Chapter 15: The library and the Librarian?
The Soulscape again.
Now that she knew about the powered wing, the blonde girl started walking towards the other wing. The Library.
As she walked into the library she was immediately struck by how big it was, it had decorations that spoke of ancient grandeur. Walls lined with bookshelves that wanted to strike the heavens made of dark wood.
Shelves were filled with dusty tomes and ancient scrolls and between the bookshelves, torches were used as a medium of illumination.
Among the walls were desks of aged wood with old globes and a few maps made of leather skin on the walls.
But as she went further into the library something started to change. Soon the torches were less and less common and they made way for lightbulbs. The ancient scrolls and dusty tomes were no longer seen and soon enough more modern books were on the shelves. In the desks, there were no longer old globes but computers.
There were some boots with electronic readers and some other devices of a more normal library.
It was an interesting change if nothing else, but soon those started to change too, the wooden shelves turned into metal and crystal. Giving a more technological look. Instead of books now there was a screen with a touch screen and a QR code to scan for information.
There were even terminals here and there to connect headsets and dive into Virtual reality.
And a few robots came and went from here to there, the blonde girl wondered why those were designed after ants and spiders, but it was probably a quirk of the librarian of this place.
Unless this was more shenanigans about her soul not forgetting her past or something.
Either way, by the time she made it to the deepest parts of the library there weren't any shelves anymore. Only floating screens and a blonde little girl dressed in a white dress.
"Took you long enough Eli-Eli!" exclaimed the little girl after throwing a floating screen to a robotic ant that quickly came for it and went away with it.
"Are you the [Librarian]?" was the more important question the blonde girl could ask right now.
She had plenty of complaints about her skills and her problems with the allocation of information she currently had.
But the little girl just made a face as if someone had insulted her whole genealogical tree.
"Me? The [Librarian]?" And somehow she could feel as if the weight of the world was coming down on her.
It was several times heavier than the thing the teacher had done before.
"Never, ever, mistake me for that...[Thing]." Said with finality the little girl.
At this point, the blonde was stuck on the floor and was fighting to stay conscious.
"huh?...Did...I use too much force? "She was starting to lose conscience.
"Awawawawa gotta call brother...She can't lose concience...Will she be ejected?" At least the little girl was panicking, so the blonde girl could go to dreamland with a smirk on her face.
...Why couldn't her soulscape be normal?
She woke up feeling rested in a comfy bed, it was a good mattress and the light of the morning hit just right from the window.
There were a few problems if nothing else, in the first place this wasn't her room. The decoration was too...Childish.
The bed was too small for her too since her feet were dangling in the air right now.
She remembered being knocked out by the sheer pressure of that monster in the guise of a little girl.
So...Where was she?
Exploring the house she found out it was a little cozy house, the front door gave way to a flower meadow with a shining sun in the sky. The sky looked somewhat...Fake?
The clouds weren't right and the sky if you looked closer it was like a montage of the sky repeating itself indefinitely.
So either it was a very advanced projection or the sky was weird. Was she even still in her soulscape even?
She doesn't remember a flower meadow with a cozy house in the middle.
"YOU ARE AWAKE AT LAST!" came the scream from behind her.
She quickly turned to prepare for a fight. But what she saw was something she wasn't ready for.
It was...
Well, she ought to know what it was. But it still surprised her.
It was a little girl flying throw the sky in her general direction. What should be one's response to a little girl flying in their general direction with open arms?
*thud*
Elizabeth Starbright, 15 years old. Was tackled into the floor by a little girl since she couldn't decide how to deal with this situation.
On that note, the dirt also felt weird, it was like only the upper layer was dirt, and below was a hard floor.
"Brother said that you were fine and that it was my fault for releasing too much bloodlust weaved with magick. And that you lost conscience because you were too weak...But still!" Beg you pardon?
Weak?
I mean, yeah. But still!
Rude!
"But it isn't my fault! How could you think Alex was that dumb [Librarian] ! " said the little girl with a huff.
"Also, that isn't even a good [Name] for that thing, but since that's the only one that brother could [Use] with you he made a mess of this situation!" ...This little girl's brother was the blonde asshole?
Wait..." Why can I hear your name but not your brother's?" asked the blonde girl still on the floor.
What can a girl say, the dirt and grass were comfy.
"Of course, you can hear my name! Who couldn't hear the name of the most beautiful girl in all worlds! It would be a sacr..sacr..." It was indeed a little girl even if it was one with too much ego on her little head.
"Sacrilege?" said helpfully the blonde and more mature girl of the two.
"That!" and as such it answered the little girl.
"Anway, let's go back to the library we need to get your stuff in order." And with that, the little girl stood up and started walking to a big metallic door that showed from nowhere.
As soon as it opened the library was once again in view.
And just like that they both returned from the meadow into the library again.
The door closed behind both girls and soon it dissipated as if it never was there to begin with.
"Ahemm," cleared her throat the little girl, "My name is Alexa and I'm the provisional librarian for this wing. My job is to make it easier for you to work the kinks of this soulscape and facilitate your integration into the soulscape." Said the little girl with a gravitas that just didn't match her appearance.
"...Should we call your brother to help you explain this?" asked Elizabeth to the little girl.
To which, she only gave her a stinky eye and continued as if she had said nothing.
"As such, here, this book will help you with the instructions about the [Shift] skill, tell you how to personalize it and it comes with a few slots for predetermined forms." And so she threw a holo screen her way that melted into her body.
"This one will give you the basic [Manipulation] skills for mana and attune you to your [Origin Mana]..." and another holo screen flew her way.
"And here, this one will give you the basic [Spells]...If you want to save spells in the slots you gotta write the whole magic theory in one of the desks and debug them." After sending the last holoscreen to her the Little girl pointed to one of the desks with a chair and several screens.
That looked more like programming...
"And the same is for saving magic circles. I suggest you only use those [Slots] for opposite magicks, in your case either [Light Attuned] or [Holy Attuned] spells. But that's for you to decide." And with that and a smile the little girl moved on.
"And that's all! " To absolutely nothing else.
Elizabeth prepared herself to be obliterated by a spell or grand magick. Even for a meteor shower, but nothing came.
"You...Aren't gonna kill me or attack me like your brother?" asked the blonde girl.
To which the little girl just giggled and said "Nope. Brother is melodramatic like that, he just wanted to get a quick one over the [Librarian] and fix something that was bothering him on your [Status]. " and with a flick of her hand a blue screen similar to her [Status] showed up.
"He wanted to take away your chances to use by accident that weird garbled skill, mind you. You can still invoke it if you are feeling suicidal. And allow you to personalize how it shows. Like this." said the little girl and with a flick of her hand several screens showed in her field of view.
Notice: |
Skill [Mana Manipulation] learned. |
Notice: |
Skill [Shadow Shift] learned. Current ammount of armor equal to level. Personalization possible. |
Notice: |
Skill [Shadow Manipulation] learned. |
These somehow didn't look like her normal status screens...But a quick check...Oh right [Identify] doesn't work in here.
"They are real skills, since your entry to this wing your [Powered] and [Magick Origin] are melding and interweaving themselves. So you might get away with easier casting, good for you!" Yeah, that sounds like a problem.
And why do I have three currently locked in the [Shift] skill?
Wasn't she supposed to design them here?
...Why is this one locked in and equipped already?
"By the way. I locked in the [Shadowy] cool one since your origin is all about [Shadows]. I suggest you don't actually tell them you know what your [Origin] is since the people in your world can't identify them. And since the new mama is a prodigy they will believe your dark theme is because we got a cosmic or star thematic. " I feel like this brat said an important thing here but somehow there is a magick circle on my feet that is looking kinda dangerous.
"Oh look, time's up. It seems the teacher doesn't want to give you much time in here, probably doesn't want to risk you coming with a fully formed [Shift] already..." Why is this little girl smirking...
Yeah, they are brother and sister those two.
"Either way, have fun Eli-Eli. Give my regards to Mama & Papa ♪~" and with a wave of her little hand the world shifted.
And soon enough I was back in the real world.
It looked normal enough okay.
A quick look at my watch said I only spent less than a minute inside.
But in that one minute, nothing much had changed.
Rosie was still frowning her face focusing inwards, blue-haired smartass was closing his eyes meditating.
And the teacher was looking at me with her mouth open and hanging.
Most of my classmates were with their eyes closed too, no one had noticed the change yet.
Now...How do I turn this off?
What do you ask?
Well...My clothing...
I was now wearing a form-fitting tight sailor uniform without sleeves, a very short skirt, and for some reason, I had a magic wand too...
This clothing was closer to a bodysuit than to a uniform, especially if the spects were to be believed. But enough of that, let's go from the top to the bottom.
At the top of my head was a crown, why? God knows what that little girl thought a [Magical Girl] needed, but if she knew of Mother then she should have given me a tiara instead of a crown!
It was one overly sized one, and it was closer to half of a jester's hat than a formal crown, but you could see the design of a crown in there. She was taking that away and turning it into a tiara.
She now had earrings too, purple ones, and well...It got well enough with the dark theme she had going so nothing to complain about there.
Her top had a yellow gem on the middle of her chest and it looked kinda cute, leaving aside the form-fitting aspect that didn't leave much to the imagination of her size.
Did I mention that this was a sleeveless design?
Yes, no sleeves.
It came with black gloves so that was something?
Her boots were knee-high and made of a matte black material, with sharp heels that would probably click on the ground as she walks.
The boots had silver buckles and straps that criss-cross up her calves. That was a nice design...If she decided to keep this one maybe she would think of adding some red to those. For reasons.
At least it didn't have a cape, god she hated capes.
Mother tried using one once but she complained about weeks of the thing since it kept being used as an extra grabbing point for her enemies.
So she did away with that soon enough.
Now...What part of her clothes was her teacher complaining about in her mind?
Probably the tight-fitting part?
Or she didn't want a [Magical Girl] to use dark themes?
She didn't have much time to think about that since soon enough a pink cocoon enveloped her friend...
Did one of those also surface on her transformation?
That was...probably what her teacher was thinking about.
Oh...Another one?
Tch...Blue-haired asshole was also in a blue cocoon.
Agatha POV
No one ever triggered the [Shift] in this class. If someone ever did it would probably be Catherine, but she was a [Magical Girl] already by the time the [Schools] program started so she doesn't count.
And now here we have several [Shifts] in progress.
We don't encourage public use of [Shifts] because half of the alumni here will turn to [Villainy] so having them know who is who is a problem.
Especially this early in the program.
"Goddammit Catherine and your bloodline." Was all I could mumble when that girl finished her shift.
And lo and behold, a [Space Theme] of course the daughter of the [Stardust Explorer] would have space in her stupid outfit.
At least this confirmed that Catherine should use darker themes instead of the bright ones she likes to parade around.
Her friend also finished her [Shift] and that one was more normal. Pink with hearts theme.
Probably [Affinity] for [Healing] or some stupid crap about [Friendship]. Please don't be more [Friendship is magick] crap.
And smartass?
Blue?
And the [Shift] turned into an arch wizard robe?
That...What the heck is that elemental affinity?
[Robe Affinity]?
[Smartass Affinity]?
Move on Agatha, ignore it, and move on.
"[Sleep]" First deal with the immediate problem, students finishing their first exploration of the soulscape.
They can't see these three little monsters.
"First of all, congratulations on being above average." Don't tell them how much above average they are.
I didn't even manage a full [Shift] till I was a D-Tier.....
"Second of all, don't ever do the [Shift] unless you trust the people around you or can deal with the consequences. Heroes don't change in public for that reason." At least two of the three look like friends.
That pink girl is sticking too close to Elizabeth, maybe childhood friends?
"And third...Now that you have managed the [Shift] your soulscape should have a few extra additions, finish the [Shift] and go and explore it again at a later date. Try to get a feel for your [Affinity] and build spells to use. " Not gonna help any of them on that~
Not because I'm being jealous of the second coming of probably the greatest magic users in this generation.
But because it's pointless...
Try to teach something to a genius and they will learn five different things and then correct you in what you tried to teach them.
It's pointless.
"You all are excused, and not required to attend my classes, go self-study or something. I will send you three dates for the exams, and you can see the broad themes we will speak about on your holopads. Just study at your pace. Most of the stuff I will teach is about how to access the soulscape and how to build spells. Two of you already can do that...Miss Singh have Starbright teach you how to cast your first spell if you don't manage how to find it trashing around in your soulscape." Who am I kidding, that pink girl probably has already a few [Healing] or [Beam] spells already.
Stupid genius and their stupid high [Affinity] from birth...