It was currently the afternoon before my birthday and recreation time with the other kids was nearing an end. By this point most of the other kids didn’t interact with me during this time and I was free to practice my magic in peace. At times I wondered if I should interact more with the other children. However most of the kids weren’t here for long before they left, or as the kids called it ‘reformed’, which sucked all meaning out of forming any kind of lasting relationship with them.
In my past I had also isolated myself from the other kids but for other reasons, I felt different and out of place having reincarnated in a strange world in a prison meant for mentally unstable people. On the other hand this time around I was much more confident with my situation. I found that living in this prison wasn’t all that bad, I was completely safe and didn’t have any responsibilities with all the free time in the world. Many people would love to be in my situation if it weren’t for the fact that I wasn’t here voluntarily.
However thanks to all of the free time I have I was able to practice my magic. I am now much better at divination magic. I have even grown a few divination spell crystals within my mana core. Forming spell crystals was a top secret technique I had learned from my time working in the Tallen government and I found it quite handy. Once a spell crystal was grown out of a specific spell it could then be charged with mana and released on command repeatedly. The mana needed to recharge the crystal could be actively supplied, or it would passively absorb excess mana regeneration that would normally be wasted otherwise.
There were multiple uses for spell crystals, but the one I currently used them for was to discreetly check whether I was being watched without having to actually cast a spell.
After recreation time ended everyone was taken back to their rooms including me. After I got into my room I used a spell crystal that cast a divination to check if I was being actively monitored. Receiving a negative response I started to use my metaphysical organ [Shattered Space Channel] to slowly and carefully shatter the space within my room. This was a slow ongoing routine I had started about a month ago in order to create the necessary environment to eventually be able to practice [Internal World].
What I was doing was essentially trying to use a blazing furnace to cook food, it was terribly inefficient but necessary. It was like a saying from Earth: If you throw a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will hop right out. But if you put that frog in a pot of tepid water and slowly warm it, the frog won't figure out what is going on until it's too late. What I was trying to do was essentially the same. I had to be slow and careful lest I alert the wards within the prison meant to catch any significant change to the space within their detection range.
The wards weren’t the only risk, if someone who had even a little experience with sensing space were to come near my room they would be able to instantly tell that the space within it was shattered. I wasn’t too worried about that though; those who could sense space were rare and would probably have better things to do than come to a remote prison, let alone visit my room.
So after a short, but difficult process, of delicately using my metaphysical organ to, very slightly, increase the shattering of the space in my room, I got up from my position in the middle of the floor and headed to my bed. After laying down I closed my eyes and went through the familiar process of entering The Archives.
Today was the day before my birthday and also the day that Genesis was awakening her bloodline talent. She said that she would start in the early morning and might not be able to enter The Archives until the next day; talent awakening could take anywhere from six to twenty four hours to complete.
After entering my room in The Archives I took my time to pick what I would wear. I liked to wear something different every time I came here because it cost me nothing to do so, because of my Infinite Level 1 Pass, and I got a kick out of showing off like that. After picking an outfit that looked like something a bounty hunter would wear, with a wide brimmed hat and tough leather jacket, I entered The Archives.
As always I had returned to the place where I had left from which was currently in the center of my favorite rest area. After looking up at the beautiful starry firmament above my head, I picked up a tablet and walked towards my comfortable one seater couch. Looking over I noticed that Genesis was actually already here sitting in her usual place. I was just about to cheerfully greet her when I noticed that she had her head down with her face in the palms of her hands. It was quite unusual for her to act this way, so I knew that something must have happened to her.
After walking over and sitting down in my chair Genesis looked up at me. She looked pained and if this was her real body I was certain that her eyes would’ve been red from crying. I placed my tablet on the table in front of me and said, “What’s wrong Genesis? I would’ve thought you would be happily preparing for your birthday party tomorrow, not coming here.”
She was silent for a while before she seemed to gather up the courage to speak, “Radiant, I don't know what to do.” She held her head in her hands and looked towards the ground. It was like a floodgate had been opened and the words flowed out of her mouth, “My life is ruined. Everything I worked for is worthless, nothing matters anymore and there’s nothing I can do. I can’t even-” She was breathing faster and faster and looked like she was about to hyperventilate.
“Genesis, Genesis calm down. Try and explain everything that happened from the beginning. If you’re here in The Archives it must not be immediately life threatening, so take your time and calm down with some deep breaths before explaining.”
She took some shaky deep breaths and seemed to stabilize her breathing. She clasped her hands tightly together and rested her elbows on her knees but continued to look at the ground, “Everything was fine this morning when I began my awakening ceremony. It was all going great, but after my talent started to awaken there was this horrible pain and I passed out. It’s not supposed to hurt when someone awakens their talent. I don’t know if there was something wrong with me, or the ritual, or something else, but when I woke up I was in my bed seven hours later.”
She took a deep breath before continuing, “After I woke up the doctor left my room and came back with my parents. I had never seen such a worried look on my parents' faces before, and my heart almost stopped because I knew something horrible must’ve happened to me. I was right, because the doctor cast some spells and apparently I didn’t awaken the family talent. I awakened something called [Collective Self]. My mind has been racing ever since and I don’t know what to do. I’m probably going to get kicked out of the house for being such a failure. But while I was panicking I remembered that you said I could come and ask you for advice if I ever needed it. I’ve been waiting here ever since and I was worried that you might not even come today. Who knows if I’d even be able to come here tomorrow?”
I silently listened to her story and pondered what I should say. I decided to start off by comforting her, “Well I’m sure that we can figure everything out together. If we work together I’m sure we can find out a solution to this problem. But first I need some more information, like what did your parents say or how did they react?”
“They didn’t say anything. Mom and Dad just gave me a hug before taking the doctor with them and leaving me alone in the room. They probably left me alone because they think I’m some sort of failure now.”
“I doubt that they think that. Have they ever said to you that they thought you were a failure?”
She hesitated for a moment before saying, “No they haven’t… But I don’t have the bloodline talent. What am I if not a failure?” Her shoulders slumped slightly as she said that, almost like a weight was pressing down on them.
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“Genesis you’re not a failure. I certainly don’t think you’re a failure. Did the doctor say anything else about your talent before he left? Did he say what your talent does or anything else about it?”
“No, he’s mostly a medical doctor, he doesn’t have the ability to tell what my talent does or anything else about it. He was only able to get the name of my talent, but with a name like Collective Self it is probably some sort of personal non-combat kind of talent. What difference would it make even if I knew what it does? It’s not the Rotthall bloodline talent.”
I shook my head, “No it is very important. You’re afraid that you’ll be kicked out of the house right?” She tentatively nodded her head and I continued, “Well if your talent is powerful enough it won’t matter that it’s not the bloodline talent; in the worst case scenario you would be treated like a vassal of the house but you wouldn’t be kicked out.”
Genesis shook her head and said, “I guess so. But nobody in the house knows the right spell, and getting someone who does won’t be easy and certainly won’t happen before tomorrow when everyone who is backing the other heirs will decide to kick me out. I don’t even have my system unlocked yet either, it’s hopeless.”
“It’s not hopeless Genesis. Listen to what I have to say before you come to conclusions. After all you’re here for my help right?” Genesis didn’t nod her head or say anything, but she did look up from the floor and looked at me waiting for what I would say next. “I can actually tell you what your talent does. You would have to give me permission, but if you did that then I would be able to tell you.”
“Really? You know the spell for that?”
I didn’t actually know the specific spell because I didn’t need to, but I didn’t have to tell her that. “Yes I know the spell. I’m actually pretty experienced in the realm of divination. If you give me permission to use magic on you through your connection to The Archives, then I will be able to find out what your talent does quickly and easily.”
“Alright, how do I do that?” After telling her the simple process she gave me permission and I started to use our connection The Archives as an intermediary, I was able to use divination magic on her and get the details of her unique talent. Because of my unique method of using divination magic I was able to get a very detailed description of her unique talent.
[Unique Talent(Tier 8): Collective Self (Rank 0)]
: A fusion of the talents [Linked Subordinate(Tier 7)] and [Automatic Self(Tier 7)].
Collective Self creates a connected collective of virtual self copies that can do everything the original can do. These are virtual copies and don’t exist in physical space, meaning that the collective is limited by the physical capabilities of the original. If the original has a way to control two bodies then one of the collective will be able to use one of these bodies independently from the original. Virtual copies act as if they were real and the collective can exchange damage done (and other things) between them as well as the main body. Virtual copies are sustained by the talent’s own energy source. Collective Self can currently support 2 copies.
“Wow, your talent is amazing.” I was honestly surprised by how good her talent was.
Genesis seemed to perk up when I said that, “Really? What tier is it?”
“Well it’s a tier 8 talent. That alone would probably prevent you from getting kicked out of your family. But that isn’t what I was referring to.”
“Well what are you waiting for, tell me.”
I told her the full description of her talent and then said, “- And that’s the end of the information I got. It sounds like a very powerful talent in my opinion. Do you already have different copies then?”
She closed her eyes and seemed to focus inward for a moment trying to sense anything, but she soon opened her eyes and said, “Not that I can tell no.”
“Hmm, maybe you have to manually create them then. You can try that when you leave The Archives. There’s no indication of how long that will take after all.”
“That sounds great and all, but how am I supposed to even do that?”
“It’s simple actually. You know how to enter mana meditation right?”
“Yes.”
“Well to start it’s similar to that, but instead of your mana core you’ll sense something else and all you have to do is focus on that instead of your mana core. It will feel like you’ve connected to a new limb and you’ll get a general feel of it. In your case I don’t think there is any danger to using your talent, so just mess around with it and you should find out how to create a copy. After some practice you won’t have to enter meditation to access your talent, but this is a good method to get yourself familiar with it.”
“Alright I understand my talent now. But I still don’t know what will happen to me now. Even though you say I won’t be kicked out of the house, how will I convince everyone to let me stay?”
“Don’t worry, I came up with an idea while reading your talent description. The first thing you need to do is go to your parents and tell them that someone you know in The Archives did a divination and said that your talent is tier 8, then give them a description of the talent.”
“How will that help me?”
“Well, at this point, after you have told your parents they will have to get someone to confirm the details of your talent before they do anything rash. This is good, and will stop any immediate threat of being kicked out, but it won’t guarantee anything. Your task is to hint to your parents that your talent would be great for gathering information within The Archives.”
“How do you know that my ability would help me gather information here? I don’t think the description mentioned anything like that.”
“Well if your talent works like how I think it does, then you would be able to have multiple of yourself inside The Archives at the same time; The Archives are very flexible when it comes to things like this, and with them being virtual copies and not physical ones it should treat all of your copies as just one person.”
“That sounds great and all, but even if it works out that way I won’t be able to sustain that kind of expenditure. I’m already using all of my points as it is with just me.”
“Well I could just buy everything you need. I’m somewhat limited in the amount I can give to other people, but helping just you wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Why would you do that?”
“What do you mean why. I would get to keep meeting my friend here in The Archives.”
Genesis looked touched, “Radiant I didn’t know you thought so highly of me as a friend. To help me out by spending your own points on me.”
“Well don’t get too sentimental, that's not the only reason I would go so far. Another reason is that you're a Count’s daughter and have access to some valuable connections and resources. As you know I am currently unable to go out and do things on my own, so I might ask you to do some small things for me sometimes, and it is more convenient for me if you have access to more power and resources. Besides, it wouldn't be hard for me to help you out when it comes to buying information from The Archives, you could say I don’t have to worry about points.”
She seemed torn between accepting my help because of her desperate situation or refusing my help, “I don’t know what to say.”
I smiled at her, “Just accept my help. I’m doing this because I want to help you. Seriously, it's no problem for me.”
Genesis relaxed back into her seat as some of the tension she was feeling left, “Thank you then. Are you sure that everything will work out if I do these things though?”
“I’m positive. But there are a few more things to remember. First of all, when you tell your parents about the person who told you about your talent, be a bit mysterious and don’t go into many details. One thing you should mention though, is that you asked that person what their talent tier is out of curiosity and that they said they have a tier nine talent. This will give them another reason to let you use The Archives, because even if they aren’t sure about your ability they will want to keep in contact with somebody with a tier nine talent.”
“Wait, do you have a tier nine talent?”
“Well I will, it’s not awakened yet. It’s partially the reason for my special training.” I smiled, “And now you actually did ask about my talent out of curiosity, so it’s not even a lie.”
It was true too. Part of my plans included getting a tier zero talent awakening orb, that the government would give me, before I escaped from prison. A tier zero talent orb could increase the tier of a talent by one when used to awaken a talent. This combined with my trait [Ornate Chains of Talent] would increase the tier of my talent from seven to nine which was the highest tier a unique talent could awaken as.
“That’s amazing Radiant.” She furrowed her brows slightly, “I bet you don’t have any worries in life.”
I shook my head, “I wish that were true, but unfortunately owning a treasure without the strength to protect it is a sin.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It's nothing, just something I’ve learned from experience. But anyways I wish you luck with everything. You can tell me how it went tomorrow morning. I hope you didn’t forget that you said we would celebrate our birthdays together.”
That seemed to cheer her up and get rid of some of her gloominess, “Of course not. I’ll be there if everything works out.”
“Everything will work out fine, so don’t worry about it. Now get going and do what you need to do.”
Genesis nodded her head and we said our goodbyes before she disappeared from where she sat. I just sat there looking at the stars and pondering things for a long while. There were a lot of things that this would bring to my future plans, but all of them were long term, so I sat there for a while going over things in my head.