Chương 32: - The Abandoned Library
Despite it being a library, the shelves were mostly abandoned. Some odd books were left on the shelves, abandoned to be taken by dust and time. Many of the shelves had been knocked over, and lay on the floor in a manner that one would assume to see in some post apocalyptic movie or show.
The building itself was also in a pretty bad state of disrepair. Old windows were worn and covered with stains, or were outright destroyed, leaving only fragments of glass in the frames. Stones, presumably thrown in through the windows while they were still there, littered the floor of the library along with other pieces of debris. Paint had began peeling from the walls, and the wooden tables and chairs showed signs of rot.
Although the other buildings on the street were fairly run down, the library's condition was on another level of disrepair. Frencian explained that the reason was that there were renovations planned on the buildings in the street, a number of decades ago. After some time, the renovations were scrapped in favour of new construction a couple of streets over.
With the buildings left to fall into a worse and worse condition all through the street, most people used the area as a way to use up excess energy, or work out any stress or anger from their lives. While the damage they did to the buildings did not really matter, their presence did accelerate the rate at which the building fell apart. Over time, the street became mostly forgotten about, until some people found a new use for them.
People whose profession would take them into opposition with the law, such as assassins fleeing the scene of a crime or mercenaries hired for a job nearby, would often find themselves using the abandoned street as a home for a small while. This was good for some time, until the authorities began to realise that this was where many of those types of people were going. At that point, the street became like a warzone, where armoured police and elements of the military were brought in to deal with the bands of mercenaries and dangerous criminals that called the abandoned buildings home.
As a part of the new building, most of the books found on the shelves, as well as all of the technology on the ground floor, were moved into storage for a few weeks before being taken to the new building designed to be the library. Once everything on both the ground floor and the floor upstairs, the two floors available to the public, was moved, the building became forgotten. Until recently.
An older woman, one who worked as a receptionist in the library in her younger years during the period where they moved to the new building, suddenly remembered that no one had ever moved the things in the basement to the new building. With the things down there being left for so long, the library could no longer claim ownership over them. Upon exploring the area, Frencian, along with a group of other people, came across the box of books among other things. For reasons not explained to Gus and the others, Frencian had deemed it necessary to alert Jet to the presence of the books.
A low hum vibrated out of the basement that gradually got louder as they descended the stairs.
"Oh, I forgot to mention," Frencian said. "The power is still on in the building, although you wouldn't tell from the state of it upstairs."
The basement was dark, with an old, dim light acting as the only source of light in the room. Boxes and metal racks, packed tightly with books and old pieces of tech, took up most of the space in the room, with the power generator taking up most of what was left. In the middle of the room, clearly moved away from the other boxes, was the box of books that they were looking for. It was made completely of wood, with an open topped design, and on either side of the box were two iron handles.
"Is this it?" Gus asked, kneeling down next to the box. He took one of them out and looked at the cover for a moment, before flipping it over to read the synopsis on the back. The cover was a gorgeous image of earth, with the words 'Terra Primus, Solus Secundus, Humanitas Tertius,' inscribed on the book beneath the image.
'Humanity third?' Gus thought. For some reason, the words gave him an uneasy feeling. Despite the fact that Jet, an officer of the academy, had sent them to retrieve the books, and despite the fact that he had no reason not to trust the officer's judgement, he could not help but feel a little bit off about what could be contained within the book.
As Gus put the book back on top of the box, a system message popped into view.
*Legend Mission: Carry the Box.*
*You alone must bear the weight of this box until you return to the academy. Do this to receive a unique skill reward.*
'A reward? Just for this? Sounds too good to be easy,' he thought as he slung his weapon over his back and placed his hands onto the iron grips.
It felt as though his back would snap from the weight of the books in the box. Once he was standing up straight, the strain on his back was negligible. The issue was actually getting to that position in the first place. After a few seconds of balancing himself, along with some help from Joel, who also offered to take the box, Gus was able to stand without feeling like he was about to fold over.
As they carelessly made their way back up the stairs, they were quickly reminded of the warning they had been given about the area. This street was frequented by criminals and mercenaries, and, judging from the noises coming from upstairs, some of them had just arrived home.
Quà tặng
-- Nhận quà Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực