Xuan Kim Li had been given a lot to do, by his own request. With more Researchers set to the task of understanding Crystals, they were also learning Metallurgy. The periodic table of the world did not match the one found on Earth. Luckily, Wu Hai was smart enough to buy a bunch of science books, otherwise it would have been a long time before they could compare what was remembered, to what they had.
Kim Li had brought up a good point once before about the subject, 'Just how many people would have memorized the details of the periodic table, let alone in its entirety?'
"Qu, don't we have some sort of way to interface your memories into a crystal that we can read or analyze.. What pretense or processes does your core undergo? Is it something like a mass of electrons or is it a mass of fluid or ..what? There are few things we can try, like asking you directly but you don't have a grasp on our production methods or knowledge of science." Thinking that, Xuan Kim Li opened up with another question, he asked. "Hey, how long would it take you to read the books that Wu Hai brought back from Earth?"
It was an easy thing for Qu to calculate, he was capable of a great many things. Qu had already started reading one or two of the graphic novels in passing, in front of Xuan Kim Li. The Stories from Earth were quite interesting to him, they had lots of action and vivid tales of love. They reminded him of poetry in his past life. One of his favorites had been a manga titled, Best-in-Slot, the Main Character built a kingdom and brought devastation in his wake. Nothing stood in the protagonists way. Qu was only slightly irritated that the story had no ending but that was not the point.
Kim Li noticed Qu's absent looking face, he was staring off into nothingness.
"Don't trance out! How long would it take you to read all the books on science? Excluding Mathematics, how long would it take you to read all of them? Wait, exactly how many books are in the science section?" Xuan Kim Li interrupted Qu's stupor with a barrage of questions.
"The assimilation of knowledge doesn't take too long since its in paper format. If I were to read all these books on science just to consume them, it would take 2 years 4 months." Qu came up with a very direct number. His timetable wasn't unreasonable but what else could he do but estimate.
"What about if you just read all the geology and chemistry books?" Kim Li came up with a compromise. What he needed was a basic understanding of core science and modern methodologies.
"Seven Days." Qu's answer stupefied Xuan Kim Li.
"How many books were there in the library on science?" Kim Li was curious to the answer, there were a lot of books and the collection didn't come from a single source, there were books from both worlds in every corner of the library. If it only took seven days to learn geology and chemistry, what about the rest?
Grabbing a crystal from a shelf, Qu walked up to Kim Li and handed it to him. "This Crystal can hold about as many pages of information and words as you would find in one of your graphic novels. The problem is, that this is a one time use crystal and they are usually kept by those who unearth them. Perhaps you can figure out a way to … inter-face with them? Am I saying that right?"
Kim Li corrected Qu, "that's Interface. Look, what I need to do is connect to your consciousness and feed it's data, somehow, to my laptop. I know that Wu Hai didn't choose to the laptops but honestly.. some extra processors would have been fantastic."
It was Jin who had gone out and made the preparations, Wu Hai couldn't have known either way but Qu had heard the story many times from Jin already.
"If I'm not storing information on the crystal and I'm just holding the crystal.. my mind is accessed? Right? If you can read the crystal, you can read me? Right?" Qu had a stroke of genius but he wasn't sure if his idea was the right one.
Kim Li's eyes trembled like he wanted to cry. He ran up and to give Qu a big hug but realized that the avatar was ethereal. He had never touched Qu before, so he wasn't expecting it.
"Hey! But! I can see you drinking!" Kim Li was still a bit shocked and blurt it out. He didn't expect to run into the corner.
"I get tackled by the children in the hallways and people crammed the library. Being incorporeal when I feel like it, is a lot easier." Qu explained with a grin on his face, his tail flipped from side to side.
"Okay Okay, I get it. Anyways, back to my questions. Corpses feed the recyclers, those recyclers produce trace amounts of energy as they consume the bodies. In a decomposition room, one that is designated for consumption, the droppings are cleared of Undead properties. The leftover corpses that aren't infectious are then slowly deconstructed and separated." Kim Li clicked his tongue and started doing some math on the whiteboard behind his desk. "If we can gather this energy, that would be a boon. Right now, the leftover energy is used to power the tower's shield and boost your projected Mana pool.. so to speak, it does little for the City."
"Wu Hai and now You, you both keep talking about Mana Pool this and Experience point that. Show me some knowledge on the subject." Qu was annoyed, Earth Cultural references were the hardest for him to understand. He could get a vague understanding about gaming terms from the manga and light novel section but without experiencing it himself, he could only grow in his frustration. "Give me the mathematics books, then start bringing books you want me to read.. IN ORDER." Qu was starting to get depressed, he was very knowledgeable about this world, at least, he felt like it but the more that Wu Hai or Kim Li spoke, the smaller he felt.
"Emotions? Interesting." Kim Li wrote in a notebook and started to pull a laptop apart that hadn't survived a previous test.
Pulling tape leads and separating the terminal ends with a pair of scissors, Kim Li adapted the leads to a USB device from the convention with a picture of Sailor Jupiter on the cover.
"This better work." Kim Li pulled the memory crystal over from the other side of the desk and stood it in the wired frame, kept it suspended midair.
Probing the striations along one side, he started attaching leads to glowing portions of the crystal, if there was something there.. it would be there, he was sure of it. Kim Li felt excited, Qu's reluctance to contribute had almost been an eyesore. Now that there was some headway, he refused to let anything go to waste.
The crystals had to operate somehow, by something. Their varying properties had been recorded to some degree but memory crystals were different. Some qualities made elemental crystals more potent, while others made them stronger, able to hold a lot more magic. Fire crystals were a great example during their initial investigations, their dusted particulates still held microscopic portions of the element. Looking at them under traditional microscopes was a problem until Wu Hai had an elementium plate made that wouldn't melt.
"I have some things to look through, call Wu Hai over when he has time.. Oh right, I have to go see him in the morning. What a bother. Okay. Qu, I want to know.. how many of memory crystals do we have?" Kim Li needed to know how many tries he had.
"We are running low, I have no more than a few hundred. If Wu Hai were here, he might have some in his weapon. Although I cannot see inside of it, it's contents seem endless." Qu dropped another bombshell without realizing it.
"Endless? What's so special about Wu Hai's weapon?" Kim Li started asking questions but Qu had already blipped across the room with his back turned.
"That's Classified." Qu used a term he had seen in one of his favorite Graphic novels. It felt fitting and Qu's silhouette seemed firm.
"Eh? Seriously? Aww, Come on.. seriously now? What the shit!?" Kim Li was pretty angry, he really didn't understand what Qu was doing by rejecting his inquiry.
"It's classified. Let us not talk of this further. What else do you want to know about? We'll talk when you go bring back those books." Qu looked at Kim Li and laughed a little.
"Terrifying.." 'He's gotten bolder..' Kim Li sneered and ran to the library. It was a long way to and from the 2nd floor, then back to the Lab.
Qu looked at the setup of for the Crystal and laughed, "This is completely beyond me. I better learn this computer stuff too." Pulling out the graphic novel from the storage space directly, Qu laughed. He didn't need for Kim Li to get the books for him, Qu could just pull them into his possession but it was nice to make Kim Li sweat from time to time.
About half an hour later, Kim Li came back with the books and a very annoyed look on his face. "This place needs Elevators."
It was quickly dismissed by Qu by reason of architecture and merit.
"What have you found out since I've been gone?" Kim Li asked.
"I found out that Donna is pregnant with Demetrius's brothers baby and unless they find the sword of conception to cut the death-god baby from its womb when its time to give birth, Donna will die." Qu said with a sense of excitement on his face.
Kim Li tried to knock the drama novel out of Qu's hands but he dodged.
"What? Its my time and you didn't prepare what I needed selected." Qu grinned in victory.
"You've gotta find better taste in novels, what the shit bruh?" Kim Li had a unique look on his face.
Whatever the reason for his change in attitude, Qu had still put the drama novel down and picked up the first mathematics book atop the stack.
Beginners Mathematics and an introduction to Calculus, Qu wouldn't just flip through the book, the subjects were not boring. Mathematics was particularly useful when calculating or adjusting exacting amounts of magic. That reason alone had made it extremely important to bring the majority of his focus into his absorption of the content.
Kim Li had also come back with a stack of books, he wasn't going to let Qu get away with slacking between content.
"When you're done with that one, I suggest moving directly to 'Algebra 8' then 'Chemistry for Beginners'. If you're half as smart as you claim to be, basic math will open up a whole new world of information for you to process." Kim Li coached Qu a bit and then went back to trying to interface with the crystal.
'Maybe this?' Kim Li poked at the leads and wrote down some figures, he was determined to find answers.
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Darkwing was spending his time drinking his sadness away. Hao Hao was a good subordinate, quick and agile, more importantly, Hao Hao followed every order. Darkwing had trained him. He couldn't have moved faster, even if he had the chance again. When Hao Hao vanished in the puff of corrosive gas, Darkwing wished that he could have had the time to pull his disciple out but it was all over in an instant.
"I guess not everyone is fated to see a new beginning." Darkwing guzzled another bottle of wine from his stash. In his drunkenness, he got surly, it wasn't the first time either.
Darkwing was a mean drunk but he was still a friend, "Don't say that. A lot of people really could have died if not for the sacrifices of others." Genba looked like he was in a hurry. He was readying himself to accompany his wife, they had plans for dinner at one of the shops in town.
The Owners of the restaurant had started building a kiln with Genba's assistance, they were trying to ingratiate him.
"GO THEN!" Darkwing threw his gourd at the wall, it splashed and spilled. His mood was sour enough to ruin the taste.
"We all give, sometimes we have to give what matters the most. I never thought I'd find a place where I could find happiness again. It was you that pulled me from that sinkhole. Allow me to do the same." Extending his arm, Genba pulled Darkwing up and embraced him. "Brother, we all lose sometimes, its what we do after that makes us or tears us apart." Patting his shoulders, Genba led Darkwing to his bed and walked up to his wife.
Darkwing watched them leave and sat at the foot of his bed, wondering why he stuck around. There was little joy in his life for the past few years. Darkwing was a wild creature, domesticated and evolved. It weighed on him like bricks of uncertainty and misery; Now, he was alone. Again.
Darkwing grabbed another gourd from one of the Cheng Brother's lost cache's and drink himself to sleep.
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Trying to recreate Pizza was hit or miss, sometimes the cooks would try different methods but getting the dough right was a big deal. Toppings would vary anywhere you went anyway, many of the people who transmigrated would try a slice every now and then. Some liked the new combinations but all voiced their opinions of the dough and it just wasn't good enough.
They had already solved brick oven without wood, the taste improved dramatically but the dough always rose way too much or not at all.
"BAKING SODA" someone called it out.
"We don't have any" ...
"QU! Oh, love of mine." The Royal Chef insisted on coaxing Qu out with pleasantness, it did work but never drew his interest.
Qu answered quite annoyed, the Chef had always been asking for ingredients. Qu felt like he was being treated like the Chef's personal errand boy, it didn't bode well for long. "What do you want? I'm reading for the clan so we can do our research. What is it?"
"We need Baking Soda. Let us know when you figure that out." Everyone lounged around and Qu returned to the 14th floor annoyed, he was tasked to do something like a tool. Wu Hai had already told him to read as much as he could and to digest the library's contents as fast as possible.
Neither request sat well with him, Qu wanted to lash out and scold the cook but just smiled and went back to what he was doing. He could scold the Cook but, what was the point. He sighed, stopping his work altogether for a moment.
Responding to the cook's request, Qu could only send him in the right direction, "Chemistry is Harris's Department, take it to him. I have been given other duties."
Qu would not leave his duties until he had completed the tasks. Sitting on his Lotus Pad on the 5th floor Qu sat in a lotus position and pulled out a light novel drama. "Suckers.."
Qu could make as many avatars as he needed, his brainpower was way beyond that of a humans. If he did took too much knowledge in at one time, the information had the potential to get mixed up. Although it was only a remote and slim chance that such a thing could happen, he still took his work seriously and made time to unwind. He had to maintain focus and avoid distractions that didn't help things along.
So, sitting and reading a mindless novel didn't make him worried. Qu could just have a second or third avatar reading beside him. It was just a shame that he couldn't use his clones to do anything outside the Tower. They might be able to multitask to some degree but ultimately all the brainpower came from one place and he was bound to it.
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It was morning, Xuan Kim Li had spent the entire evening and part of the night studying the memory crystal fragments. Grabbing one, he went to find Wu Hai before he would leave.
"Prince Wu Hai, I have a request." Huffing like he was out of breath, it was obvious that Kim Li needed more exercise in his daily routine. Xuan Kim Li's body was thin and somewhat emaceated, it gave him a more pitiful look than most people were comfortable around.
"Kim Li, What's up? What did you find?" Wu Hai anticipated that Kim Li would find something in his research, there was no way that his new world and earth's science didn't translate. There had to be a correlation.
They took two whole years to develop the explosives for the chaos bombs. However, in the case of Information translation and transmission, those were Xuan Kim Li's forte. Kim Li was a programmer and cryptographer, his skills were great and if it had not been for Professor Quanli's untimely death, perhaps he would have been rich and famous on Earth.
Life was comically disproportionate to some. The Irony of his situation only took a few weeks to dissipate, Kim Li had adapted well to his new surroundings.
"Its sort of as you expected, slow going. But, I don't' know how long you're going to be gone, so.. I need things from you." Pulling out the crystal from his pocket he showed it to Wu Hai. Explaining the functionality of the Crystal didn't take too much time, Wu Hai was already aware that they existed but Kim Li knew he didn't have the best words and just blurted it all out.
"This is a memory crystal. I need more of them, a lot more.. and anything remotely close to it. Qu said you might have some in your weapon, they are incredibly rare so even just one would be great. But .. please, more than one if you have them." Kim Li had a desperate look on his face.
Kim Li's strange and begging expression made Wu Hai's face twitch by comparison, he snorted softly.
"You're not asking for much now, Are you?" Wu Hai laughed a little bit and grabbed the handle of the weapon to search its contents. He did find a few crystals that looked like the one in Kim Li's hands but his were much, much bigger. "All I have are these."
Passing three head size orbs over to Kim Li, the eyes of the crafty little bugger started to loosen up.
Kim Li took the orbs gratefully. "With these, I'm sure I can figure it out.. holy shit.. they're big."
"I have this feeling... I can't elaborate. Just do what you can and here, take this as well." Passing a potion to Kim Li, Wu Hai laughed.
"You look like Shit. Kim Li. Take better care of yourself." Wu Hai left to join his group.
Jiao Jiao and Khan Ni were waiting outside patiently for his arrival. When Khan Ni explained how they were getting there, the Prince hung his head a bit.
Wu Hai looked at Jiao Jiao in a humanoid body, he had a backpack on. Immediately, he knew he only had two choices, carry them or.. carry them.
"▓▓▓▓" A loud distorted echo rang through the streets as they prepared to leave, Wu Hai's cursing could be heard even as he soared into the wind to the West, back toward the Sinkhole.