"There have been many who came to this library because of some competition they referred to as 'The Systems Challenge' because of some challenge or another," Blot answered casually. "I never me them myself, it was always one of my predecessors who met with them. If you all have systems, this would be the first time I met any of you."
Kim nodded, feeling what the talking book said made sense. Although, she wondered if those who came before had come tot his library looking for a book like they had been set to do as one of the challenges. She did get the feeling that those who ran the competition might like keeping some challenges the same, as it would cut down on their workload.
"What did the others in that competition that you mentioned come looking for?" Bart asked, surprising Kim. He'd been so quiet for so long she'd pretty much forgotten he was there.
The talking book shook its head. "No idea. That part wasn't recorded, just as whatever books you trade your books for won't be recorded, either. That's just part of how the exchange works."
Kim sighed. It would have been nice to have that information.
"How many of your predecessors were there?" Elin asked, looking like she was really interested in that information, and as far as Kim knew, she was.
The book tilted its head for a minute, like it was trying to think. "I believe there should have been seventy-six before me," the book replied conversationally, as if it didn't have any connection to those who came before it.
"Have there been anyone who visited this place without having a system?" Elwin asked, sounding like he was confirming a suspicion he had.
The book shook its head. "Of course. We're open to everyone who makes the journey here. Although, there have been fewer people showing up lately."
"Is there anything you can tell us about the competition? Like what to say to the tutorials to get them to say something more than useless information or that they can't provide whatever information we try to get from them?" Patricia asked, her tone indicating she might still be trying to get past that annoying part or the tutorials.
The book did its shrug again. "Not a clue. I haven't spoken with the tutorials myself, so I couldn't say what they may or may not react to."
"It was worth a try," Patricia muttered.
A thought suddenly struck Kim. While he likely used someone to help him understand the books in the king's library, Elmo did get some information out of them, which meant that he might have at least some knowledge of the written language of this world, even if he didn't realize it.
"Is the language the books in this library written in the same as the written language in the rest of this world?" Kim asked, causing Elmo's and Jonas' head to perk up.
Blot nodded. "Of course. Though, most who learned it had to learn it on their own. I'm forbidden from teaching it to anyone," it replied simply.
"Why's that?" Kim asked, wondering how hard she should press the matter.
Blot did its book shrug again. "I really don't know. Just that I'm not supposed to. I'm not sure what would happen if I did, just that I'm not supposed to teach that to anyone."
"Would you at least take us to the sections that contained the books we already asked about?" Elmo asked, sounding like he suddenly had an idea of sorts.
"Of course, I can!" Blot replied, sounding suddenly excited. "Just let me know when you want to go. From what I remember of humans, they typically like to sleep at night, and it's getting close to that time now, so if you want to go now we can, or we can wait for our to get some rest. Your choice."
"Is there anything dangerous inside the library?" Jonas asked, looking rather uneasy about what Blot just mentioned.
"Only to those who would have books they haven't exchanged yet," Blot replied, its voice suddenly low and dangerous, sounding like that was a very overt threat to them if they had in mind to try and damage any of the books.
"Thanks for the warning," Jonas replied, seeming as if he hadn't even heard the threat in Blot's voice.
"So, if something does enter the library that's a threat to us, what'll happen then?" Kim asked, feeling like there was a point missing at the moment. That the door to the library was wide open, so anything could enter and just because there wasn't anything that was a threat to them in the library right now, that didn't mean something else wouldn't come in later on.
"I'll take care of it," Blot replied simply. Not a trace of uncertainty or doubt in its voice.
Kim nodded, not very reassured, but she supposed the book had to be strong to prevent other creatures from being able to damage the books in the first place. Not that she really knew exactly what would be accomplished by trying to destroy the books in here. If the library had something to do with the competition directly, then maybe she'd consider it, depending on how integral she thought it was.
"You know, what's strange to me about all of you is that how only two of you are related. The rest aren't related in any way," Blot suddenly said as Kim finished her meal from the cafeteria.
"Yeah, but my brother died when we were fighting a fire dragon," Elwin remarked. "He died because we weren't sure exactly how to kill it otherwise."
"Anything you want to know about dragons would be in section 391," Blot replied. "Including everything you could possibly want to know about fire dragons. Though, you'd have to figure out which books are for which dragon yourself." Blot paused for a moment before adding, "The authors didn't seem to like adding a title to the books, but you're not one of the people I was meaning. Those two are brother and sister."
Kim blinked as the talking book pointed at her. The other person was Jonas. She wasn't sure if this was a joke or not, but she certainly didn't find it funny.
"If he was my brother, why don't I remember anything about him?" Kim asked, wanting to dismiss the matter out of hand, but unable to because of something in the back of her head holding onto the subject.
"Yeah, I never saw Kim before I came to this world," Jonas replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I know I came from a world other than my home world, but why wouldn't I remember something like having a sister?"
"Wow, you were taken forcefully, right?" Blot asked, looking like it was getting excited again and Kim couldn't help but start to wonder just how often the book had company to talk to. Something other than the books on the shelves.
Jonas nodded. "Likely. Though, we weren't exactly taken by our choice when we came here though, but I can still remember everyone before coming to this world.
Blot shook his head. "That only happen by people who know what they're doing. Those who took you that first time clearly didn't know what they were doing. It likely even seemed novel to them. So, naturally they'd have screwed something up with it."
Kim sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "How sure are you about this?" Kim asked, feeling like making sure that the book couldn't be wrong. As she didn't understand why she wouldn't have been aware of this in the first place. Especially since she could feel…
Kim's train of thought stopped abruptly. She had trusted Jonas when she came to this world, more than any other time that she could remember. If what Blot said was true, then it was entirely possible that they'd ended up on the same team, simply because of trust that had been there hadn't truly been broken. That he'd gone out of her life because he was forced to rather than because he wanted to.
"If she is my sister, what does that change in things here?" Jonas asked, sounding bored, surprising Kim a little.
"Nothing, just thought I'd mention that," Blot replied, though Kim suspected that it had to have had some reason for mentioning it. Although, if it didn't want to talk, she couldn't say what it would take to get Blot to reveal the reason, but in the end, she couldn't see anything that she'd gain out of it anyway.
As while it would be nice to know more details about her relationship with her 'brother' or why Blot chose to bring it up, she couldn't see how that would help them with the current channel. Maybe afterwards it would be good to know, she doubted that it would help them out in any manner while they still had this last challenge to complete before they were done with this competition.
"Let's just get some sleep," Kim said, not wanting anyone to drag this one out more than it needed to be. "We can figure out which book to go for first in the morning, when we're not all tired"
Kim felt a little relief at the agreement she got from everyone. Jonas naturally didn't say anything, but it wasn't like he was opposing it either.
Which meant Kim could just get to sleep and let the morning worry about itself then.