The orbs would just stop, and observe the spellcasters for a long while- Until the time they were told to watch had passed (Ten hours, I think), and they returned to their spot, where Query collected them, and hid away again, to slowly run over the information they had gathered, making note about how they cast spells, the frequency, and their usage.
Between that time, he went to any institutions of learning, and attempted to bribe his way into their library for books on aforementioned subjects. If none are available, he would look for places of faith, and request information about their faith, in an attempt to gather as much information as they could manage. He then proceeded to go to any local cartographer guilds, and buy as many maps of different areas of the world as he could manage, offering both gems and gold in exchange. He would then ask where he could buy information about good places to farm, where the mines are in this world, and stuff like that. He would basically spend the next 10 hours trying to get as complete a picture about this world as he could physically manage.