We propose to study transition metal compounds of uncommon transport properties and excitation characteristics applying emerging high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. The objective is to determine the microscopic origin of the unconventional behaviour of systems with strong electron correlation through systematic investigations, as well as to reveal bistability conditions and excitation characteristics of switchable molecular systems. The main techniques involved are synchrotron radiation (SR)-based spectroscopies, which can explore the fine details of the electronic structure. Besides using existing end stations of SR facilities, we plan to build a portable spectrometer that can be advantageously used both in a laboratory (e.g., with a radioactive source) and at specially dedicated beamlines of SR facilities, in order to benefit from their specializations in extreme conditions and advanced sample environments, in particular unconventional experiments. This spectrometer should also be able to work in a time-resolved mode so that it could address the dynamics of electronic excitations on the attosecond to nanosecond time scale. The suggested work is expected to push high-resolution X-ray spectroscopies toward maturity, which should open up new horizons in electronic structure and dynamics studies of condensed matter research.