My first day off went in a flash. I crashed, took a long hot bath, drank, and before I knew it the next day had arrived.

  As planned, my last week of going full effort, disregarding health, and pushing myself to the very limit was finally showing promise. With our schedule bumped up, due to the surprising quality of work the fourth division was sending us, we were able to adjust the backbreaking schedule to something more normal.

  When it came time to clock out, there was an odd sense of anticipation in the air. People looked buzzed and ready to party. With cheers, everyone left, well, everyone except me. I was no longer invited to the bar after work. Which wasn’t exactly a good thing, but… it did give me time to recover.

  The next few days were spent getting on top of things, and for the first time since arriving here in the City of Purgatory, I had free time.

  Work was done around five. With it being fall now, the sun was beginning to set earlier, but I still had a few good hours before sunset.

  The question of what I would do came to mind, and I found, I didn’t really have a good answer. I could crash back at my place. Only, I didn’t feel that tired yet. Maybe it was my enhanced body, a fact I realized after so many days, or perhaps it was just a desire to pursue other pursuits.

  I was on the clock technically; the full moon was coming soon. But when was I ever not on the clock?

  I had options for once, with it not being dark yet, and all. A part of me considered visiting the police station to check the impound. Maybe they had my car, though, it was wrecked, but just having my wallet back would be a boon. Even if the currency and cards were useless, it held a couple of dear photos inside.

  However, I did not want to run into Grim. Not yet anyway. There was just something about that policewoman that dragged me in. She was like a flaming train, speeding down the track towards certain doom, and I just wanted to be along for the ride…

  Never have I been gladder I was a woman then now. At least I don’t have to worry about thinking with my dick… Like a bee to a flower, if I were my old self, I don’t think I could keep away. As it is, a healthy dose of ice kept me clear headed.

  Which meant, not today at least. Otherwise, I could begin the process of looking for a place to work my supposed craft, test out the bronze coins and such. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to be a simple task. That would require days of progress, and I didn’t feel like starting another project just yet.

  A gym membership was high on my list as well. Though my body was now supernaturally durable and strong, I could feel the toll of being overworked and sitting for so long having its way with my body. A nice workout could do a lot to ease my stress and give me a better handle over my new form.

  With that said, I felt it was too soon. I was still too exhausted to throw myself into such a task. At least, physically.

  The only other option I could consider was visiting the Purgatory Library. I’ve heard a few people suggest that it had a rather sizeable selection of books, and maybe I’ll find something worth my time. In fact, that seemed like a good enough plan for the day. A nice book, a sandwich or pastry, sitting out in the sun or at a café? Yeah, that sounds workable…

  Plan in mind, I acted on it. I stopped by home, changed into something more casual and grabbed some coins, a mix of bronze and silver. Coins in hand I headed out and made a jog for the library. I made it well before sunset.

  The library was an impressive building. The building had a large belltower at the top, the building more akin to a cathedral like the Notre Dame than a normal library. Even with it getting late, the place was bustling with people entering and exiting. Stone steps led to the front doors, a series of double doors that led into a plush velvet carpeted floor.

  Tethers were placed about to create lines and locked off the main area from the library itself. To the left was a small café selling coffee and treats, the carpet giving way to tiled floor. Inside the small café, people huddled in corners or at tables with their drink of choice.

  Ahead of me, cordoned off by red tethers, was the library itself. Expansive, multi-levelled, and filled with bookshelves. From here, my neck craned until I could see the vaulted ceiling above. Stained glass windows let light bleed in, and hanging chandeliers illuminated the space.

  To the right though, was my destination for the time being. A gentleman wearing glasses was standing at the reception desk, he had black hair, black eyes. His skin almost bright white against the darker tones of the library. His hair was slicked back, his glasses were horned, with golden rims.

  On approach, he greeted me, his voice held a certain magnetic charm that made me pause.

  “Greetings Miss, are you here to apply for a library card?”

  “I am.” Working through my rapidly drying mouth. The way the man held himself, the very air around him… something about him was off. As I got closer, he smelled a bit like brimstone, reminding me of Grim.

  “Very well, may I enquire as to what kind of card you desire?”

  “Kind?” asked back, quickly gathering myself, I continued. “I wasn’t aware there were levels.”

  At my recovery, his eyebrow quirked. A smirk played on his lips.

  “Ah, but we do.” He then reached under the desk and pulled out a wooden tray, on it were a set of cards.

  “We have here, the lowest rank of card. The iron card. It gives you basic access to the library and comes with a limit to the number of books you can check out on a monthly basis. This card is freely available, regardless of citizenship.”

  He then points to the next card.

  “The next is a bronze card, it gives you full access to the library, and as long as you return what you borrow, limitless check outs. This comes free, if you’re a citizen, otherwise, you will need to pay a monthly fee.”

  The next card looked a bit out of place. Not just that, it made me curious. After all, the bronze card gave full access to the library, what more could later membership tiers do?

  “This… is the silver card. This card, well…” He pauses and gives me a small smile. “This card is a little special.”

  The way he said that, had the hair on my neck standing up.

  “We only offer such a card to special individuals and only for the cost of…” He takes a moment to lean forward. “A single silver coin a month, or ten silver coins annually.” His breath was hot, it smelled smoky as well.

  I took a hurried step back. The man before me chuckled, his dark eyes flashed for a moment, but… no, I didn’t imagine it. Something was up. I looked about, but nobody was looking our way.

  “So, you know what I am?”

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  “Indeed, or rather, I can sense the presence of coins on your person. Only those in the know would have such a thing. Or even brought them here.”

  I didn’t bother questioning that logic. After all, I’d brought them in the hopes I’d find something… special.

  “Fine, but what would I get with the silver membership?”

  “Access to our library of curated knowledge. With a single silver coin, you’d be able to read basic primers and grimoires on near every subject.”

  “Basic?”

  “Yes, if you wish for more, that will unfortunately cost more.”

  “How much more?”

  “Next would be the gold membership, which would take a gold coin, or ten gold coins annually.” I sucked in a breath at that.

  “Isn’t that highway robbery?”

  He laughed. “It could be considered that, no? But trust me when I say the cost is worth it.”

  I wasn’t sure about that, but first… “Is that it then?” It appeared to be the last card here.

  “There is another level, the platinum level. That level is a bit different though, a single platinum coin is all you’d need and then you would get full access to our library. Not only that, but you would be given preferential treatment and made an honorary librarian.”

  Yeah… not that I had a platinum, but I don’t think I’d ever spend it on a library card. Especially when I wasn’t totally sure of its worth.

  “Of course, it is just an option.” He says, pulling back. “Now, any questions?”

  “A few. A silver coin seems a bit much for a month of access. Especially a gold coin.”

  “I understand you might think that, but knowledge is power after all. Our library is rather extensive, and as I said before well-curated. You could, if you so choose, use your silver coins to summon knowledge on your own. Doing that does come with its own caveats.”

  I leaned in and rested my elbows on the desk. “Do tell me.”

  “Of course, young miss, I would be glad to do so.” He says with a too wide smile and a flourish for effect. He then explains. “Knowledge called forth with a silver coin can be random at times. You can simplify the criteria, but what you get can range from hardly useful to exceedingly dangerous.”

  I nod.

  “We, here, at the Purgatory Library have a slew of librarians whose sole job is to work through such tomes of knowledge and discern fact from fiction. Separating the chaff from the wheat, so to speak. Part of the payment of membership pays for our continued pursuit of knowledge, and the inherent danger that comes with it.”

  “So… everything you have will be useful?”

  “Yes, and not just that. We’ve taken the time to collate and write tomes or guides to make learning more advanced subjects easier.”

  “That… definitely sounds attractive…”

  Especially when he puts it that way. If I wanted to be cheap and summon my own knowledge, knowing I might get junk… No, I may as well be in a casino rolling slot machines for a jackpot. In order to use silver coins for knowledge effectively, I would need a cadre of researchers to go over and read all of the tomes I summon, then they would need to curate and collate the results into something I could reasonably read.

  That… wasn’t a small undertaking. That would require building an entire organization, just to find new knowledge. Which beggars the question, why start from zero when the service was offered here?

  Clever… weren’t they?

  “Still, gold coins for the gold membership?” I asked, mostly to pivot. I wasn’t one to get suckered into a sales pitch.

  “Higher tier knowledge comes at a greater cost. Both in requirements and possible consequences.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. I checked my watch. I still had some time before it started to get dark.

  “I can still borrow books then?”

  “Yes, and if you get a silver or higher membership tier, it also includes the benefits of the lower tiers.”

  “If I wanted to buy one, could I?”

  “Yes, each book comes at its own price though.”

  Mm… which reminds me. “What if I were to come across a book in my travels or during events? Would you offer me anything for them?”

  He actually paused to think on that before responding. “If… if you were to bring us an untouched grimoire whose contents had not yet been implanted, we would offer a high price. Otherwise, we do offer bounties on books of knowledge, however we have no need to purchase them. After all, we can just make copies of the pages and bind them together.”

  Ah… Mm… I’ll need to come back with the book I have some day. Maybe it’ll get me something good. For now though, I was going to let my curiosity win and try out that silver membership. I did have coins to spend…

  “I understand, I’d like a silver tier membership today.” I pulled a silver coin out of my pocket and presented it. He took it with a smile and handed me a piece of paper to sign. I gave my name, showed my temporary identification. So on so forth, and soon enough I was the proud new owner of a library card. The card itself was silver looking, and it felt fairly weighty, like it was actually made of silver, or at least an alloy of silver. Not that I was sure either way.

  “Right, with that done, follow me to the silver tier section.”

  He led me behind the counter, where we went down a small hall, and into a side area of the library that was cordoned off. It wasn’t a huge area, it looked more like a kiddy area. The shelves weren’t huge or towering, but they were numerous. Further ahead, up a set of stairs was another area where a gold tether blocked off the way. Beside that, the area opened up with larger shelves, but compared to the rest of the library, it felt rather sparse here.

  “This is the silver area, please take your time to peruse the knowledge available. Ah, but if I may, this area here has mostly beginner books.”

  I nodded to that, and he left me alone to peruse. I had to crouch down to get a good look at the kiddie corner. I flipped through a few basic primers, my implanted knowledge easily filling in the gaps.

  The area seemed small, but there had to be a few hundred books at least in this area alone, with hundreds, if not thousands more, further beyond.

  Flipping through books, I kept an eye on the time and before long I stumbled on something that could be useful. My own knowledge was skewed to constructs and the like, but the book I found was on more basic enchantments. A quick flip through had me understanding what I was looking at, even if I really didn’t ‘understand’, so to speak. Decision made, I picked it up, along with a few other tomes on the basics of what magic was and such before making my way out.

  Prizes in hand, I checked out, was given the typical warning of not letting my books be overdue, though with a hint of death as a threat of continued truancy. On my way out, I shot a final glance at the receptionist.

  Something about him seemed… off. In some ways he made me think of Grim, but I also knew he was nothing like her. He lacked that magnetism that drew me in, but still… Mm… Well, it wasn’t too troublesome, not like Grim was.

  The moment I arrived home, I grabbed my supplies, ran to the bath, managed to squeeze a quick one in and head back with food and beers in hand.

  Once I plopped down, I cracked open the books and read through the basic enchantments. I ate, and made sure to avoid the beers, since I planned to use magic while I worked. Instead, I settled for some bottles of water I had in my fridge.

  The process wasn’t difficult, at first glance. In fact, it made me curious… So, I took the time to conjure my bullets and rifle. Notably, even without my rifle I could conjure bullets, they just took longer and were more costly. With the rifle though, it felt incredibly easy.

  For the first time, I actually properly inspected each bullet type. Under the lone light of my apartment, I could just barely make out the lines etched into them and compared them with the lines in the book.

  Some looked familiar, or similar to what was in the book, with minor variations. Standard bullets had a series of arrays built into them, etched into the ice. They were hardened, had a variety of what looked like velocity-based enchantments to boost their force. The actual casing of the bullet had ignition type arrays that were meant to interface with my rifle’s firing pin and so it went.

  It was fascinating and the hours flew by as I did my best to examine each bullet and how each one had their own unique enchantments.

  As the sun began to set, a chill settled over the apartment, reminding me that fall was here, and winter was soon to come… and more importantly, that I was going to need to buy a space heater at some point.

  After inspecting my bullets, I looked over my rifle. I’d handled firearms a few times before. So, I wasn’t a total novice, but this rifle felt different. It was my rifle. Just running my hand along the length of its barrel, made it feel like I was running my hand over my own body. It felt like it was part of me.

  I didn’t even need to fumble with the different parts as I slowly dismantled it. Allowing me a chance to look over the internals. It didn’t take long for me to run into an issue.

  The enchantments here, were clearly a step above what were etched into my bullets. Some looked familiar to those in the book, but wildly more complicated. And the way they interconnected with other enchantments made me think that each enchantment was just one part of a whole network.

  With a frustrated sigh, I set aside the rifle parts and called for the next piece of my gear, the bayonet. Even with my rifle pulled apart, the bayonet formed easily enough in my hand. The parts glowed lightly, as enchantments etched into it pulsed at my call.

  The blade was beautiful, dazzling even in the poor lighting. I could just barely make out a network of enchantments etched into it, giving it form. Still, after what felt like an hour of inspection, I didn’t feel like I was getting any closer to understanding just what it was I had in my hand.

  With a frustrated sigh, I set it aside and refocused. The rifle and bayonet were out of my hands, but the bullets? They were within my ability to replicate…

  Only, just what was I going to do with that knowledge?

  With that thought in mind, I went back at it. Taking the time to copy out the enchantments with a set of pen and paper I had with me, just for this occasion.