When Seth opened the journal and viewed its weathered pages, he found them blank. No matter how far along he flicked, the pages were completely devoid of any so called 'Knowledge'.
'I'm guessing I'll need to collect it myself, so how am I supposed to do that?'
[You may use multiple methods. You may simply dictate the knowledge you already know and it will be inputted into the book. For knowledge you do not possess it can be required through connection with the previously used informational devices.]
'The previous devices, huh?'
He raised an eyebrow as he considered Angel's words, taking out his phone once again. As he brought it close to the journal, he noticed its silken bookmark shudder slightly before the end transformed. Upon further inspection, he realised that the bookmark had changed itself to be a perfect connection to his phone's charging port.
Without hesitation he plugged the bookmark into the bottom of his device, watching the screen flicker and turn pure white.
[What would you like to gather information on?]
Angel spoke into his mind, sounding like an old phone line operator, he couldn't help but chuckle at the mental image of this swirling ball of text wearing a suit and working at a desk. But then he thought back onto their words and realised an issue.
'Is there any way I can just download it all?'
[It's possible, but not recommended. From our previous assessment there is a lot of simply incorrect information on your internet. There are also many different subjects, some more useful than others, and a plethora of information that simply exists for entertainment purposes.
Not to mention the issue of time. To download it all would take more time than you have at hand. While we are able to cut through the interference that your devices cannot, the infrastructure will soon collapse and everything will be lost.
When that happens, you will be left with what I managed to download in time. Much of which could be wrong, unhelpful or duplicated.]
'Hmm… That is a problem. I assume you're able to filter out the misinformation and duplicates, it still doesn't help the issue of unhelpful. I'm on a timer, so I need to prioritise subjects. I expect there will be a way this will help me learn the information rather than just store it?'
[That is correct.]
'Okay then… Let's start with fighting. How long would it take for you to collect all the information on all the different fighting styles so I can learn how to do it properly?'
[Estimated at just over 5 hours.]
'That's… not as bad as I would have thought. Prioritise spear fighting, then collect the others from there.'
[Understood.]
The screen of his phone flashed for a second as the process began, Angel working hard to scour the net for any and all information on combat. From ancient texts on martial arts that had been documented, to tutorial videos and even the tough talking comments from various armchair warriors.
They were all compiled together then filtered for misinformation and duplicated information. It would be pointless to have multiple entries of the same thing. Afterall.
Then once it was all sorted and confirmed, the truthful information was streamed into Seth's journal, detailed explanations and beautifully drawn diagrams inking themselves onto the pages, somehow in Seth's own handwriting despite him not being involved in the process. The strangest part was, despite the journal seeming to only contain around 100 pages, it never seemed to run out of room. Always flicking to a fresh page even though it should have run out long ago.
"Alright folks, I'm going to try to get some more rest. We'll head out again in a few hours, hopefully there won't be any new alarms."
He said to his travelling companions, laying his head down again as he closed his eyes and tried his best to slip back into the sandman's comforting embrace. After nearly 48 hours awake and a hellish, living nightmare. He thought he earned this one.
***
At the dawn of the new day, the second day of their new lives, Cynthia arose from her slumber. Even though her body didn't need sleep, her mind was still used to it and still suffered from some exhaustion, not to mention boredom.
She gathered herself up, as it seemed that instead of drooling in her sleep she now just melted into a puddle, before reforming her human figure. Amy was still snoozing beside her, curled up in the fetal position while Seth, who had been on watch, was doing something rather odd.
He was standing to the far end of the room, staring at the air as he stabbed at it repeatedly with his spear. Every time he'd shift his stance and perform a different stab. Then after a few movements, he'd turn around and do it the opposite way.
It took her a few times to realise that he was probably doing some martial arts routine, but she had no idea where he learned them. Perhaps it was that book he had.
From Seth's perspective, however, it was much different. In his eyes, he saw a hologram layered over his body. It would perform the moves and he would simply copy it. The benefit of the overlay was that it showed him the errors in his stance and movement.
Not only was he able to see it, but the information was fed into his mind like he was being drilled by an expert instructor.
He had been performing these routines for the last few hours while the others slept. He knew that it wasn't enough to simply know the information, he needed to ingrain it deep in his bones. Not only would he benefit from it, but his puppets would too.
If they could perform subconscious actions like walking, who's to say they couldn't learn this too. The reason it failed at simple instructions was simply he didn't know how to do them or couldn't do it without him thinking about how.
But if he learned this, learned it to the point that it was as natural as eating, sleeping and breathing, then the puppets would be effective. They would be deadly. He would know in an instant how to defeat the opponent and could do it on instinct, so the puppet could too.
That was the power of true knowledge. That is why he chose this one above the others, even without knowing the details. He expected to be studying hard, but this just made things easier. He would train himself into a deadly weapon, so that every puppet he rose would be too.
After he finished his last routine, he leaned on the spear and wiped the beads of sweat from his glistening brow. Pushing the hair from his face, he turned to Cynthia with a devilish grin.
"Good to see you're awake Bubblegum. Wake up Amy, I don't know about you but I could do with a spot of breakfast."