"And so, we might call these five substances 'material elements', and look for far more of them." Selen took a bow, blushing before the assembled twenty dilletantes of the Knowledge Society. She'd had a busy few weeks of doing the most basic tests she could think of, to recreate the periodic table. Now she'd come to the library-mansion for magically chilled wine, squishy cheese and wild speculation. Her chemistry talk had overtaken her calculus presentation; she'd save that one for next time. The goal here was to get respected and welcomed back for more meetings.

Zahar the Vulin Engineer clapped politely. "These are interesting experiments, miss Selen. Not entirely original, but worth following up on. You didn't speak much of the applications, though."

"I've mainly been learning the basics. Got the Alchemy skill point. But next I want to work on dyes."

An Elf with skin like bark asked her, "These 'elements' you claim don't seem as provable as the known elements of fire and frost and sound."

"Ice shouldn't even be an energy type. But if I can isolate a pure substance reliably, then until someone can demonstrate breaking it down further, it should be considered a fundamental type of stuff. It's as real as a fire spell."

"But the gods gave us a clear distinction between fire and lightning and so on. Not between your different flavors of steam. I have a specific bonus to the effects of my earth spells, an element recognized by the System itself."

A Human scholar said, "Maybe she can get a boost to steam but only if it's the right color." A man beside him laughed.

Selen's talons clenched. Science here was different, and people's understanding of arbitrary "divine" rules probably held it back. Her isolation of hydrogen and a few other substances overlapped with known alchemy, but went slightly beyond the usual ideas about mixing various metals and odd liquids and spells. When the result of some bartending ritual was a "healing potion", most people were inclined to keep repeating the known good result.

But hey, maybe this was the place to question that policy. She said, "I believe there's a lot of room to experiment with the details of how these non-magical methods interact with spellcraft. Can we make a more effective potion, for instance, by understanding the specific processes that trigger the System to judge something?"

A usually taciturn Human man in a grey cloak spoke up. "There's merit to this approach. Miss Selen, I would sponsor your apprenticeship to the Mages' Guild if you're so inclined."

"Thank you, sir. I can't commit much time to it right now while I work on Alchemy, but I'd love to get more training."

Zahar coughed. "Miss Selen, I believe you had another topic?"

"Yes! Right. I would like to see the Society get more involved in printing. Buy a printing press and begin producing simple reading primers and basic works of science and magic."

"It wouldn't do to have just any peasant begin flinging magic around," said the Mage Guild man.

Zahar looked to Selen to respond. She said as practiced, "What you'd be doing is teaching the safe and responsible use of magic, and the idea that people with a talent for it should seek out suitable teachers. And that material would be only a fraction of the total content. You could gather insight from every village and compile that into more books to pass around."

Another scholar said, "What good would it do to have a printing press for that part? Just go around collecting data on farming or some other topic, determine the best practices, and then inform each local lord."

She felt these people had half of a good idea. "If we spread basic literacy and encourage people to read and write on any subject they want, that increases the pool of potential scholars who might come up with their own great ideas."

"And customers for your postal business, eh?"

Reading the crowd, Zahar said, "It's an idea for another time, maybe. Thank you for bringing it up, though. We have other presentations tonight."

Selen thanked everyone and sat, wondering in what century "another time" might be. The other Society members were mainly noblemen or others in the Duke's good graces. People who'd already established themselves socially. She was the youngest by far.

So she spent the rest of the evening listening politely and nibbling little fish she couldn't afford at home. The other members were doing a good job for people starting at a low technology level. It really was educational for her to find out what they knew, what was different here, and probably some things she'd been ignorant of on Earth. For instance they had clockwork (and a specific skill for it) along with windmills and cranks and basic cranes. River traffic in a few especially tricky areas used ropes and winches. One noble was interested in breeding better crops, and she asked a few questions to try prompting him toward the idea of natural selection. There was some knowledge of geology, too. South of here was a spot where the Starry River had bounced off a huge boulder, gouged away the topsoil, and exposed mineral veins. Which led to speculation about "why the gods put the silver there specifically", and how to find other good mines. They were basically scientists here rather than pagan mystics.

Which was great, although it made her own potential contribution smaller. Maybe? She couldn't awe the natives by making a baking-soda volcano like her first grade-school science project. But she had a civilization with tools and materials ready-made to progress with.

As the meeting broke up, Selen took Zahar aside. "They didn't vote on admitting me."

The fox's ears drooped. "It wasn't the right time to bring that up, after all. I sensed they didn't like the printing idea."

"But why? How can you be against more books?"

"It's a matter of where the Society puts its money and effort. And, crucially, whether the idea seems to come from an upstart commoner who isn't even a full member yet. I apologize, miss Selen. I should have encouraged you to stick with the calculus presentation after all, and to save the suggestions for later."

She told herself to have patience. "Fine."

"Don't be sour about it. You're clearly fit to join; you just haven't established yourself enough yet. I'll formally invite you again next season."