A dwarf an ocelot and an owl stood in front of a large stone building. There were many buildings of the same height around it but none reached its width. It took up almost three times the space of its neighbours. Other than that, it looked very similar. The carvings were less specialized, only the area near the main entrance styled as a petrified bookshelf. The rest of the surface was designed in geometric patterns.

Safrah looked at us.

“Are you ready?”, she asked, “Remember, treat the books well and you’ll be able to learn about almost anything you want.”

Vivi and I nodded and the three of us proceeded up the three steps leading to the door. It opened smoothly and quietly swinging on well-maintained hinges and behind, a reception area opened up. There was a counter to both sides of a hall, one dwarf each manning them. Further beyond, another door led into the library proper. The room was lit by an impressive chandelier holding twelve mana crystals, two each of the primal aspects.

Safrah stepped up to one of the receptionists and told him about our appointment.

“Yes, you’re right on time”, he said, “Step into the library and head down to the left. Seven aisles in, turn left again and you will be met with our private reading chambers. A librarian is waiting there for you.”

We thanked him and stepped through the next door. I froze. Shelves. With books. So many shelves. Two metres high on each storey and five storeys up. So many books. Thousands of them. Thick and thin, tall and short, heavy and light. This was wonderful. Absolutely. Wonderful.

I slowly started to walk down the main aisle leading into the centre of the building. It was about four metres wide and reached all the way to the top, railings preventing anyone from falling. Reaching the centre, I saw there was another hallway of the same kind running orthogonally through the building. They formed something like a large plus sign. Even more books were visible from here. Most aisles were just a little over a metre wide. The books were dwarf-sized as well. I would be able to handle them much easier than the orkish writings or the Thaumonomicon.

A sniffing nose came into my vision. I refocused my eyes on the annoyance.

“Are you okay?”, a voice spoke into my mind.

I shook my head.

“Yes, let’s go.”

I followed Vivi and Safrah still awed by the sight. As we turned left into a slightly wider hall between the shelves, I started reading the titles. The books looked to be sorted by topic first and author second. Though most authors had only produced one or two books on a specific field. We seemed to be in a section about crafting. Particularly, metalwork. To my left, I found titles on refining ores and alloys while to my right the section about smithing started. There was a tome only about iron and another one by the same author about steel. Someone had written a sort of encyclopedia on tools having multiple entries each on a different subset. Hammers, tongs, anvils, vices, chisels, brushes and even one about clothes. Another title was all about quenching having a few books for different materials. And that was not even considering all the tomes about the more magical aspects of this world. I was almost surprised there was no Thaumonomicon for blacksmithing with how much the dwarves had written about the topic.

We reached the end of the aisle soon after stopping in front of a door. Going through, we were met with an open room, tables spread throughout. A few dwarves sat here and there, reading. Around the walls, more doors were located. One dwarf approached us as we entered. He wore a simple black and brown robe with a small brooch in the form of a book holding it together.

“Safrah, it is good to see you again. And in such interesting company no less.”

The female dwarf blinked at our reception.

“Lihan, I didn’t know you would be the one… Yes, it’s good to see you.” She turned to us. “This is Lihan. He guided me through the reading materials for tanning when I arrived in this town and helped me learn my current profession. Lihan, these are Vivi and Fio. I hope you don’t mind we brought an extra?”

The librarian shook his head. “It is fine. All who want to learn are welcome here. Greetings, you two. It is rare for animals to gain sapience and even more so for them to find interest in books. I am joyous you are giving this wonderful medium of learning a chance.”

I nodded enthusiastically. I almost forgot to connect to him before sending my thoughts.

“This place is wonderful. I love it!”

The dwarf gave me a slight bow.

“Let us get started then. Follow me.”

We were led to one of the rooms on the side and entered a small and comfortable reading alcove. A window high on the wall let the reader know what time of day it was but other than that it was the perfect place to disappear from reality for a bit. Vivi immediately hogged the comfortable armchair, leaving a wooden stool and a couch for the others. A table stood in front of the stool and two small adjustable lecterns were standing next to the walls.

“This is one of our reading rooms. For one gold per month, you can rent one just like it and read as much as you like from our collection.”

I almost pulled out a coin right then and there but managed to stop myself just in time.

“As you can see, there is enough space for multiple people to read. These sometimes get used by fellow apprentices to study a topic together. Most of the master craftsmen have one rented permanently. If you do not have as much you plan on reading, there is an option for one silver per day or five silver for a week. Us librarians will also be helping to find anything you are interested in. If you don’t have the money, a single silver pays for membership for a month, which allows you to use the public reading room. Though you would have to find your books yourself in that case.”

Oh, that sounded even better! Getting to explore the library and read as much as I want? For a silver per month? Yes, please!

With all of us settled down, the librarian cut to the chase.

“So, I heard you wish to learn about artificing. Is that still true?”

I nodded. Safrah spoke up for us.

“Yes and no. Fio is going to work at Riggard’s for the next month so the basics should be enough, for now. Vivi though has more interest in carving. If you could find something for her as well, that’d be great.”

Lihan considered for a moment.

“Hmm, yes. I can surely find something for you. For now”, he pulled out a stack of books from behind the armchair, “we can start with this. These are the most important books for any aspiring artificer. There is Master Oculum’s Basic’s of Brass and Crystal Refining, Master Jule’s Circuits for Home, the Encyclopedia Artefactum, and, last but not least, The Dangers of Flux by Guardian Iridan. This should give you a good overview of what the craft is all about.”

I tilted my head.

“What about Artificing Theory?”, I asked.

The dwarf brought up a finger.

“That one is widely regarded as the most important reading for artificers, though not for beginners but masters. It is why Master Oculum has been considered by some to be a thaumaturge. I recommend you take a look at the basics, first.”

“I see. Where can I find it?”

“It is located in the artificing section on level five. The higher you go in the library, the more complicated the reading becomes. Incidentally, only The Dangers of Flux out of this collection is on the second level, the others can all be found on the first. I, however, believe it to be very important reading for a beginner. Even if you may not understand all of it, you should heed the warnings.”

That was good information to have. Though I would not have to learn much about how dangerous flux was. I had experienced it first hand. I would still give it a once over. Maybe I could find something new.

“If that is all, feel free to start reading. I will be getting some books on carving for, Vivi, was it?”

I only half-registered the ocelot nodding before I was lost in my reading. The books were really interesting. They reconfirmed my theory on brass being conductor and isolator at the same time. Apparently, when mana flowed through it, the material formed a layer on its outwards surface without any magic. It could be overcome with sufficient mana input but you would need someone with an Affinity to get enough power. There was no mention of if a Beast Core was enough. I guess I would have to find out.

This layer also put a hard limit on the size of magical constructs, both up and down. If you made it too small, there would be no place for the mana to flow in between the layer. It created a sort of fizzling burst of mana when you made something just at the right size. Some skilled artificers used this for timing, though the wiring had to be extremely precise. If you went too large on the other hand, the mana would start to flow randomly and create isolated layers within the material. This started to happen after about ten centimetres of diameter for round wiring and five by five centimetres for rectangular.

The upper limit only really mattered to prevent making large scale mana transfers across land. It had been attempted once, but with smaller wiring. There the dwarves found a mana flow through a brass wire lost a tiny amount of energy for every millimetre it travelled. It was released as flux. With the diameter of the material constricting how much mana you could be sent through it at once, there was a hard limit to how far you could transfer it. The dwarves only used it in mines since they could overcome this problem with mana storage placed in regular intervals. In the wilderness, monsters always attacked those items and having a permanent guard-post every kilometre or so was not worth the cost.

And that was just the one book Basics of Brass. Clearly, the dwarves had a long history of magical engineering. I also found their writing to be a little sophisticated. Even just Basics of Brass, which was over 100 years old, referenced many specific findings that were only explained superficially in the Encyclopedia Artefactum. I had to constantly look up what the author meant with this or that obscure term. I also started to make a list of readings based on those terms and which books they were from, all found in the encyclopedia. And stopped shortly thereafter. The list was almost two dozen entries long after just an hour of reading. I would do with the librarian’s recommendations for now.

When I finished Basics of Brass and looked up I found Vivi equally indulged in a book about the history of carving. It was much thicker by virtue of having six volumes with lots of illustrations as to the dwarves’ creations. Safrah was sitting next to her and explaining one or the other thing. I had not even noticed my friend speaking to her through the connection.

Lihan checked in shortly after.

“Ah, you are finished with this one? Did you like it?”

I nodded.

“You are a very good reader. No matter how engrossed you were, you always made sure to treat the paper with care. Thank you.”

He gave a bow, much deeper than I would have expected.

“I love books”, I sent with a dip of my head.

He smiled.

“Wonderful. Would you like to purchase permanent library membership? For 25 gold every library of the Adena Clan will let you read their books for the rest of your life. Private rooms are included, though only if one is free.”

“I want to, yes”, I said, “But I’ll need to make some more money first.”