Library System Reset: Overdue: A Magical Library LitRPG Adventure, page 41
Schmectectoid - Insectoid-based species
Located in the: Gensha Quadrant
Library Allies for: 4,893 years
Library Standing: Good
Books currently overdue: Total 932
Quinn cocked her head to one side. This was more information than it had given her initially. Was it powering up already? Well, that meant that the Library now had enough power to figure out where all of its books were.
That would be correct. At least once someone from the species walks through the door, anyway, it then amended itself.
"Good to know," she muttered under her breath, and then flashed a smile at the newcomers. "Welcome to the Library."
The other three pushed one of them forward. This one of the schmetectoids was slightly larger than the others, and they held three books in their arms. They placed them on the counter and spoke in an oddly clicking voice. "We would like to return these books, please."
The other three came up and deposited their books quickly before backing away, bowing in the process.
"Thank you, and you are?" Quinn asked, unable to tear her gaze away from their eyes.
"I am Jasshu." The word came out a little garbled, and Jasshu was about the best that Quinn could do with it, even with the help of the Library's translator.
Still, she flashed Jasshu a smile and said, "Thank you. Would you be able to help round up the rest of the books that your species has?"
"Yes, these were readily available, and we do have more being gathered. But wanted to return what we had so far." Jasshu made to walk away, but hesitated and turned back. "We did not think the Library was still here. We have lost many to the chaos. We are glad you are back."
And with that, they hurried off to make their way back home, exiting through the massive double doors that Quinn had been waiting for people to walk through in the first place.
Quinn stared after them thoughtfully. "Well, that was interesting," she said, mulling over the last things they'd said. She knew the Library hadn't been able to fully filtrate the magic, but had assumed it kept most of it at least at bay. That some of the species had been seriously adversely affected was sobering.
There was a shuffling of feet, and she turned toward the sound. Upon seeing the approaching beings she realized it wasn't really a shuffling, more like dragging. She wondered mildly if the Library was delaying the arrival of each group of entrants so they could deal with different returns easily—so that the Librarian and her assistants could get used to things slowly.
Her assistants who she’d sent off to help out around the Library. Quinn groaned. It was fine. At some point the patrons would be arriving regularly. There was plenty of time to get used to this.
She hadn't scanned the previous twelve books into the system yet, because she had to make sure they weren't infringing on any of the groups that they couldn't yet enter into the system.
The next group was human in appearance upon first glance. They all had extremely dark hair and very pale skin, almost white. As they approached, she noticed one of them flashing a smile filled with what looked like pointed teeth. There were only three of them in total. It seemed a half smile was their natural expression and she realized all three of them had serrated teeth, sharp like a shark's. She wondered for a moment if they worked like shark's teeth and replaced themselves.
She scanned them.
Caverninon - Shark-humanoid-based subterranean species
Located in the: Menecia Segment
Library Allies for: 620 years
Library Standing: Good
Books currently overdue: Total 72
Odd. Their alliance was only about a hundred and fifty years older than the time the Library had been closed. They must have been new discoveries or simply just come into the fold late. Did that mean they could be part of the saboteur group?
"Hi," Quinn said as thoughts ran rampant through her head. She did her best to keep her expression neutral. "Welcome to the Library."
The smaller of the caverninon stepped forward and inclined their head. "Hi." They looked up at Quinn and Quinn noticed for the first time that including the sclera, the entire eye was black. So they definitively were not human. But they didn’t have the double eyelids like Lynx either. She wondered what it would be like to have to live underground all the time. It reminded her of where they'd found Kajaro—although that world had been an entirely different one.
"We have six books to return. We have been trying to return them, but it appeared the Library was closed. We thought it was our fault." Their voice was stilted, like they weren't used to speaking out loud.
"Why would it be your fault?" Quinn asked with an easy smile, as she took the six books from the caverninon's hands.
"We were new to the Library. We thought we had done something wrong."
"Don't worry," Quinn said, and thought it over carefully. She didn’t understand this species; their voices seemed devoid of emotion, but she thought they might be apprehensive. "I'm sure you'd know if you'd done something wrong. Besides, the Librarian would never have let you keep the books, if it was your fault. She would have come and retrieved them."
The Caverninon laughed and bowed. "Thank you for your reassurance. I am Torniette. Thank you. We would like to borrow more."
Quinn sighed, and held up a hand. "Right now we can only take returns. You are, however," she hurriedly added as she realized that Torniette's mood had sunk at that statement, "allowed to peruse what we have. We are currently trying to regain a large sum of our books. Currently, the range is not quite what it would usually be." Although… didn't the Library always lend out books? Wouldn't this be the current state?
I'll explain that to you later, the Library shot at her, and Quinn couldn't help but think it sounded more like Lynx than usual.
"That is okay and acceptable," Torniette said. "If this is truly allowable, then we would like to partake in reading some of the books."
"Sure. Go ahead. Tim and Tom, our shelving golems, can help you if needed, and there are Library assistants available throughout the Library to help you with anything you might be seeking." She felt like a salesperson, asking them to stay in her establishment.
Quinn watched as the caverninon left and walked deeper into the library. There was almost like a sigh of relief from the structure itself. It fed through to her in an odd tinge of happiness. Books were coming back, and people were entering the Library as it always should have been.
Just as she felt like she couldn't feel more, Quinn noticed the next group. There were more of this species, half a dozen to be precise, and they looked very similar to the Salosier, except they were about five feet tall, a little denser, and had flowery hair with pinky-purple flowers attached to it. They were much more shrub-like. She inspected them with the system.
Tecopsis - A desert willow species - cousins to the Salosier
Located in the: Arid regions of Feshpa
Library Allies for: 6,800 years
Library Standing: Good
Additional information: This species travels in a pack-like formation. Often with familial bonds.
Books currently overdue: Total 128
Ah, thought Quinn. I guess this group of six is a family. Each of them held seven books, from what she could see. Two of them approached the desk.
"Good day, Librarian." The one in front of her radiated femininity. "I am Sabinth."
Not only did she radiate femininity, but she also had very barely contained excitement streaming from her in energy waves. She was beautiful, quite simply, just lovely. Quinn wondered if she had the same abilities that Narilin did. The ones that soothed you. Although, she was feeling more excited than soothed.
"Hello, Sabinth. I am Quinn, the Librarian. You have books to return?" Quinn kept the smile on her face, but was already feeling like her jaw hurt. She was happy to see people in the Library, but smiling took a lot of effort.
"Yes, yes, we have been waiting. We knew the Library wasn't gone. It had to still be here, because the books, well, they acted like it was still there, but like it was too far away, and we couldn't go in. We took very good care of the ones in our direct family. We realized we had taken out forty-two books. We do apologize for keeping them for so long." Her words bled into each other like a shining beacon of pure energy.
"It's okay." Quinn held up her hands, trying to stem the onslaught of words from the very excited little Tecopsis. The one next to her let out a long sigh.
"I am Taree. Sabinth was but a child when the Library disappeared, and has maintained a childlike focus and excitement for everything that the Library contains. Please forgive her over-exuberance." Their voice was deep and soothing. The polar opposite of the excitable one.
"That's fine," Quinn said. "To tell you the truth, I love books too. I get the excitement."
"I would hope you love books," Taree said, their voice drawling and smooth. "After all, we'd be very unlucky to find a Librarian who didn't love books."
Quinn filed that away. Something about what they said resonated with her. In such an odd way that she wasn't sure came from her in the first place. Maybe from somewhere deep within the core. She would address that later.
"Sabinth, Taree, thank you," Quinn said, as she took some of the books and put them on the counter, arranging them nicely. Malakai had already begun sorting through some of them. He'd only put two off to the side, and Quinn hoped that that small pile were the ones they couldn't scan in and return yet. "Thank you for coming and returning these books so promptly."
The rest of the Tecopsis remained behind Sabinth and Taree, huddling together like they weren't used to seeing other species, or being in other places.
"Would you like to stay and look at some books?" She asked Sabinth.
Her eyes lit up so much. And Taree sighed again.
"It seems we will be staying. I assume, along with the message about the opening, that we will not be able to borrow books for some time. Is that correct?" Taree practically spoke in a drawl, just without the southern accent.
"Yes, it is. I'm terribly sorry. Cook will have food and snacks if you want to stay as long as you wish. We have facilities if they’re needed, and I'm sure you can doze off on a couch if you end up staying long enough. If you really want to spend that much time with the books."
Taree chuckled. "It seems that you know my niece very well."
"I swear, I was just like your niece once," Quinn said.
As the little Tecopsis broke free of her clan and ran into the Library, Taree threw a long-suffering glance at Quinn as he and the other four trailed after her.
The quiet of the Library was gone. Quinn could hear whispers in the background that carried through to the front, pages being turned as normal patrons read books in the old-fashioned way, really absorbing the knowledge and not just automatically inhaling it.
As far as she’d understood it, absorption of text was something reserved for the Librarian. Perhaps also the assistants? She pushed her query toward the Library.
Accurate. Librarians require the ability to immediately absorb and understand the knowledge the Library contains. Otherwise they will be lacking at their jobs. They must know what the Library contains and eventually end up absorbing all of the works of their respective affinities. On top of that, they must know details of each of the other books in such a capacity that they can direct patrons to the precise book they require.
Quinn blinked. That meant a lot of book absorbing in her future.
What about the assistants? Quinn asked.
They must read the books, but the information is absorbed and not just learned. It’s one of the perks.
Quinn soaked up that piece of information while she picked up a stack of books that Malakai had deemed worthy of being scanned in and glanced at them to double-check that he hadn't missed any of the forbidden categories.
There were five off to the side. "Can't check those ones in yet?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Do we have anywhere to put them?" A drawer opened next to his left foot as if summoned, which she guessed, it sort of was.
"Well, I guess that's my answer," he said, looking at the massive drawer.
Quinn laughed. "Let's hope it can hold a lot of books. I've got a feeling we're gonna get more books before we fix the situation."
Each book she entered into the system allowed for the tiny line at the bottom of her vision to move just a fraction farther along. She looked at it, bemused. "Highlight function," she said, not really knowing how to direct it to tell her what it was doing. "Ah," she said, realizing that the lower end was the critical low that they were barely past. And every book inched towards low, unstable, constant influx necessary. "Okay, we can deal with that. We've started getting a constant influx. I hope," she muttered, hoping she hadn't jinxed it. That would be the worst-case scenario.
But even as she scanned the last few of them in, she got more notifications.
Library, door, C7 accessed.
Library door, D28 accessed.
So many doors opening. So many patrons filing in. It made her feel like maybe this wasn't all impossible.
Danio and Eric came out to assist with the ushering of the returnees. "You know Malakai, how about you take the next returns and I'll begin scanning them in," Quinn suggested. She felt a little peopled out. Not necessarily because she didn't like facing people, but they were the most people she'd seen in the last nine to ten days. She needed a calendar in this place to figure out if weeks were the same, what the months were…
Very unhelpfully, the Library decided to pop one up in her face at that moment, which she waved away in exasperation. "That would have been nice three days ago. Just fill one out, let me know where I am and how long I've been here. And when I last slept," she muttered. Quinn had the distinct feeling she was going to get so busy she’d need to track her sleep.
She could almost feel a chuckle wave into her soul from the surrounding Library. She didn't need to be made fun of, thank you very much.
Still, Quinn cracked a smile. She was beginning to really like the whole Librarian-Library connection.
Now, all she had to do was figure out a way for Malakai and Milaro to help her put the theory in her head into practical use. She couldn’t help feeling that she’d need some of those skills sooner than later.
47
TOO MUCH TO DO
The thing about the Library being universal and everywhere meant that the Library of Everywhere did not close.
Quinn realized, belatedly, that she should have organized the shift allocation as soon as they got the assistants.
However, she also noticed that seven assistants, if she counted the one that was pretty much permanently stuck in the book hospital right now, wasn't a whole lot. In fact, having a king elf who wasn't going to be there all the time and really was just an honorary assistant, a prince elf who was supposed to be her combat trainer and help her gain some tactical abilities, and a bench as the senior assistants didn't make manning a library this size seem possible.
It basically left her with six functional assistants, and only three supervisors between her, Malakai, and Dottie. Quinn ran her hand through her hair and decided that she was way too tired to deal with this tonight. Dottie promised she would oversee things during the night shift and stay up with Jim and Bob, the Aracnios brothers, to man the check-in desk, thus allowing Quinn to get some sleep.
Trudging up the stairs with Aradie hooting very concernedly in her ear, Quinn decided she needed a great night's sleep for once. And tomorrow, tomorrow morning, she would figure out exactly what needed to be done to sort out the roster in the Library.
The gaping hole, left by Lynx's current absence, was becoming more obvious.
It won't be too much longer, the Library whispered in her mind. But Quinn didn't dignify it with a response.
She slept fitfully, even though the bed was amazingly comfortable. She tossed and turned, and all she could do was lay and think about books, and not scanning in the incorrect books, and how many different species would be coming in every single day. So far, she'd seen about eighty people walking through the Library since they'd opened. In total, they'd only returned like a hundred thirty books. She'd check the exact numbers in the morning. She was too tired. But so many of them were different.
It was all Quinn could do to not stare.
She flopped over onto her other side and tried to get back to sleep again. Eventually, Aradie nipped at her ear to wake her up.
Quinn wanted to push the bird away, but she knew she had to get up. She opened her eyes and a calendar flashed up in front of her vision. She glared at it again. Tenth day here, really? That's all? She sighed. Yeah, that tracked, just about. It felt like an entire lifetime.
She'd been to multiple worlds, almost got killed, learned magic. Sure, just run-of-the-mill library stuff.
Dressed and showered, she decided to head downstairs and snag some food from Cook. That darling golem had another singular cinnamon donut waiting for her. She could get used to this. She flashed him a smile. "Thank you, Cook."
"Always, Librarian," they said, in that metallic-y voice that held a hint of warmth. Maybe it was like an oven. Perhaps that's where it came from.
Gleefully devouring the doughnut, she wandered into the main part of the Library, only seeing Dottie, Eric, and Geneva there. The imp and Firionas fluttered in place as they worked with the console. Quinn looked around. She didn't see Malakai, nor Milaro. "Did they leave it up to you? I thought Malakai was going to supervise this morning."
Dottie actually scoffed. "Oh, really? I'm a superellex futora. You should know that I don't require sleep. As such, I can keep an eye on these guys for you, and make sure that none of the books that shouldn't be scanned into the system get scanned into the system. Add to that, the fact that I can help them navigate the Library and proceed with their training. I'm quite invaluable!"
Quinn smiled and petted the bench on her head, or at least where she was pretty sure her hairline would be. Dottie, luckily, half purred into the touch. "Thanks, Dottie." And she really meant it. Their friendship might have had a rocky start, but Quinn found she really looked forward to seeing Dottie now.
