After the stars circling his mind settled down, Merrick stood up from where the backlash had thrown him. He had tumbled over the closest table and made a mess of the bookshelves that had taken too long to sort. If the game allowed him to come back to the library later, he would fix it then. For now he needed to get back to the dungeon.
With a renewed sense of purpose and a slightly better understanding of the dagger he had been carrying around, Merrick left the library only to find himself in a worse situation. The common area had been cleared again, there were no tables, no benches, and no evidence of Merrick's previous encounter with the Golem Operator.
Instead there was a trio of Riot Guards patrolling the exterior of the area. They were directly across from him, moving in a slow circle, and Merrick did his best 'Legend of Zelda' impression as he tried to tip-toe past the guards.
Unfortunately, just as he was terrible at those games, he failed at sneaking across the common area. He had made it halfway around the exterior when an arm reached out to grab him from behind. Merrick had strayed too close to the door of a prison cell and he was caught.
"I got him! I got him! Now let us out!" The frenzied prisoner shouted as their arm shook and tried to pull Merrick closer.
Merrick wrestled away from the prisoner but the motion broke the strap on his satchel. The tomes he had been carrying, his notes, and a few other items spilled out onto the ground. The three Riot Guards were already heading his way. He could run but then he would be abandoning books containing secrets that had not been digested into his knowledge archive yet.
It had been a while since his last encounter with a trio of Riot Guards. Merrick decided to see how much he had grown since then. Hopefully this time he would not die so quickly.
Before they could fully surround him, Merrick sent a mental command to Crudle. The dust mephit immediately sunk into the ground, as if it were an extension of its body. While Crudle started to carry out the command, Merrick ran toward the closest of the Riot Guards.
All three had their heavy swords drawn and they were ready to engage. Merrick felt the ground shift beneath his feet, a smile came over his face, and he stopped just before entering the Riot Guard's reach.
A thick stone wall shot up from the ground between them. Then another wall shot up and then another. Crudle created wall after wall until a labyrinth stood with Merrick at its heart and the Riot Guard's displaced within.
Merrick drew the dagger from his side, Spell Stealer, and watched as yellow lightning played across the dagger's blade. It had absorbed the energy from the Sylph of Lightning when they fought in the dungeon.
After sending Crudle upward to scout and keep an eye on the Riot Guards, Merrick took a deep breath. He could hear them struggling within his new labyrinth. As he set out to take them down, he wondered if he would've enjoyed playing the game as a Guardian after all.