'Maybe becoming an information broker could be my next thing?'
With most of his plans now drafted, Theo could do little more than just think about the future while his nanites ate through yet another book.
In theory, all he did was sit out in the public, doing nothing but diligently studying the book. Just another face in the crowd of students and teachers alike, burning the night's candle to get some more studying done before calling it a night.
Theo, however, couldn't be any different from the rest.
While his nanites worked their magic on the book, the rest of his hive stirred inside of him, diligently gathering all the audio that Theo's ears could just barely register. They made out words from what Theo heard as background noise, turning it into data before crossing it with the existing database of the knowledge borne out of this world.
Just not to get himself bored, while pretending to diligently study, Theo actually observed the feeds of the hive-compiled meanings, monitoring the general trends in the silent discussions around him.
There were two, maybe three groups discussing some sort of theoretical problem from the magic engineering field, trying to get their project together before the submittal time coming as soon as tomorrow.
There was another group where two guys silently argued the pros and cons of some sort of cultivation technique and, two copy desks further away, a girl silently muttering under her nose as she read the long and complex incantations for the three-star spell.
With at least a few dozen more conversations Theo's ears could pick out of the noise, he could quite easily gather not only all sorts of rumors from those less focused on the task of studying, but also some interesting bits of various fields from those committed to their job and, completely on the side...
Theo managed to complete a rough map of what parts of the library correlated to what field of study.
It was a rough draft of a map, filled with holes, blank spots, and ambiguous borders between different fields, but for now, it had to suffice.
Because while it wouldn't allow Theo to instantly know where to find some sort of specific book, it was more than enough for him to know the general direction of it. And as with everything else, as Theo would gather more and more knowledge, information, and points of comparison within it all, his mental map would grow more detailed, more precise.
For now, however, with even his body pushing for Theo to get some rest, Theo dutifully picked up all of the books and scrolls he borrowed before taking on a long, arduous trip and returning the books exactly to the same place Theo took them from.
'This way, no one will be able to fault me for creating a mess,' Theo thought, making sure to cover his ass before any sort of shit could hit the fan.
It was a pure manifestation of raw pragmatism, the one skill that he came to adore after watching all sorts of fictional characters live without even a lone hint of it. The very same methodical approach to his unorthodox circumstances that Theo made absolutely sure to follow, terrified of ever becoming someone dense enough to claim he wants to stay low-key only to then act as if blending into the crowd was more of a suggestion than an iron-clad rule.
'Well, information broker or not,' Theo put the thoughts of the future aside as he finally returned the last of the books before leaving the library and turning his steps back to his room, 'it sure was one hell of a jackpot!'
Most of the books Theo scanned had absolutely nothing to do with fields that Theo found even most remotely interesting.
What was the undeniable benefit of scanning through all of them, however, was the much wider, much more wholesome look at the world around him.
In short, whether the books he scanned were of practical use to Theo or not, they provided his hive with this world's context.
And this context, once thrown against the hive's existing database, was quite damn sure to produce some interesting results!
Still, after going back and forth to change the books he borrowed for a total of two times, Theo still got his hands on several crafting books, two of which aligned with his own field of both interest and expertise.
'They sure are different from what I found back at my personal library,' Theo thought after scanning through the generalized summary of their content provided by the system, putting the task of reading through the hive-born analysis of both tomes for after getting a good night of sleep.
Before Theo could safely retreat to his quarters, however, he had to stop when he came face to face with…
Something?
It was roughly a triangular lump of an extremely uneven surface... A lump that soon turned out to be a silver-haired girl keeping herself warm under a thick blanket.
In a way, Theo found out just what it was that blocked his path.
But in no way could he tell just what made this extremely particular girl sleep at the doorstep of his room!