Chapter 1: Prologue – Legacy

Archibald 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.

 

Name: Archibald Goldfinger

Core: L-100 A-100 W-100

Human Knowledge – R1 – Ordinary Human – Raise two aspects to Rank 2

Title: Citizen of Stonewood

Citizen of Stonewood – R1 – Access to the public services of the town of Stonewood – 75%

General:

Vivid Memory – R2 – passive – Remember information in vivid detail – 60%

 

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 rank two 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. As they walked through their shop, which took up most of the ground floor, the cashier greeted them with a friendly smile. Before entering the training room in the cellar, the family stopped in the common room in the back.

“You know what 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 cellar, 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 evolved into Soul Memory, a skill that let him preserve memories directly in his soul. And he was working on another 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. The day was nearly over when something in his mind clicked. A click that resounded through his soul.

 Satisfied Archibald closed his eyes and focused on his status.

 

Name: Archibald Goldfinger

Core: L-194 A-201 W-165

Human Knowledge – R1 – Ordinary Human – Raise two aspects to Rank 2 (one remaining)

Title: Quick Learner

Citizen of Stonewood – R2 – Access to Public services – 12%

Quick Learner – R2 – Faster information processing – 78%

City Accountant of Stonewood – R1 – Limited information access to the city archive – 100%

General:

Soul Memory – R3 -> Soul Archive – R4 – passive – Store information in your soul – 14%

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Fitness – R1 – proficiency – Train Life and Acceleration faster – 91%

Scribe – R2 – proficiency – Reading and writing are supernaturally easy – 11%

Analyze – R1 – active – see the deeper truths of the world – 83%

 

He had made tangible progress. After raising his Life aspect by another six points he would reach rank tow. This would make training his skills and further raising his aspects a lot easier. The penalty for progress was after all a whole factor of ten to the difficulty for each rank difference between the respective aspect or skill and his core skill.

The fact that he had not only trained his Soul Memory to 100% proficiency, but also evolved it to rank four, clearly demonstrated, how hard work and a good compatibility could alleviate this somewhat.

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 three accountant had outsmarted the combined efforts of a rank five business.

 

Name: Archibald Goldfinger

Core: L-345 A-362 W-310

Human Knowledge – R3 – Ordinary Human – Raise two aspects to Rank 4

Title: Quick Thinker

Citizen of Stonewood – R3 – Access to Public services – 100%

Quick Thinker – R4 – Faster information processing – 21%

Senior Accountant of Stonewood – R3 – information access to the city archive – 98%

General:

Soul Archive – R7– passive – Store information in your soul – 32%

Fitness – R2 – proficiency – Train Life and Acceleration faster – 100%

Scribe – R4 – proficiency – Reading and writing are supernaturally easy – 56%

Soul Pen – R5 – artifact – Soul-bound writing utensil. Uses mana as ink – 72%

Analyze – R4 – active – see the deeper truths of the world – 95%

Walk in Confidence – R2 – proficiency – save steps, calm mind, natural movement – 100%

Silence – R3 – passive – dampened noise in your surroundings – 47%

 

He had to celebrate. He grinned and unlocked his door. The dark wood swung to the side in silence. It produced absolutely no noise, which could have ruined his mood.

Archibald walked into the living room and frowned. Why was his window open? He was sure he closed it before going to work.

His anger was interrupted rudely by a hard wooden bat hitting his head. The soft carpet adequately softened the fall.

“Did ya really think, you could just tattle to your boss? Actions have consequences. You try to take the money for the chief. Now chief sends me to take your life. Shut up your annoying mouth, before you talk about his secret to somebody he didn’t pay.”

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. They landed on the otherwise clean carpet and left stains, which would be a nightmare to get out.

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 – R10 – passive – Store information in your soul. After your death, this skill and the contained information 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 may not have known, but it would outlast the very world he was born on.

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