LSRO: Chapter 325 - Crafting Branch (Patreon)

Published:

2025-06-11 05:38:28

Imported:

2026-06

Content

Yay! Getting down the wire. So many branches to open. So little time. Sort of. Taking the kiddo to Children's Mercy on Wednesday (which is k

Yay! Getting down the wire. So many branches to open. So little time.

Sort of.

Taking the kiddo to Children's Mercy on Wednesday (which is kind of today) to get a second opinion about her seizures.

Cross fingers for me.

Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 61

Crafting Branch

Crafting branch officially opened.

Beginner books verified, relegated to main branch Library.

Analysing intermediate, advanced, master, legendary, and beyond content.

All Crafting subjects accounting for.

Processing current tome compliment

Processing.

Error.

Missing the following number of books.

Alchemical and Medical branch books missing: 7,685

Would you like a categorical breakdown?

Yes or no?

And just like that, without any sort of hitch whatsoever, without any weird mana-eating eels, strange bookworm creatures, or strangely reactive training dummies --- the newly reinvigorated crafting branch of the Library of Everywhere opened.

No strange phenomena whatsoever.

Quinn found herself still waiting, though, as if something would jump out at the last minute.

Quinn groaned at the significant amount of overdue books that needed to be recovered as soon as possible. She couldn’t even pretend the system didn’t tell her, considering it flashed directly in her face.. 7,685 books. Quinn groaned. That was so not what she wanted to see, especially not beeping in her face. She wasn’t about to look at an update of books needing retrieval, either. She had enough to do.

That was for future Quinn to worry about.

She chose no. Because the categorical breakdown would likely just give her a headache.

Quinn wondered if she could just set it to default to ‘no’ and that she’d go in and check ‘yes’ if she ever actually wanted a categorical breakdown. But she assumed that wouldn’t be possible. Still, she mentally selected ‘no’ a second time just to make sure she didn’t accidentally trigger ‘yes’. Perhaps it was feeling finicky and would take her contemplating it to mean she’d reconsidered.

With so many books still needing recovery, it was difficult to remember how far they’d already come. She should be remembering that there were only certain books still needed until they could actually open the full Library. Then she could chase the rest of the others down in peace.

Quinn spent several moments just staring at the amazing feat in front of her.

While she’d been in the Library for a good chunk of time now, magic still held a kind of wonder for her. Slowly, she stepped into the newly opened advanced crafting section on the threshold and smiled. All around the entrance were rows and rows of ingredients. Things used for dyes, curing, and the like. They were placed at even intervals across from the entrance, the whole width of the branch. Some were held in magical stasis and others simply stored in jars or holding pouches.

There were so many materials and other tools beyond the ingredients. Lining the walls were many crafting stations and machines. Some of those she recognized like weaving machines, forges, anvils, leather tanning stations, leather stretching racks, and tools. The latter filled bookshelves too, bookshelves of tools. Maybe they were just shelves of tools. Quinn wasn’t entirely sure if there was a technical term for it.

And then, right down the center, there were rows and rows of books. Everything was arranged in line with the machines that were in front of them in a strange sort of organization that made, well, aesthetic sense. Quinn found herself squinting to try to discern the order.

There were so many tomes that she couldn’t even guesstimate how many were contained in the branch. She could see the gaps where the missing books belonged. It made her feel a bit better about the missing listed overdue books because sometimes she wondered if the system wasn’t just trying to play a joke on her.

She allowed a rare few moments to relax just as she took in everything. Pure joy radiated through the air of the Library in that moment.

Malakai smiled at her from where he stood. “That’s a good thing, right? I thought you’d forgotten how to relax, let alone smile.”

Quinn shook her head. “Nah, I haven’t forgotten. I’ve just found, well, I guess it’s been difficult to find the time or the inclination. I feel... everything feels...” She held out her hands as she shrugged, but her voice faded and she wasn’t entirely sure she should say what she was thinking out loud or even if she should say what she was thinking at all. It just made everything more real.

“You know you’re allowed to feel things, right?” Malakai asked, his voice very soft.

“Yeah,” she sighed, “but not all feelings are healthy for myself or for others to experience me having, if that makes sense.”

“It makes perfect sense,” he said. “And it’s true, but bottling up your feelings or your worries, it’s even worse, Quinn.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, but didn’t say anything else.

And he continued, “We’ve already got one bomb down in the filtration chambers that we have to defuse. We don’t need to be watching you for implosion too.”

Quinn laughed in surprise. “Oh, fantastic. Is that what I am? You’ve got me. I’ll make sure I don’t put us in any more danger with my mildly overwhelmed, panic-induced wallowing.”

He smiled at her, “Good, see that you don’t.”

Quinn laughed again, this time a freer sound, but she didn’t mind. She felt lighter, despite having been called a bomb in a strange, oddly roundabout way. Because it was as if she’d been relieved of some of the burden, with the reminder that she wasn’t actually alone in all of this. An overwhelming sense of gratitude spread over her as she realized that Malakai really was always looking out for her. Just now, it was in a much different way than it had begun. He wasn’t teaching her to fight anymore or defend herself. He was just there. A constant, comforting presence.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely.

“No problem,” he said. “I’ll gladly tell you when you’re being silly.” Then he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the actual crafting area, guiding her toward all the different areas and letting her lose herself in the wonder of all the devices. She wandered into the middle of it and looked around, mainly concerned with the people.

There were a lot of them. And she felt like the Library was that one step closer to where they needed to be. Even if, at the same time, it felt like they still had miles to go. Maybe that was a juxtaposition that she couldn’t quite reconcile yet, but it still gave her some of that hope back. Minuscule though it was, she grabbed onto it.

Thank you.

The Library’s voice was in and out of her head in the space it took her to breathe. Quinn almost worried she’d imagined it. She really hoped the Library lifted out of its funk sooner than later.

The new expansion of the crafting section in the Library continued to fill up. So many patrons wandered into it. Quinn thought she might have lost some time somewhere.

“This is remarkable,” Malakai supplied, raising an eyebrow at her as he, too, viewed the crowd flowing into the space.

“Sort of,” she said. “I mean, I wasn’t expecting it to be this popular.”

“You need to keep in mind, Quinn,” he said, “that while the Library wasn’t around, many projects had to be put on hold. Many tomes weren’t accessible, specific magic for certain things wouldn’t have been available.”

“Wouldn’t have been available?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“You know what I mean. I mean that people who possessed the specific type of skill sets may not have been readily available to assist people in the way that Library books often are. If you’re of a level and you want to learn a new skill, be it anything, you can often create said skill yourself. But when it comes to crafting, there are only so many ways that metal will bend or that twine will fray. There are specific instances where magic infuses every single hammer blow on an axe. You have to understand that without the Library, especially crafters, were at a disadvantage. Dottie has been telling everybody for about a while that the crafting branch was about to come online. I’m quite certain that many of these people have been waiting centuries for this moment.”

“Oh,” she said, looking at everyone else in the branch right then through a different perspective, “I didn’t think of it like that.”

“Of course you didn’t. Why would you?”

“I guess I just... the others didn’t have people flock in this way.”

“No,” he said, “for the medical one there were so many family recipes and family tomes and other hereditary elements that simply, you know, get passed down generation by generation. So many people have these familial bonds to fall back on. Cooking is another one of those, driven mainly through familial bonds, the passing down of recipes. Of course, there are certain things that can only be obtained through the Library’s knowledge but genuinely they’re not dependent on it. Combat as well, familial training and guild training but when it comes to crafting, the sheer amount of knowledge housed in the Library is a culmination of many species, even extinct ones, who’ve had amazing armor reinforcing capabilities and so,” he gestured widely, “this is what you get.”

Quinn nodded and realized that the order that she’d seen in the way the crafting branch was organized was actually more by row. Machines, books, ingredients and materials all in specific rows. So if a patron was a smith, they had everything in line with them. Forges, anvils, metals, tools, books, everything neatly sorted and stored in rows. The same for tailoring, woodworking, leatherworking, armorers, weapon smiths, and everything else.

“I think I get it,” she said, because she could seriously see just being in the moment and losing oneself into crafting in such a soothing environment. There were apparently silencing spells in place because one of the anvils was already being used and yet no sound reached her, no matter how they walked through the Library.

It was quite inspiring.

She checked her notifications, and it seemed that her interlude was over. The next pillar needed to be activated in order to enable both the bardic and horticulture expansions which were probably upcoming in the next few weeks. While the Academy had to wait for Ashiron to be done, she needed the other branches online as soon as possible.

Just as she was about to speak to Malakai, another notification popped up.

Crafting branch golems required.

Specific crafting golems ready for production.

Process halted, awaiting Librarian orders.

Completion activation required.

Librarian code engaged.

Of course, Quinn allowed it to do that. What would a crafting branch be without information assistance like the combat wing had? With that out of her way, she turned her attention back to the other notifications inside. She closed her eyes and activated the ninth and final pillar before Ashiron. She could feel the shift of power in her mind. It was like a shock ran right through to her core. It was dangerous, powerful and only one step away from being fully capable.

And it gave her another 24 hours wait time.

Less than three months and they were either going to sink or swim. Hopefully, she’d really prefer it if they could fly. Ideally, they needed Ashiron up and running as soon as possible so the filtration chamber could begin acclimating to the level of power running through it. So that they could be ready for whatever was to come. Only she knew that this lull was fake because she knew that something was bound to happen. It always did.

“What are you doing?”

Quinn jumped at Lynx’s sudden appearance, took a breath, and answered. “I’m opening a branch. I would have thought that was obvious.”

He raised an eyebrow, seemingly nonplussed that he’d probably shortened her lifespan with that fright. “I meant with the system.”

“Bringing the final, non Ashiron pillar online.” She said shortly.

“Oh,” He looked out over the branch, a thoughtful look on his face. “Would you have time to talk for a...”

That’s as far as he got, because a booming and very unexpected voice talked over everyone.

“Ah Quinn, just the Librarian I wanted to see,” Uncle Hal boomed, his smile genuine. “It is good to be here again.”

HAL IS BACK

Much love