I hobbled towards the door of a nearby building, slamming against the door as I entered with my wounded body. Luckily, I hadn’t suffered any actual wounds due to the armor, I was just a little concussed. I peered out the windows as the alleyway was being lit up from the debris in the explosion, and the filter of new enemies.

They were searching around the area looking for any signs of where I might have gone and I knew it wouldn’t be long before they found me. I had to get moving before they found me and proceed to my next task. With the system, the knowledge I could receive from the bookstore was more valuable than anything else I might gain from the local area. As I leaned against the wall, I noticed a blinking icon in the corner of my vision and focused on it.

Host has been through a perilous situation and came out safe on the other side. +20 to Health, +5 to Stamina, + 1 to Vitality. Persevere in the future for data collection!

Strength

3

Health:45

Mana:115

Stamina:25

Intelligence

11

Skills

Quick Study: You are able to read and comprehend knowledge better than most.

Information Construction: You can use known data to recreate tangible items at the cost of mana.

Vitality

5

Dexterity

4

“Are you alright?” I heard Ava’s distressed voice chime in through my head.

“Yes, I’m fine. Just a little bruised up from the impact. Much better than the other guys.” I muttered in response. That was the first real conflict I had experienced in my whole life and luckily, I had come out on the other side.

“I was worried about you for a second there. When the explosion went off, I was sure you would be injured.”

“Awh, Ava I didn’t think you cared that much about me.”

“Don’t get confused, I wasn’t that concerned. I just cease to exist if you were to die, and would like to retain my sentience as long as possible.”

That sounded odd, I wondered what Ava actually was and how all of this came to be. But that was a conversation for later as I still needed to escape from this situation. I could return to the library world for safety, but I wanted to get to a better position before trying anything like that since I would come back out in this area once I left the Library World again.

I headed towards the front doors of the building I had pushed my way into. It looked like the streets were empty around the front of the building, probably due to the explosion nearby. Most people wouldn’t tend to stick around in a situation like that and had likely fled as soon as they heard shots being fired, with the rest following the explosion.

I peered back towards the store through the door I had entered earlier. The force seemed to recover slightly as what seemed to be the leader, who was dressed in full ACU gear attempted to get everyone under control and direct their forces. He appeared to be fairly calm about the situation and took control of everyone, causing their forces to turn more cohesive through the calamity.

They had started moving towards the nearby buildings searching for me, so I needed to make myself scarce before they got here. I headed out the front doors towards the empty street and made my way across town towards the familiar bookstore. I would feel much calmer in a place I had spent so much time in throughout my life. The thought of the new knowledge tickling my brain as I prepared my next moves.

I pondered “Ava, how will I go about adding the books to the library once I get to the bookstore?”

“Oh, that’s easy. The system is made to absorb information automatically. Once you enter the range of new information, a popup will appear and prompt if you would like to absorb the information. This will prevent the system from creating any unnecessary complications for you in the future. The system will completely absorb the information, removing the physical copies. So, it would be best not to absorb information in an area that will cause problems for anyone around it, like if you visit an active shop or library. You wouldn’t want to walk into a repository of information and suddenly everything in the area is gone, would you?”

“Yea that makes sense, I wouldn’t want to create problems for a shopkeeper by taking all of his stock in an open store. Luckily, I doubt many people will miss the books from our local bookstore in a situation like this. I’m sure that’s going to be one of the last things on most people's minds when they realize what is going on.”

“I hope this will give me even more options for creation in the future, I have a feeling I’m going to need it very soon. I already have a decent knowledge base with everything I had collected over the years, but there are a lot of books that I didn’t have copies of. They should all combine and increase my Knowledge Levels by a fair amount.”

“That’s correct, you can already create and modify most things within your world with the information you have accumulated. But, obtaining new knowledge from varying perspectives will increase your Knowledge Levels, as hardly anyone is ever actually 100% accurate when they observe and describe something. The combination of cumulative information from all of them should adjust your thought processes as well in future situations as if your mind is being melded with all of their perspectives on differing situations. Even fictional characters and situations can have a certain level of True Knowledge about a topic that people deemed fantasy.”

I continued to converse with Ada as I weaved my way through the city, following the backstreets I was familiar with towards the bookstore. I still had to sit down and talk with her at length about what my goal going forward needed to be and exactly why I had received such a system, along with her. However, I was closing in on the street I had spent a large portion of my life on while I was growing up.

I went to the front doors and reached for the key hiding on top of the doorframe. I had been coming here since elementary school and remained close friends with Tom the owner. Not many people would be willing or determined enough to break into a bookstore, especially in a smaller city like this. So, the security wasn’t exactly top-notch.

I opened the door as the calming scent of new and old pages permeated my nose. I took a deep breath and a calm came over me and I walked in and shut the doors behind me. I walked over to the windows and made sure all of the blinds were down and covered the front door, I didn’t want anyone to see whatever was about to happen.

I wasn’t sure how the process was going to work, as I was passed out the last time when the system had absorbed all of the books at my house. I created a small candle and lighter, illuminating the shop as I sat down at a table in the middle of the stacks. As I sat down, I received another popup in my vision.

System has detected new information in the vicinity, would host like to absorb new data? YES-NO

I selected yes and bright lights followed as books all around the shop seemed to break apart into pixels and float towards me. The pixels formed a storm above me, illuminating the entire area within the shop as they seemed to flow down towards the middle of my forehead like a tornado.

I could feel the new information entering my mind while I watched the spectacle in front of me. It was almost like I could feel the inside of my brain growing and changing all at once while it adjusted to the new information. It made my mind foggy and heavy as I leaned my head against the table so I could adjust to the feeling of all of the new knowledge available to me.

Host has absorbed 7,346 new pieces of information. Host already possessed 5,482 compilations of data within the area, system has left these articles in the area. Thank you host for obtaining new data, please strive to collect further data and attain True Knowledge. For collecting a significant portion of new data for the first time after initialization, Host has received +5 to intelligence and +25 Mana Points.

Strength

3

Health:45

Mana:140

Stamina:25

Intelligence

16

Skills

Quick Study: You are able to read and comprehend knowledge better than most.

Information Construction: You can use known data to recreate tangible items at the cost of mana.

Vitality

5

Dexterity

4