Jack rubbed his red hands, still smarting from Julia's tight grip when she dragged him out of class for his negligence and disrespect. Conveniently, he wanted some private space to explore the newly appeared system. From his experience in the previous world, it was always a top priority. Without proper assistance, his current body wouldn't even be able to leave Ominvell, let alone reach Dessotor or the Beiland continent.
Ignoring Julia's stern reminder to stay outside the door, Jack snuck away, searching for an unoccupied corner somewhere on campus. After wandering around, he eventually stumbled upon the library.
It was smaller than he had expected. Most of the space was filled with long parallel tables in the middle, and reading booths lined the walls, mostly reserved for the researching staff. Lighting crystals hung from the ceiling, though most were unused, as only a few students occupied the long tables and personal booths. At the far end of the library was a high desk where the librarian sat, engrossed in her scribing, paying Jack no attention. Next to her was a board, about the size of a pair of hands, floating in the air. Strangely enough, the library had no bookshelves.
Jack approached the librarian's desk, which loomed as high as a judge's seat, creating a wooden wall stretching the length of the room. He stepped back and cleared his throat to catch the librarian's attention.
She leaned her head to look at him. Her dark raven hair was styled into a bun, and the wrinkles of a middle-aged woman under her eyes seemed to double each time she frowned.
"What do you need?" she asked.
"I would like to borrow some books," Jack replied.
"And?"
Jack couldn't understand why she was so grumpy with him. "I don't know how to do it," he admitted.
The librarian rolled her eyes and sighed. "You've never been to the library?"
Jack nodded.
"And you can move up the class without borrowing a book before?" she asked incredulously.
Jack nodded again.
The librarian stared at him, smirking mischievously. "Use the board next to you to find the book you want to read. But I reckon a backdoor class-skipper like you will find reading unnecessary."
Ignoring her mocking tone, Jack went straight to the board. It was made of yellow stone with a handprint outline above it. He instinctively placed his hand on it, and what seemed like a digital table appeared before him.
A hologram, nice!
On the left side of the table were his name, class, and book accessibility level, which was level one. This must be what the principal had mentioned earlier—books were hard to access without intermediate authority.
Jack scrolled through the list of titles, using his smartphone interaction experience. He chose the first title, "Artificers - The Artists of Creation."
He stared at the board, waiting for the book to appear. Instead, he heard a creaking sound from the wooden wall in front of him. Curious, he leaned closer, realizing something was moving inside.
A rectangular piece of wood protruded from the wall, dropping down to create a tray with the chosen book on it. Jack eagerly looked into the mechanism of the storage, but a low-pitched cough sounded above.
"Take your book somewhere and read it," the librarian said. "And don't get too handsy. I can see everything."
So that's why this desk was so damn high.
Jack nodded and grabbed the book. The tray flipped back into the wall, leaving no gap. He found a table, sat down, and pretended to read while giving a silent command in his mind. The system table immediately appeared before him, decorated with simple golden outlines on a blue background. It always made him feel nostalgic, reminiscent of his video game experiences on Earth.
On the left side was his image, a nine-year-old. Below was some general information:
Name: Jack Corvus
Race: Human (Enhanced)
Age: 9
Faction: Unknown
Level: 0
Strength: 0
Agility: 0
Spirit: 0
"Enhanced? What's this?" Jack mumbled.
Looking closely, Jack noticed his other stats, like attack, armor, and resistance, were all at zero. Something wasn't right.
Jack looked to the right. A node in the center, some sort of starting point, branched into nine different nodes. The starting node had a description: "System of Knowledge." The other nodes were dark and empty, save for three that glowed faintly. Jack squinted to read the letters:
Arcanist: 5%
Maester: 5%
Warrior: 1%
His eyebrows knitted closer in confusion.
The system was familiar yet felt like a downgrade from before. In the previous version, the information wasn't this vague. Jack believed the nodes were a kind of skill tree. But now, there were no detailed descriptions, no tutorials, no nothing.
Jack took a deep breath to calm himself. Only now did he notice a progression bar under the skill table:
Initializing: 0.5%
Time Expected: 99 Days 12 Hours 50 Minutes and 37 Seconds
Jack puffed his cheeks, holding back a swear that almost escaped. "What the?"
The system wasn't yet functional. This explained why all his stats were zero and grayed out. At the very least, the spirit stat should have been one. It was a disastrous downgrade from so many levels.
Jack rubbed his head, leaning toward the librarian. The cantankerous lady was still watching him closely. When she saw him looking back, she smirked and shook her head.
Jack's eyes twitched, his teeth clenched in an effort to suppress his irritation. Recalling Emily's advice, he took a deep breath whenever he felt like losing it, a common occurrence whenever he was thrown into a strange world. He found himself in that condition again—lost, feeling insignificant, and without guidance.
Jack looked down at the open book before him, scanning through the introduction to clear his mind of the system's frustrating situation.
"Artificer is one of the more low floor, high ceiling professions. Each individual only needs to attach a stone head to a stick to make a spear, add some basic magic, and can be considered an Artificer. The tool created by the individual serves a specific purpose—hunting in this case. It is constructed from the experience and intellect of a person about the material and its usage: the hardness of the stone, the flexibility of the wood, and the interaction between a sharp object and a soft one. An Artificer is a creator, a herald, an artist in all of creation."
The description of Artificers gave Jack the impression of Earth's inventors, people who explored and created conveniences in life. After calming himself, he looked back at the floating info table.
His eyes widened as he saw a new brightening orb.
Artificer: 1%
Jack realized that these nodes would fill if he studied and researched them. Based on what just happened—a short description for one percent—Artificer could be completed with relative ease. Compared to the Maester, whose information he had read plenty, though not in-depth, but only managed to acquire a five percent progress, the difference in difficulty was obvious.
Jack's smile nearly reached his ears. He commanded the table to disappear and started reading with renewed enthusiasm. The book was heavy, but with his reading and learning rate, an elementary book shouldn't be too time-consuming.
By the time Jack finished the book, it was already noon. The light wasn't shining into the library anymore. Some students had entered, finding their own reading corners. Nine was the usual age for the senior class, but graduation depended on individual capability. Thus, there were students much older than Jack, around fourteen or fifteen years old, still trying to finish their studies here. More and more students filled the library, prompting additional stone slabs to be added in front of the wooden wall for book access.
Jack closed the book and commanded the system table to appear. To his surprise, the Artificer progress bar was completed.
Artificer: 100%
"That quickly?" Jack said aloud, eyes wide open.
A table-knocking sound from the librarian caught his attention.
He picked up the book and walked toward the stone slabs.
"What quickly? Giving up that quickly?" the librarian asked, watching Jack return the book instead of continuing reading.
Jack wanted to retort, but the excitement of unlocking a skill tree branch was even better than seeing the system initiate. He didn't want to ruin the moment. He gave her a glance, put his hand on the control board, and placed the book back on the wooden tray. He searched for a new one and chose an introductory book about the Maester before heading out of the library, leaving behind a red-faced librarian.
"Hey, you…"
The rustling sound of synchronizing heads turning in their robes echoed through the library as all eyes focused on the same direction. Some teachers were visibly annoyed.
The librarian retracted her head, realizing how loud her uncontrolled yell had been. She gritted her teeth as Jack turned back, waved goodbye, and left her sight.