Chapter 26: no more unfinished business

[Rohan POV]

After that day, Chris didn't go to the library. He was more relaxed and at ease. When the time came for him to leave, he was even a little impatient.

After he left, it was my turn to go. My phone also reminded me that it was ready for travel, so it seemed it needed two months to recharge for every travel.

It was now the night before I left, I stood in my room, looking at Elena, silently sitting in front of my computer. It was late at night, so there was no noise, only the clicking from the computer. She didn't say anything, just focused on the program I made and i waited patiently.

"Rohan, what did you say the name was?" Elena asked absentmindedly, still focused on the computer.

"Scratch," I answered confidently, to which she just hummed.

Yes, the program I decided to make was Scratch, a popular programming language and learning program that is designed to be so easy that even children can use it by making games. The version I made was downsized for 1992 computers, so the games it can make are only 8-bit.

My goal at the beginning was to make a program to earn some money on the side, but after learning how to use the AI, I was able to make this program. Even I am amazed at how well this runs. This will help many people to learn to code, especially young children.

Elena had been focused on the screen for about 20 minutes now. Then, she stood up and looked at me with a smile.

"So, how is it?" I said, slowly walking near to see what she was doing all this time. What I saw was that she had built what seemed like a copy of Space Invaders. She must have played it when she was little.

"This is incredible, Rohan. I have never seen something like this before. Can't believe you made this in a month."

"It was at the back of my mind for quite a while now. So it was not like I made this in a month. It is still barebones, though."

"No, don't sell yourself short. I think this will be very popular, especially in schools. The design is also very good and colorful."

"Well, then I will leave the program with you. I might forget about it tomorrow as I will be leaving."

After hearing me say that, she became sad and said apologetically, "I am sorry I haven't been home much lately, Rohan. I am busy fixing the Windows issue. As you know, it was my idea to get DR-DOS, and now that it has problems with Windows, our sales might dip, so the investors are breathing down my throat. I am working with the team nonstop, so I am not at home much."

"No, I understand. I hope you can fix the problem quickly," I replied. I felt bad for her as I already knew it was not her fault, but I had to wait for the right time.

After that, I went to bed. I slept peacefully as it might be my last time having a good night's sleep in a while.

The next day, I left early, citing an early flight. I got in the taxi, but instead of heading to the airport, I went to meet Olivia. She had been living at the place I got. Unfortunately, I didn't get to visit much these days, but we did talk on the phone so i knew how things wee going.

When I got out of the taxi, I saw the dilapidated exterior had several scaffoldings. It seems that Olivia must have hired someone to fix it finally.

I stood at the door and rang the bell. Olivia then opened the door and welcomed me in.

We went to the top floor and talked about the progress they had made. She informed me that work was going on steadily.

"So you have successfully copied more than 30 books already?" I was impressed, as I didn't expect them to complete so many books in such a short time.

"Yes, some of them stayed here during Christmas and New Year with their family, so we had whole days to work. And everyone had become accustomed to the work by now," Olivia said proudly.

"That's great. As you know, I will be leaving tonight, and everything will be on you. I will also give you the necessary finances, so do manage them well, alright?" I said. This Christmas, I asked Elena to give me money instead of a gift, so with my allowance, I was now loaded. But I decided to give all of it to Olivia.

After Olivia left, I went and gathered all the stuff I had hidden in the attic. The broken box and also all the potions and herbs I had collected were to be taken to the MCU. I packed all of them in the big luggage bag I came with and kept it on the side.

Later in the evening, when everyone came to work, I met all of them.

"Hello, everyone, it's been a while," I greeted.

"Oh, it's been a while!"

Everyone greeted me, and we all went to the lab. The place now looked messy. There were the same tables with computers, but the floor was now full of cables and wires. I could also see a pile of broken PCs in one corner and sighed. I needed to find a solution for this, or I would go broke. Luckily, everyone has now more or less adapted to controlling their magic, so such damages were relatively less now, and I say relatively very lightly.

I didn't waste my time thinking about it much and said to everyone, "Everyone, I am really impressed you were able to copy so many books so quickly. Great work!"

I then turned to Edward. He was the only muggle here, but he was the most important part of the team. He was a computer expert, and the only reason he agreed to leave IBM for being here was that he could hang around wizards.

Normally, magic does not mix with electronics, so I knew many electronics would be destroyed beforehand. Edward here was responsible for safekeeping all the copied books and facilitating the wizards in their work. By the looks of it, it seems his solution was to separate the keyboard, monitor, and the computer itself with thick wires and, I presume, EMP shielding. Pretty crude, I would say, but as long as it works, I guess.

"As you know, I will be leaving for two months, and in that time, the work will go on as usual. But in light of your recent exceptional work, I will give you a small demonstration of how your work will be beneficial to us."

I sat on Olivia's desk, and everyone gathered around me. As we now have digital magical books, I can process them with my phone, which is the key here. But I needed to at least show them some fruits of their labor, or they will feel it is meaningless work, so I designed a simple program for them to see.

"Most books you have worked on are Potions and Herbology-related, so I made this program." I opened the program. It was another program I made, but this was more crude with a simple design.

"This program is called Search. I have already put all the books into it, and now, all I have to do is tell it to search for anything, and it will answer it from the books. So who wants to try it?"

"I will do it!"

"No, me!"

After back and forth, Jacob decided to try it. I instructed him on how to use it, and slowly he got the hang of it. All he had to do was type in the name of any magical beast or plant, and the program would show all about it by combining all the books. Basic information to its uses as an ingredient to the region it is mostly found. All in a matter of seconds.

"I don't believe it. This would take at least a few minutes of work, and it did it in seconds."

"Now, move. Let me try."

"How does it work?"

"It is fairly simple. You can ask Edward later." I gave all the responsibility to Edward and walked away.

"No need to rush; you can install this in all of your computers, and everyone can use it as much as you like. Don't forget; this is just a demonstration. Our real goal is to make a magic library to help us develop new products. To do that, we will need to put more magical knowledge into the computers." I walked by, reminding them once again of our goal.

With that out of the way, all my work here was done. At night, I left.

I quietly snuck into my empty house and went straight to the attic. I took a breath and carried all my things on my back. The big luggage bag the ancient one had given me was now full and heavy and seemed like the magic had completely worn off. I took out the phone and said,

"System, take me to the MCU. With all my stuff this time please !"

The wind started to envelop me, and I again felt like the floor disappeared. I started to fall, and it felt like a wind current was taking me away. There was still this green void all around me, but this time I was not afraid. Soon, it became darker, and I began to feel my weight.

It was dark, but I had a small lamp with me this time, so it was okay. The attic should be from my house in the MCU, so someone else lived here, but that didn't bother me. I put the bags on the side and patiently sat waiting.

In a few minutes, an orange circle opened up, and a silhouette came into my sight.

"Welcome back," The Ancient One said with a smile.