53 Sand In The Sea
The sun hadn't even cleared the horizon before Rykar and Loki excitedly dashed out of the room fully equipped as though ready for war. With Rob in tow, they quickly scanned their bracelets before descending the lift and venturing into the forest of bookshelves.
Being recognized immediately due to their extravagant masks, a librarian silently began to trail behind them with a silver cart after informing them that he would be waiting on them and willing to answer any questions. History, mathematics, statistics, culture, science, weaponry, biology, farming. Walking through just two of the hundreds of bookshelves, they were already baffled as to which topics to explore while recited the titles of any books they pointed to on the shelves.
Growing annoyed of the aimless searching, he took the initiative to turn towards the librarian. "Excuse me, where can we find books related to exploration? Mainly focusing on geography, animals, plants. Information on fragments and worlds, along with travel information are also needed." While speaking a thousand times more refined than usual, he straightened his back while attempting to put on a fa?ade of someone who could actually afford his getup.
It didn't even take two seconds of thought before the woman smiled and lead them just a few shelves across. "This row, along with the next two, house books which are mainly focused on the world around us, the sea of stars and more of the commonplace flora and fauna. Please let me know if there are any specifics you are interested in and I will do my best to help."
Like kids in a candy store, the twins no longer even asked Rob any questions as they pulled books off the shelves and looked at the covers with glistening eyes. There were an assortment of designs, some very abstract, while others giving a clear idea of the contents of the book. Plants, animals, mythical looking beasts, stars, swirling clouds. These books were piled up on the cart one after the other while the more blank and dull designs were put back on the shelves without suspense.
It wasn't long before there was a second librarian right next to the first, along with a second trolley due to the first being too full. While one went to take the first set of books to their study, the second was also half full when the next question came from Rykar. "Where are the story books? With generals and armies!"
Barely containing his excitement, he only calmed down slightly when Rob tugged his shoulder to get him to stop skipping while they followed the librarian across the shelves once again.
"Just these shelves?" He asked when they arrived at a quieter section of the library. This was a walkway dozens of metres long and with books lining the sides, yet it didn't seem to be even a drop in the ocean compared to all the shelves they had walked past to get there. Despite the grand scale, Rykar seemed disappointed that they only took up such a small section, even with this much already being enough to keep him occupied for years.
"No, this whole section is. From this isle, to the end of the wall. This is allocated to the both factual and fictional based stories and poetry." The librarian corrected.
Almost on cue, the twins once again went into a frenzy, picking all the fancy looking books and especially those with plenty of pictures, illustrations and diagrams within. It took the longest hour of Rob's life before they finally went back up to their rooms after having sent up four trolleys of books between the two librarians tasked to them.
With their first meal already set up on the table, there was no suspense as Chance got them to finish eating before gathering around the table once again.
Without allowing them to dive straight into their story books, Chance first took the opportunity to go through the books related to the world around them and before selecting one to read between them. With the book in hand and the twins at either side, he read through the book slowly. Without rushing or ignoring any of their questions, he pointed out the letters and words as he went, making sure that he explained how the words were formed and giving them an understanding of the mess of shapes sprawled across the paper.
It took till noon to go through the first two books, with barely a break even to get a drink as Chance started feeling his throat get sore with the incessant questions from the other three in the room. Most of the questions they asked, he was just as clueless as them towards the answers. Despite this, their horizons were expanded again and again as gasps of astonishment often broke the flow of reading.
The world system within the sea of stars was the easiest to explain, with a simply yet meticulous way of categorizing the grade boundaries. The sea of stars was virtually endless, while constantly expanding and growing around itself. Changes would occur at every and any moment, oftentimes throwing entire solar systems into chaos before reforming themselves or simply becoming desolate space.
Ever light within the sky, usually referred to as stars, were actually entire worlds! The light being emitted from them was actually a form of energy which was emitted from the condensation of energy which forms their world boundary. This 'world boundary' was a form of protection and isolation which served as the benchmark of a planet becoming a world.
Before this boundary was formed, planets weren't even qualified to me mapped out by official channels oftentimes, as they were still classed as being within development and may be abandoned at any time. Grace, the planet they were on, was a perfect example of this.
Despite the habitable atmosphere for life and civilization, the planet was all but devoid of energy, potentially requiring up to a thousand years before accumulating enough to support its cataclysm, propelling itself to form its own boundary while expanding dramatically in size.
Generally, after each cataclysm, a world would increase its grade by one, however, there have been many cases of a world going through a small scale cataclysm. While this would still cause its barrier to develop and increase its size, this wouldn't be enough to qualify the world for the next grade. There was no glorification for this, it was simply referred to as a failed cataclysm. The cons of this situation often outweighed the pros, as each cataclysm requires a much vaster accumulation of energy compared to the last.
Omega, the largest and only recorded rank 9 world was literally at the centre of the sea, with the rest of the sea expanding from the centre around it. Due to the pull gravitational from Omega, the larger the planet, along with the strength of its boundary, causes the more prosperous worlds to congregate towards the centre of the sea.
Contrary to their initial expectations of the larger worlds being in the centre and the smaller ones being on the periphery of the sea, the worlds themselves were surrounded by other planets and worlds, with the orbits of which crossing over and switching zones often. This all caused the sea to have a volatile nature with each world usually supporting the flow of various smaller ones within its influence.
All in all, where they were now, on an offshoot planet under the control of the corporation 'Grace', there were living on nothing but a grain of sand within a sea bidder than they could imagine.
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Their only reason the company invested in this planet in the first place was due to the naturally formed fragment, which only needed minimal investment to stabilize its eco-system. This was essentially getting two worlds for the cost of one, while providing a safe and secure environment for the essence fruit plantation. Despite its size, it was apparent that the plant was only in its initial stages, with the growth of the plants and replantation of a portion of the fruits from each harvest, the project would sweep through the rest of the fragment in its entirety.
The reason they were slowly picking off the escapees was because there was no rush in the first place! They were literally stuck within the same cage they thought they had gotten out of and eventually they would have no place to go along with the expansion of activity. With the escapees serving punishments, this would prompt order and stability within the camp, providing a new bottom tier and giving those already working there, a sense of superiority. All this came at the price of a few workers 'escaping' every month due to the security 'dropping their guard'.
They thought their sense of the world had expanded, until they moved onto some of the basic geography and found out that not only worlds, but cities were classified by the grade system also. What was laughable, was that the 'city' they were living in was actually an outpost for the expansion into this planet. It honestly didn't even quality as a grade one city, without many of the basic systems in place to even function as one.
By the time lunch rolled round, it felt as though the informative books they had been reading were more like story books and fantasy works. Their expectations towards leaving the planet and venturing onto Grace were actually dulled by the context of the book, leaving them skeptical to the possibilities of it all.
"Rob, pick a book for them to read through for the next hour or two. I need to go get something but ill be back in no time." Chance patted his stomach while donning his mask and gesturing to the others to do the same before as he made his way towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Loki asked. He felt it weird to only be a day into their 'study' yet Chance was breaking the rule he set for them, not to leave the library.
"I have to get back to the sewers and pic something up. I would have brought it earlier but it really couldn't be helped." He sighed as he made his way out but it didn't take long for them to busy themselves as Rob threw a book towards Rob. Catching it reflexively, he found himself holding a thick tomb with its cover depicting a dragon breathing a jet of fire towards a knight in full armour.
"This one." Both twins grinned excitedly.