“Well, that was an overwhelming feeling. I hope that gets easier over time.” I was still reeling after absorbing that much information. The new mana points would definitely benefit me going forward, and more regeneration per minute should help a lot when I have to create multiple things.

I looked around the library and noticed sections of shelves that had rearranged themselves as books fell into the empty spaces of the missing works. “At least some of the books will remain here for anyone else that comes seeking them. Sorry to anyone looking for the information I’ve absorbed.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much Robert. If you use the knowledge and system to its fullest potential, this small bookstore will be nothing compared to the improvements you can offer this world.”

“Yea Ava, you’re probably right. I need to get back to the house so I can enter the library world and take stock of what we’ve managed to scavenge so far.” I picked myself up out of the chair I was resting in and headed to the windows so I could peer through the blinds. It looked like no one had seen the spectacle going on through the blinds, or if they had they weren’t willing to come see what was happening.

I headed out the back door and visualized a new bike for myself since I had left my old one as I fled the store. I decided to modify this one a little since I wouldn’t necessarily need to rely on stealth for my return trip, and honestly, I was still tired from the trip earlier as well as the battle at the store.

I created a basic set of tools to assemble the pieces together. I would need to manage my mana wisely going forward, and with the Library World available, it wouldn’t hurt to have a set of tools stored in it. I remembered the time dilation effects and decided this would be much more effective in the Library World. I opened the doorway with the access phrase and entered with my new set of tools.

Once inside Ava was waiting on me and circled around me in joy seeing that I had returned. “I knew that you were alright from our connection, but it is much more reassuring seeing you after everything that happened earlier.”

“Thanks for caring Ava, I’m fine though. As you can see.”

“Yes, you seem to be all in one piece. Try to avoid explosions in the future, you idiot.”

“I will every chance I get. That wasn’t exactly a fun experience for me either, ya know?”

I sat my toolbox down and created a simple stool with wheels on it to use as I worked. I opened the bike I was visualizing earlier in my mind and queued up the varying pieces for creation individually. Once I had everything set up and pieces started appearing I started the assembly of my new transportation.

This would also give me time for my mana to recover after creating each set of pieces, as I would most likely need most of my mana pool for the final piece I would add to this. To relieve some of the work on myself, I was going to add a small engine to the frame and connect it to the read sprocket of the bike. While this wouldn’t eliminate all of the pedaling I would have to do, it would help alleviate some of the strain on me and keep my speed up.

I finally finished the assembly of the bike after roughly 30 minutes and my mana had recovered nicely with my new points in Intelligence. I visualized the small engines I was familiar with that would fit within the frame of the bike and set up a design that I was content with. This should be installed fairly easily with the tools I have available and I will just need some gas and oil to put in it.

I started the creation and felt the pit open in my body once again as the mana quickly drained from my body. The engine started to appear in front of me as the feeling was getting worse. I checked my status and it seemed I was almost out of mana, but the creation hadn’t failed yet. The engine finally came into view as the value stopped with 5 mana remaining in my pool.

“Oof, that was close. I almost ran out again, thankfully I received the extra mana points I’ve gotten so far or I wouldn’t have even been able to complete the engine. I would have hated to lose more time and have to start over. Not to mention it would take me a considerable amount of time to create and assemble the pieces of an engine before installing it.

I got to work on installing and connecting the engine as I let my mana replenish itself. It was odd how familiar my body was with doing the work even though I had never done anything like this previously. I hadn’t noticed before as I was tense from preparing to enter the store, but I had never assembled a rifle before either, and that process came extremely naturally to me. The incorporation of the knowledge I had absorbed was astounding.

Once everything was finished, I created a small amount of gasoline and oil to fill the new engine with. I didn’t need a lot of material, so it didn’t take a significant portion of mana away from my pool and I still had plenty available. Thinking about safety more now that I was going to be traveling faster, I decided to create a simple helmet utilizing the graphene polymer I had devised earlier. I was sure that I would be fine, but you can never be too safe. The clothing I created for the battle should be more than enough to protect my skin from any falls if I did have an accident.

When everything was done, I said goodbye to Ava and proceeded out the library back into the alleyway behind the bookstore. I pushed my new bike out into the street and pedaled my way out of town. I would at least wait until I was out of town before starting up my new engine.

The road on the way home was very quiet still, as morning approached it started to get slightly brighter making it much easier to travel home. I finally arrived back home and pulled the bike up to the shed, turning it off and placing it back within the safety of the building. I meandered towards my home and entered the doorway before collapsing on the couch. Greta, happy I had returned, hopped up on my lap and rubbed against my hands waiting for attention. I patted her idly as I thought back over the past few hours. I was overwhelmed with the gravity of my situation still and it would probably take me a while before I was able to fully take it all in. I wanted to just melt into the couch and delve back into another book, but it seems I wouldn’t have time for that any time soon.