Archibald Goldfinger was nervous. It was finally here. His awakening was just a few seconds away.
He was standing in a mostly featureless room together with four mages fueling the ritual circle, that he was here for. Blue mana drifted out of them like smoke and was drawn to the collection runes. The warm orange glow of mage-lamps fought for dominance with the bright flickering white-blue radiance from the intricate lines covering the floor.
He may only be the son of two humble merchants in a rural town, but he had a dream. He wanted to leave a mark in history. It did not have to be a big mark, but he wanted to be remembered. Archibald would settle for being a sidenote in a historic document, so long as he was in there.
To get there he would need to be exceptional. And to be exceptional he would need to have exceptional skills. Skills he may already have and could now discover.
The ritual finished and information flooded his brain.
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L-1 A-1 W-1 Human Knowledge – R1-1/10 – Ordinary Human – Raise two aspects to Rank 2 (0/2) Title: Citizen of Stonewood Citizen of Stonewood – R1-1/5 – Access to the public services of the town of Stonewood General: Vivid Memory – R1-1/3 – passive – Remember in vivid detail |
The result of his awakening was utterly ordinary.
All he got were the ordinary core skill Human Knowledge, the ordinary Citizenship title, and a single first realm innate skill.
Archibald’s mood did not drop. Having an ordinary start would simply make his later achievements more impressive. His Vivid Memory would guarantee him a job in any scholarly profession. He would join the city council as a scribe and from there he could work his way up the ranks.
“Move it! Other people want to use the room too.”
He snapped back to reality, stormed out of the room, and only barely avoided collision with his parents, who had waited for him at the exit.
After some congratulations they exited the ritual tower and walked back to their house at the edge of the commercial district through wide and well-maintained streets lined with occasional islands of greenery breaking up the slightly monotonous greys, browns, and earthy reds of blocky mage-shaped stone buildings. As they walked through their shop, which occupied the ground floor, the hired cashier greeted them with a friendly smile. Soon, they were ascending the stairs to their private living space father up.
“You know what aspects you want to focus on?” his mother asked.
“Yes. I don’t really need weight at all. It only makes me harder to push around and I would rather avoid having to rely on it at all. So, I want to focus on life and acceleration. Then I can work faster and sleep less!” Archibald nearly vibrated from unreleased excitement.
His father let out a hearty laugh and handed him a small booklet. “I knew you would say that. Here is a guide to getting the Fitness skill. That should help you with your training.”
In less than a second Archibald disappeared into the gym room, new training method in hand and dreams of greatness in mind.
After graduation from school, Archibald started working as an accountant for the city hall. It was honest work and allowed him enough free time to train and provided a reasonable wage as well as opportunities to work on his memory skill. It had already changed into Soul Memory, a skill that let him preserve memories directly in his soul. And he was working on a real evolution. An evolution, which would allow him to filter the preserved memory and extract their raw information. He was training this by internalizing paperwork with a focus on only text and even recalling the memories again to forcefully forget detail like the color of the paper, the smell of the room and other noise.
He could feel his efforts bear fruit. Half an hour before his shift ended, something in his mind clicked. A click that resounded through his soul.
Satisfied Archibald closed his eyes and focused on his status.
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L-48 A-51 W-35 Human Knowledge – R1-4/10 – Ordinary Human – Raise two aspects to Rank 5 (1/2) Title: Quick Learner Citizen of Stonewood – R1-3/5 – Access to Public services Quick Learner – R1-4/5 – Faster information processing City Accountant of Stonewood – R1-1/3 – Limited information access to the city archive General: Memory Storage – R1-3/7 – passive – Memories can be perfectly stored in your soul Fitness – R1-2/5 – proficiency – Train Life and Acceleration faster Scribe – R1-4/5 – proficiency – Reading and writing are supernaturally easy Analyze – R1-2/10 – active – See the deeper truths of the world |
It was time for some changes.
| Skill-Resonance: Do you want to merge Quick Learner, Memory Storage and Scribe? |
“Yes!” Archibald couldn’t stop himself from shouting his answer out loudly. The sounds were swallowed by the privacy enchantments of his small office, so nobody noticed the outburst.
| New Skill: Soul Archival – R2-1/10 – proficiency – Absorb information directly into your soul, where it is preserved, can be categorized, and edited |
He had made tangible progress. After raising his Life aspect by another three points he would reach rank five. This would make training his skills and further raising his aspects easier. But that paled in contrast to the fact that he obtained a second realm skill this early. Normally that kind of upgrade would only happen when nearing the limits of the first realm, meaning at rank ten or late rank nine. He on the other hand had made the step into the next realm while only halfway there, still on the edge to rank five.
Pride swelled up in Archibald. Surely, he was destined for greatness.
This was it. His chance for greatness had come. Archibald had discovered the tax evasion scheme of a large quarry company. His research was well documented and would allow the city to reclaim a small fortune in unpaid taxes. He had handed the evidence to the official in charge of tax fraud and was incredibly happy with this job excellently done. A rank eight accountant had outsmarted the combined efforts of a business headed by multiple rank thirteen mages.
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L-74 A-76 W-62 Human Knowledge – R1-8/10 – Ordinary Human – Raise two aspects to Rank 9 (0/2) Title: Quick Thinker Citizen of Stonewood – R1-4/5 – Access to Public services Quick Thinker – R1-3/5 – Faster thoughts City Accountant of Stonewood – R1-3/3 – Information access to the city archive General: Soul Archival – R2-4/10 – proficiency – Absorb information directly into your soul, where it is preserved, can be categorized, and edited Fitness – R1-2/5 – proficiency – Train Life and Acceleration faster Soul Pen – R1-1/8 – artifact – Soul-bound writing utensil. Uses mana as ink Analyze – R1-8/10 – active – See the deeper truths of the world Walk in Confidence – R1-2/3 – proficiency – Save steps, calm mind, natural movement Silence – R1-1/5 – passive – Dampened noise in your surroundings |
Archibald had to celebrate. He grinned and unlocked his door. The dark wood swung to the side in a smooth and silent motion.
Archibald walked into the living room and frowned. It was too cold. Curtains ruffled loudly in a breeze that should not be there. Why was his window open? He was sure he closed it before going to work.
Anger was starting to swell up in Archibald and as he was making his way to close the offending glass pane a hard wooden bat rudely interrupted him by hitting his head, sending his face into the soft carpet.
“Did you really think, you could just tattle to your boss? Actions have consequences. Luckily, your boss is in the chief’s pockets. Otherwise, I would have to go on a murder spree to fix your blabbering. Those are never fun. There are always complications that lead to my clothes getting bloody. Those clothes are a real bitch to clean; I tell you.”
Archibald was not in a state to respond to his attacker, but the intruder blabbered on without a care in the world: “You are not the first idiot to try and take the money for the chief. Now chief sends me to take your miserable life. I’ll shut up your annoying mouth, before you talk about his secret to some sucker he didn’t pay off.”
Archibald’s thoughts were hazy, but agitation gave him renewed energy. No! This is not how it ends! A foot to the side interrupted the scream he didn’t even realize he had produced.
The impact rattled his insides, and he coughed out a few drops of blood.
| Soul-Resonance detected. Do you wish to absorb all your skills and remaining lifeforce into Soul Archive to allow it a chance to preserve the accumulated information beyond your death? |
No words were necessary. He accepted.
| New skill: Soul Archive forcefully evolves into Archivists Legacy – R2-1/5 – passive, grant – Absorb information directly into a repository bound to this skill, where it is preserved, can be categorized, and edited. After your death, this skill and the information repository will settle in the soul of a compatible sentient rank zero creature. |
He closed his eyes. Life was fading out of him, but he was filled with satisfaction. His memory would live on. It would outlast him even longer than expected.
Archibald Goldfinger died as a happy man and left behind a legacy. He did not anticipate it, but it would outlast the very planet he was born on.
