Celestial Bodies
Jien was satisfied with his start to the reorganization of the Mindscape. The idea of taking different topics and isolating them in their own portion of a web would help with keeping his thoughts organized at the very least. Instead of just choosing to focus on Cleansing Clover he could focus on the alchemy aspect alone with only an extra thought. Upon doing so he still received a rush of information but it only pertained specifically to the use of the herb in alchemy.
Upon making the request the smaller sphere seemed to glow a light silver. The picture of the herb showed on the larger orb where it had been and the many golden strings reappeared. Despite the strings being present the knowledge was not pulled forward and the strings themselves seemed less tangible.
A moment or two after the picture appeared all of the alchemical knowledge he had regarding Cleansing Clover began to be read off in the same monotonous tone as if he was being lectured. The text began to flow in next to the picture as if someone was writing it back onto the larger sphere. Jien however, lost interest after he understood that this would work as a better way of controlling the flow of information properly. Upon him letting go of the thought of Cleansing Clover the smaller globe stopped glowing, returning to its usual transparent state. The image of the herb and the text that was being printed on the larger orb faded away like smoke caught in a breeze.
Jien smiled at this thought and got to work separating the imprinted knowledge into different categories. For the time being he separated the knowledge into six nearly identically sized transparent globes. The categories he separated them into were Magic, Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Formations, History and Survival.
Jien felt that these categories were what he needed for now given the books that he had recorded. He knew that if the time came that he would take in the knowledge of other topics that he could find his way back to this space. He would then add to this form of organization so as to ensure that he would never be overly bombarded.
After this initial process Jien once again tried to pull forth his alchemical knowledge of Cleansing Clover, just to see the image once again appear on the surface of the now empty central globe. The attached text began to be written out and the lecture started again. The only difference was that now rather than golden strings appearing the Formations, History and Survival globes seemed to glow a gentle gold.
Jien became immediately aware that all he had to do was add the thought of the category and it would pull the relevant text in as well. To test this theory he thought of the History bubble and found knowledge of village that used to be present where the capital now stood. A second version of his voice began lecturing alongside the one espousing the alchemical uses of the herb. Luckily, this time the volume of the second voice was not any louder than the first. However, if it weren't for the knowledge being imprinted in his mind already and just being refreshed in what would likely be an instant or two, the discussions would have become hard to follow.
He felt fairly accomplished, having found a solution so smoothly to the issue of mental bombardment, but also felt that he could do even better. Weren't these still broad categories? If he could break his overall recorded knowledge down once then he should be able to do so once again into finer categories. Of course he didn't want to take this too far as he wouldn't know what downside that could have. It was one thing to call on slightly more specific knowledge, for instance alchemical recipes using Cleansing Clover rather than all knowledge regarding the alchemical use of the plant, but if he sorted it out by individual recipe wouldn't he just be making it hard on himself? Wouldn't that hinder the overall convenience of the spell?
So, it was decided that he would break out these broad categories into sub categories for the time being if he could but wouldn't go any further than that. He focused on the topic of alchemy, but rather than wanting to know about it he focused on the thought of separating out his recorded knowledge once again.
Just as it had the first time a new transparent globe, even smaller than the first had been when he completed this process the first time. The new sphere was about a twentieth of the size of the globe that held the alchemy text and floated beside it at a small distance. This brought a smile to Jien's face as he now understood that this space was truly malleable, at least in terms of the knowledge stored here.
With but a thought the newest addition to the collection of orbs connected with the alchemy globe through a new silver string. Jien then focused his will to move the knowledge of alchemy recipes specifically to this orb. Just like in the previous efforts to create the broad categories the text flowed neatly into the new orb, having dissected a portion of the alchemy guide into its own area. He then put his efforts into the completion of the process once again after better organizing his thoughts on how he would be 'filing' the text.
Jien created an orb for alchemy recipes, ingredient descriptions including the recorded images, and alchemy basics from the beginning of the book he was gifted. He then moved forward to do this with his other categories as well, separating history into different eras, formations into the actual formation drawings, the base knowledge and information regarding specific nodes/catalysts. Following along the same lines he split the Magic category into written phrases he had recorded, sigils for use in body casting like his father had in the City of the Gods, patterns for mana to run through the body for motionless casting and finally his recorded knowledge regarding mana manipulation for the martial path.
This trend continued on for the other topics and by the time he was completed a truly satisfied smile graced his lips. If Lord Losler or Runa could see it they would feel happy that he was able to smile like this, even more genuinely than when he was gifted his birthday presents. Looking up at his finished work Jien couldn't help but see the similarities between the globes and what he had been taught of celestial bodies. Just like the moons seemed to cycle about their world, so did the smaller globes gently seem to glide around the central sphere. Even beyond the globes representing the 'main categories' the yet smaller spheres seemed to cycle about the mid sized ones as if caught in their own orbit.
It was truly beautiful in its own way and drew Jien's thoughts to the skies above. What would these spheres have looked like if put against the backdrop of the stars? Would they truly look like moons?
It was with this thought that Jien finally understood how malleable this space truly was. His whim came to life as the 'sky' of the mindscape seemed to fill with a representation of the starry heavens, as if he had stepped outside the manor into an area where no light would reach. In fact, he was sure that this was pulled from one of the memories he had from his younger years when his father brought him away from the city once to be able to truly see the stars without obstruction.
Jien could only smile once more as he looked up at his own representation of the celestial order before closing his eyes and open them once again in his room.