Academical section of the Library is a floor with many kinds of informative books. William plans to continue with this floor since he has not been here since the first day. They spent all his time on the 4 and 5th floor with Ellie, since there has been much more than he anticipated.
“Heeey, wait for me.” Mi-Yung appears by his side and pats his shoulder.
“I am not waiting for anyone. Why should I?”
“Well, it is called being polite! What is this about, then?” Mi-Yung says in importance while almost grounding William's shoulder.
“I never asked for this. Should you not have very important things to do as a rank 6 Walker?” William grits his teeth from the force and jumps away. Since the small points that he has guessed pointed to a whole system around the Walkers, he feels Rank 6 is more important than one would guess.
Everything should have some orders, but he has yet to experience the chaotic nature of… some people. Unknown to him, the orders and order, in general, are not firm words one would tell to a Walker. That is common sense to some people.
“I only do what I want to. No one will bother me with things I don’t want to do. It is like that.” She explains in almost the same manner Ellie did in the past. A proud woman, who achieved a lot in her life. Though, the case of Ellie is rather... different from being a Rank 6 Walker.
William could not help but shudder through the motion of being a functional adult, yet acting like this. It seems Mi-Yung is indeed a special case of Walkers. Like each, he has met so far.
“I thought it would be more restrictive… or is it because you are Rank 6 Walker?”
“I am strong, so I don’t care. Anyway, there is no point in arguing about myself. What do you want to learn? I can fetch some interesting books and talk even more about a lot of things. They forced me to learn through this library as well, although it was a different building back then. I had to figure out a lot of things myself, or by orders of supervisors.”
William chose to do the simplest and easiest road from her words. Ignore her for the time being, since he has plenty of things to read by himself.
Academical section has plenty of stuff. From mathematics, statistics, economy, ecology, and many more. William reaches the first row of what he is interested in.
“Economics? Is it not better to let me explain it to you, William?” Mi-Yung asks while knowing more about this topic than some books. As a member of the General Division of the Federation, she knows a lot about the political aspects of serving such a humongous organization. Be it politics, survival, or economic aspects, she knows them all.
“How about leaving me be, and when I need to know something from you, I can ask?” William glances at her, while Mi-Yung does not enjoy hearing his words at all. William never intended to bother her, because she forced herself to do so so. And as a teenager, as he is, he can ignore her to the best capability he could.
Not out of spite, but the mistake she has chosen, or by the stubborn idea of William.
This particular book William chose, consists of many pages of intricate topics when it comes to money, recourses, and the way the market works. The art of demand and supply is the main topic of many chapters that dive deep into the sphere of economics.
“This is complicated. So, the people used the money all the time in the past?” William asks out loud after glancing inside the book for a couple of dozen pages.
Mi-Yung sneers and replies out of spite, and knowing the obvious answer. “Of course. It goes way back thousands of years of human history. Money is a power as well, and the economy is all about it.”
“I see…” William mutters without glancing at Mi-Yung who is standing near and glancing at many books and materials around. Flipping through the pages, William spends the next 30 minutes getting a better understanding of the economy and money. It seems more like he is forcing himself, but he is used to doing things that he doesn’t want to do. He will manage to learn the basics, at least.
“Understand that this is not about the current timeline, William. We live in the Dark Age, where people are struggling against the apocalypse. We adapted according to our circumstances and managed to live as we do for almost 20 years already. All thanks to the consideration of many people, and collective groups of hundreds of lofty Walkers.” Mi-Yung explains without being given a question. Not like she needs it, as usual.
Though, she is completely correct about the way current times work. The Walkers protect regular people and even go against the Dark beings. At least that is the case In the Federation, while they could not protect the camps in times of danger all the time. Such situations as not enough time, happened throughout the last decades numerous times.
William shoves the book to its rightful place and looks around for interesting topics once more.
“How about this one?” Mi-Yung lifts a book from the shelf and tosses it into William’s chest.
“This?” William looks at the hard-cover book with a text that says, Numbers in the World.
“Those are statistics, and many causes and effects of the economics. I liked this one when I was in a similar position since it is good for dumb people.”
“Thanks for your consideration...” William takes it with a chuckle and opens its pages. All sorts of management issues in the way the nation work are depicted in the first few dozen pages. The rest of the book goes into the details of the aspect of money. Including the dollars, euros, and the deepest dive into the credits of the Federation.
Credits go with the trusts of people, that believe in the currency that is placed upon them. Federation is manufacturing them and acts as a sole possessor of making credits what they are at the moment. There is a limited amount of them, while the talk of inflation and deflation could not confuse William even less. He could not wrap his head around those topics, and even when Mi-Yung tries to explain them, he could not figure them out.
It is all about the value and needs. Supply and demand of the current time lead to a rather stable economy where there are almost no taxes. Only minor transactional payments, which act almost like taxes, but nothing harsh.
It all acts according to the decision of many figures that made this Federation what it is today. People are getting used to it for the past 20 years and nothing will change if no time will shift.
William gets it after more lectures by Mi-Yung, whose determination to teach William is obvious as the sun in the sky. Though her explanations helped him more than William would even dare to admit.
The amount of knowledge he discovered on his first day was very limiting. Whether he likes it or not, it almost seems unnecessary because he doesn't even know basic things.
Although the time spent with Ellie still proved him a lot. It at least amounted to something that could be called a start. He still has a lot of figuring out in front of himself.
The book continues. Credits are for the people, to spend them. Which then goes to the economy and people's businesses. There is no conglomeration or holders of the credits. It keeps going in a loop that goes for 20 years, with adjustments depending on politics, and the situation in the Federation.
Although the amount of them is reaching a standstill, where the people are arriving in thousands every year. New lads are built, with more opportunities to make the living better. The Federation wants to provide the best course of action for the citizen, while the Dark Age proves to be constant trouble for everything. Mi-Yung is one of the few who knows the full picture in the greatest detail.
Though, it is not something that she is willing to tell William yet. Not even Luke knows everything that she knows, and they are partners.
1 hour later, William is done with this book, while he looks at Mi-Yung and has to make this right for his heart and mind.
“I apologize…” he says while bowing down with his upper body.
“Hmmmm. That is more like that.” She smiles in self-satisfaction and lifts his head up. Though, William doesn't understand why she does so, so often.
“I will teach you if you are willing. Being a great Walker is a big deal. Taking care of the knowledge is not as important in Outside, but it should be done for a better life.” She reasons.
William nods, with a slim amount of embarrassment and hit to his stubbornness. It seems Mi-Yung will be very willing to teach him. It could be even fair to say in much better detail than Ellie, and countless times better than the books here.
“I…”
“Not you. I will make sure to teach you what I can. That is the least bit of gift I can give you until the work that I need to manage starts again. Understand?”
“I accept…” William lifts himself up, and his eyes beam for a better future.
With this being done, Mi-Yung smirks with excitement, while going over the many things that a young Walker would need to know. There is a lot to go through, but she also needs to include some common sense, which she believes William is lacking.
And that... is without a speck of underestimating, a truth.
Though similar to Ellie, she will approach it much more direct and brief as possible. He would later go with this foundation in the upcoming weeks to learn better.
That would at least work the best, to her guess.
With Mi-Yung as his teacher, William is following behind her figure. Going from bookshelf to the bookshelf of topics she finds mandatory for him to understand, an hour goes by, with another one soon following.
William is building an increasing amount of book lists in his mind.
“This is the last one I would suggest learning. Basic orders of nation and military. This will get you an overlook of the military as well as the second half of the book, which talks about the public military departments of today. It's updated every so often, so I bet it will be helpful.“
William nods while understanding its importance. The military is a keen topic in his mind, that would shape him up in the future for sure. Although he is yet to get familiar with the names or structures of the military, he is in no hurry. This book will be a basic start that will help him a lot.
“What about the first floor? Is there something that you would suggest for me to learn?” William asks after walking for a few hours. The end of the 2nd floor is almost up.
“Technological section? Like what? I don’t know what you would need there unless you already have some basics of being an Enginist or Machinist. Unless you do, I suggest not worrying about it. Being Walker is already plenty to go through.” Mi-Yung says in great importance, as a big secret is lifted from Willam's mind.
“Nevermind, I did not think it would be like that. I thought the military Walkers have to know some basics about the technological stuff, since… like… a lot of machines are out there. I bet they are using them every day. Is it not true?”
“Kind of, but you don’t need to spend weeks or months to learn about how a machine works. There are others for this, while Walkers are not. Though, there are some odd fellas who are only interested in machines, while being Walkers as well... They are... weirdos, but nothing strange at all. Some Walkers are like that, while no one will force them to stop being interested in whatever they want.”
“At the end of the day, it depends on what you want to do, William,” Mi-Yung explains from her personal experience and being deployed Outside, and seeing all kinds of Walkers in her life.
Ellie wouldn't be able to say much about these topics because she doesn’t know it since she is not Walker. She isn't even someone who has underway Walker's training or experienced the running of the Federation.
“Makes sense… What’s next?” William secures every single book’s location in his memory. A small hope is in his mind for the next floor, which should be less overwhelming than this one.
“You have been on the 3rd floor with Ellie, so I bet there is no need to go there. As you guessed already, that is the entertainment floor with a ton of historical stuff. There are even movies, TV shows, and all kinds of books. One could never read everything in their lifetime!” Mi-Yung added with an underwhelming tone, while she… would not openly state how long she spent there. Indeed, she would not admit it in front of Willian, in hopes of not ruining her image as a senior Walker and a teacher.
It is her wishful thinking, as their first time meeting was… kind of peculiar.
“Even movies? I had no chance to see them, but I can see their unimportance if I want to learn. So 4th floor it is?” William already guesses where she is going with it.
“Yes. Yes. No time to waste, let's go to the 4th floor. A museum of interest and tight secrets beyond.” With a smile on her face, she strives out of the 2nd floor.