Days passed. Oz sat on the floor, meditating. One after another, he read through the manuals he’d scanned. Small baubles of light condensed in his core far slower than they had in the secret realm, and yet, their purity far exceeded the qi he’d gathered in that space. With this, I can probably break through the next meridian without compressing my qi.

If only it didn’t take twice the time to absorb half the qi.

Yawning, he climbed to his feet. Since it’s going to take time to absorb this qi anyways, why don’t I do something productive as I work on it? I can read and walk, after all.

A pile of books greeted him, stacked up around the desk. They spilled in waves and wavered in tall columns, some of them peaking over the surface of the desk.

Oz clicked his tongue. Yep. I really need to do something about that.

He turned, gazing out at his library. Or rather, my stack of books. Without any organization or ordering principles, can this be called a library? If someone walks in, can they find the book they want?

No. And that’s a problem.

Slinging off his robe, Oz rolled up his sleeves. He walked toward the door and began clearing the shelves off, completely removing any excess books. All the ones he took, he scanned and put at the front of his mental queue. Soon, he stood before eight empty shelves: one to the immediate left and right of the front doors and the shelves facing them, and the row one back, and the shelves facing them. The first shelves on the first two aisles stood completely bare of books.

A pale haze stained the shelves in the gaps between the volumes and the space behind their rears. Oz ran his finger through it, and swiped up a big portion of gray dust. He wrinkled his nose.

Step one: clean these shelves.

Hurrying to the cafeteria and back, he acquired a bucket of water and a rag. He dipped the rag in the water, squeezed most of it out, and wiped up the dust, standing on his tiptoes to reach the highest shelves. When he couldn’t reach them at all, he found a rolling ladder and rolled it all the way back to the beginning of the shelves so he could climb up and finish washing the shelves.

Climbing down from the ladder, he wiped his brow. There we go. Nice, clean shelves.

Against his will, his eyes travelled down the aisle, to the books vanishing off to infinity. Dread welled up in his chest. They’re all filthy too, aren’t they.

Oz shook his head. A problem for later.

He walked back to the desk as the shelves dried. Lifting a tome, he weighed it in one hand.

There’s four main categories, or rather, genres. Martial mage techniques, magic techniques without any martial arts, scholarly works on magic theory, and general knowledge. From the door, I’ll put martial magic techniques to the left, mage techniques to the right, then, one shelf back, that’s where I’ll put general knowledge, on the left, and magic theory, on the right. That way, I have the whole aisle set aside for each category.

He glanced around at the multitude of books surrounding him. I’ll probably have to shift the categories around as I read more of these books, but for now, it’s a good start.

Oz picked up a few tomes and went to place them, then hesitated. He looked at the books’ spines, then flipped them open to the inner cover. His brows furrowed. He flipped to the back, then back to the front. Frustrated, he squinted at the sky. Very few of these books have authors listed. How am I supposed to order them?

He twisted his lips, then looked at the books he held again. One described a martial fist technique, and the other, a sword technique. His eyes lit up. Subgenres! Obviously. You don’t go to fiction and expect to find the book you’re looking for alphabetically mixed in with all fiction. You go to fantasy, and search from there! If I organize like books with like, it’ll make the library easier to browse.

Subgenres. But that means I have to know something about all of these books. Oz pursed his lips, then sighed. “Guess I’m just placing books I’ve read today.”

A purr sounded from beside him. Soft fur rubbed against his ankles. Oz knelt, petting Sid. “Do you want to help me organize the library?”

Sid gazed up at him with blank eyes. She purred and butted her head against his hand, demanding more pets.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Sighing, Oz stood once more. I can at least get started on organizing the books into their proper categories, even if I might reorganize them later.

Ultimately, managing this library isn’t a one-and-done kind of task. I’m going to have to go through many iterations before I reach the ideal organization scheme, especially as a former programmer, not a library scientist. But I spent hours in the library, reading, relaxing, volunteering, whatever they needed. I have a place to start.

Idly, he flipped open the book he held to its rear cover. Nothing marked the rear cover, but in his mind’s eye, he saw a manilla card pocket with a tattered card inside, covered in lines of not-quite-leveled stamps. Speaking of, I’m pretty much pure analog right now. Forget digital library systems, this world hasn’t even figured out electricity yet. I need a checkout system, and I’m probably going to have to go with the old-fashioned card-stamp system.

Magic can probably stand in for a digital interface, but that requires me to be more powerful than I am. I don’t need a system for five years from now, I need a way to keep track of where the books are, and which ones are checked in and out, right now. A card catalog, if nothing else. To keep myself from duplicating work, I should map the books as I place them, so if I need to reorganize them later, I at least know where everything is.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I’m ordering the books by subject, so let’s organize the card catalog by subject, too. Keep everything consistent.

He wandered back to the desk and found his map and the pen he’d used to draw it. I can’t list all the books on this scrap, but it’ll have to do for now, until I get someone to buy me a proper card catalog. I’ll try asking Aisling, next time I see her. She’s trying to bribe—ahem, build good relations with me, so I might as well give her some opportunities to excel.

Taking them and Gossip, to use as a clipboard, he went back to the shelves. He paused again. “Organize them by subject…”

I’ve read most of these, but… well, they’re a pile of books. I don’t know where the individual books are, even if I have a scan in my head. I can organize them in my head, but that’s useless unless I can match the books in my head up with the books in reality.

Looking at the book in his hand, he called up his mental copy of Gossip. Turning it around in his mind, he closed his eyes and rested his hand on the actual copy. I have its signature here, in my mind. And here in my hand, I have the book. He circulated his energy between the two of them, running the qi through the book before sending it back into his core. When the qi returned to his hand, it rubbed against his qi, vibrating at a slightly different speed.

Oz furrowed his brows, focusing on the qi that returned to his hand. That sensation… capture it. He lifted his hand away and opened his eyes. Putting Gossip down, he called up its signature in his mind. Ever so slightly, that signature vibrated, pulsing at the exact speed that still lingered on his hand. Closing his eyes, he pointed his hand at the pile of books and sent a blast of qi at the books.

All the books resonated. Hundreds of different signatures filled the air. Oz tensed, focusing. Gossip. Focus on Gossip. There… there! He jabbed his hand out blindly.

Under his fingers, a cloth cover. He opened his eyes. The black letters GOSSIP stretched beneath his fingers.

Oz beamed. “Yes!” As long as I’ve scanned the book, I can use this technique to find the book. It’s now just a matter of organizing the subgeneres and putting the ones I’ve read on the shelves. For the rest, I simply need to read them.

He looked over the giant pile of books. Right… simply…

To the people who think all librarians read every book in the library, are you insane? It’s a full-time job to read this many books, let alone all of them. And I can back-burner them thanks to magic!

The tower shook. Dust rained down. A heavy explosion rocked the walls, then another. Oz looked up, used to it by now. Every day, for several hours, the mages bombarded the barrier. Nothing ever got through, nor did they seem to make any progress, and yet they persisted anyways.

Around him, the library rattled. Faint shouting sounded from the door. Ignoring it, Oz went back to organizing the shelves. The books stacked up slowly. Martial fist techniques near martial fist techniques. Scholarly entries on the nature of qi slotted beside other entries on the study of qi and qi flows.

Another thud sent the books jumping. He jolted, ready to catch any fallen tomes, but they stood firm on the shelves. Breathing out in relief, he went back to it.

As the books settled into place, more and more qi flowed into Oz. He paused, confused. Stretching his hand toward the shelves, he probed them with his qi.

The books emanated qi. He frowned. Picking up Gossip, he hovered his hand over it. Without sending any qi inside, he simply waited.

A tiny pulse of qi emanated from Gossip and flowed into him.

Oz’s eyes opened wide. The books are emanating qi! That refined qi I noticed earlier,the stronger qi inside the library… that isn’t recirculated qi. That’s the books generating qi! Or…

He settled his hand on the cover and examined the book closer. An ordinary book met his hand, but as he pushed his qi through it, tiny bits of qi peeled off and sank into the pages. The book collected the excess qi, holding onto it. As it congealed in the pages, some of the qi released back into the air. Old qi. Qi that had long existed within the pages.

Oz nodded, understanding. No. They don’t generate it. They absorb it, refine it, release it again, but denser, purer.

He lifted his eyes to the books. Reaching out toward them, he captured a bit of qi from the martial technique tomes. Red-colored qi flowed eagerly into him as all the martial tomes resonated all at once.

Oz laughed aloud. “If I organize the books, they give me more qi? That’s crazy.”

A second later, he paused. No… it makes sense, doesn’t it? They’re resonating with one another. If a bunch of bells strike the same pitch, they’ll sound louder than one bell alone. Similarly, since qi vibrates, it makes sense that it grows in volume—meaning quantity, in this case—when it’s around other qi.

Actually… that raises a question. If qi grows larger, from my perception, when it vibrates in tune with other qi, is qi a particle, or a wave?

Oz pressed his lips together. Yeah… okay. Let’s not try to answer fundamental physics questions about a magic system I barely understand. Once I get a grasp on magic, then, perhaps, I can ponder fundamental questions about light—that is, qi.

But first, magic. And before that, the library.

As he settled the books in place, more and more qi gathered in his core. Fifty percent, sixty, seventy, filling faster the more books resonated with one another. At last, the final book slotted into place. Oz stepped back, taking a deep breath. A job well done—

A pulse of qi burst out from the shelves and struck Oz in the core. Instantly, his core filled, and yet, more qi flowed into him. Oz choked, whole body growing hot, as he trembled fiercely.

Quickly… I need to use it! But how?

Meridians! Oz reached into his robes and pulled out the roots from earlier. Although they’d been cooked, and were food, they hadn’t shown the least amount of going stale or bad, so he simply carried them around with him. By now, the tips showed a bit of withering, but he gobbled the root down anyways, no time to waste.

Instantly, he reentered that empty lot full of stones, with the seven remaining large stones. Each of the stones grew larger than the one before it, large stones mounting up to enormous boulders. Oz rushed toward it and punched straight into the rock. Qi emanated from his fist, splintering the rock into tiny particles. Bits of stone flew away, littering the field.

His body still hot, qi still rushing into him, Oz charged forward. The next one! This stone stood taller than him. He narrowed his eyes and punched the stone, throwing his qi with his fist.

The stone shivered. For a moment, it resisted his qi. A moment later, it shattered. Tiny shards of rock rained down on him as he ran through, rattling on the ground.

Inside him, the heat faded, but it still warmed him from the core outward. He no longer choked on qi, but it still stuffed his core, so full he couldn’t possibly fit any more. More? Let’s keep going!

Oz ran onward. This stone stood easily twice his height and width, sturdy and dark. He slammed his palm on the stone and sent a pulse of qi through the rock. Nothing happened. The rock stood solidly.

Gritting his teeth, Oz pushed. Again! I won’t let this rock beat me! All this qi I’ve gathered… I won’t let it go to waste!