Buttopia
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Chapter 167: Shadows of Knowledge
🕑 Added 2025-05-25 12:40:19 +0000 UTC“Damn, this is likely going to complicate everything. Is Quarilyn even still here?” I asked as the bus pulled to a stop near one of the transport docks.
“Yes, she and another librarian are somewhere inside. It also looks like she re-enabled my access at some point, as now that we are this close, I sense most of the functions of the archives again. This may turn out to be a mixed blessing. The size of the dungeon suggests the Triox have mostly abandoned this location,” Elody answered.
“Sure does, but none of ya I assume have ever been in a dungeon of this size before,” Mel retorted, his color shifting redder as he spoke. He was getting nervous. That didn’t bode well.
“So what’s the new plan then?” I asked, not sure how best to tackle this now.
“Ain’t sure yet. Gonna have to get inside and get a good lay of the land ‘fore we know if it’s safe ta split up,” Mel replied.
“Let’s get this door open and figure out what the bay looks like!” Timon yelled. This was one of the few times I’d ever heard the man without his joking tone. Elody walked up to Timon and drew a few lines with her finger on the large door. The tracings glowed blue for a moment before vanishing, along with the door.
“I don’t see or sense anything in here. The transports look untouched, too. That seems odd,” Elody said, stepping into the room.
“Yeah, I ain’t sensing anything either,” Mel added. His color stayed red despite this.
“Alright, spread out and check the room. John stick with Maud. Alex, you’re with me,” I said as I joined Elody inside. The room was huge, so even if they thought it was entirely clear, that was hard to trust until we poked around it all.
“What are we looking for?” Alex asked as we started to spread out. I led us down one of the center rows, heading back toward one of the eventual entrances to the Adventurer Hall I had first met Mel at.
“Anything that moves honestly. And if you hear any voices in your head, I want you to tell me immediately,” I answered. I already had medical telemetry up and running on her just to make sure. I planned to a watch for anything unexpected. As we talked, I released Alpha and Beta from my storage and pulled up a chat window.
>Dave: Alpha, Beta spread out. Let us know anything you spot that looks alive. Stay high and circle the whole room. Do not go further until we are back with you.
>Beta: Are we claiming this land?
>Dave: Maybe, but not yet. Right now, this is a resource run.
>Beta: For the Empire!
>Maud: For the Empire :)
I closed the window, confident that those two would have the best visibility. “How are you doing so far with all this?” I asked Alex.
“I mean, as well as can be expected, I suppose. I’m glad to really see what this other world is like, but I could do without the sense of dread if that makes any sense,” she replied, her words coming a little slower than usual.
“You get used to it, though you might need a core before that really happens. I didn’t enjoy either of my dungeon experiences before I had one,” I replied, leaving out the details on just how Corey and I had met.
“Once the baby is born, that’s something I plan to start working on,” she said, turning to give a smile. She was trying to let me know I didn’t need to worry about her, but I didn’t think that was really possible. I’m pretty sure once you’re a parent, a big part of your life is spent always just a little worried about your kids. And this was well beyond a normal situation.
“And once he’s out and in the world, we can get you the best nanny we can find. I’m sure Pryte has some connections there, and then whatever you want to do, core, class, mana orb-wise, we will work toward that. I promise,” I said, smiling at her. The choices would be hers.
“Thanks, I appreciate it a lot,” she said, returning my smile. The back wall had finally appeared.
“Good news, there’s the door, and we haven’t seen anything,” I said as it came into view. With no alerts from anyone else, I was hopeful this bay was clear. Still, that seemed strange considering the dungeon feeling. It didn’t take long before everyone else had found their way here, either.
“I don’t like how quiet it is. The dungeon clearly has spread this far out, so why isn’t anything out here?” Pryte asked.
“I’m not sure, but there is something off about all this. I suspect we will find the next room just as empty,” Elody replied as she opened the door. Lights flashed to life as she stepped inside, illuminating a familiar sight.
Most of the racks looked just as they had when I first saw them, though these days the weapons seemed even more useless. Unless you specialized in one of these, it just didn’t seem like something valuable to waste time with. Hell, it was a pretty strong minority of people we had fought so far who used actual weapons they weren’t conjuring on the spot. Then again, Rabyn’s skills with a knife were impressive, so I couldn’t entirely discount their use. In the right hands, they had their place.
“Hrm, well, I think yer wrong, Timon. So get yer ass to work out here while we see if my cache is still here,” Mel said bobbing into the room after Elody.
“Yeah, yeah, happy to be so. Hopefully, I’ll be wrong again. Try to keep yourselves alive,” the large mantis man replied as he walked back into the rows of vehicles.
“I’m gonna stick around here and work on cleaning out some of the cache, rest of ya may as well go on ahead. This room seems safe enough anyway,” Mel said, vanishing behind his old counter.
“You sure?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t, now get!” He roared, some of his green color returning.
“Well, the elevators don’t seem to work, so how do we get to the main area without them?” Elicec asked. He was standing in front of the ones on the side of the room we had used in the past.
“Let me try,” Elody said as she again traced her finger over the door. Unlike before, the door slid open instead of just vanishing.
“How are you doing that anyway?” I asked.
“My access as a librarian has been fully restored for some reason. Interestingly, neither of your library cards have been though, otherwise this would have responded to the brothers. Alright, everyone, pile inside, it’s going to be a tight fit, but I don’t want us separated. I’m not sure this will continue to work unless I’m with it,” Elody explained, stepping aside from the open door and ushering everyone in.
I returned Alpha and Beta to my storage while I waited for everyone else to get one. Once it was obvious Elody wouldn’t board before I did, I squeezed in. She pushed her way in after me. As the door shut, I was incredibly glad for how quickly these things moved, as I wasn’t sure the air would last longer than a few minutes.
The moment the door slid back open, we spilled out to the elevator. I hadn’t even checked if things were safe before I stepped into the reception area, which is why I found myself facing a crossbow pointing at my head. I immediately threw shields around everyone.
“Stop!” Elody’s voice screamed before I could attack. It was then that I realized I knew the person holding the crossbow. She was the same librarian I had seen sitting next to Elody the first day I had arrived. We had found Quarilyn.
“See, I told you enabling her access was a good idea!” another voice said.
“Are you really Elody, and this isn’t some trick?” Quarilyn asked.
“If it were, how would I have gotten in here? Not to mention, I have no idea how exactly you’d want me to prove it wasn’t anyway. Besides, would anyone but me be traveling with Dave here? I assume you remember him,” Elody replied. Quarilyn lowered her crossbow as her top two eyes focused on me.
“She’s her, no one else could say that with a straight face,” the unnamed voice said.
“I missed you, too, Yorela. Now, can someone explain to me exactly what is going on here and why it feels like we are in a dungeon, and yet there are none of the dungeon features inside?” Elody asked, looking around the room.
“Oh, that’s because we let one form in the sublevels. Locked the core in one of the vaults and let it keep growing. We’ve had to stop a few creatures it’s spawned so far, but nothing too serious. It’s worked to keep the Triox at bay so far,” Quarilyn answered.
“But, they decided to start with the rest of the planet first, and you still haven’t figured out a solution for what to do here yet, have you?” Elody replied.
“No, we haven’t, and I wasn’t aware of that, but you’re here now, and you usually come with a plan. So what are we doing? How are we getting the Triox off the planet?” Quarilyn asked.
“We aren’t. We are past the point of that being viable, and Dave’s faction isn’t strong enough to go to war for the archives. Instead, we are taking everything we can with us. So ladies, if you’d like to join us, we need to start collecting the dungeon cores and all of the most useful books we have in our collections, and then it’s off to the vaults,” Elody answered, her face contorting into a large grin as she said it.
Many newly integrated worlds always have the same questions, especially those allowed to integrate without total civilization collapse. Why is knowledge in the Spiral confined to books, especially given our access to the System and our ability to keep notes there? The answer is surprisingly simple. What happens if you lose access? For the residents of the Spiral, the forces behind the System are largely a mystery, so trusting all of the collective knowledge to it isn’t something most are willing to do. At least that’s the surface answer. You have to dig deeper into the inter-factional politics to get into the reality. Books are easier to control the flow of.
Cultures, Civilizations, Concepts, Integrations by Slyn Fordron
Comments
viperfan7
I feel like the plan just went from "Collect the most important bits" to "Why can't I hold all these books"
Michael Halpern
Spiral conventions meet the internet, an entity that will eagerly route around all attempts to restrict access to information
