We decided to wash up and have dinner first.
While Llewellyn loaded the dishwasher, I sat on the sofa with Lumos and Penguin and opened the System window.
"System," I asked. "If Llewellyn joins me in my Core Partition, will he benefit from the… uh… Productive Loafing settings as well?"
The System replied immediately.
[Affirmative.]
"So if he sleeps there with me, he'll learn whatever I'm learning too?"
[Correct.]
Great. This was perfect.
"Can we bring the building layouts into the Core Partition with us and memorize them together then? Or is this limited to the books provided by the Core Partition?"
[System Notification: External resources can be brought into the Core Partition, though internal resources cannot be removed.]
That was what I'd been hoping for. I mulled things over.
"What about learning more than one thing per nap?" I asked after a moment.
[System Notification: Only one resource per sleep session is allowed. Users capable of waking up and falling asleep easily may divide their rest periods into two halves to absorb up to two resources per hour.]
So we could theoretically learn the building layouts first, wake up, swap the layouts for a book, then go back to sleep and tackle that instead.
Productive Loafing indeed.
Well, this all seemed good. I was a bit apprehensive about having Llewellyn over, but after all, I'd never even had Core Partition access if it wasn't for him, so he was definitely welcome.
"Ready?" Llewellyn asked.
***
When we teleported, the moon was already out. Even in my Core Partition, the large windows showed it was night outside, the moon visible in the sky.
"Here we are," I said after we materialized in the library, currently fully lit up in warm white light.
Llewellyn perked up immediately, putting Lumos down and looking around with great interest, as if taking it all in. I rubbed the back of my neck.
Llewellyn's eyes moved from the bookshelves to the elegant furniture in polished wood, to the flying feather dusters, to the expensive curtains, then swept over the luxurious bed visible through the doorway and he snorted.
"Well," he said. "This explains a lot."
"Explain what?"
"Your obsession with bedding," Llewellyn said, amused. "And why you kept fondling my blankets."
"Hey!" I said. Cashmere blankets aside, how had he even noticed the rest?! "I like to be comfortable."
Llewellyn huffed out a laugh.
I mean, I did! Why not? My flat was anything but. My current mattress was still lumpy. The System had zeroed in on my desire to relax properly somehow and delivered in spades, so. I was going to take it.
I put Penguin down and he transformed into a sugar glider, heading off to bother the flying dusters. I watched Lumos follow him, tail wagging.
"Mind if I look around?" Llewellyn asked.
"Suit yourself," I said. "We only have one hour though so we need to be quick if we want to— Ah, wait. I haven't explained."
While Llewellyn wandered around, I told him about my Core Partition setting and how I learned things while I was here. He raised both eyebrows.
"I see," he said.
"Does your Core Partition do that too?"
"I have several libraries and bookshops there," Llewellyn said, "as well as various resources. But I can only learn them the regular way."
Mmh. It looked like the Core Partition setting really did change things quite a bit. I wondered what his setting was.
Llewellyn was scanning the walls, thoughtful.
"I see what you meant when you said you couldn't find a door to the rest of the building," he said. "I'm assuming it might show up once you get extended access."
Uh. He was probably right.
I eyed the window. The place was lit like a hotel—warm uplights on stone, fountains reflecting the glow—and the building spread out from this central section in wide wings.
"What do you think would happen if we climbed down from here?"
Llewellyn eyed me.
"We'll likely be teleported back," he said. "I would agree to give it a go, but we would not be able to explore much with only one hour of access and you just mentioned the learning, right? We can try another time, if you don't get extended access sooner."
He was right. I sighed.
Llewellyn was examining the bookshelves, picking random books that seemed interesting, then his eyes caught on something and he stopped.
I frowned, following his gaze and…
Shit! The display cabinet!
I'd completely forgotten about that!
Llewellyn moved closer before I could stop him, staring at the miniature figure of himself, the sword replica, and the looping clips.
…Fuck.
I covered my eyes with one hand.
"Please ignore that," I said, wishing the ground would open up and swallow me. "The Core Partition made it. I didn't ask for it."
Llewellyn looked more and more amused by the minute.
"Why do you look so pleased!" I said.
"Why not?" Llewellyn said. "They're very good quality."
He opened the cabinet and picked up the figurine, examining it with raised eyebrows. "The detail is incredible."
"Don't touch the hair," I said. Looked like I'd decided to dig my grave even more.
Llewellyn's mouth twitched. "Why not?"
"It feels like yours. It's weird."
Llewellyn was grinning now. "You specifically tested that?"
Damn it. "I'm not answering that."
Llewellyn exhaled a laugh and set the figurine back carefully, moving to examine the miniature of his sword.
"This is very good too," he said.
I hummed. Judging by the heat, my face was probably flaming red.
Now that I thought about it, I'd never actually had a chance to ask before, but I was curious about his sword.
I cleared my throat. "Is it true that it was forged using post-Yun Seojun swordsmithing techniques—or whatever they say?"
Llewellyn looked at me.
"No?" he said. "I got it in a Dungeon, so likely not. Is that what people say?"
"Apparently. There was also this whole article on how the characters on your blade matched the calligraphy style from Huayuan District."
"That's correct," Llewellyn said. "But I had those engraved later. I know someone there who does calligraphy on metal."
Llewellyn materialized his sword and we stared at it side by side, comparing it to the miniature. It was indeed a perfect replica.
Llewellyn pointed to each character as he explained.
"This is 道: Dào. The inherent natural intelligence of life, how things flow when they're not forced. I also think of it as Magic, its full potential—both before and after differentiation."
Wait... My heart was thumping. I'd wanted to know about these for ages and he was just… telling me about them?!
His finger moved down.
"土: Earth. 金: Metal. 木: Wood. 水: Water. 火: Fire. 气: Air. The six elements. These already represent differentiation. Things we interact with. They help me channel the Elements through the blade."
That made sense. I could see why he'd chosen them.
"This last one is 德: Dé. It means inner power, inherent character, integrity, or virtue. It is an expression of Dào. In Magic's terms, I think of it as flowing with the power instead of forcing it."
Amazing. Honestly, I couldn't stop staring.
Maybe I should get some inscriptions on my Moonlight Sword too? Though I should probably learn to use it properly first.
Penguin chittered from across the room, having successfully annoyed one of the feather dusters into chasing him in circles after snatching a bunch of its feathers. Lumos barked at them.
I looked away, biting back a laugh.
Llewellyn vanished his sword, his gaze back on the cabinet, taking in the contents. The more he stared, the more he looked smug, his mouth curling up, his eyes repeatedly flicking to me.
Damn it. My face heated up again.
"Want to see the Global Magic Monitoring tool?" I asked, desperate to distract him from it.
Llewellyn's attention moved back to me immediately.
"Global Magic Monitoring?" he said. "Yes. What is that?"
I sighed in relief and beckoned him toward the sofa, before opening the System window. It expanded to show the world map with its moving colors and bright spots.
Llewellyn stood behind the sofa, staring at it above my shoulder, looking fascinated.
"This tracks Dungeons," I explained, "artifact movements, areas at risk for Knots..."
"Can you zoom in on Baekhaven?"
I gestured and the map focused on our city. Most of the area showed normal blue traces, but there were a few red lines indicating unstable artifact movement.
We located Hyunshore Hotel and we both frowned. There was… nothing there.
"It's either shielded," Llewellyn said, "or the artifacts haven't been moved there yet."
Both were possible. We'd met with TAPESTRY only three days ago and there were still four days to go before the auction. But then… where was the bull ornament now?
Llewellyn leaned over the back of the sofa as he watched me navigate the interface. His face was suddenly very close and I… uh… lost track of what I was doing.
"Focus," Llewellyn said, amused.
"I think we're done here," I said instead.
I closed Global Magic Monitoring and turned around. Llewellyn was even closer than I'd expected.
"So," he said, looking down at my lips. "How does this work? Do we just pick a book and fall asleep?"
Uh.
I pulled away before we could start making out or we'd waste the hour.
"I printed the building layouts," I said, standing up and pulling them out of my inventory. "I thought we could start from these. I'm going to ask the System to wake us up after the minimum time to learn them has passed, so we can switch to a book. If we can manage to fall asleep quickly both times, that is. I've only ever learned one book at a time, but I'd like to test this today, since the System said it's possible."
"Fair enough," Llewellyn said.
"Come on," I said, heading toward the bedroom.
The bed was as comfortable as always. I placed the printed hotel layouts on the nightstand while Llewellyn kicked off his shoes.
Penguin scampered over and climbed onto the bed between us, chirping contentedly, while Llewellyn picked up Lumos too.
"Is this fine?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. "Go ahead. Just place him above the covers."
Llewellyn nodded, then slid under the covers next to me.
I turned toward him. His hair was still messy from earlier and in the soft light from the windows and the fireplace, he looked unfairly attractive.
I gave up and kissed him.
Llewellyn let out a noise and kissed me back, pulling me closer against him.
We made out for a few minutes before pulling apart.
"Later," I mumbled. "If you want."
Llewellyn pressed closer for one last kiss.
"Yeah," he said.
Penguin burrowed between us, chirping happily, and I closed my eyes.
***
The System woke us after twenty minutes.
Looked like that was enough for the blueprints—which was great, considering we'd wasted almost a quarter of an hour looking around.
I felt like the hotel layouts had burned themselves into my brain. Every corridor, every exit, every camera position was stored in my mind now.
"How do you feel?" I asked Llewellyn.
"Like I could navigate that place blindfolded," he said, stretching.
Brilliant.
"Don't move," I said, still groggy. "Let me swap this."
I removed the layouts, grabbed Emergency Countermeasures: When Everything Goes Wrong from the floor where I'd placed it earlier and placed it on the nightstand.
Llewellyn cracked one eye open, reading the title on the spine. He snorted, pulling the duvet higher.
"Optimistic choice," he mumbled against my shoulder, before sliding closer to my throat.
Uh.
"Penguin selected this one. He's going to kill me if I don't learn it properly."
Penguin chirped approvingly, seeming particularly delighted that we were both here for it.
Though… Wait. If Llewellyn could learn here too, did it mean that Penguin had also learned all the books I'd selected so far?!
Damn, I needed to be more careful. Thankfully, Elementals didn't really have blood to use to perform Blood Magic, but still. I didn't want to teach him anything dangerous.
…And what about Lumos?!
Though I supposed this one was innocuous enough either way, and he obviously would have no use for the hotel layouts.
"Round two," I said, while Lumos circled in place to find a comfortable position again and Penguin climbed out of the covers to go snuggle with Lumos instead.
Llewellyn pulled me closer, his arm around my waist.
"Sleep," he murmured, his breathing already evening out, and we both drifted off again.