Chương 11: The First Research Request

Bart sat at his desk, staring at the beautiful, shiny black bag of premium coffee beans. He had the beans, they smelt heavenly but could not drink them. His cheap plastic coffee machine only accepted fine coffee powder, and these were whole beans.

"System," Bart said to the empty air.

"I would like another quest. A quest for a coffee grinder. Or a heavy hammer. Anything that smashes beans." The blue System screen popped up. It gave a short, negative game show like buzz. SYSTEM ALERT: QUEST DENIED Reason: A patron is waiting in the lobby. Rule: Customer service comes first.

"What lobby?" Bart asked. Before the System could answer, the plain white bathroom door began to shake. The heavy wooden STAFF RESTROOM sign rattled against the wood. Whoosh. Gurgle. The door flew open with the loud sound of a flushing toilet. A young man tripped through the doorway and fell face first onto the floating stone floor. He was wearing dark blue robes covered in little silver stars. He wore a pointy blue hat that was bent in the middle.

His arms were full of crumpled papers and heavy books, and he had dark, heavy bags under his eyes. He looked like someone who had not slept in days.

"Hello," Bart said calmly.

"Welcome to the Infinite Archive." The young man scrambled to his feet. He looked around wildly at the floating shelves, the dark starry space, and the giant skeleton holding a broom.

"It worked!" the boy gasped, his voice cracking.

"The portal spell actually worked! I thought I was going to end up in the Goblin Swamps again!" The boy stared at the floating shelves in awe. But then, he noticed the huge, empty gaps. His excitement slowly faded as he looked at the shattered floor and the enormous stretches of empty darkness.

"This is the Infinite Archive?" he asked.

"What remains of it," Bart said. The boy looked at the broken stones.

"What happened to the rest of it? There are only five shelves. There are fewer books here than in my dormitory." Behind the desk, Albert suddenly began sweeping much louder, furiously brushing the same clean spot of stone.

"Probably," Bart admitted.

"But we are ahem in process of re-cataloging" At that exact moment, the wobbly gold memoir shelf stretched another inch taller with a loud creak.

"Mostly yeah," Bart corrected himself.

"I am the Keeper. How can I help you?"

"I am Elian," the boy said, running up to Bart's desk and dumping his heavy pile of books and scrolls onto the wood.

"Apprentice of the Silver Spire from the Kingdom of Aethelgard. I have my Advanced Alchemy final in three hours! If I fail, my professor is going to turn me into a frog! A literal frog! And my potion keeps exploding!" Beneath the solid oak desk, Gregor the Thief poked his head out. He had built a small, comfortable nest out of old curtains down there, where he happily counted his stolen silver coins and ate sandwiches.

"Frogs are not so bad," Gregor offered.

"They eat bugs. Good protein." Elian ignored the thief. He looked at Bart with wild, desperate eyes.

"I have to brew the Elixir of Absolute Stasis. I have checked 17 textbooks! 6 contradict one another, 4 cite books that never existed, and 1 cites itself! Every modern book says the stabilizing catalyst is Silver Moonroot. But every time I add it, the cauldron melts through the floor!" Bart sat up straight. This was a classic reference desk emergency problem which he knew well.

"What sources did you bring?" Bart asked. Elian pointed to the messy pile on the desk.

"Master Vanaxer's modern Guide to Potions and a translated Tremendian scroll from two hundred years ago."

"Secondary sources," Bart noted.

"Have you checked a primary botanical text?"

"My academy's botanical wing burned down last week," Elian said miserably.

"I have nowhere else to look. Can this place even help me?"

"Never trust a secondary source if the results are explosive," Bart said. He stood up.

"Follow me." Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Bart led the tired apprentice across the floor toward the Intake Tray. Sitting perfectly beside the glowing wood was the heavy green book Bart and Gregor had recently risked their lives to retrieve: The Guide to Forgotten Seeds.

"We just cataloged this," Bart said, picking up the heavy leather cover.

"Let us see what it says about Moonroot." Bart carried the book back to the desk. He placed the three texts side by side: Elian's modern textbook, the translated scroll, and the ancient green guide. Elian's tired eyes scanned the ancient pages with incredible speed. He was frantic, but Bart could immediately tell the boy was brilliant. He processed the dense, old text effortlessly.

"Here!" Elian pointed at a faded drawing of a pale, glowing root in the green guide.

"Wait. This says... Ashen Moonroot." Bart adjusted his glasses and leaned in.

"Read the classification notes."

"It says Silver Moonroot is highly reactive and should never be used in stasis brewing," Elian breathed, his eyes widening. Bart pointed to the translated scroll on the desk.

"Now, what does your translation say?" Elian unrolled the scroll.

"It says Silver Moonroot. But wait... look at this faded note in the margin. Someone wrote:'Changed from Ashen. The word sounds too depressing for a golden kingdom.'""A mistranslation," Bart said. He pointed at the other text on the desk.

"And the mistranslated sentence is identical in your modern book. Right down to the exact same misplaced comma."

"The examination storeroom has both varieties," Elian said.

"I thought the Ashen Moonroot was a decoy. It is the real test." Elian quickly scribbled the correction onto his crumpled papers. Then, he paused, squinting at the bottom of the translated scroll.

"Wait," Elian muttered.

"A different hand added a footnote here. It claims King Aurelius of Tremendia personally discovered both varieties of Moonroot on the exact same day he invented gravity." Elian scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Well, that source is clearly unreliable. Tremendian kings are notorious liars. I will omit the footnote." Bart let out a long, quiet sigh of relief. The boy was going to be just fine.

"My job is not just to give you a book," Bart said gently.

"My job is to help you determine which information deserves to be trusted. You did the real work, Elian." Elian closed his books and hugged his notes to his chest.

"You life saver, Keeper. I am not going to be a frog!"

"Just doing my job," Bart said. He opened his top drawer, pulled out a heavy ivory library card with gold corners, and slid it toward the boy.

"Sign your name to register as an official patron. Print clearly." Elian signed his name with a glowing quill. The card flashed blue and vanished. SYSTEM ALERT: NEW PATRON ADDED Name: Elian of the Silver Spire. Status: Apprentice. Note: Projected Future Archmage. Highly dangerous. Treat with extreme care. Library Membership Approved. Immediately after, a second blue screen expanded in the air. SYSTEM ALERT: FIRST RESEARCH ASSISTANCE COMPLETED Patron Question Resolved.

Sources Cross-Referenced: 3 Fatal Alchemical Error Prevented: 1 NEW SERVICE UNLOCKED: Reference and Research Desk With a soft pop, a heavy brass desk lamp with a green glass shade magically appeared on the corner of Bart's oak desk. Next to it, a neat wooden block materialized. Engraved in crisp gold letters, it read: REFERENCE & RESEARCH. Bart smiled. He was actually building a library.

"I do not have any gold to pay the library fee," Elian said, looking nervous again.

"Library cards are free," Bart told him.

"No, I must give you something! As a goodwill gesture!" Elian reached deep into his messy blue robes.

"Everyone at the Silver Spire has to make one of these during their first year artificer class. I have three of them, and this one keeps crushing my chalk into powder instead of chunks." He placed a heavy brass object on the desk. It was a beautiful, shiny mortar and pestle. It had a small metal crank on the side.

"An Alchemy Grinder," Elian said proudly.

"It is magically enchanted. If you turn the crank, it will crush absolutely anything into a perfect, fine powder. The crank sticks occasionally, but it still works!" Bart stopped breathing. He stared at the brass grinder. A grinder that turns hard things into fine powder. Bart looked at the grinder. He looked at his bag of whole coffee beans. He looked at his cheap plastic coffee machine.

"Elian," Bart said softly, a single tear almost forming in his eye.

"You are my favorite patron."

"Thank you, Keeper!" Elian smiled. He grabbed his correct notes, ran toward the plain white bathroom door, and pulled it open.

"I have a test to pass!" Whoosh. Gurgle. Elian jumped through, and the door slammed shut. The Archive was quiet again. Bart did not wait a second, he opened his bag of premium dark roast coffee. He poured a handful of the beautiful, hard brown beans into the brass bowl of the alchemy grinder.

"Finally," Bart whispered. He grabbed the metal crank on the side of the grinder. He pulled it. It did not move. Bart frowned. He squeezed the small handle tighter and pulled harder. His bad back popped, but the crank did not turn a single inch. It was completely stuck.

"Is it broken, boss?" Gregor asked, poking his head out from his nest. The blue System screen popped up above the brass grinder. ITEM: Apprentice Alchemy Grinder. Status: Unlubricated. NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: ROUTINE MAINTENANCE Required: One (1) drop of Golden Troll Fat. Suggested Acquisition Method: Ask politely. Warning: Troll unlikely to appreciate request. Bart stared at the blue words. He let go of the crank. He looked at the beans sitting uselessly in the bowl.

He looked at the empty coffee pot on the metal table. Bart took a very slow, very deep breath. He picked up his Beaumont Library mug and took a sip of his terrible grass tea. The quest for good coffee was not over yet.