Scott’s boots scuffed the stone floor of the library. The scuffs echoed and reverberated down the halls but died in the books. The crinkle of his map echoed as he read while he walked.
Two things were on Scott’s mind: gaining experience points and survival. Now that leveling up required tens of thousands of xp points, he couldn’t bash scavenger beetles all day. He couldn’t take down Carree’s companions either. He needed information on things to defeat until he could take them down. And with all the plant life so foreign to him, he needed to hunt and forage. For that too he needed information.
It was time to check that the potions were fortification potions.
Requirement met.
Fortify mind to continue.
The cork squeezed easily out from the glass potion bottle with a squeak and then a pop. The liquid tinkled as Scott gulped it down. He tasted nothing but mineral.
Stat point has been allocated to intelligence.
One noble written work may be read. Upon completion, all information will be retained verbatim as a super memory to be recalled at will, in whole or in part.
As Scott gazed upon the spines of book after book, the scrawl of noble scripture became suddenly intelligible. He gawked at the titles. He discovered as he walked that whole sections were devoted to martial arts, mana manipulation, weapons mastery, crafting, enchanting, armory, blood rituals; there were hundreds of sections! Ah, but what would be useful today? For him. For his survival and desire for progress. Oh, how tempting every single book was!
Duty to his plan kept Scott moving down the aisles. With the aid of his map, he felt like he was turning aisle after aisle on his way to slay a minotaur.
“Probably are minotaurs in this world,” he uttered as he turned a corner and then veered down another aisle.
Scott stood beneath the section sign which read ‘field guides’. He searched the shelves starting from the top. As he read title after title, he started feeling nervous. Would he find what he was after? With so many excellent choices, would his be the right one? Especially with his limited resource of potions?
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Second shelf to the bottom, he found something similar to what he was hoping to find. He slid the book out, and he studied the cover. Forager’s Wild Foods of Inth, a Compendium.
Scott opened the cover. Immediately, the titles of every other book in the shelves became unintelligible. The titles suddenly seemed to be made of scrawled marks, as though a cat had clawed each spine.
Excited that the potions were indeed fortification potions, Scott stowed the book in his inventory, and he returned to searching his library map.
Against the far wall at the very back of the library, round windows overlooked a lounge. Scott made himself comfortable upon a hide couch, and he began reading.
He struggled to stay awake, and he often nodded off. Ah, what a boring book! After the introduction to elements, page after page was just entry after entry of botanicals. Some plants were toxic, others were edible, some were choice, and yet others were useful in other ways. His excitement was piqued when he came upon entries which mentioned their use in fortification potions; all of them involved mana. Why didn’t he have mana! Where would he find mana? Ah, ignorance was so frustrating!
Halfway through the book, Scott was fighting to stay awake. He bit the inside of his cheek, he paced, he avoided the comfort of the available seating; he struggled to keep his eyes open and to keep his mind alert as he read. As he paced, he walked into a sudden shaft of predawn light.
“Oh shit,” he said as he gawked up at the windows.
After glancing at his current page number, he shut the book, and he jogged through the library. The front doors were still open. Outside, people milled about.
For a moment, Scott considered leaving the library and taking his chances in the streets. Would people know he’s human? What would they do if they found him? Kill him, surely. Ah, he couldn’t risk it. Too dangerous.
All that he could do was wait in the library until night fell. He could finish his book by then and perhaps start another. But staying awake would be brutal with how exhausted he was. Ah, better just get on with it.
Returned to the back of the library, Scott eyed the couches of the lounge, and he surrendered to a seat. He sank into the hide seat and back, and he flipped open his field guide.
On he read, and he forced himself to read every sentence, even when the information evaded him not a moment later. Fantasies flitted through his mind of hiding in the depths of the library, crawling into a corner, and falling asleep.
At midday, without realizing, Scott flipped the last page of his book, and he flipped the back cover closed. The text on the back of the book morphed into those noble scribbles which were unintelligible.
Forager’s Wild Foods of Inth, a Compendium has been ingrained.
Scott felt butterflies in his brain. He marveled at the feeling which seemed to occur just beneath his skull. It felt like the wobbly tines of a head massager moving through the folds of his brain. Scott was embarrassed that he moaned aloud.
“Shh,” echoed a female voice.
The feeling lasted for another moment before it faded, and Scott’s eyes went wide. Suddenly, with but a mote of will, he recalled compendium entry after entry in his mind’s eye. He knew the names of every plant within and their description, edibility and purpose, season and habitat, look-alikes, and methods of harvest.
“Everything,” he uttered. “I know everything! Holy shit.”
And with but another thought, he knew which wild herbs he could forage to mix into fortification potions. And where would he get mana—the necessary base for these potions? From the Opra River, which branches across Inth like a map of veins. From the very waters he drank from. From those lambent purple waters. And he had 13 more stat points to allocate!
