Chương 333: (326) 5.22. Our Sincerest Apology

After their recent trek through the no-gravity bubble fragment, the slightly lowered gravity of the fragment with the floating library didn't seem all that impressive anymore. Vin knew it would be a bit more noticeable the closer they got to the center of the fragment and the higher up they went, but until then, it did little more than give him a slight unease in his stomach.

"Careful of the craters," he told Kym as they began making their way toward the library. Just like the last time they'd been here, the terrain was churned up and dotted with craters. Chunks of earth had been ripped straight out of the ground and were floating around far above their heads, slowly drifting by and bouncing off one another. As they walked, Vin made a point of subtly filling Lumel, Scule, and Reginald in on the plan.

Specifically, how they were just going to let Kym freely enter the library regardless of what the librarian said about their own deal. Lumel and Reginald were all for it, and while Scule grumbled a little, he agreed that was for the best as well. Vin also hopped onto Blossom's back at one point and slipped into Introspection, checking up on Alka and filling her in on their current progress.

He'd pulled her into his personal mana a handful of times over the past few hours just to check on her and help give her minor reprieves from the nothingness she seemed to experience while being bound to the inert golem. As he'd expected, she was less than thrilled about giving up their bargaining chip in the event the librarian wasn't interested in a deal, but she begrudgingly accepted the plan when he explained Shia was willing to use her divine boon to find an alternative solution.

Thanks to the fragment's odd lack of monsters, it didn't take them too long to make it to the center, where they found what they'd come for. High up in the sky, on an island nearly a quarter mile wide, was a familiar building made out of glowing white marble. Complete with giant towers lined with colorful, stained glass windows that Vin knew first-hand were able to be cut via the top half of Alka's broken magic sword, the library floated above them.

"Eight separate towers, each one reaching five stories tall," Groth muttered, sighing with a pleasant smile as he took it all in. He had four of his undead warriors trailing right behind him, ready to intervene in the event something dangerous reared its ugly head.

"It's truly a remarkable wealth of information. And that's not even delving into the subterranean portions."

"What?" Four voices asked at the same time, along with a confused squeak as everyone's head turned to stare at the Necromancer.

"Subterranean?" Vin repeated.

"You mean there's even more of the library underground?"

"Well of course," Groth said, looking surprised.

"You were unaware? That is the more heavily guarded section where the librarian keeps her truly dangerous tomes, such as those containing actual spells and lethal alchemical recipes. She would be a fool to leave that information lying around in the upper layers where all are welcome."

"So that's why you weren't able to find any spell books in the library!" Shia said, snapping her fingers.

"When you say more heavily guarded…" Scule started, staring up at the floating library.

"Exactly how much more do you mean?"

"Unless you have the librarian herself with you, you won't be able to access the subterranean portion, I can promise you that," Groth said, frowning as he avoided the question.

"That explains why we didn't see the librarian when everything went down!" Vin said, his eyes widening as everything clicked into place.

"I remember the golem assigned to me telling me there were four other people currently in the library besides us, but beyond Lumel and Drintus, in all the time we were roaming around we never found the other two. The librarian must have been with them down in the subterranean level when we grabbed the golem!"

"I would like to remind you that you asked for my assistance in smoothing things over between you all and the librarian," Groth said, still frowning at Scule as if he was capable of reading his thoughts.

"If you are planning to then turn around and attempt to infiltrate her subterranean level without permission, I will no longer assist you, regardless of how foolhardy such an endeavor would be in the first place."

"We're not going to do that," Vin said quickly, narrowing his eyes at their resident Rogue." Right, Scule?"

"Right," Scule said, throwing up his hands defensively when he realized everyone was staring at him.

"What? I said right!" Groth didn't look fully convinced, but he nodded, motioning for them to follow him as he covered the last stretch toward the library. Once they were standing almost directly beneath the edge of the floating island, he turned toward them.

"At this point, I tend to construct a ladder upwards using Animate Bone and the skeleton of one of my assistants," he said, gesturing toward his undead warriors.

"I take it you have an alternative method of getting up?"

"We do," Vin nodded, motioning for them all to come together. Seeing as Lumel wasn't able to warp Alka's golem body, it was up to him to arrange their transportation.

"Oh Gods," Scule muttered, realizing what he was about to do just before he did it.

"Can't we just ask Erik again to—" Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. That was as far as he got before Vin cast Redirect Gravity and the world flipped upside down. Half of them screamed as they plummeted 'down' into the air, but Vin had played around with his spell enough by now to keep his wits about him. Once they'd passed the island, he cancelled his spell, laughing as they all flipped back into the correct orientation.

Their momentum carried them upwards a good bit farther, but as soon as they crested and began falling again, he used his second spell." Slow Fall," he said, feeling the air thicken beneath them as they immediately began drifting down at a more leisurely pace.

"You are just the worst!" Scule shouted, shaking a fist at him as Vin continued laughing. As they got closer, Vin used Redirect Gravity one more time, though rather than fully invert them again, he instead only shifted their orientation by a few degrees, letting gravity pull them safely down onto the island before ending his spells.

"That… was quite the method of travel," Groth said, clearing his throat and collecting himself. His undead warriors had even made the trip with them, and without even being instructed they formed a defensive wall around their master as he fixed his hair.

"No doing that without warning us!" Scule snapped, getting a squeak of agreement from Reginald as he thrust his tail angrily toward Vin.

"I'm sorry, I'll warn you next time!" Vin apologized, holding up his hands placatingly.

"Still better than Erik's explosive tree growth, through, right?"

"Eh, at least with that one we weren't falling into the sky," Shia said, taking a few steps forward and admiring the floating library in all its glory.

"It's just as impressive as the last time we were here." Vin joined her, marveling at the intricate stained glass windows depicting countless classes offered by the System. He quickly spotted the same windows he'd found the last time, before picking out a few others he hadn't even noticed the first time they'd come here.

"Is 'King' a class?" he asked, pointing toward a colorful window depicting a man sitting on an ornate throne with a glowing, golden crown on his head.

"Maybe… I'm more confused about that one," she admitted, pointing at a window that depicted what looked like a young woman crawling around on all fours with long, messy hair covering her face.

"Lumel, any ideas? You probably have a wider knowledge of classes than we do."

"I don't know," Lumel said, staring at the picture in confusion.

"It could be a lot of things."

"She is a Lunatic," Kym said softly, startling all of them as he volunteered the information of his own accord and they realized he was standing between them.

"A rarely seen class, but one I have read multiple accounts of. It is often preceded by a tale of tragedy and woe, when a child loses their mind close to the System offering them their first class."

"There really is a class for just about anything, huh?" Vin asked, giving the window one final glance before motioning for everyone to follow him.

"You know, it's kinda funny," Scule said from his shoulder as they approached the library.

"The last time we were here was also to save Alka. I'm wondering if the third time will be the same at this point."

"Let's hope not," Vin said, pausing as they finally hit the transparent barrier of light standing before them. Warning. You are about to enter a Divine Sanctum. While inside the Divine Sanctum, access to the System interface will be temporarily lost.

"Okay everyone, you know the plan. Nobody does anything to anger the librarian from this point forward." With that final reminder in place, Vin took a deep breath and stepped into the divine sanctum. The moment he did so, the two massive, distant doors of the library slowly swung open, as if the librarian had known they were coming somehow. Two battle golems, each at least twenty feet tall and clad from head to toe in armor that he now knew was rather redundant, stepped out to greet them.

And standing between the two of them, was the librarian. She was already shorter than all of them, barring Scule, but she seemed even smaller with the twin golems on either side dwarfing her. Her sharp, elven features gave her an almost otherworldly grace, which was only enhanced by her flowing white dress that dragged along the ground behind her. Just as before, she stared at them with an almost bored, idle curiosity.

"Welcome to my library," she said, nodding toward Kym, before turning to look at the rest of them.

"Welcome back to my library." Just like their first meeting, Vin couldn't help but notice how the librarian spoke with an almost unnatural, inflectionless tone. The same tone he'd expect to hear come from someone reading from a teleprompter for the first time. Groth didn't seem bothered by it in the slightest, however, as he stepped forward and smiled at the librarian.

"It is good to be back yet again," he said, giving her a small bow. Vin thought the four undead warriors mirroring his bow beside him was a nice touch, but the librarian's expression didn't change in the slightest as they all righted themselves.

"My dear, these kind folks asked me to intervene on their behalf, on account of our preexisting relationship. They would like to formally apologize for disrespecting your official rules, and have come in the hopes of making things right." As he spoke, Groth turned and gave them a pointed look, and they all quickly bowed their heads as well. They all waited a beat to see if the librarian would say anything, but when she simply continued to stand there, staring at them, he continued.

"They know you prize knowledge above all else, and thus they brought a man with them who holds countless tomes from another world within his head," Groth said, motioning toward Kym who remained silent during all this. Vin had no doubt he wanted to sprint forward and dive headfirst into the stacks within the library, but the atmosphere was tense, and he probably wanted to ensure he didn't mess this opportunity up for himself.

"They believe this knowledge is more than worth one of your seemingly countless worker golems, and I have to admit, I personally think their beliefs to be true. Is there any chance you could accept their apology and offer of knowledge in exchange to let bygones be bygones and assist them with repairing their friend?" Everyone held their breath as Groth finally stopped speaking. In Vin's opinion, the man had done an excellent if a little flowery job of speaking on their behalf. It was all up to the librarian now.

The librarian didn't move for nearly ten seconds, fixing them all with that almost blank stare of hers, as though she were lost in thought. Finally, her eyes glowed a faint white, and there was a distant rumbling that quickly revealed itself to be another one of her massive battle golems. The golem calmly walked past her out of the library, before placing something large and square down onto the ground between them. As the golem stepped back, Vin recognized the large square object almost immediately.

It was the magical artifact they'd all been made to step on before being granted access to the library. The one capable of scanning a person and telling the librarian all about them.