Redo: Grimoire System in the Apocalypse

Chapter 85 - (85) Library

Geth was silent for a moment, stroking his beard as he contemplated. It wasn't a concept that bothered him, he was always under the impression that energy would always circulate throughout the galaxy.

What he was thinking about was new life in this world, was Mana the source? If a child was born, would the Mana have to breathe life into them?

Albus didn't have any answers to those questions. He supposed that the only way either of them would know was to witness a birth themselves.

It was strange to Geth how Albus seemed to know so much, yet so little at the same time. It was like he had all of the answers, but he couldn't access those answers until he'd experienced a certain situation.

Zolis opened the door to the mausoleum while he was trapped in his thoughts. This one was the furthest from the Dungeon entrance.

The party stepped inside and looked around. The space was small but very well lit. It hosted a few chairs, a table, and shelves lined the wall from top to bottom.

There were a few books here and there on the shelves. Geth counted twelve hardback covers, a large stack of papers sitting on top of a small cupboard, a quill, and a few pots of ink.

It was extremely bare, seeing how the shelves here could likely hold a couple thousand volumes of the same size. He walked over to the closest one and picked it up.

It was a very plain leather novel with a picture of a Slime on the front cover. Curiously, he opened it up and began to read.

:Slimes are very simplistic creatures. Upon forming, they have no thoughts, no feelings, and no reasoning, they just are.

The instinct built in their core drives them to consume, as such, they are likely the most dangerous of creatures if left unchecked. They have no concept of supply or demand. They would consume the world and force themselves into extinction without realizing it:

It was a very simple introductory page. Geth flipped over to the next page to see pictures of four Slimes that he recognized. They were the basic flame, water, earth, and wind he's already encountered.

:Slimes not only consume, but they also absorb. Anything that they consume can become a part of their being.

If a Slime slides across a pebble, it can absorb the hardness of the rock. If a Slime sits for too long in the heat of the sun, it can absorb the heat and take on similar properties.

If a Slime begins to absorb other Slimes, it can grow without end:

Geth flipped through the rest of the volume. There were pictures of hundreds of different types of Slimes based on things that they had consumed before. He finally made it to the last page, which had an excerpt that made him raise his brow.

:All of the pictured Slimes are creatures that I have either studied in the field or captured and forced them to absorb different materials myself. They can absorb almost anything, from water to the most precious of metals.

My next experiment will be to have them absorb sentient beings. I need to know. My biggest fear is that an unchecked nest of Slimes becomes aware.

If this could happen... these simple creatures could become humanity's greatest threat.

-A:

The statement itself was very interesting, but even more so... the fact that someone had performed these experiments and written these notes. It made Geth think of the small notes he could see on item descriptions "forged by a great crafter" or anything similar.

'Just what is going on here.' This was completely new. 'All of humanity was just recently brought to this realm... right..?'

Albus still remained quiet. A fleeting image entered Geth's mind of destruction and strange creatures running amok on a quickly expanding earth. The image quickly disappeared, as if it hadn't been on his mind, to begin with.

Geth turned to the other novels and began to tear through them as if he was starved of the knowledge inside. The others could see that he was engrossed in something and left to explore the rest of the new Dungeon.

As he moved from book to book, he found information on multiple creatures. Goblins, Lizardmen, Direwolves, Skeletons, Zombies, and multiple other creatures that he was aware of but wouldn't have normally come to mind.

Geth leaned back in his chair, looking at the scattered books across the table with deep interest. He'd read through them all twice already, spending quite a few hours in place. A few of the books weren't about monsters, but about the basics of crafting, enchanting, potionology, and even farming.

The information was a lot to absorb. All of the books on monsters were written by -A, while the books on other subjects had multiple authors.

He slowly moved his head back and forth across the information again, it was then that he noticed some very light carvings etched into the table. He set all of the books neatly onto the shelves and turned back to the table.

The table had an intricate formation on it, with an open rectangular shape in the middle. He followed the etchings of the formation across the table, over the lip, and down the legs. The carvings continued onto the floor running towards the waist-high cupboard.

Geth shifted the papers sitting on top of it and found that there was a bright purple gem beneath. Excitedly, he placed his hand on it causing a holographic screen to pop up.

:Welcome to the Library. Current Library Level 0 (0/100,000).

The library contains information garnered by sentient beings of all races who have once roamed this land. The quality of information that can be provided will increase as the Library level increases.

The Library is more complicated than other Locations, upgrading the Library will not make new information appear. To gain new texts, you must provide cores for the specific creature you wish to learn about.

To gain crafting blueprints, you must sacrifice the equipment to the Library core. To gain information on Classes, you must sacrifice Skill cards for that Class to the Library core:

'This... this is a game-changer!'