After landing I immediately begin digging through my bag for the crystal that Malek gave me before departing. Maddy and the shadowbirds head downstairs into the lab while I stare at the crystal. When Malek originally gave it to me the crystal was a milky white, barely translucent, while the crystal I now hold in my hands is a transparent orange. I rub my hand over the strange stone and a warmth seems to emanate from it. I attempt to focus a small amount of energy into the gem, but only a small response can be seen.

'Hmmm. What a strange stone.' I bring the stone downstairs and place it on my workbench I cleared off previously.

"So do you think you will be able to assist us in finding the scientists who worked here?" One of the smaller crows aimed this question towards me, but I was preoccupied with the stone.

"We will definitely find the scientists! Why do you want to find them so badly?" Maddy answers the question instead of me.

"The less intelligent shadowbirds have been going wildly violent, our main hope is that the scientists will have a way to calm them."

"Ah that's why Cooth attacked me when he first saw me rather than trying to bring me to the nest." I chime in after the conversation begins interesting me.

"Yes that would make sense, our kind is generally passive after all. Our main source of nourishment is from gathering."

"Hmmm, you definitely are birds then huh..." The shadowbirds give me strange looks but don't seem to care much.

I ask Maddy to entertain herself with the birds as I begin digging through the the research of the scientists.

'Hmmm, there is so much material here I am not sure I will be able to find anything.'

I first make way to different work benches and see what has what information. Most of the information is nonsense to me and this only makes my goal seem even further away.

'I hoped that I would have a basic knowledge at least after reading those thirty volumes, but i guess this world is a lot bigger than thirty text books of information.'

"I'm sorry, researching is a lot harder than it looks, it is probably best if we instead focus on trying to find the scientists and have them assist us." I say this as I return yet another book to where I grabbed it.

"That will be alright, though it would be best to have some sort of clue on where they went, so if we can trouble you to do that it would be much appreciated." The shadowbird bows its head with it's request.

"That would be fine, it should be easier to find a clue than to understand this research. Maddy, can you search on that side for any clues and I will search over here?" I point towards the direction we initially entered from while I stand closer to the stairs.

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"Sure that's fine." Maddy walks towards the entrance and finds a spot to start searching.

"Can you six gather the other shadowbirds for a search party? The more we have searching the better." I give directions to the shadowbirds and begin my research as Cooth rests, I did force them to travel after I injured them after all.

I move down the bookshelves pulling out then returning books after I skim them. I don't know if there is some sort of system involved in their storage.

"Jordan!" Maddy calls to me in a hurried tone.

"Yeah?" I call as I run over to see what is going on.

"Listen." Maddy pulls a book from the shelf and a click sound can be heard.

"Is there some sort of switch back there?" I stick my hand into the slot where the book was and feel around.

*click*

"There it is. Could there be some sort mechanical system built into this place?" I continue fumbling around to see if there are any more switches around.

I turn around and give Maddy a high-five.

"Good work on finding that, I will look for more of these." Maddy gives me a smug look and also searches for switches.

"I hope there is some cool secret in this place."

After some time of searching we find three more switches and Maddy walks over to me.

"I'm gonna have to go, see you tomorrow."

"Bye Maddy." I wave goodbye and she logs out.

I continue searching down the bookshelves, each one on the half Maddy was initially searching through had a switch. There are so few of these yet so many books. I begin to develop a headache as my searching overwhelms me.

'I need a break.'

I head for the table with my crystal resting on it and pick it up. I pick up my staff and open the lantern.

'So pretty.' I wave the orange crystal in the white light. It's transparent surface glitters in the light and fills the room in a warm glow. As I stare into the crystal I input some magical energy into the crystal and the power manifests itself in the crystal. I move the crystal side to side and a light liquid seems to slosh back and forth inside the crystal.

'This thing absorbs magic and liquefies it? This is incredible.' I continue pouring energy into the crystal but one tenth of my energy only manages to fill one percent of the crystal.

I empty my mana into the crystal, and decide to log off for the night.