The air was stale and musty with no hint of wind to disturb its flow. The only light came from a pair of lanterns that hung on the walls and cascaded their warm light onto the stone walls and into the room beyond. Here in the library of Castle Korchock the only creatures to move about were the small mice that lived somewhere among the bookshelves.
The library wasn't as large as one might think considering its location in the castle in the capital. While there were at leas a dozen bookshelves all arranged in rectangular patterns that was all there were. Each of them were made of thick and sturdy wood, with shelves filled with all manner of historical tomes. Some of these books hadn't been opened in years or more and sat collecting dust.
I was sitting on one of the few chairs in this quiet place, my elbows resting on the small table in front of me with my head in my hands. My eyes were closed and I was motionless due to concentration. My mind was deep within the goddess zone. Because of the movement penalty with staying in there for extended periods I had come here to this library where I knew my body wouldn't be disturbed. Besides, it was the topic of books that was today's objective.
"Miya" I shouted. "What did you find over there?"
Both me and Miya were inside the mind palace of my memories. We were looking for information on science, math, and reading comprehension. This was because I was planning on making several basic textbooks in order to be mass produced and supply schools around the kingdom. Our search had been quite successful and I almost had everything I wanted for the beginners books.
I was currently sitting in front of a bookshelf that had human anatomy memories on it. Miya was off the next bookshelf down and was looking into a similar collection.
"I... I don't know Jenna..." Miya replied.
Her voice was distant as if she was confused. Of course I didn't expect her to understand most of what we were dredging up from the memory banks, but having someone else around looking through things did speed up the process slightly even if they didn't fully understand.
I was still looking through my own memory book and called out to her again.
"Well what sort of things are you seeing?"
Miya was quiet, obviously studying whatever she had found. This silence only lasted a few more moments however as soon the air was pierced by her screaming in terror.
Instantly I dropped what I was doing and leapt through the air to where she was, landing to the side of the crouching young lady. She was sitting there staring in fear at the book she was holding frozen in shock. With a quick motion I smacked the book out of her hands and onto the floor.
Miya barely blinked, still paralyzed.
With great care I slowly walked around in front of her and took her head in my hands. Then with a gentle pull I lifted her face so she was looking into mine. Her eyes locked onto mine and the terror began to fade. The shock however remained.
"Relax." I commanded softly.
Miya took a deep breath and then exhaled. As she began to relax her body began to tremble. She then spoke in a shaking voice.
"G-Goddess..."
In response I smiled warmly and rubbed her cheeks with my hands. I then put my hands on her shoulders and squeezed them gently. Thankfully this helped her calm down enough that she stopped shaking.
I kept my voice low. "There see? Everything's ok now."
Miya nodded slowly and kept looking up at my face. The counterproductive urge to look back at what had shocked her was still there though and her eyes flittered down at the dropped book a couple times.
Human curiosity was a terrible thing sometimes.
In order to prevent further trauma I let go of her and whirled around, bending down and scooping the book up off the ground in one smooth motion.
"Lets see what scared my girl here."
While lifting the book up to read I made sure to keep it at an angle that Miya couldn't see. The book appeared to be grisly indeed. It showed a c-section. For someone from a medically simple time like the medieval era seeing this would definitely be horrifying. Heck its horrifying to look at no matter what tech level you're at. It was worse though as this particular instance of the procedure was to remove a dead baby.
"J-Jenna?" Miya's voice sounded concerned.
I clapped the book shut and turned around to face her, holding it by the spine in my left hand. Then with a serious expression on my face I looked down at her collapsed on the floor before me.
"The worlds of the universe are filled with terrible things." I started. "Some would regard memories of these things as cursed knowledge. My memories have all sorts of horrible things inside them. Are you really sure you want to explore in here?"
Miya gulped and looked up at me with determination in her eyes.
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"Y-Yes Jenna! I will be strong."
My face softened and I put on a warm smile. With a flick I tossed the book behind me and it floated over to the bookshelf where it slid back into its home. I then got down on my hands and knees, reaching out and hugging Miya tightly.
"I'm sorry you saw something traumatizing ok?"
Miya sighed again and hugged me back.
"It's alright Jenna. I trust my goddess."
We then backed away from the hug and looked each other in the eye again. The tension had completely dispersed by now and we both let out a little giggle. Then we both stood up with the human once again towering over her goddess.
I crossed my arms over my chest and let out a sigh.
"Well with that out of the way lets call our search here for now. I'm not particularly keen to explain what you just saw so we'll move on to something else." I then dropped my arms. "Namely the making of the books!"
Miya clapped her hands together.
"You said you'll be making several books right Jenna? For things called schools?"
I nodded. "Yup! One for basic science, math, reading, and probably biology I guess. Basically once I have them all planned out I'll create the originals with magic, then start getting copies made. I figure I could go back to a town near Doovlin and get more paper production started up."
"Paper for more books right?" Miya asked.
Once again I nodded, this time putting my hands on my hips and turning to face away from her.
"Mhm! Obviously the printing press is out of the question for the moment. It would cause uhm problems."
Sensing Miya's next question I lifted my left hand to my mouth in a fist and cleared my throat.
"Ahem. Mass uprisings, wars, absolute carnage and horrific bloodshed."
Miya's face was aghast. "From books?"
I whirled around and walked back over to where she was standing. I then grabbed her right hand and took us through the air back down to the main level of the mind palace. Once we landed I stepped back again and put my arms over my stomach.
"Knowledge is power Miya. Well power is power but so is knowledge. A goddess of knowledge like me would know! Basically the more you know the better prepared you can be for any given situation. Fights can be stopped before they even begin if you know what your enemy is planning and know what to do in order to thwart them. Do you agree?"
After hearing this Miya thought about it for several moments, her brow furrowed in concentration.
"I think I get it goddess."
"Yeah yeah!" I said before continuing. "So think of this: the entire population of a country learning all sorts of things about how the world works and then how their kingdom works. All of sudden they'd have questions about a great many things their king is doing and might even lead to some disagreements. Oh boy those can get violent real fast can't they?"
Miya nodded and looked at me.
I nodded back. "Now imagine that but for the entire world!"
The gasp of sudden realization escaped Miya's lips and she covered her mouth with her hand.
Now that she fully understood I shrugged my shoulders.
"It can't be helped! So because of that I can't really give away something that easily mass produces books, at least not yet. For now we'll make due with whatever textbooks I produce and then allow for people to naturally copy them the old fashioned way. Namely the by hand method that's currently used. At least outside of magic."
Lifting my left hand to my chin I turned around again and began pacing back and forth.
"Of course the high society still won't like educated peasantry, so to circumvent that I've got to sell em on it. I'm thinking convincing them how a better educated populace can be more useful to them."
I then stopped and twirled suddenly back to Miya. She had been focused intently on my and jumped in surprise.
"Of course they would but..."
"But?" Miya asked.
I smirked. "But that also makes them more likely to think independently. If the high society folks think of that ahead of time then I'll just make education part of my worship regimen!" I clapped my hands. "Its perfect! Goddess says bitches!"
Miya smiled happily at me and clapped once herself.
"It sounds like you've put a lot of thought into this! I'm sure things will work out as you say. You seem to know how things will go before your plan is even started."
With another smirk I fluffed my hair with my left hand, my expression proud.
"Well it's my job to know these things after all. I'm the goddess of knowledge. The illuminating kind that sheds light into the darkness." I then hold up my finger. "Goddess of light too!"
This made Miya giggle again.
It seemed that her previous traumatic experience had been all but forgotten now which was a great relief to me. Not that this whole explanation of my plans had been completely for such an end of course. I seemed to be the kind of person that greatly benefited from saying my plans and various schemes out loud. Having another person to bounce ideas off of was another huge bonus.
"Why don't we go back outside?" I asked. "You need some rest by now and I need to finalize the book layouts. It'll probably take a week of real time, which means a long long time inside the goddess zone."
"Sure thing mighty goddess" Miya said with a chuckle.
Taking her by the hand again I led the way as we floated back to the doorway of the mind palace library. It was of course didn't take long as distance inside here was a product of one's mind. Once we landed by the door we both walked through and it closed behind us.
"Speaking of me being a mighty goddess" I said with a sly grin. "Did you like my field testing with little Timtim?"
Miya giggled and spun over to the couch. She then flopped down onto it in a reclined sitting position, her body sinking down into the cushions. Upon settling in she smiled over to me.
"I liked the part where you held him over the melted rock and joked about dropping him in!"
"Lava" I said in correction. "And yes it was pretty funny!"
I joined in on her giggling and walked over to the couch. With a thought I pulled up a small cushy chair from the floor and sat down on it, flopping back myself in a relaxed pose.
"Thankfully the enchantments worked out perfectly. He's not invincible to the damage or the elements but he's greatly resistant. The amulet also functioned correctly as well. I was kinda scared to attack him honestly, that's why I only tried to break his arm. It would've been painful but easy to heal."
"It seems pretty fun to be able to run around with all that protection" Miya said wistfully. "Will you make me like that when I'm out again?"
Her comment brought back the painful reminder that I hadn't done such a thing originally with her. I let out a disappointed sigh and slumped further down into my seat.
"I'm sorry I didn't do that to you in the first place Miya... If I had you wouldn't have ended up-"
"Its fine Jenna" she replied cutting me off. "Even a goddess can't be perfect all the time right? You're still so young and had to learn all your powers without any help! I cant' imagine how difficult it is you for... It seems so overwhelming even just watching you. You really are amazing."
This praise brought a warm blush to my face and I smiled happily. I sat up a bit more in my chair and readjusted myself to be more comfortable.
"Thank you Miya. It means a lot to me. Why don't we take a quick nap before I continue my work on the books? I'll go up and move my body someplace more comfortable."
Miya nodded and smiled over to me. "Ok!"