Chapter 320: Pieces Stuck in Time

Mid Morning - Early Summer : The Library of Eternity

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*tap-fwoop* Quickly shelving a few books with my aura, I glanced down at the caretaker. "So, what kind of texts are in the inner layers if stuff like these techniques are out here?"

She immediately tensed up before looking up at me. "Uh.. the inner layers have more state-critical works."

Curiosity piqued, I tilted my head slightly while shelving a few more books. "State-critical?"

"Older texts and objects of importance that require more extreme conditions for preservation. The deeper we go, the more careful we must be around the objects, to the point that even our auras must be kept away from the pieces."

-Geez... Isn't that a bit extreme?- "What if you need to move things around?" 

"The objects are separated into sections, each of which can be moved with a special device stored in the second layer. We as the librarians must meticulously organize these sections before relocating them to the inner layers."

-So all the organization, and I'd assume ranking of importance, happens out here, then they just never touch them..? Wouldn't that make stuff pile up in the inner layers?- Questions rang through my mind before I turned back to the caretaker. "How many layers are there, and how big are they? Is the first layer the biggest?"

She shook her head immediately. "There are four layers in total, though only three are accessible," she explained with a hint of disappointment. "As for their sizes, the second is the largest, and the third follows it. Omitting the fourth layer, each layer essentially acts as a filter for the deeper layers, but the second layer accumulates quite a lot that cannot be disposed of, but isn't important enough for the third layer."

-As I thought...- "I see..." Looking back down at the stacks of books around me, I skimmed through them with my aura before quickly putting them back on the shelf. "In that case, let's see what the second layer has to offer." -If it's larger and has been sifted through before, there has to be something...-

"Uh.. about that..." She quickly tensed back up before breaking into a cold sweat. "No one is allowed inside except on set dates once every few years." She threw herself into a deep bow instantly. "I sincerely apologize."

But as she bowed in silence, a smile found its way onto my face. "That's fine. I'm not a caretaker after all."

She quickly tensed up, but before she spoke, she looked toward the ground. "T-that is true..." Silence wrapped around us as she fell into thought. "However, there is still a procedure that must be taken." With some reluctance, she deepened her bow. "I apologize for my impudence, but please give us an hour to prepare for your entry."

"Alright. In the meantime, I will continue to look around if that's alright."

"O-Of course! Please ask us if you need anything!"

Finally dismissing her with a nod, I skimmed the rest of the texts around me before placing them back onto their respective shelves and standing up. I had an hour to roam and explore as I wished, but as I walked around the massive loop of the library, I quickly found that an hour was far from a long time in that place.

-Geez.. this place is massive...- The outer layer technically had only three rings of bookshelves; however, each was nearly a hundred meters tall and ran in a circle around the entire spire.

-It doesn't help that it's not only books either...- Scattered on the bookshelves were artifacts, ancient-looking stone tablets, scrolls, and preserved animal hides covered in text, several of which were written in languages unfamiliar to me. -Just where are these from...- But as I continued looking, I did eventually find things that did more than just stimulate my curiosity.

About a quarter of the way around the loop, I found a row of stone tablets that looked to have been taken out of the wall of a cave, and on them was the language of the Acardi. -W..what's this?-

Quickly reading through them, my expression of curiosity gradually darkened until I was simply left perplexed.

The text, written by an Acardi survivor similar to the one whose crawler I found in the Holy Kingdom's mountains, wasn't anything like a diary, log, or will. Instead, it was endless mathematics and formulas scratched into the stone's surface, which I couldn't directly connect to anything in physics.

-What is this math for...- It was so complicated and exact that I was struggling to wrap my head around it all at once. Simply nothing I could think of could connect to it, even highly obscure topics like mana energy wavelengths.

My only hint was the text that looked like chicken scratch at the very end, 'After being on the verge of death for so long, I solved the problem...'

But as time ticked by, I sat down and stared at the shelf, continuously wracking my brain over the equation until, eventually, the caretaker came back up to me.

"Lord Nott," she bowed deeply, pronounced with respect. "Your entry to the second layer has been approved and prepared."

-Ah.. has it been an hour already?- In all honesty, I had momentarily forgotten where I even was. "Alright, but before that, where did these tablets come from?"

"Hm? Oh, those." She continued casually. "There was a noble family that finally collapsed about 600 years ago, and these tablets were in the deepest, most secure parts of their vault."

-What? Did they know what the text was or something?- "What was the family?"

She looked up as if retrieving a deep-seated memory. "I believe it was the Synkrótima family. They were a family that led the Intelligence Agency for about 6,000 years before falling from grace and decaying to their complete abolition." She paused before looking back at me. "They were quite influential towards the end of the Great War, leading many of their belongings to be brought here under the pretense of historical importance. However, we still haven't deciphered these tablets. More than likely, they will be moved to the second layer and left until someone is able to decipher them."

"I see..." Glancing back at them, I tried dedicating the math to memory before returning to the caretaker. "Please make sure they don't leave this library." -When I finally repair the laboratory, if I need a refresher, I need to know where to find it...-

"A-Alright." She was a bit flustered as she straightened up. "In that case, I will have someone archive it while you are in the second layer."

-Good...- Momentarily glancing back at the tablets, I got a somewhat ominous feeling before turning back to the caretaker. "Let's head in, then."

"A-As you wish!"

After that, we made our way back to where we first entered with haste before finally coming up on Mother, who was with the other caretakers.

She was quick to put on her act after showing me a warm smile for a moment. "I assume you didn't have much luck?"

I immediately shook my head. "Not with what I initially came for. I'm going to give the second layer a check, but if it's fruitless as well, I will turn to look elsewhere." -Maybe I could ask Hera if she has anything...-

Mother nodded, likely sensing I had a backup plan already. "I apologize in advance if there isn't anything that piques your interest."

"No reason to apologize." Turning toward the massive door opposite where we entered, I looked at the guards and saw their extremely uncomfortable expressions. "It is my privilege to enter such a massive trove of knowledge."

Finally walking over to them, the knights finally stepped aside before activating an artifact and opening the door.

However, as the door opened, rather than seeing another trove of books and historical objects, I saw.. nothing. -What?-

Behind the door was simply a projection of the same door, shown to be closed as if the door had never opened. -It even repels aura like a solid wall would...-

One of the caretakers was quick to walk in front of me. "The only rules of the second layer that everyone must abide by is no breathing, normal speaking, or quick movements that would cause the air to move too fast or spread unwelcome contaminants and moisture. Even small drafts of air can cause damage to many of the works in this layer, so please be careful." She bowed deeply toward Mother and I before standing back up. "You are allowed to enter for up to four hours at a time. If you wish to handle or read any works, please read it with your aura. Removing items off of shelves can permanently damage them." She paused to make sure we understood before standing up. "If you can abide by those rules, you may enter, though, please note that we have methods to forcefully remove you if you do not follow them."

-Hoh?- She looked straight at me with an unwavering expression while she spoke. -She's really confident... It makes me curious...- But unfortunately, as badly as I wanted to see how they'd remove me, the library was something I needed to have access to. -And winning over the caretakers is the first step...- "Then, in that case, I will see you all in a few hours."

Acknowledging the caretaker's instructions with a nod, I gave Mother a quick glance before finally taking a careful step through the thick wall of barriers and coming into a vast, dimly lit space filled with rows upon rows of shelves, each crammed full of ancient texts and relics. -Holy shit...-

It was simply incomparable to the other layer. The air was sterile and still, with almost no contaminants or flow at all, and an unfathomable silence hung over everything. -The air isn't even breathable...-

Mother was quick to use some extremely subtle wind magic to speak. "How eerie..." Her voice was soft and cautious.

Seeing her looking around with a wide, curious look in her eyes, I used magic to whisper as well. "Have you not ever been in here?"

She slowly shook her head. "I never had a need to... The youngest texts in this layer are almost 2,000 years old. I'm not even sure if my mother has been into this layer..."

-2,000 years is the youngest?- I felt slightly taken aback for a moment, but as I looked around, that number made much more sense.

Even with a simple glance down the nearest lanes of shelves, my eyes caught glimpses of texts so old it looked as if their covers would crumble at the mere suggestion of touch, with many of the more ancient ones sealed within special containers laced with runes to resist everything, even the faint aura of nearby artifacts. -I think even 'The Goddess of Harvest' I read in Kaelallan was less fragile than some of these...-

But they weren't what I was there for. "The shelf sections are scattered about, only sorted by time. Just walk around and look for a golden plaque that says aura and skim through the texts before moving to the next shelf." Her tone quickly changed as she turned to walk down one of the larger, dragon-size aisles. "I plan to look for.. something else..."

Quickly deciding to leave her to her own devices, I slowly moved in the other direction before walking down one of the many paths to look for a shelf of items related to aura.

In all honesty, after seeing how old everything was, I was quite hopeful.

But the shelves of items related to aura were very few and far between, and nearly all the items on them were theory-based.

However, thankfully, even a single book in this layer was more helpful than everything I read in the first layer combined. After reading through any and everything I could find, I managed to get a slightly different view of aura, as well as some methods to improve my ability to control it.

My issue with reading it still persisted, and my control still needed an excessive amount of practice, but it was at least better than nothing.

However, my greatest boon of the second layer didn't end up being the pieces related to aura.

It was pieces related to the Acardi.

All throughout the second layer, there were artifacts, texts, devices, and blueprints, all made by the Acardi, stored and archived for thousands of years. -This place is a fucking treasure trove...-

The more I looked, the more I found. Broken versions of the mobile satellite device I had, electronic tablets, carbon printers, cables, which I may or may not have taken, and even an empty fusion core were all items I had seen around.

But as I started nearing the four-hour mark and needed to head back to the door, I found an Acardi artifact I didn't recognize. A simple black cube with no glow at all. -Hm? What's that?-

*VWOOM* It instantly started glowing and humming as my aura brushed across it.

"Authorized Personnel det-" *static*

-Awe damn.. did it break?- Bringing it closer, I pushed some aura into it and fixed it in all the places that looked damaged before finally letting the electricity and mana in it flow again.

*HHmmmmm* The hum quickly settled down before the purple glow in it steadied and began flowing more smoothly. "Awaiting command. . ."

The robotic voice was almost identical to those I had heard previously from similar artifacts. -What is it though...- "Uh.. help?" -Will it list commands if I ask that?-

"Invalid command."

-Figures...- Quickly straightening up, I looked over my shoulder toward the door, which was only just around the corner. -I don't have time to mess with this...- "Deactivate?"

*click* The glow and hum instantly stopped as the cube returned to looking like a simple black cube. -Now I just need to think of an excuse to take it...-

"You find something?"

I jolted so badly that I nearly launched the artifact into the ceiling after hearing Mother's voice. *VWOOM* "Uh, yeah... Could you help me take this out of the library?"

I lowered the artifact in front of her so she could look at it, but the moment I expected her to give a suggestion, she just lunged forward. *nom*

I simply froze almost instantly. She simply.. ate it? -H..huh?-

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