Four Split Personalities

The Book Spirit interrupted Double Leaf’s questioning calmly, then gently patted the blank book in his hand: "But what we are discussing now is something else."

Double Leaf took a deep breath and turned to Frank Hughes behind her: "What do you think?"

"Uh, to be honest, I haven’t figured out the situation yet."

Motan scratched his head awkwardly and shrugged at the Book Spirit: "So, could you please explain it more clearly?"

"Of course."

The Book Spirit nodded cooperatively, a gleam of anticipation in his eyes: "To put it simply, as the ’Spirit’ of this library, although I have no actual authority, I can still, under certain circumstances... like the current situation we are in, where there are multiple sources of high-quality energy in the forbidden book zone’s third layer, accomplish some things."

Frank immediately asked: "What kind of things?"

"Through my own accumulation and some mediums, in this forbidden book zone filled with numerous ’gaps’ due to the large number of loaded spaces, project the synchronization of your consciousness with this book as a medium."

The Book Spirit patted the book in his hand again, speaking calmly: "To place you inside a story."

Double Leaf pushed her glasses up with her middle finger, then folded her arms and began pacing back and forth between the Book Spirit and Motan, muttering quickly: "Using unstable gaps to interfere with space order, by employing a method similar to pseudo-space flow for shallow interference with basic laws, then using the ’mystical’ traits of this library to forcibly create a mini Inherent Barrier... that’s something... that’s something, you fat guy!"

In the face of Double Leaf’s comment, ambiguous in its praise or criticism, the Book Spirit just nodded lightly: "It seems Lady Shuangye has understood."

"Although I understand, I actually don’t understand at all."

Double Leaf snorted softly, then tugged at the corner of her mouth, saying dryly: "Alright, you can continue explaining."

The Book Spirit chuckled, then turned around towards the rows of bookshelves silently emerging from the mist: "I will select suitable stories for you and continuously observe and adjust during the process. Thankfully, even though the knowledge I absorb is like a stagnant pond, it is still enough to support manipulating the surrounding environment and interacting with you."

...

After a brief silence, Motan and Double Leaf exchanged glances, capturing a strong sense of ’interest’ in each other’s eyes.

Evidently, both quite clever, had comprehended the wish of this Book Spirit gentleman before them.

Like an unreasonable, dissatisfied child, this ’Spirit’ nurtured by countless knowledge had enough of the stagnant ’dead water’ in its mouth.

Despite lacking emotion, he was ultimately different from Ta·Laxia’s Shutari, Diana’s Little Star, Kenneth’s Trim, and A Sang’s Doraimi; he was alive.

And seeking novelty is almost instinctive for many intelligent beings, especially for this Book Spirit born of ’curiosity.’

"Could I interpret this as the stories you mentioned being the knowledge you own itself?"

Frank Hughes gazed intently at the Book Spirit, subconsciously clenching his hands: "And what you wish to see is the impact and butterfly effect we generate by entering these stories?"

Double Leaf’s beautiful eyes also locked onto the face of the Book Spirit: "To send us into a pre-established ’story’ that interests you, observing how far we can go... To achieve this, even with simple stories, and even if you possess near-divine authority, it demands enormous computational effort to avoid fatal logical errors. Can you really accomplish it?"

"If it’s only my ’self,’ then of course it’s impossible."

The Book Spirit candidly declared his inadequacy but promptly added: "However, with the library’s power, I can barely manage the ’Inherent Barrier’ as you mentioned, Miss Futaba."

Motan blinked curiously and asked: "But didn’t you say, Book Spirit, that you lacked any authority?"

"This form of borrowing doesn’t require authority because I can be deemed a part of this library, and the actions requiring authority, which are governed by acquired rules, do not conflict with what I intend to do."

The Book Spirit bent down and placed the blank book in his hand on the ground, murmuring softly: "In fact, for quite a while, under the influence of the forbidden book zone, this library itself has already become a kind of ’mysterious phenomenon.’

"I’m intrigued."

Double Leaf clicked her tongue and glanced at Frank: "What do you think?"

"As a Bard, this opportunity is almost a divine gift. Of course, I wish to seize it, but..."

Motan furrowed his brows, hesitantly and anxiously asked: "What about the risks?"

Though the task explanation research indicated ’generally safe,’ Double Leaf nodded in agreement, asking the Book Spirit: "That’s what I want to know."

"No risk."

The latter replied without hesitation, explaining: "Firstly, after your spirits synchronize with the medium I create... which is the book before you, I will safeguard your bodies here, allowing you to remain in a state akin to meditation. If unexpected situations arise, I can just intervene slightly, and you will wake up from the ’story’ immediately."

"What about our spirits?"

Double Leaf quickly raised a second question, asking seriously: "How can you ensure that we, entering the ’story,’ won’t encounter accidents? If I didn’t miscalculate, the more exciting the story, the more dangerous it would be."

"Indeed."

The Book Spirit nodded slightly, replying without hesitation: "But this still isn’t an issue, because a ’story’ is ultimately just a ’story.’ No matter how realistic it seems, as long as I, the narrator, don’t wish you harm, you won’t truly face danger. However, to uphold the story’s authenticity, you risk getting ’hurt’ within, but I’ll manage this aspect well."

Double Leaf clapped her hands: "Okay, I have no more questions."

The Book Spirit immediately turned to Motan: "And what about Mr. Frank?"

Of course, Mr. Frank had concerns because, at this moment, he was not the player Tan Mo but an NPC born and raised on the Innocent Continent, an NPC with a lover and personal ties, naturally unable to act as carefree as Double Leaf, so...

"I have only one question."

He took a deep breath and asked seriously: "How can I assure that you do not intend to harm us?"

This was a crafty yet unavoidable question.

And the correct answer to this question is ’you two are Otherworlders, I can’t interfere with your true [Spirit],’ yet the Book Spirit couldn’t respond like this because Frank Hughes was not an Otherworlder.

So Motan appeared to increase the challenge imperceptibly, though he was already certain he wouldn’t be threatened in this regard.

However, this was not a wrong inquiry because, for him, as long as he had someone like the overly cautious Double Leaf around, he couldn’t be too careful, and perfectly embodying Frank Hughes was fundamental.

But the Book Spirit wasn’t stumped by this tricky question either; instead, he smiled and replied: "Because I cannot harm you."

"Cannot?"

Motan was slightly taken aback and inquired: "Not unwilling, but cannot?"

"Indeed, although I don’t wish to harm you, in fact, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t put it into practice."

"Why?"

"The reason is that I have no right to harm you."

"Eh?"

"The passes in your hands symbolize your identities as guests, note, guests—not uninvited guests."

"What do you mean?"

"The library won’t harm its guests, and I am part of this library, so..."

"Even if you want to, you can’t?"

"Exactly, even if I want to, I can’t."

Chapter 1169: End

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