“That’s possible. You’ll have to add a librarian’s salary to the city budget, around three hundred coins a week. While I’m the only one who can accept books, they’ll be able to check them out and let me know when there are new ones for me.”
Tailyn could do the math in his head. For the year, that came to 17,000 coins, which wasn’t the largest number. But it still wasn’t his decision to make.
I need Forian right now. We need to decide something.
The treasurer thought the library was a good idea. Of course, the monthly payment for the guard and building upkeep came up during the ensuing conversation, increasing the weekly total to four hundred and sixty coins, but the treasurer agreed to that, as well. He claimed having a library would be a huge boon for the city.
“Agreed!” Tailyn shook the old man’s hand, and a message suddenly popped up:
You agreed to establish a centralized library in Mean Truk.
50 CDPs earned (126).
“Here are the blueprints,” the keeper said, his face once again that of a kindly old man. “You need to build the library within the next six months.”
You spent 120 CDPs on the construction of the Temple. Time to completion: 18 days.
There were certainly more efficient ways to use the city development points, but Tailyn knew they had to get the temple done so they could start work on the stationary portal. Judging by the blueprints, building the library was going to cost a million coins and take four months, but the builder was going to have time if it started work right after the temple and portal. The downside was that there was no way to transfer the blueprints without a treasury—Tailyn had to show up personally in Mean Truk before the architect would add the new building to the city plan. Dying and resurrecting wasn’t an option.
“I’ll name a librarian as soon as construction finishes,” the keeper said, and Tailyn finally stood up. There was nothing left for him to do in the capital. All he had to do was find a way out... He was out of portals, and the provost was already aware that his prisoner was missing.
“You know, young man, I’ve kept my eye on what’s going on in the world.” The keeper made no move to get up—it didn’t look like the conversation was over. Surprised, Tailyn sat back down. He was always willing to listen.
“The divine intervention hurt quite a few people, you especially. It’s not easy to be stripped of the tool you always use to win, especially when it’s your own fault, wouldn’t you say? You’re the reason for the intervention, no?”
“You stopped me to regale me with rumors?” Tailyn didn’t like the topic, so he decided to nip it in the bud. What happened between him and the god was his and the god’s business.
“The provost is currently running off to a very interesting location I don’t think anyone is supposed to know about. After someone changed the settings for his secret portal, he was forced to leave the academy right after returning, only this time he had to use his personal portal. Judging by the distance and the speed of his companion, it will take him three or four hours to get where he’s going.”
Tailyn was elated—his trick had borne fruit. After device control was deleted, the provost hadn’t been able to just add himself back to the access list for the portal. Still, the boy retained his calm demeanor.
“I’m still not sure what you’re getting at. The provost is gone? Excellent. This is my chance to leave the academy.”
“You’re right, I’m being too obtuse. Put it this way: the new update changed things for everyone and everything, including the security devices we’ve always used. For example, you could easily leave the academy since the security system on the gate doesn’t work anymore. The same is true of the provost’s floor. It’s going to take a while to figure out the new rules and come up with new systems, but everything’s open in the meantime. Even the library’s secret archives. If I weren’t here, you’d be able to rob us blind, getting your hands on the world’s most valuable artifacts. But the System anticipated something like this when it created me and my function. As long as I’m here, the library is secure even when the machines have been turned off...”
“But that’s not the case for the provost’s office,” Tailyn said, realizing what the keeper was hinting at. “And he’ll be gone for three or four hours.”
“That’s just one direction. Don’t forget—he has to come back, too. Of course, there’s his personal assistant, but you’ve dealt with problems like that before, and it’s the only thing standing between you and one of the most secret rooms in the world. All the secrets of the ancients. You need Isr Kale’s journal? It’s there. You grabbed the first provost but don’t know who or what he is? The answer is in that room. All you need to do is get in. For my side, I’m willing to reduce the requirements and give you more time to deliver the materials so you can build the branch in Mean Truk and give me what you find. Of course, you’ll have complete access. And as a bonus, I’ll even tell you how to synchronize virtual bookshelves between you and your betrothed. That was an interesting question you asked, and I had to do some digging. Make up your mind, Tailyn Vlashich. You only get opportunities like this once in a lifetime.”
New mission: Infiltration. Description: get into the academy provost’s private office and appropriate everything you can carry out. Note! The office is guarded by a device with an unknown level and class (the rector’s assistant). If you’re able to get your hands on items that need to be given to the library, the deadline will be pushed back to 6 months. If you complete the mission, you will receive instructions for how to synchronize virtual bookshelves with your Unification partner. There will be no penalty if you fail.
Tailyn’s eyes widened as he read the description. Was he willing to risk it all to win everything? That was a strange question...
“How do I get to the provost’s floor?”
Chapter 20
FIRST-YEAR STUDENT Lutar Shars ambled across the empty academy courtyard, his gaze shifting back and forth between the main building and the gate. While the few teachers out eyed him with surprised looks on their faces, none decided to shake some reason into the student skipping classes. If someone wanted to leave the academy, it was their business. Presumably, they would have been all the more surprised if they’d stopped by Magistrate Varin’s classes and seen the very same Lutar there drawing patterns on card blanks.
Tailyn, who was once more disguised as his classmate, was wracked with indecision. Without portal cards, he was too vulnerable. Any unpleasantry could turn into a major problem, and he would have had no way of dealing with it, though he also didn’t want to change his mind. For the first time in quite a while, he had an albeit slim chance at making progress with his mission. And that was far stronger of a motivation than his fear of being caught.
“What are you doing here? Get back to your lessons!” came a menacing growl. Tailyn jumped—he wasn’t used to being noticed. One of the senior magistrates was on their way to class and, unlike his younger colleagues, had no problem dressing down the boy. But that turned out to be the kick in the pants Tailyn needed. He dashed off toward the main building, which was the only acceptable response for a first-year student like the one he was supposed to be.
The battle mage department was buzzing even with classes ongoing. Explosions and claps could be heard with regularity, acrid smoke poured out of some rooms, and there were even groans followed by laughter as disheveled but happy students sprinted out to escape monsters, smoke, or angry teachers. But there were serious accidents, too—a few medics were bending over an unlucky student who hadn’t reacted to a spell in time. Studying at the elite department was as dangerous as it was prestigious.
There was an investigator standing guard at the lift leading to the provost’s floor. His job wasn’t so much protecting the provost as it was protecting inquisitive students from an unenviable fate, with everyone heading up the main tower without an invitation ending up dead. At least, that was something that was drilled into everyone at the academy from day
one.
But not that day.
Three flasks of silver smoke appeared in Tailyn’s hands. Judging by the description, they created a huge and impenetrable smoke screen that lasted for a whole minute, though the boy also went ahead and bought a few grenades despite the price tag of fifteen hundred coins. The glass container flew off and shattered against a wall. Instantly, the air was filled with a fog so thick that it was more like milk the boy couldn’t see his own hand through.
“Who dared throw that?!” one of the teachers shouted, though Tailyn couldn’t have cared less. The silver smoke was powerless against his scanner. With an excellent three-dimensional if colorless picture in front him, he raised Valkyrie and pulled the trigger to send the guard off to the land of the dead. The time to worry about killing was over. It was every man for himself.
“Ventilate the hallway! Students, let’s see an air strike. What have we been teaching you?” The dean’s voice boomed out above the hubbub, and everyone fell silent, Tailyn included. He hadn’t anticipated the dean being on the first floor. At least, Raptor hadn’t warned him. The dean was apparently coming from the main area. In the meantime, the fog began to thin as the scared children followed instructions. But Tailyn needed more time, so he sent the second and third flasks flying, too, both aimed at the largest concentration of students. He figured that would be enough for him to get into the lift.
Tailyn hit the button and, to his surprise, heard the doors open immediately. His scanner told him the lift cabin was right in front of him, and the boy quickly grabbed the dead guard and pulled him inside. He couldn’t have anyone seeing the body. Thinking back, he remembered how to activate the lift, and the doors began closing slowly a moment later. But Tailyn had spotted a big shadow in the fog—the department dean had figured out what was going on and was hurrying over to personally deal with the troublemaker. It wasn’t even one of his students. The dean’s perception told him that Lutar Shars belonged to the card-makers, the dean over there apparently having been annoyed with how Sadil’s belongings had been divvied up and sending his favorite to get revenge.
Tailyn’s right arm lifted by itself. Valkyrie was still active, so he didn’t have to waste valuable seconds. And when his shooting and anatomy master pointed out the dean’s weaknesses, Tailyn fired off a shot at his head. It was almost like the boy had completely forgotten the importance of staying incognito. His chances of landing a killing blow were just twelve percent, perception showing the faculty dean’s defenses as nearly impervious. But not completely impervious. The armor-piercing bolt shot through the air just as the doors closed. The quick lift sent the boy flying up the tower before he could see how his level thirteen named weapon had done.
Mourn, Academy!
The dean of the battle magic department was killed by Tailyn Vlashich!
Imperial guards have been sent to the academy to catch the outlaw. Assist them in whatever way you can.
***
You killed the dean of the battle magic department.
Level +1 (89).
Frankenstein +1 (48).
It took exactly ten seconds for the lift to reach the private floor. Tailyn spent the whole time berating himself. Why had he pulled the trigger? Why? He could have just waited and gotten away with it—nobody would have caught him. Why had he announced to everyone who could listen that he was at the academy?
The lift stopped, the doors opened, and Raptor was once again unable to build a complete picture of the boy’s surroundings. That time, Tailyn knew it was because part of the provost’s office was made of unique materials, the kind that could withstand the divine gaze.
But what cheered the boy up was that the academy provost’s personal secretary was at her desk and in no hurry to punish the violator. The investigator’s body came in handy, too—Tailyn pulled it halfway out of the lift to keep the doors from closing. That meant there was no way onto the provost’s floor.
Two force shields appeared on the other side of the boy’s outstretched hands as he stepped forward into the reception area. The attractive girl looked up at the uninvited guest.
“You don’t have the right to be here, Lutar Shars,” her pleasant voice said. “Or, to be precise, Tailyn Vlashich. The provost warned me you’d try to break in sooner or later, and I’m supposed to give you an opportunity to leave this floor alive and well. You have thirty seconds to make your decision, after which you will be destroyed.”
Once again, Raptor had nothing to say about the girl and her almost empty description. There was just her job title. Tailyn swallowed hard—taking on a killer like her without hacking was going to be a challenge, though he wasn’t about to back down. A timer popped up to count down the violator’s final seconds, but Tailyn preempted it by attacking first. As Valanil always said, the best defense is a punch in the mouth.
Valkyrie’s armor-piercing bolt flew off right next to a weakness spell. Sparks flew—the level thirteen weapon wasn’t strong enough to break through the secretary’s defenses, though that didn’t bother Tailyn. Keeping up the attack was the main idea. Next came a level three summoned inferno that appeared instantly in the office.
All that occurred the moment before the secretary came up with her answer.
Clapping her hands, she sent out a powerful sound wave that threw both the infernal and Tailyn against the opposite wall. The boy’s force shields absorbed the lion’s portion of the damage, though Vargot got hit, too, and wasn’t able to completely cushion the impact. Tailyn’s ears began to bleed. Just as regeneration kicked off, a bolt of silver lightning flashed by—the provost’s assistant was so fast it was impossible to track her. Tailyn could only lift his arms to recast his protection and feel his back slammed against the wall, the secretary having appeared right where he’d just been standing to send him flying. His force shields refreshed, but not for long. Sharp knives came flying out of the girl’s hands. While some of them glanced off Tailyn’s shields, he didn’t have enough energy to hold them off entirely.
A fiery pain shot through his shoulder and leg—his protection was powerless against the assassin’s weapons. Heat quickly spread through his body, too, as the blades turned out to be covered in a powerful poison. Tailyn twitched and turned into a statue for a moment. As his regeneration worked overtime to clear the poison from his system, the few seconds it took were more than enough time for the secretary to appear right next to Tailyn. A slender Crobar blade appeared in her hand, though that was when the infernal joined the fray, crashing down on the girl from above and pulling her attention away. The seconds she spent hacking the pushy monster to pieces let the boy regain his mobility.
Tailyn charged in an attempt to get his palms on the secretary. As fast and experienced as she was, she wasn’t able to react in time—her opponent was supposed to be immobile. Still, she brought the stiletto down and into the boy’s back. Just as the tip emerged from his chest, he used the last of the air in his lungs:
Boo.
You used Sticky-I around Academy Rector’s Personal Secretary, a non-level creature.
Sticky duration: 1 hour.
Valia, cold! Tailyn called as he fought back the onrushing darkness. The green gel filled in the wound, and his regeneration would heal it. At least, that was the boy’s plan. The damage to his body was just far worse than he’d been anticipating.
The secretary kept attacking even after she found herself trapped, still doing her best to take out her opponent. Everything began to get warmer. Suddenly, Vargot sent a message telling Tailyn that the temperature of the gel around him was increasing by one degree every second, which meant the boy was about to be fried. His immunity to fire didn’t save him from that kind of damage.
It's ready. Attack! Already in place, the girl had quickly summoned the elemental.
The virtual Tailyn absorbed the cold energy and handed it off to his real version to cool off his enemy. But that didn’t work—the secretary was heating up just as fast as Tailyn could cool her down. Meanwhile, the gel
around them boiled and froze simultaneously, losing more of its energy with each passing second. The creator of the truly unique card had foreseen everything, even a battle between two opposite forces of nature.
“Nobody should be able to stand up to that,” Valia whispered in awe as she watched the sheer volume of energy being transferred. Tailyn had turned into a huge channel, only that still wasn’t enough. Then, the girl had an epiphany. “She isn’t human; she’s a machine like the destroyer. Tailyn, forget about cold!”
“If I pull the cold out, everything will melt,” the boy croaked back as he drew even more strength into himself. His body was beginning to shake, and he was seeing stars, but he knew giving up would mean the end.
“You have to trust me!” Valia wasn’t giving in, either. “Cold can’t beat a heated machine—only electricity can do that. If she’s that hot, a bolt of lightning will go right through her. I’ll summon the element! Tell me when you’re ready for it.”
Isr Kale's Journal (The Alchemist Book #4): LitRPG Series Page 30