The meal was great, their herbs and seasonings were alien to him but tasted amazing. He stretches at the doorway of his home and carefully steps out. He's instantly hit by how windy it is outside that his small body wobbles. 'I need to work on my body's strength...'
He locks his home's door behind him with one of the two keys they own. His dad has the other one but this felt weird to him... 'Why does Grandpa and Mom not have a key?'
[Maybe they're like ninjas! Who needs keys when you can just sneak inside with tricks?]
'I... I doubt it but I know little of my family history to deny it.' Reece sighs walking down the path of the village towards the old library. He cautiously looks around to avoid the other kids. If he ends up tangled into their games then he's never getting details he needs to know before the hero is here.
[Why do you need this information before the hero is even here? It's years before they show up]
'The logic is simple, I can't train my small body currently, so I need to build my knowledge of this world then spend the rest training and gathering resources when I'm older.' Reece had a simple goal, to prepare for the battle against the demon king. He'll need so much to help whoever's coming. He sighs about him needing to explain this for someone soul bound with him. 'You don't really pay attention to my inner thoughts from what I've noticed.'
[Bleh! Of course, I don't want to see whatever fantasies you get in there. Human minds are gross :p]
"Fair." Reece couldn't really argue with that logic having essentially been a walkie-talkie type of mental communication. It feels like a click in his head every time they have a conversation. He made a mistake by blurting out a single word...
'Dang it, I hope that wont become a habit.' He shakes his head as an old building gets closer. It's the biggest one in town but from how far it is from the town's center, this feels like an ancient watcher looming in the distance of the settlement. He looks up at the details, this place was like a place of worship.
A pit in his stomach forms as he feels like a weight of whatever Idol this place was built for oozes out from the wood and into the air. He takes a deep breath and exhales before heading towards the rather small door for an imposing temple of books and knowledge.
A loud creak sound is made as Reece steps into the library. It's dim inside with only amber light from crystals hung up on the ceiling and walls. The air was dry but the smell of paper still hit his nose. This place has that weight from outside become even more intense than before.
"O-oh hello!" A weak voice of a little gnome girl speaks from a front table in the library. She wears blue robes and an oversized puffy hat. She adjusted her glasses and got a better look at Reece. "You're... A new visitor! Welcome to the library!!"
Reece smiles at the young girl, she seemed roughly his age if not a bit older. He's a bit frazzled by the aura of this place but manages to speak up. "Y-yeah, I'm here to read some books."
"When Master left me to watch the library, I thought I'd be alone all day!" She beams at Reece with an excited grin. Her expression shifts to embarrassment. "Oh wait, introductions! Uh um, I'm Irma, it's wonderful to meet you."
"I'm Wolfhard! So, your master left you alone with all these books?" Reece's inner child briefly takes over for this with his evil grin. "What kind of forbidden books have you found?"
"N-none!? I would never read any!" Irma gets flustered by Reece's words. She puffs up her cheeks looking at him. "I'll make sure you don't either!"
"No worries! I'm joking with you, your mentor must be proud to have a student like ya!" Reece walks around the front desk into the library proper. The atmosphere almost lifts off him after talking to Irma? "Where's the history books?"
Irma follows behind him, her body language clearly shows uncertainty about him. He's not really worried how she views him at all while taking the biggest chair at the center of the library and pulling up the closet book. The plush red seat kinda pulls him in as it's plenty squishy! It felt like sinking into a pool of pillows.
The book in his hands bares a rough cover from ages of being handled and conditions from before its time in this perfectly maintained library. Reece feels its weight push against his arm strength as his eyes adjusted to the light in this place to read this book's name 'Idols of History, Their symbolic spirits'. That title gripped him immediately after reading it, those beings whose power drives this world's society.
[Oh! That'll be helpful for you, maybe your skills will lend you some more insight on it?]
'I am going to hope that it's their version of classical english.' Reece ponders before hefting the book onto his lap and opens it to the first pages. He ignores the gnome watching him from a distance while reading over the faded name of the person that wrote this aged page. His face grows a frown, failing to figure it out.
'J and O? What kind of ink did they use?? Ugh, I'm just calling him Joe until I find it somewhere.' Reece sighs, flipping past that section to get instantly hit by the writing style of this person. It was good that he came to know Gnomeish but this was very different in terms of grammar comparing it with the one he's read before. Is it similar to the difference between old English and modern English? His proficiency in language from his past life studies helps greatly understanding this.
Of course, several hours pass as he's absorbed in reading this ancient scholar's work. Each sentence needed a moment to pull apart and understand what the depth of every word meant in combination. His fellow bookworm eventually got used to his presence before going back into her own reading then... That screen appears...
[Reeeeeece~ How's your reading doing?]
Reece snaps out of the groove he'd found himself in while going through the pages. He sighs having to address the system who interrupted his work and pretends to keep reading while in reality focusing on conversing mentally with his contract bound companion. 'It was going well until someone interrupted my tempo, I learned vital information on idols and this power source.'
[Oh... Sorry, I was just curious because I'm not getting all the thoughts you're having]
'You are getting some of my thoughts?' Reece couldn't help but raise his eyebrow at learning that.
[Not completely? Imagine your mind as a house and I'm in a different room, if thoughts are strong enough then I might get everything but subtle ones get to me as fragments.]
'Does that mean I could share memories if I focus enough?' Reece ponders this whole set up before shrugging it off. 'I can test that later, you're curious what I'm learning, right?'
[Sorta? But yeah, I'd like to learn more about this world.]
Idols are spirits blessed by the divine throne. Each one is a flowing river of essence created by their symbology and everything that bears these marks allows for someone to tap into one of the idol's grand reserves. Those blessed enough for the idol's divine essence to flow through them could perform sorcery unmatched by tricks simply worshipping.
'ThentheauthorgoesintothereligiousaspectofitlikehowKoboldsworshipmostlythesunidolandGoblinswiththeearthidol,etc...It's an interestingmysticismforthisworld.' Reece quietly flipped a page going over some aspect of what he's gained by reading this ancient tome.
[Huh, that's a pretty interesting setup here, I should request data from this world's god to help our job.]
'You can do that?? Could you please request some lore about the demon king? I will need that to beat them.' Reece's expression scrunched in frustration at the system revealing something that may save him a lot of effort.
[Weeeeeeell, It'd depend on the god and if they'd use it as a quest reward? However, You'll know instantly when I finally get it!!]
Reece sighed before going back to his study. The idea that it's purely on a whim if he'll get anything useful on the threat that requires his help doesn't really sit well in his head. For now, he can rely on himself to learn everything this sanctuary of knowledge offers him, which might be the few bonuses he's getting out of the contract with his world's god.
Wisdom is powerful after all and he'll learn all that's possible from each world's unique identity.