Holy crap dude.. thorough explanation but I'm too chicken shit to try and open a battery..
aside from that, yea my neighbor is a mechanic.. great advice btw.. thanks a bunch, looking to save as much as possible but might skip over, opening up the battery, lol
Once you see it done, you'll realize you could have done this long ago.
you basically take a flat screwdriver and "pop" off the covers. They are just sitting on top of those holes with a little rubber o-ring holding them on. Nothing dangerous about it. (unless of course, you hit the terminals and throw a spark. Don't do that of course)
Just search some youtube channels "how to refill car battery" and watch.