In the Central District, right in front of the vast and open space that is the main square of the city. William sees the same building as yesterday. There is nothing different within its majesty.
Not like he is not impressed with it the second day in a row. He still is, but it lacks the first impression, which is always the most mind-blowing. His worry about that would disappear. He would eventually not think too much about the impressions of extraordinary, what would consider his past self.
William will grow and get accustomed to this. There is still one lingering thing within his mind that keeps coming up. If this is so impressive in his opinion, what would the Emblem Academy look like?
Likewise with the Federation. The Academy is similarly famous, and perhaps more so, since the Walkers of many organizations and nationalities, caries information about it, which they eventually leak out Outside.
William knows that the impressiveness and sight that he heard from the descriptions alone, leads him to believe the similar, if not higher, marvelous sights in the Academy. Though, at no point, has he heard the very detailed expressions about the Academy. Only the basis of incredibly strong Walkers that could save cities' worth of people, and fight against the hordes of the Dark beings.
Although, he does not know where the Academy is because no one ever mentions that.
Seeing nothing of interest, apart from a lot of people around, William walks inside the same way as yesterday.
Greeted by the incredible tall ceiling, he glances a few moments above, and around, before focusing on the current task. Looking around, he notices no Ellie around.
“Where should she be?” He wonders.
He waits and waits until a youth from yesterday, named Rob, emerges from the offices. Not noticing William straight on, he glances around and does his job, which William assumes is the same as Elli's.
So, William does the plain solution. He will ask him directly.
“Excuse me, I am unsure if you remember me from yesterday.” William greets Rob, who looks at him as he approaches. “I know you. Can I help you with something?” He asks in a hesitant tone of inexperience. He still barely recognizes the rough boy from yesterday, who is wearing a brand new attire. The difference is quite obvious.
“Where is Ellie? She is supposed to be my guide for today, isn't she?” William asks bluntly.
“E-elie? Right, right... She arrived in the morning, so maybe she is already on the upper floors? I don't know.”
“You work in the same library and you are unsure?” William questionably asks.
“Y-yea, I am sorry,” Rob replies in embarrassment and glances away from the eye contact with William.
“Oh, what a rookie, as well. He is around my age, I guess.” William assumes.
“Alright, I will look for her myself. Have a good work day, Rob.” William waves at him and walks toward the stairs. Leaving Rob behind to do his things, he takes a few glances at the first floor. William thinks he would recognize Ellie from afar, and he is not seeing anyone resembling her in the Technological section.
So, he moves towards the second, and then the third floor with a failure on his part.
“She would not change her clothes, I hope.” With unfortunate failure, William moves towards the 4th floor.
And there she is, sitting beside an unfamiliar place, that is the 4th hallway that leads to the 4th floor.
“Hello, Ellie.” he waves at her from far.
Ellie wears the same attire, with a ribbon around her blond, shoulder-length hair. She sits around a table and reads some books in her hands.
As she hears the call of her name, she glances toward the voice, and in surprise, says. “Oh, where is the boy from yesterday? Have you seen him?” Ellie pretends to look confused as the approaching William stops before her table.
“Is my clothes that different? I feel completely normal.” William argues, since he feels that way.
“Well, it is. The set that you are wearing is quite nice. How many credits did you pay for that?” Ellie inquires.
“10 credits.”
“10? That is rather cheap for this. Oh, and those shoes, they are not worth 10 credits at all.” Sarey points to his feet, as she leans from the chair to look at his whole body up close.
“T-hose... That is not important Ellie.”
“You did not steal it, right?” she looks at him in seriousness.
“I did not.”
“Those are custom military boots right there. They alone cost at least 25 to 50 credits.” Ellia explains, since she knows what she is talking about. As a city girl, she has a variety of products and clothes at her disposal. She has her own source of credits, so she can do what she wants.
“That is expensive, right? I have them now, and they will serve me good.” William smiles at her with naked honesty.
“I will trust you for now, because you surely got some credits as you are a young Walker.” Ellie slams the book and gets up to her feet.
“Are you ready to seek the wonders of the further floors?” Ellie changes her expression and says to William with a bright smile of importance. Although his change of clothes has changed, he is the same clueless boy as yesterday. She will enjoy today as well.
“Yea, hopefully.” he answers.
“Alright. This is the 4th floor. Do you know anything about it, Will?”
“Will?”
“Uhh. It is a museum, according to the board on the first floor.” William answers.
“Correct. It is a place that is going through the most changes, and there are also a few restrictions put on many sections within this place. It is according to the History floor above. Both of these floors are connected by the few smaller cascades of stairs inside.”
“What kind of restrictions, or requirements, are there?” William wonders. He did not expect the floors to be connected with the 5th one, which is his goal for coming here. As for the 6th one? He had no intention or even awareness of knowing that there is even a floor, solely for the Dark Age.
“Hmp. Hmph. You are in a luck!” Ellie puffs her chest in a self-important manner.
“I've got permission from Burton to explain to you a few things that are otherwise prohibited by the Attendants like myself to share.”
“Oh, should I feel lucky, or apprehensive since it is the idea of Burton?” William asks, with sarcastic apprehension.
“I don't know about that... I have not asked about the details. He only barked something at me where I came here in the morning.”
“I see... Any news if you will accompany me for more days?” William asked hopefully.
“No... I will ask tomorrow or after today. Perhaps you will get lost for a whole day on those two floors, and the 6th one will be equally mesmerizing for you, I bet.”
“Alright. Let's go on to it.” William slams his chest in the hope of getting into a better mood. It works, but not as much. Ellie walks towards the single wide door in the very middle of the same hallways, which has the same length, and wideness on every floor.
The view toward the bottom of the tall entrance is visible when one leans beyond the railing.
“The Museum implies a connection to the past. A thing that was in almost every major city beyond the last century. It is a place where the past meets with the present. I must also say that it is not only a few years, it could mean decades, centuries, millennia, and much further.” Ellie starts to explain. The thick book that she holds in her hands around her armpit is a prime example of the little help she got to refresh some memories. She "stole" it from the storage offices which keep certain documents for the employees.
“Much further than the millennia? That is thousands of years, right?” William blurts out.
“You will understand it. It is more of an interesting thing, which won't add much, other than the wonders of the vast historical knowledge of the mother Earth.” Ellie says, like a professional attendant she is.
Previously, she learned a couple of information through her book about further sections which have hundreds of little things on this floor. Refreshing her brain about them definitely helps.
It was precisely for the long day she expect to come through these upcoming floors and her lectures. Upon learning, and reading through it, she felts not one bit of apprehension. Only an excitement, since this would be a nice experience for her. She hopes that with this experience, she would get special treatment from the director, or from Burton. For example, taking care of the young walkers like William. She would spend some days with them and broaden their horizon.
Although, it is only a hopeful idea, which she is unsure of, as she is fearful of Burton and his personality. As for the Director, she has not seen her that much lately.
“This door, right here, is only an entrance. One will need the special pass for 10 credits for a single visit. Unlike the academic one, what is for a week?”
“It is that expensive? Who would even afford this?” William asks in shock, and not understanding the reasoning.
“Right, I agree. It is a bureaucratic idea, which is stupid. I would say the basic 1 credit would suffice for everyone to get at least a single visit to this place. Just for the basics, while not including the restricted places.” Ellia frankly speaks.
William could not help but nod in agreement, while Ellie enters her lecturing mode.
William put the full pass card into the handle of the door as per Ellie's instructions. The door opens into the wall. Not inwards or out. It slid right inside of the wall.
“Wow, this is a nice door.”
“It is a work of art. It leads to a better place where one would not bump into anything within the exhibitions. All doors are like this on these 2 floors.” I
n front of William is a wide open space with about 5 meters tall ceiling. Not as big as the lower floors, since there are many walls that close the restricted spaces, according to Ellie's words.
Right in front of him is a basic entrance, where is something wild and huge. A bone structure of some anime, or something else?
“A monster?” he blurts out.
“Yea, that is usually a name that I heard a lot. This, right there, is a prehistoric species of countless ages into the past. Is it not impressive?”
“W-what? This thing is from the past? It is not the bones of some Dark being?” William hesitantly argues. He is not an expert. No. He is the exact opposite.
“No, as far as I am concerned. This is a skeleton that was retrieved many ages ago, from places of destroyed museums in America. It went through a careful restoration by the historical development of the Federation and a few other organizations which were interested in helping restore certain things from human history.”
“Hmmm. Was it even worth it? Is it not important to care more about lives and human survival?” William could not comprehend the need to care too much about the past, what Ellie talked about.
For all he cares about, those people who restored a skeleton of a dead monstrous animal have a screw loose in their brains. The meaningless sight of this creature is more or less oblivious to him. Coming closer to it, he read a small paragraph on a board below it.
“I don't find this Tyranosomething all that impressive.” William honestly says, but could not help but be personally shocked by the sheer size of this skeleton. It is not wrong, per se, to assume it's some form of the Dark Being, because William knows the appearances of a lot of monsters from his memory.