After his time on the roof of the inn passed Satoru decided it was time to seek out something he was interested in and that he had been meaning to look at for some time. He approached the temple with a confident stride paying proper respect to the fortune of wisdom before heading to the stacks.

He had messaged Hyeon-ju to let her know he would be at the library in case she wanted to study a little together as they had discussed the other day.

Having done some late night studying the night before, Hyeon-ju figured she might as well repeat it today in preparation for tomorrow's challenges.

She felt she had done rather well today, but sadly not enough to place... still, to lose to a pair of Doji Courtiers and her kinsman was acceptable.

"Kuchiki-san," she greeted as she found him amongst the stacks, her voice lower than usual to respect the quietness of the library.

He turned toward the Utaku and nodded a soft smile already on his lips that grew a fraction upon seeing her. It seemed being in such a place of knowledge had him more emotive and animated. "Good evening Utaku-san, I hope the day has found you well." he took her in briefly "I see you look as impeccable as ever."

"Thank you," she nodded, pleased that he took notice of her attire and appearance. What was the point in looking good if people didn't take notice, right?

"You seem very much at home here amongst the shelves in a library."

"Of course, you work hard on your appearance you should know when it is appreciated." He said before quickly moving on.

"Well my prayers often if not always are directed to the fortunes of knowledge and wisdom." Indeed if one looked at the prayer beads he constantly wore he had small symbols of the fortune of wisdom and what many would call the dark fortune of knowledge, along with one or two others. "This place of worship is very close to me, and while I venerate knowledge above all other, without wisdom to apply it knowledge is either useless or dangerous."

"Knowledge... you speak of Shourido?" she asked calmly, her tone carefully neutral as it often was.

Satoru closes the book he was skimming and nods his own expression neutral as well "The basis of all right thinking knowing the facts of a situation." He quoted the tenant of Shourido.

"How much do you know of the Dark Path to Victory?" He says with a bit of wryness in his voice at the nickname for the code.

"A little." Hyeon shrugged. "It and the Dark Fortunes aren't too widespread outside of the Spider. At least not in Unicorn space. Bushido is still held in its rightful place as the model for samurai to follow."

And she did believe that Bushido was the ideal for samurai.

"Though I acknowledge that the Dark Virtues have their worth too, and those virtues can be part of shaping a better samurai. Perfection is an ideal to to consider to be the best samurai we can be. Determination, Strength, and Will are all virtues we look for in warriors."

Satoru nodded he hadnt dare hoped the gorgeous Unicron was also some sort of Shourido convert. Though that she embraced some of its tenants was heartening "Perfection is a dangerous tenant to follow perhaps one of the most dangerous outside maybe Control or single minded Will. I myself adhere most closely to Knowledge and Insight, which I'm sure is of little surprise but determination and will are also important to me."

His eyes had a vaugely approving light to them "Not many willingly admit to knowing much about Shourido outside of Spider territory from what I understand."

"It is not unheard of, but it's true that most don't speak of it. I consider it a part of a samurai's duty to be well-read and knowledgeable, to have at least some passing knowledge of it."

Know thy enemy and all that.

"I just don't think it holds equal value to Bushido. But... hm... I can't imagine it's that much different among the Spider, no? Bushido is the standards to which a samurai hold themselves, even amongst your kin, right?"

Satoru nodded a small smile "The tenent of knowledge to a T but yes Bushido has its place within the Spider, though I am sure we have more zealous followers of Shourido than any other clan for obvious reasons."

"It is also the recommendation of Lord Akodo, that a samurai should sharpend their minds as well as their weapons." Lion Clan would probably have a collective brain-hemorrage if they heard the implication that their Kami founder had values in line with Shourido.

"But yes... I imagine that is probably the case." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, I've been doing a bit of studying on my own these past days. More on theology, as well as engineering - to understand some more than just my own flying machine."

He nodded at the transition of topic "Ah yes getting ready for the robotics rally? I know a bit about engineering, fleshcraft is my main field of study but many of the same principals apply at least at the base level."

"Yes. When considering the contests remaining the hosts are putting on for us, I think that is the one I might be least prepared for. I know the basics of machinery, as all pilots must, but actually... building anything, that is outside of my field." She frowned, displeased with having to cram in such a short span of time for this particular failing of hers.

"One cannot be an expert of all things but to be aware of your weakness is the first step, to have the will to work on it is the second. It is not bad to lack knowledge only bad to not try to learn." He said approving of her seeking of knowledge.

"And i am no robotics expert but I will do my utmost to help you out. Now, here there is only so much we can do books on the subject are plentiful and we can look over those to build a foundation of knowledge but I think it would be most helpful to see if the Phoenix have some sort of engineering bay or lab that we could access so you can get some hands on time." His normal fidgets or nervous mannerisms seemed to melt away in this place, talking on something he was knowledgeable about. He was decisive and confident obviously he had not only a passion for knowledge but also for teaching.

"Hmm... alright. I don't know if they have any such thing here though, at such a late hour."

She was a diligent student, and while she was a prodigy of her school, a lot of her successes there had been because of her intense focus in working hard to improve herself and to study. So in contrast to the Kuchiki for once feeling at ease and confident, this was one of the few moments where the normally cool Utaku seemed a touch frustrated with herself in having to overcome her own shortcomings in a short span of time.

"But we can go over the basic theory... I know that there is a lot of magic involved in the machinery of our fighters, but would it be the same for a much smaller scale like this? Appeasing the kami in the uh... robot, I guess?"

That felt like the title of a renga she had read when she was younger.

The frustration of lack of knowledge was one Satoru knew all too well "Yes not at this hour but perhaps tomorrow or the next day we could look into it."

He looked around they were currently in the theology section he waves his hand "Come." It was said almost as a command but likely just born of his single track mind as he takes off down the stacks.

Satoru had only been here a short time but he seemed to know how the library was laid out and they were quickly in the robotics section and he was quickly looking over texts grabbing one here or there as he spoke in a semi distant voice "Yes you are partially right most Rokugani technology is powered by kami. The robotics are just a casing for the kami. It's the spirit in the shell that does all the actual work. But the work they can do is determined by the limitation and quality of the casing you give them."

The commanding tone did not bother her. She was a military woman, and used to it, and she followed wordlessly.

"Determined by the quality..." she considered her Kami-pet, and how small and simple the casing was. No wonder why the little thing wished to be pleased during the day. She'd want that too if she was stuck in such a small thing.

"... So, what do you mean by quality? High-grade materials, or decorative paint-jobs?"

"Materials, Structure, quality of the work really. The complexity of the machine dictates what the kami can do with it. Take firearms for instance" he began looking to an example she could relate to "a sidearm and a marksmanship rifle are the same basic concept. Fire kami stored in magazines go through the machine and focus through a prism before being released. The only real difference is in the mechanism they are focused through and the amount. See what I mean? The kami work the same way but are limited by the thing they are in."

"Hmm... I see," she nodded, understanding better with examples she could relate to. "I really don't envy my navigator-siblings now who have to take all this into consideration for their ships."

Hyeon-ju had a book already out herself, one she had borrowed from the library earlier, and was opening it to check for references. "... I hope there will be some schematics to work with. Making a lot of this stuff from scratch would be intense."