Chapter 88

William knew stories, and Outside was full of them if one looked for them. In some ways, they talked about some things better than some books or people. Jobs were the same, although there were some interesting fields where some people wouldn't understand it. He wondered if Ellie would, so he tried to give her some examples.

“Imagine it. Bodyguards, killers, assassins, you can name all kinds of jobs and there are professions out of necessity for almost anything. And yes, there are even some small libraries in some camps, and scavengers of knowledge, or even those devoted to some silly things like rocks. Then we have people. One would easily gather that teaching younger generations is better than leaving them to rot for nothing. Schools are the same. I can write well for my age, so don't be shocked to see me read as well.”

“Do you want some prize for that sort of thing?” Ellie argued.“I would refuse this job if you didn't know at least that much. I don't like illiterate people. It is like they gave up on the world and their human nature and decided to be brutes. It is shameful.”

“Really? Would you?”

Seeing his long look, Ellie glanced away at the floorboard. “No, but that is a different circumstance.”

“Aha! So you do have some value. Is it worse than teaching clueless people about the broader world?” William followed with a good question that ended up halting Ellie.

How to answer it? In a lot of ways, Ellie found William bare in some capacity, yet she didn't mind it. Discussions and learning came up with questions and arguments. Many people in the Federation taught her it was important to ask questions and talk. It was a sign of some intellect, so William wasn't as stupid as one would guess.

“Alright. It isn't that bad. I grew up in the Federation… all my life, so I know about some of the world, but not the tough reality Outside.” Ellie muttered hesitantly, in a fear of jealousy and a change of William’s attitude. Some Outsiders had some prejudice against people like her. It was inevitable, similar to how some elites regarded refugees with contempt.

Unlike her thoughts, William responded with an answer that she didn't expect. “That must have been hard.”

Chuckling, she maintained her clever image and slapped his shoulder “You are a funny guy. How old are you, seriously? There are ways to understand it in the Federation. You should get tested.”

“Is that so? Maybe that Examination will answer that, but who knows? If there is time, and you have no issue, can you teach me about the library and the structure of the Federation? It seems necessary if I were to stay here.”

Since she came up to him out of nowhere, and Luke or Mi-Yung might not have time for such things, Ellie sounded like the perfect guide for his needs. Meeting her might help his lacking life. Unwillingly, he ended up making a first friend and it wasn't even a day since he entered the Federation.

Dann would be shocked and hurt.

“Federation? Some things about the library are connected to it, so I might help. Well, if you will give me some compensation, let’s say for ten credits, I will bring you out and say or show anything you like.” Ellie added some charge for her service as a courtesy of her work, which spoke of her professionalism. It was something that William didn't refute. He would literally eat her time, so it made sense to compensate her for it.

But ten credits? Was it a lot or not? How big or how long would this sightseeing or learning about the Federation last?

“Alright,” William agreed without hesitation. There was no free meal in this world because everyone worked for themselves. Ellie was the same, and the prize meant some work and reasons, followed up by benefits and less hassle. Ellie found it much better than doing something that she didn't like. Dealing with boring people was one such thing.

With this being over, William moved to the first floor, which was up the stairs, and not beside the offices on the ground floor. Stairs led to the floor that wasn't hiding in any way since there wasn't a separate wall. There were no doors either.

Just one large and open corridor stretched from the left wall of this library to the other, depicting the whole first-floor entrance that was one giant balcony with a wall ahead that wasn't visible from the entrance. Turning would reveal the sight of the large room, entrance, big chandelier above, and colorful windows. This was the same for all the other floor's balconies and their respective corridors, giving anyone an elevated sight below.

Walls behind led to the library floors. Or nightmares. Some people had a fear of heights, stairs, or knowledge. William wasn't afraid of anything, or so he liked to think. Technology floors consisted of two floors. Besides that, he didn't know anything else. Was there even some difference between technology, or some economy, or these floors?

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He entered it to know his answers, which revealed an incredible amount of bookshelves going for hundreds of feet in many rows. They looked massive, yet inviting thanks to the tall ceiling and big rooms around them.

This was a library, a place where one learned and broadened their horizons. It was no school. It wasn't forced after all, and William wasn't here because he had to, but because he wanted it.

Around many corners, there were open tables with chairs for anyone to sit and read. It was silent, and not looking dark thanks to many lights powered by electricity in the ceiling or some additional lamps. Due to the size of the whole place, there were no windows beside distant ending walls. It wasn't cramped even with hundreds of people.

Thousands of books were everywhere and William wasn't aware what numbers were right, or what to look at first. He learned from Ellie that very few people could bring books outside this place. Standard passes were unable to do that and most people preferred to study here.

But borrowing was possible, albeit very expensive because it had time limitations. Buying a book was even less worth it for most people. There were also some books one couldn't buy or borrow because they were one-of-a-kind pieces. A lot of books were precious, so the library took care of the passes like a business. Most people with regular access had the opportunity to sit here in silence and get what their hearts desired at any time of the day.

Thus, such services as borrowing or buying weren't common and some saw them almost as stealing. A lot of effort went into this, so William didn't judge their methods. Just the fact that thousands of books existed before his eyes shocked him enough.

He saw a lot of people walking or sitting around, reading and learning because it wasn't that early, or late. Frankly, it was never too late to learn something, which was his honest belief. Although the premise of passes was yet to make complete sense to him, William forgot about it soon after he saw all those books.

Bookshelves went in chronological order of an alphabet, depicting many old original books or copies found under many protected archives scattered around the world.

Ellie didn't forget to mention how this library was created, or how this gathering of knowledge changed a lot of things. It wasn't about food or survival. This was about living and increasing quality of the living. She was quite fond of this knowledge of the past and people.

Some argued it was insensitive, saying that way too many resources and money went into this nonsensical library, or how this place would've rather made good use of some residences, if not some actual open work opportunities. After some time, those people shut up and times changed because everything started to make sense. It was yet another source of long-term game that Assembly and a certain individual with a weird hat made many years ago.

Knowledge was more important than some stupids would assume. Without it, humanity could stagnate even if Walkers were walls against the Darks. Their long-awaiting win was also far from sight, so advancement in knowledge or science was a good way to give people what they deserved.

Older or younger, it didn't matter. Every kind of person was around the bookshelves. William saw nobody below the age of ten, plenty of old people, and most were deep in some books, or writing some notes.

Ellie’s explanation made sense. People's time was worth a lot more in the Federation than Outside, though it was a different worth. Getting knowledge quickly was important for jobs so one could provide for the Federation, themselves, or their family. One could also get higher-paying jobs when one was skilled in certain areas, or if one proved to be much better than others thanks to some notable achievements or improvements, or unique courses.

Everything stemmed from the understanding that time was a resource. Almost like their hands and opportunities, or work of mind. Wasting it was not clever, thus this library had a reputation of immense value that the Federation accepted quite seriously.

It was well past the morning when William reached this point, and seeking out the unknown bookshelves he had no clues about came off as curious. He asked and talked to Ellie, giving her more words to lead him.

Ellie observed him as they walked and gave him plenty of choices as to what he should see or know. However, giving him an overall idea about the technology wasn't simple. There were books about lost professions and jobs that were no longer possible. A lot of them were also old and extinct in importance, but as many of them were there, there were equal if not more of those that mattered. This floor held fundamental practices for a lot of jobs, thus it was more oriented for many fields, businesses, and normal people.

It was also without any restrictions whatsoever, which Wiliam thought was weird because he thought Ellie said this was no charity. Then, he understood why that was the case. Many scientific books and teaching manuscripts were all free as long as one walked in. This allowed anyone interested, including youths to get interested in many scientific fields, or some manufacturing, or engineering.

The military had no small needs for them, hence many efforts came into giving people options and learning materials. Some jobs and books were even recommended due to their needs, advertised by some businesses or the military, or used as benchmarks for jobs.

Ellie found promising topics and starting points, deciding on basics with most floors. Regardless of William's knowledge base, she thought it was better than forcing him through some complicated details.

Even then, William felt overwhelmed and it wasn't her intention, but also not her time to stop anything. Overall, William was an uneducated person simply because this place was like son and moon compared to his tries being clever Outside. Even though Miss Anderson guided him well for the last two years, it did not change what already passed.

Stories, lessons, and the past ten years gave him deterrence, so this place was far out of his norm.

William found countless books and stuff that he had never heard of, and most of what Ellie was talking about went soon out of his mind because she never shut up.

What was some complicated science? What was arithmetic? Was it even a word? Equations were curses. Physics was a word of witchcraft.

But then, he noted books about agriculture, the earth's needs, and topics that required interest that weren't too hard. There were niche topics, books filled with sensibility and simplicity, or complexity that one would have to study for years to get their requirements. Complicated areas went through some specific bookshelves that had fewer visitors. And they were just books. They couldn't possibly shatter common sense and lead humanity to a new advent.