Library said, sounding suspicious. What sort of questions?

Questions that only you can answer, Quinn said, deciding it might be too sensitive to say out loud now.

Very well then. The Library sounded ever so slightly put upon. Far away, I’m all Library ears.

Quinn chuckled before turning on her serious mode and figured that approaching it head-on was probably the best way to deal with it.

The pillars, she said, as if that should explain everything. Then she remembered the Library didn’t always necessarily listen in to every conversation in the Library. Look, we only have three more pillars available to us before we’re at peak power-producing capacity, right?

Yes, the Library said, ten is the maximum. They can boost and they can enlarge, and will do so once the filtration chamber requires it to. However, we need to have all ten of them activated for that to happen.

Great, Quinn said. I learn something new every day.

It’s not something that you needed to know before now, the Library said, in an odd teacher-lecture voice. And, since it wasn’t something that you had to know, I didn’t tell you because it didn’t affect the activation of all the pillars. We have to have them activated in order for that to kick in. If we can’t fix Ashiron, then that’s going to be a moot point.

That set off a chain reaction in Quinn’s gut that she really didn’t want to talk about. I see, I understand. So it’s not just locked into a specific amount of power output, it can take in more. Should it need to, as long as all ten of them are activated?

Yes, that is the drawback, the Library said. As long as all ten of them are active, thus the filtration chamber is optimized and operating at peak capacity, the magic then allows it to expand. I didn’t foresee somebody sabotaging one of the pillars when we created the Library.

How dare you not foresee millions and millions of years in the future?

The Library actually chuckled. Ah, it seems you have encountered foresight and how uncompromisingly inaccurate it can be the further out it gets. Well put.

Quinn paused and pondered the Library’s words. It still didn’t change anything, it didn’t give them any time. So Quinn tried to figure out how best to phrase it. How do we go about doing this? We were on a timer even, we don’t have the days to work this out.

I’ve been working this out for months, the Library said, ever since we realized that Ashiron was broken. We still have two more that we can activate, right?

Well, yes, Quinn said, but we’ve only got like four branches left to open and we’re going to need that power pull.

Power levels are doing well. If you check on your HUD you should see that they’re doing fine. For another branch, we probably need to open at least one.

Quinn sighed, Yes, maybe two?

They both sat in silence for several seconds. It dragged on. It felt awkward. Quinn didn’t even know what to say.

I guess, since we’re opening two more branches, we have a little bit more time?

Perhaps the Library sounded sad.

Quinn rushed to try to turn it around. We don’t want to procrastinate for too long, we can’t afford to leave the pillars solution at the last minute, right?

But the Library still didn’t answer directly. Something about the Library’s reticence to address the pillar in question, to address Ashiron directly, really grated on Quinn’s nerves. “Is there something I should know?” She asked. Is there something, like, that you haven’t told me that I should know?

It isn’t like that, the Library said, sounding exasperated. There are things we could be working on that we know will work, while also trying to make headway with Ashiron. That way we don’t have to waste time on any of this back and forth that we’re doing right now.

Quinn narrowed her eyes. But we’re not stopping other things to look into Ashiron. We’re literally multitasking this whole thing. But we have to get it back inworking order again. If we don’t, we’re all gone.

Including me, snapped the Library.

Quinn couldn’t place the tone with which it had spoken. I mean, from the way you’re reacting, anybody would think that you want Ashiron to obliterate the Library.

The Library scoffed. I do not. I just... it’s not the only problem we have to solve. I still can’t remember things. Links are still missing elements. Speaking of which, I have several problems right now on my plate that need to be dealt with now that I don’t have 80 plus days left in a countdown for. So I will leave you to figure this one out yourself, Quinn.

And the Library’s presence was gone.

Quinn huffed. She was annoyed. She was flummoxed. What did the Library even mean by that?

~~

Always got to remember the Library (and therefore technically this system) aren't machines.

Much love

KT