Chapter 6: Scanning Books
The Burrow
Ronald Bilius Weasley
July 3, 1989, Monday
Ron had achieved one of his goals for the day.
But why did he want those books, even though he already read and learned them?
Of course, to lessen the suspicions that would arise when he put his real knowledge into practice.
Otherwise, how could he convince them he had invented and crafted something new when he himself had never even read a book about magic?
"Huh? Are you giving Ron books? I want books too!" Ginny blurted out suddenly.
Well... she was eight years old at the moment and probably just wanted something her brother had gotten without fully understanding what was going on.
"Ginny, honey. Those are Hogwarts books. It's too early for you to read them," Molly Weasley said.
"But Ron doesn't go to Hogwarts either. If he can get them, why can't I?" Ginny retorted.
"Ginny, your reading isn't even proper yet. Now that I think about it, we need to work on that," their mother countered.
"I don't care, I want books too."
"Ginny Weasley..." His mum began, but Ron interrupted, just as his mother was about to switch into angry Molly Weasley mode.
"Mum, it's alright," he said, then turned to Ginny and continued, "Ginny, if you want, you can read them with me while I study. After all, there's only one of each."
It was true that there was only one of each book. But he chose not to mention that they could read different books at the same time.
"Really?" Ginny asked.
Ron knew she didn't really want to read the books. What she wanted was not to be left out.
"Of course. After reading those books, I was thinking of making new games for us to play."
"New games?" Ginny asked with a new sparkle in her eyes.
"Yes. But it will be difficult for me to come up with new games while learning from the book. I've got it. While you're coming up with new game ideas, why don't I read the books? After I learn them, I can teach you. That way you won't have to read the boring parts?"
"Really? I'll come up with new games, and you will teach me what you've learned?" she asked.
"Yes. But during this time, you need to write down every idea that comes to your mind, okay?" he said.
"Okay, Ron. I'll write them all down," Ginny said, a smile on her face as she refocused on her food.
Ron gently patted Ginny's head. Unlike this morning, Ginny giggled, pleased by the attention, instead of getting angry at Ron.
Well... this was mainly because he hadn't messed up her hair like he had this morning, and because their sibling bond had strengthened today.
Ginny no longer thought that everything he did was to annoy her.
Meanwhile, everyone in the kitchen watched, frozen, as Ron easily dealt with Ginny.
"You'd better finish your food before it gets cold," Ron said, and after everyone snapped out of their daze, they were still bewildered but quietly focused on their food.
The rest of the meal passed peacefully. And after dinner, Molly Weasley took out the first-year Hogwarts books from where she kept them and gave them to Ron. But not before reminding him again to be careful.
Ron went to his room with a smile on his face, books in his arms, and carefully placed them on his bed.
Besides using these books as a pretext for the knowledge he had acquired, he wanted to use them for another purpose as well.
"Alfred, I want to scan these books and add them to the library. What do I need to do?"
[The library's scanning function allows Master Ronald to scan books within a 100-meter radius. Just think "Scan."]
'Scan.'
Then a new panel appeared before Ron, listing books the library had found.
Ron could remove any book from the list if he wished.
There was also a lot of information beside each book, such as whether it was available in the library or if it was a different edition.
Ron asked him to continue scanning without removing any books from the list, and the scanning process began immediately.
As the scanning process began, numbers appeared beside each book, showing the percentage of the scan and the remaining time.
All scans started simultaneously and finished exactly one minute later.
This surprised Ron somewhat.
If all books could be scanned simultaneously and the scanning time was the same for all, why was information showing the individual scan progress displayed for each book?
When Ron asked Alfred about this, Alfred's answer helped him understand the reason.
[The library can currently scan 100 books at a time. If more than 100 books need to be scanned, the excess books must wait for the previous scan to finish.]
[The scanning time varies depending on whether or not the books have a protective spell embedded in them. It takes one minute to scan a book unless there is a spell. The scanning time for books with a protection spell varies depending on the strength of the spell, Master Ronald.]
"The individual scan status indicator makes more sense now. But still, despite these restrictions, copying the Hogwarts library still is something I can accomplish."
The System Library could scan 100 books per minute. This meant he could scan approximately 6000 books in an hour spent in the Hogwarts library.
He was confident he could thoroughly scan the Hogwarts library in a month, even by dedicating just one hour a day.
Of course, this was assuming the books didn't contain any protective spells against scanning.
But Ron didn't think such spells protected the books in the unrestricted section. After all, those books were already available to every student.
As for the books in the restricted section, Ron thought it would be better to deal with them after taking the necessary precautions.
He didn't want to get caught in the restricted area and punished during the first month of school.
Ron thought of calling one of the books he had just scanned when a book appeared in his hand.
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.
But this book was in perfect condition compared to the one he had just scanned. Ron saw that the book's publication date was eight years prior. It was most likely a book Bill had used when he started at Hogwarts.
But creating a copy of the book in perfect condition was something Ron hadn't expected. If he could copy this book too, he could even make money from it.
"Alfred, is it possible for me to physically duplicate the books in the library?"
[Unfortunately, that's not possible, Master Ronald. Books in the library cannot be duplicated. Also, the same book cannot be scanned again, and a book with the same title and publication year cannot be scanned and re-added to the library. The library currently does not support these features.]
"That's a pity. But it's not important. But you said the library doesn't have these features right now, Alfred. Is it possible for it to have them in the future?"
[The extent to which the system features can be improved depends entirely on Master Ronald's efforts and luck. But nothing is impossible. Just as nothing is guaranteed.]
"So, it's possible, but it depends on me, and you're not going to give me any more information. You're saying I should figure it out myself, huh?"
[Precisely, Master Ronald.]
"I understand. I'll figure it out eventually," he said, carefully gathering the books from his bed and placing them on his desk.
Then he lay down on his bed and decided to go back to the library. It was still too early to sleep, but Ron wanted to make the most of his time and learn everything he needed to know as quickly as possible.
Moreover, he intended to claim his first achievement card in the Achievements section.
Achievement: First Spell Casting
This was Ron's first achievement card in the Achievements section. And as you can imagine, he could achieve this by casting his first spell.
His reward for this success would be a wand that fits him perfectly, with a 100% match.
Frankly, Ron intended to complete this achievement when he entered the Library in the morning.
His plan at the time was to read and learn from the first-year Hogwarts books in the Library, then move on to the Workshop area to practice, but he had become so engrossed in the books that he had unknowingly continued studying until lunchtime.
The Library was just a place where he could read books and study. Therefore, he couldn't perform magic there, but he was completely free to practice at the workshop.
And this time, he wanted to make the most of it, dedicate time to practice, and perform his first spell.
But first, he wanted to finish reading all the materials from all the Hogwarts years. Then he would dedicate some time to practice, and after that, he would focus on the materials from other schools.
And after finishing the school materials, he would move on to beginner-level crafting books.
He aimed to finish all of this, along with practice, within this week.
Then he would have finished all the books he could read, and he would need to buy new ones to learn more. Or browse through them.
But before buying new books and accessing more advanced knowledge, Ron wanted to see what he could do with what he had learned.
Meaning, after a week, he planned to create his first invention by hand.
After formulating his plan of action in his head, Ron wished and found himself back inside the Library.
Without wasting any time, Ron retrieved the unread and unfinished fourth-year Hogwarts books and sat down at his desk.
But before beginning his studies, he called out to Alfred.
"Alfred, please let me know when I've finished all the Hogwarts books."
[As you wish, Master Ronald.]
And then Ron began studying, and the next moment, he entered super-focus mode.
And for about 5 and a half hours, by the outside world's time, he continued to absorb all the books one by one until Alfred's voice broke his focus.
[Master Ronald, you have read all the books in the Hogwarts curriculum. The book you are holding is from the first year of Beauxbatons.]
"Oh..." Ron snapped out of focus and looked at the book in his hand. Super-focus mode was truly something else. He would most likely have continued reading all the books until someone warned him.
'I should probably tell Alfred to set an alarm before I spend any time here.'
"Alfred, what time is it?" he asked.
[It's 00:58 AM, Master Ronald.]
"Oh. Have we already entered a new day? That means I've been studying for almost five and a half hours. Which meant about twenty-three days in here."
[Yes, Master Ronald.]
Ron then stood up and stretched. Not that he needed to, just because out of habit.
Now it was time to put what he had learned into practice and cast his first spell.
Being a bookworm wasn't a bad thing.
But besides being someone who possessed knowledge, he also wanted to be someone who could use that knowledge.
End of Chapter 6.