The Systems Challenge-Chapter 432: Blot

"Anyway, I can smell books. I believe you brought some to exchange for books from this library?" the figure continued in a calmer voice. "If you show them to me I can tell you what you can exchange for them."

Jonas hadn't expected such a reaction. From the way things had been going a moment ago, he'd expected that their combined group would be fracturing again and they'd be risking getting ejected from the library entirely.

One thing that he also found surprising, although he guessed it made sense with magic being involved in this world, that the one greeting them was a talking book. He wasn't sure what the book could do to protect the library, but he had a feeling that it was more than capable of handling itself in a dangerous situation.

Elmo pulled out the books that he had in his pack. While Jonas had been skeptical about what value the books actually had, he hadn't expected them to have this kind of value. Where they'd be able to trade books for them.

Although, part of the challenge would be getting the right books. Such as if the book they were looking for was in fact present in this library, and they were only able to exchange for one book, then that's the book they'd need to get. Regardless of what books anyone else in the combined group wanted instead.

As Elmo placed the books down in front of the talking book, two ribbon bookmarks came out from the inside of the talking book and picked up the books in front of it, like they were hands themselves, as it inspected each one.

When it was done, Jonas wondered why he felt such a sensation of apprehension. It wasn't like he considered this to be the only way to get the book that they wanted. Especially since he wasn't sure what the usual exchange rate at this place was in the first place.

"Alright," the book said cheerfully. "Based on the content and condition of these books," the book motioned to all but one of the books Elmo had put in front of it, "you can take any two books from this library that you would like. However, if you change your minds at any time, you can decide to take these books back with you and not make the exchange."

"Uh, if we only find one book that we want, would we have to still exchange for a second book?" Elmo asked. "Or would we be able to just make that split?"

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Somehow the book nodded. Jonas wasn't sure how, but he got a clear sense that that's exactly what the book did.

"Of course," the book replied. "You would just have to figure out which of the books you brought would be left in exchange for it."

"Uh, could we get some light in here?" Heather asked. "My eyes are getting tired from trying to see much in the dark."

"Oh, my apologies," the book replied, sounding rather apologetic. "I keep forgetting humans can't see in the dark."

Then it lifted one side of its cover and lights came on, almost like it threw a light switch with that action. Though, rather than lightbulbs, the source of light looked to be flames in crystal balls.

It wasn't clear if the flames were an aesthetic illusion to go with the light or if there really were flames in the opaque crystals. Jonas didn't see a reason to delve into those details as it really didn't matter to him. He would have been able to see well enough either way, and it wasn't like knowing that would help them out in any way on their search for the book they had to find in order to complete the last challenge.

"Thanks," Heather said, taking a deep breath and, ironically, closing her eyes for a moment.

"You're so cute!" Elin gushed, looking at the talking book.

"Thank you," the book replied, looking like it was preening. With the tassels on each corner looking like they were trying to clean each other as the ribbon bookmarks looked like they were polishing the outside of the cover.

"What's your name?" Elin asked, her eyes practically glowing with excitement, and Jonas was pretty sure it was more because of what their host was more than anything else.

"Uh..." the book answered, clearly not sure how to answer that particular question. "I'm not really sure how to answer that. I haven't seen my title, so I can't say what my name is."

Jonas glanced at the book and couldn't make out what the title was, given the foreign lettering used on the book. He wasn't really surprised, but he figured that it would be nice to at least know if that part might actually be in English rather than whatever language they used on this world.

"I'll just call you 'Blot' then," Elin said as she squatted next to the book, reaching out and patting the book on its 'head.' Elin then looked around at everyone and said, "His name is Blot. You better not call him anything other than that!"

"I like it!" Blot squeaked as it sort of bounced around a little, sounding almost giddy.

Jonas was fine calling it whatever, though, he did wonder how Elin had determined Blot's gender, or if she was just using whatever first came to mind.

"Uh, how do you know it's a 'he?'" Patrick asked, clearly on the same wavelength as Jonas, even though Jonas hadn't planned on saying anything about it.

Elin merely shrugged. "He just feels like a 'he.' That's all."

"Regardless of all that, why is the title 'Book of Living' so familiar to you?" Elwin asked, giving Elin an annoyed glance.

"That?" Blot asked sounding a little confused, though Jonas was pretty sure that the book knew exactly what Elwin was referring to. "Well, any book that comes in here I remember perfectly. And any book that gets traded is recorded in the ledger. The ledger that I keep. However, I still remember what books were traded out as well."

"Looks like it might be some other reason why... uh, Blot only have a vague recollection of that book," Kim remarked, looking a little smug to Jonas.

"Let's get this moving on," Jonas said, hoping that he'd be able to stop whatever was going on between everyone and Elwin. He didn't know what it was about Elwin that seemed to draw that sort of behavior or if it was from Elwin picking the fights, but he could tell that Elwin didn't care which topic it was, that he was ready to go off on any of them in general.

Although, it didn't seem to be just at any time, from what Jonas could tell.

Regardless of which, he was tired and didn't want to have to wait for something to happen so he'd have to wait for it to get resolved.

"Yeah, it should be dinner time soon," Heather added. "So lets finish this up so we can find a place to set up camp so we can get something to eat. I'm starving."

"If you need, there is a cafeteria over that way," Blot commented, using one of his ribbons to point to their left. "If you wander through the library, there'll be a cafeteria every so often, so you won't need to worry about missing a meal."

"Sounds good to me, let's head over there," Elmo said, as if it was already decided to go.

"Hold on, I still have a few things to ask Blot," Elwin protested.

"I could join you as you head to the cafeteria," Blot said in response. "I might be able to let you know more as you eat. Though, I'll only have to return here if another visitor appears during that time."

"How often do you get visitors?" Patricia asked.

Jonas assumed Blot opening both of his covers was his was of shrugging. He couldn't think of another reason for him to do so.

As soon as that thought came to his mind, he felt like slapping himself. He was starting to think of Blot in the same way as Elin. Which he wasn't sure was a good thing. It might not be a problem right at this time, but he wasn't sure that there wouldn't be something else that would come up that wouldn't be as simple as this time.

Not that he could think of what to do about it.

Jonas sighed as he returned to the conversation at hand, as Blot led everyone to the cafeteria. He wasn't sure what to expect from it, but he figured that it would at least be something to fill his stomach and not empty their reserves of food.

Currently, Blot was listing what kinds of food the cafeteria had. Not that it was very helpful, since they really didn't know what the names of the dishes Blot mentioned would be like or were made of.

Although, Jonas had to admit that likely there was plenty of non-meat items, which would be a very helpful thing to their diet, since all they'd had for a while had been meat, and even he was starting to get tired of it.