The statue, the woman, faded from reality, hardening back into marble in a pose that was entirely new. My mana had run dry, the accompanying headache, tedious. Never the less, I endured fueling my barrier. Operating under intense migraines was said to be a crucial skill. Being able to utilize the entirety of one's mana pool without swooning was a large boon.

I grit my teeth, lances of pain shooting into my brain. The migraine assaulted me. 

The knight had seemed surprised, I recalled. That I could even manage this level of mental torment.

She stood, glancing at me curiously. "You have not succumbed to the fatigue yet."

I responded. "I will not." My lips bled with effort.

I was both fascinated and amazed at her architecture. It was as if, I imagined, I was speaking to a real person. The mannerisms down to the facial expressions were so vivid. Learning of my situation did not usurp her concern of the library as a whole, although she had promised to train me as any other helper might. Though it seemed she may have some more advanced form of tutelage.

The migraine finally put me to sleep.

When I awoke my body was as a rock, heavy and unresponsive. Parts of me ached in soreness that I did not know I have. My mind ascended a mere headache, I had now a headsore. I felt slower and knew the effect of mana fatigue when I saw it. I resumed my barrier training.

Awaking the knight-woman in my current state would accomplish nothing but knock me out cold. Any active practice or training was out of the question, so instead I focused my energy towards funneling nutrients.

I watched the wooden golem carefully trim the hardyet stalks. The nimbleness and dexterity in those fingers were a wonder beyond what I could fathom. That was a technique of golemancy only the most advanced could implement. The golem enjoyed the mental capacity to take care of everchanging variables, plants. It was almost inane how I had previously taken it for granted.

I munched on a handful of greyrice. They were bland and tough. But it was diversity, which was appreciated. 

I did not attend the botany section to simply admire the golem, however. In fact, I had come strictly for the books found here. Additionally, it seemed the botany section kept a number of small plants at the ready. I had never seen them before but the knight-statue had spoken, and so I elected to investigate.

[Search: Library]. Plants, greens, growth. It came almost as an afterthought as I plucked a book from a nearby shelf, tucking it under the arm. The ringing caused me to grimace before I realized I had found something other than the hydroponic sections I had set up. 

I inspected the unassuming bookshelf. Behind it lay my quarry. A hidden door? I frowned but quickly recognized a few magic sigils that indicated horizontal movement. The glowed faintly and did little to hide. They were carved right into the shelf's wood. I looked for something indicative of... Ah. 

The bookshelf slid open soundlessly, opening into an entire room filled with dirt. Was this room even purposefully hidden? I felt as if I was simply not vigilant in my search, the bookshelf had been screaming to be noticed! Was I truly so dull? If I had found this room earlier my entire stock of food would be much higher!

I shook my head. There were healthy plants already in the soil. Ready to be harvested too, it seemed. The entire dirt patch was as large again as the central room and surrounded by regular tile. On that tile magical sigils and enchantments that I only vaguely recognized as they overlapped with the subject of golemancy. There seemed to be little basic sigils as I would've understood them immediately, but judging from the inactivity of the library I'd guess they were preservation enchantments.

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I stepped out. "Use this room to plant hardyet and greyrice." My voice came easier after continuous use and rest. The golem looked at me, nodded, and went back to the care of his plants.

Another section of tile was marked with preservation sigils. From the shelf filled with various fruits and veggies, it was storage. I gladly dumped my hardyet and greyrice there for the time being, although they had long shelf life there wasn't any reason not to extend that. 

Another section was bare of any fresh food but instead had the packets of seeds I'd come to recognize. This time though, I was able to recognize them as herbs and alchemical ingredients rather than food. My eyes drifted down to the plot of land and I wondered which of these those were. 

I spent the rest of the day watching the golem remove and harvest the already blooming plants. Apparently, according to the golem itself, this was a menial task it was often tasked with. What surprised me more was not the fact that it had harvested the plant in a particular way, but the fact that it had the capacity for memory to this degree.

My head was buried in a book, one Poisons and Distributions.

The silver reaver would not die to any measly physical damage I could produce, nor any magical effect. Perhaps a trap, but the fact that the reaver had not entered the library meant luring it inside was unlikely. No, the only avenue of approach was poison, although even that I had crossed-off until I had learned from the knight-statue of this particular secret of the botany section.

I'd eventually have to ask her what other secrets the library held. Although this one I was sure I had just glossed over stupidly.

In an hour, I had set up an alchemical station in the farm room. Two wooden dummies were tasked with caring over the farm. It looked like they instinctively knew how to operate together, curious. Two petals of a weeping willow, a pinch of evergloom pollen, and a pinch of red bride sap. The result was a lethargy and paralysis inducing poison that did hell to the internal organs of whatever absorbs it.

My eyes poured over the sketches of each. It seemed I did have packets of their seeds. The first was a flappy plant that seemed to droop as much as it stood. The weeping willow was blue-tinted and the dew on its leaves was said to look like tears in the right light. The evergloom was a simple purple flower, its name came from the fact it usually hid in fields of moonglooms, which were usually only a shade or two lighter. The latter was enticing and beautiful that former lethal. And lastly, the red bride was a spiky, carnivorous, plant deadly enough to kill large rodents if they fall in its pitcher.

I realized too late that most of the seeds here were of the more dangerous sort. But before I could warn the golems to place them elsewhere, away from the food, I realized they had already separated the two. There seemed to multiple sections of storage, although this amounted to bare swaths of tile, I could imagine a few shelves lined up. Likely, it was a practice to stop what I had just now feared, cross-contamination.

"Violet Death." I said, humming. Speaking to myself was usually not a habit, but in exercising my vocal chords I had adopted a few of them. Namely, speaking to myself and humming. "Fitting. The result is a violet extract. Unassuming."

I fingered through all of the seed packets available and found the correct ones. Violet Death, it seemed was no coincidence. The plants were all symbiotic. The evergloom did not like exposure, the weeping willow drooped over it, protecting it. The red bride could often not dissolve larger species fast enough to feast on them, the weeping willows paralytic spores slowed them. The weeping willow feared those larger rodents, the ones too big to be affected by its paralytics. The evergloom sapped the strength of hostiles even further, inducing lethargy and eventually eternal sleep.

The plants grew right on top of each other. In fact, they flourished this way.

"Do you know how to plant these?" I asked the golems.

"We know of only the most basic plants. Herbs are above our functions." They responded mechanically but, surprisingly, or perhaps not, were able to recognize what I held. 

I often had to remind myself what wonders I was surrounded with. Despite their form being made of wood these golems were sufficiently advanced. In fact, I had never even seen something dent that wood. Only the aftermath. One of the only reasons I refrained from using the metal ones, and the silver one, was that their mana drain was exponentially larger on me. Add to that, all the tasks I needed doing could be served by the wooden form. It was most definitely not my fear of utilizing such advanced constructs for menial tasks.

I frowned, my mind was wandering thanks to the mana fatigue and resulting head soreness.

I prodded three holes deep into the ground and planted the seeds accordingly. 

I did this three more times, leaving the other half of the plot for the golems. Ever cautious, despite the enchantments that might have any number of security precautions, I erected a safety screen between the crops. It was the same net I had used for the hydroponic stations earlier. A small ward that I cast on it would keep out any particulates.

Then, hopefully, I would have my first tool against the horrors of this depth.