....Well, it's not actually his problem if this dumb distractible enclave kid dies because he didn't get around to finding his room before curfew. "If you want. Let's finish checking this hall so you can keep track." There are only four doors left, it won't take long. 

Check check check the rooms. "What novels do you like?"

"I haven't read very many." By which Masozi means he's read half of one novel, for English practice, before the librarian chased him out for crimes of Being Poor And Weird. "I think I'd like novels about - people building really big projects?" 

"I wonder if we can convince the library to get you some books. If not, maybe Nie Huaisang can write you one. He's a really good writer."

"He is - one of the other people in the Shanghai enclave?" 

"Yeah! He's my best friend. He's really cool. He does a lot of art and he knows how to make moonshine."

Being able to do art and write novels does not exactly seem like a relevant survival skill. Unless the kid can do art that animates and chases mals for him, or something. 

"What is 'moonshine'?" he asks, while pausing to check the stairs for mals.

"Alcohol from the nutrient paste. Or toilet paper, or regular paper. He's planning to experiment since all the stuff here is magic."

That sounds incredibly disgusting. "Why is it useful to make that?" 

"I don't know if you've noticed but being at the Scholomance is awful because all your friends are dying and you're being attacked by rogue homework. So sometimes you want to shut your brain off for a bit so it stops hurting."

....Masozi is not going to say that actually the Scholomance is proving to be the least awful place he's ever experienced in his life, because even he has enough tact to realize that this would not help. What sort of lives do enclaver kids have, anyway? They must have it really good, for the Scholomance to seem so awful in comparison. 

"That sounds risky," he says, "but I guess if you have friends to watch your back...?" 

The stairs are free of mals. They can proceed up to the library. 

"Well, you know, people do a lot of things that increase their risk of dying. For example, I sometimes let Lan Zhan out of my sight."

"...We think about things differently." Masozi pauses at the landing, holding up a hand, and checks for mals again. "- I do sometimes help people when it's not helping me not die right then? But I think that's still - about not dying, just in the future, because then more people will be willing to help me if I need it." Which he intends to avoid as much as possible, but still. 

Stairs and checking for mals nonstop without using magic is earning him a decent chunk of mana, at least, and now: LIBRARY!!!!!! 

Library!!!

What if he tries glaring at a bookshelf and expecting really hard that it will contain the complete works of Becky Chambers.

This does not even slightly cause the library to manifest a shelf full of novels! Just books about magic here. ...And maybe that one includes a lot of dramatic mythology along with its spells? Which is sort of storylike? 

"No luck on the novels about building things front."

What about meditating? Meditating is a way of building mana, therefore it is magic, therefore it belongs in this library.

The library makes him work a bit for it, but he can totally find a book on meditation! However, it's in Mandarin. 

Masozi is still standing sort of vaguely by the nearest shelf, basking in the sheer number of BOOKS surrounding him, and feeling slightly overwhelmed by it. 

"Bad news, the book is in Mandarin. If you decide you want to meditate I can translate it for you?"

Masozi considers this for a while, seriously. 

"- Can you teach me Mandarin? It seems important to know."

"Mandarin is one of the hardest languages for English speakers to learn. I don't know if you've tried to pick up something tonal before...?"

"I don't know what 'tonal' means but I don't think languages are very hard to learn. I learned Zulu in the last three months - after my parents died - and it was harder to study not in the school because I didn't have books and mals kept trying to eat me all the time." 

"...holy fuck that's impressive."

"This school is so good! I thought it'd be worth it but I didn't think it'd be this good! There's practically no mals and there are other students who are better at killing them! ....Anyway what does a tonal language mean. I don't know if I've learned any but I bet I could." 

"A tonal language means that mà and má and mā are different words but I really want to get back to this part where the Scholomance is relaxing for you."