After Logos and Pathos had finished their spiel, the two of them stood up to turn and see what Zhen Liu was referring to. Reactions of surprise were plain by their body language.
Pathos proclaimed while pointing towards the new and improved library.
=Pity. I had just figured out how to add animation transitions to my slideshow presentations too,= Logos commented as she threw a small USB stick behind her.
Jin Fang and the kaijin didn’t react to the appearance to the object, but it caused Zhen Liu to mentally ask himself, how and why.
But, before he could he begin to ask why a pair of kaijin, that he was pretty sure didn’t create, could know what the hell a computer was, Hurricroak interjected with her own question.
"Hey, Hurricroak here, nice to meet you both in person, especially you Pathos-"
"-but, uh...you two mentioned taking on those forms, does that mean y’all can like...shapeshift?"
Logos and Pathos looked at each other for a moment, before turning towards Hurricroak while doing a "sorta" gesture with their hands.
=Shapeshifting requires someone to have a default shape to shift,= Logos explained, =the two of us, have no set shape.=
Pathos walked ahead of the group, and began to take on a more masculine form with every step she took. Once he got far enough, Pathos turned to face the group.
"A woman," Zhen Liu answered.
"A man," everyone else said in unison.
The disconnect in answers caused Zhen Liu to look at Nepherage, Frosttusk, Hurricroak and Jin Fang with a funny expression, and vice versa.
Was he being lied to right now?
Before their very eyes, Pathos had transformed without so much as a puff of smoke into a six tailed kitsune with a mask for a face and ivory white fur.
"A clown," Zhen Liu answered.
"A fox," everybody else answered at the same time, again, different from what Zhen Liu had said.
"Milord, are you okay? Did the desert sun get to you?," Nepherage asked. The worst part about this question was that, Zhen Liu could feel the absolute sincerity in this question, so he couldn’t even get mad at her.
"I’m fine Nepherage, it’s just... waitaminute...are y’all somehow retroactively changing their memories?," Zhen Liu asked.
Pathos exclaimed before changing back into her clown form,
"Huh? But you didn’t shapeshift at all," Hurricroak stated. Logos rolled her eyes at the statement before lightly bopping Hurricroak on the head, as well as everyone else too. As she did this, wisps of black, polygonal shaped energy entered their respective heads.
"Hey! What’d you-oh...whaaaaaat? But I swear you were a man, and a fox this whole time. Am I losing my head? Frosttusk, check if my head is still screwed in tight!," Hurricroak asked while presenting her neck to the mammoth kaijin. Frosttusk just sort obliged and stared for a minute before giving Hurricroak a thumbs up.
=To elaborate on Logos’s statement, the two of us are able to change form, but when we do so, it’s more like we change the very [definition] of our existences. So when we change from x to y, most beings will assume we’ve always been "y". Now, shall we get to the more interesting part?=
Introductions out of the way, Logos and Pathos led the group deeper into the library and began to explain the general layout and where to find what.
=The Library of Nowhere is organized based on the Aether Elemental Wheel, as such, each of the arts, formulas and relevant knowledge is in their respective section, which have been color coded for your convenience.=
=All of Ethereal grade and below arts and formulas are available on this floor and above, so feel free to take a look around and learn a thing or two if you want.>
Curious about the truth of this statement, the group began a cursory look around the nearby shelves. Granted, the kaijin didn’t really need to hardcore memorize or learn any of these arts due to Zhen Liu being able to metaphorically "look under their hoods", but you know, it helps to understand.
{Where in this library can we do it in public privacy?!}
=Oh right, forgot about that. Milord, stand still for a minute. Pathos, go make sure everyone else is attended to.=
"Huh? What are you-gah!"
While everybody else began to look around in peace, Logos had unexpectedly grabbed Zhen Liu’s face, pulled it down and proceeded to somehow shove her entire hand into his ear. It felt like the world’s squirmiest Q-tip.
"Gah, why, no, bah! Why is it so deep?!"
=Don’t worry, it’ll be over soon.=
Of course, his cries sorta fell on deaf-ish ears, so while Zhen Liu is dealing with an impromptu surgical removal, let’s see what the others are up to...
________________________________________________
Ignoring and/or not noticing Zhen Liu’s predicament, Jin Fang wandered over to the green shelves which contained all of the Aeroqi arts and formulas and began to look around.
’I knew there were countless arts and formulas in the wider world, but...damn. Didn’t think there would actually be this many," Jin Fang thought to herself as she looked down an aisle of shelves. She wasn’t sure how far it went, but she couldn’t see an end to it.
Out of randomness, she pulled a random art scroll from the shelves and read it over.
"[Garuda’s Bluster]? An Aeroqi art that enabled the user is to mimic the power of the Garuda clan...waitaminute...this is a major Ethereal art!," Jin Fang exclaimed shock. As she looked over the shelf she pulled it from, she soon realized the entire shelf was full of major Ethereal arts. The sight and realization absolutely stunned her.
For context, the Zhen Clan only had access to about five major Ethereal arts, with hearsay staying that the Wolfe and Corradas had four and three, respectively. The shelf she was looking at, had about a hundred or so.
Average price of a major Ethereal art was around...one hundred thousand gold coins, so she was essentially staring at enough money and power to buy out Stone Claw City several times over.
’No wonder Zhen Liu and his kaijin are so powerful...guess I should take this time to study up.’
Taking the [Garuda’s Bluster] scroll and several other ones off the shelves, Jin Fang sat down and began to read over their contents.
’First step is to condense your internal aether into Garuda wings which are six feet in length and..."