"What is this?"
Place asked the Thing.
"Take your time sorting through it, don't get it mixed up."
"I don't think I can mix it up." Place muttered as he mentally sorted the information into 'piles' of knowledge.
"All this is... Where did you obtain this kind of knowledge?" Place asked, marvelling at what he had just obtained.
"The world is much bigger than you think it is, and there are places outside what you would consider the world."
"Now, read out what you got out loud. I need to make sure you have everything, just in case I missed something."
"Alright... 'A thousand Anatomies', 'Mental Landscape: how's and don't's', 'Emotions and control', 'Mental switches', 'You are two: Sijipee Grey', 'Enzurahh's guide',"
Place was very surprised about the contents of the last two, but he continued going down the list.
"'The bat's guide on combat', 'The bat's guide on preparation', 'Peter's guide on loss', and finally, 'Language of all'."
Place rubbed his temples, the mental strain was a bit too much.
"That seems to be correct." Thing remarked. "Now, don't go abusing anything I have given you. That could end real bad."
"Ugh..." Place groaned as the pain in his head grew.
The thing twirled in mid-air and floated in front of his face, appearing to lie down on the air itself.
It reached out a hand and tapped Place's forehead.
"Ohh..." Place let out a sigh of relief as the pain ebbed and was washed away in a wave of light.
"That was... more than a bit intense."
Place looked at the Thing in front of his eyes, slightly afraid.
"Your mind had started to properly process all that information, and Language of All is about..." Thing snapped its fingers repeatedly as it calculated its answer.
"Three thousand, eight hundred and forty-seven, times more information than all the others combined."
Place's face twisted as he imagined what amount of damage that would have been done to him
"I've suppressed all the information for now, it will slowly seep into your mind while you sleep."
"Thank you."
"Take note, your sleeps will be much deeper until all the information is done integrating, so you better sleep well. Otherwise, prepare for extremely bad waking hours."
"It will take a few months for all that information to settle, but you should take a few minutes every day to examine what you are learning, just to remember it better."
"I'll try to do that." Place got up. "By the way, who is this 'bat', and why are three of the books related to him?"
Thing let out a chuckle as Place stretched.
"The bat is famous for his ability to have a plan ready for everything, and while there are many others who can outclass him in combat, he is good enough for your purposes."
Place nodded in acknowledgement.
"There is also the fact that I do like him quite a bit." Thing admitted. "I grew up watching him."
Place noticed the word choice.
"Watching?" Not hearing about him, not listening to his stories, watching.
"Watching." Thing confirmed.
"I see..." Place thoughts wandered. He had to find where this bat came from. This was the first time the Thing had given even a hint about its personal history.
"You won't find him." Thing remarked, having picked up on his thoughts.
"Why not?" Place's eyes snapped back to the grin.
"Far as I know, he doesn't exist here."
Place blinked.
'Doesn't exist here? So he existed in multiple places? Why was he so certain? Did he scan the entire world or does he have a way-Stop!'
Place processed that statement quietly, and decided that he did not want to think much about that.
'Too many unknown things, it doesn't matter.'
"Do you want another mission?" Thing spun its body vertically as it spoke. "I've got a good one."
Place gave it a thought.
'I'm free now anyways, right?'
"Tell me the mission contents."
"I want you to carve a dozen wooden figurines of Me!" It finished in a flourish.
"Figurines...?" Place started to ask what a 'Figurine' was, but trailed off as his mind supplied him with that information.
"A dozen!" It declared again.
Place considered, it would be a good pass-time if he had nothing else to do, or was waiting for something.
'There is also no time limit.'
"There is one problem." Place raised a potential flaw in the mission. "I don't know what you look like."
"A dozen wooden figurines of this spectral avatar!" It corrected. "All of them in different poses! All of them with a grin!"
"You're weirdly passionate about this." Place remarked.
'I meant to say excited...'
"Very well, A dozen wooden figurines of this spectral avatar, all with a grin and no two the same, I accept this mission."
"Very good! I will be waiting for them, make sure to get my good side, alright?"
The Thing waved and dissipated into the air.
"See you later." Place murmured into the air, confident that it would hear him.
What he had recieved what much, much more than what he had been expecting.
He knew that he would most likely receive knowledge, most other things he could think of would be easily detected by others, and that would bring about a whole lot of trouble.
He just did not think that he would receive all of this.
This brought up a few questions.
What did it want from him?
What was preventing it from taking what it wanted?
If it needed him to do something, then why hide what it needed done?
Was it a kind of forbidden act for its kind? Was it restricted by others?
Was he thinking too much? Was it all just a whim?
Place rotated his shoulders. clearing his mind.
'It doesn't matter. I can't stand against it.'