“DevilWalker, how’d it go?”

Colin looked away from his screen and put his attention squarely on the Goblin. “Pretty good. My Career is something called ‘MindScape Librarian’, whatever that means, I kind of know what that means but-”

“What Tier level was it?” Nox asked.

“Four.”

The Goblin bared his teeth with his excitement, “Well done. I’ve never seen anything higher than Tier Three, but I’ve heard that the highest was Tier Five,” Nox explained. “So, four is very impressive.”

“I’ve heard,” Rielle said, raising her voice so Colin and Nox could hear her. “I’ve heard that The higher the Tier, the more skills that were needed to unlock it. Also, from what the Fey understand, Librarian Careers are more about knowledge skills than actual books or buildings.”

“Go ahead, open up the menu, and let’s hear the complete description,” Nox instructed, his excitement evident with his chuckles.

Colin nodded, and Willed open the Career Menu.

A new screen opened with a format that he had not seen yet appearing on the two-dimensional surface. The center of the screen was a solid, tranquil, and calming blue orb with the words ‘MindScape Librarian’ at its center. The menu’s background was a mottled black and gray sky with no stars to distract from the menu. Five other orbs hung around the central sphere, but Colin focused on the Central Sphere to pull its information.

MindScape Librarian - A curator of knowledge accumulated with the help of a memory construct called a Mind Palace. With the help of Mental Magic, this construct takes on a life of its own, becoming more real as this Career grows in power. This Bearer of this Career takes pride in their ability to learn, maintain, and remember everything they decide to add to their Library.

Colin repeated the description to the two, and Nox nodded appreciatively. “Interesting, what about the Career Power options?”

Turning back to the open prompt, Colin looked at the rest of the screen away from the central sphere. Five other blue spheres were extending out from the center-most point, each marked with a name in their center. Beyond them, he could see that other options branched off of these, but he could not discern their names or even how many there were. This was due to a thick white mist that obscured everything except those five spheres.

What Colin did not expect to see on one of these named orbs was its name highlighted in a blue-green color. He read the name and willed its description out for him to read.

Memory Palace (Level 1)

(Free)

This is the baseline and central power of the MindScape Librarian. This power combines the memory technique which this power is named after and combines it with mental magic, making it infinitely more potent. With this first level, your Memory Palace takes shape in your mind but is only as large as a medium-sized office. Still, having a limited capacity but more functional than the average person’s memory, which approximates a broom closet. By itself, this power only enhances the memory of the person who owns this Career. With more powers and upgrades, your Palace will grow.

Colin nodded at the ability in appreciation. Enhanced memory was always going to be a good thing, and its application would always be straightforward. But as soon as he read what this power gave him, a portion of the fog lifted, allowing him to see a couple more options that branched off from this one. He ignored it for a moment to look at the two in his room and ask them a question.

“Do all Careers come with a free power?” Colin asked.

Both nodded, but Nox explained, “every Career comes with one free ability and ten free Career points. The free power is supposed to keep people from going past the necessary powers to get an arbitrary one. Whatever your free power is, it must be necessary to your Career’s function,” Nox explained.

Rielle decided to add on after Nox finished, “Yeah, and that doesn’t mean that other necessary powers should be skipped over. One power is given for free, but there might be others that are important to really use your Career properly,” she explained.

Nox nodded in agreement.

Colin nodded and ignored the new powers that were revealed for a moment to look over the other four revealed spheres. Reading the name and pulling up their relevant information.

Peripheral Learning

(5 CP) Just as something moving on the edge of your vision can catch your attention, hearing something can have the same effect on you. Any information spoken within 5 meters regarding a Knowledge Skill that you have at least 3 levels may add to your Knowledge Skills experience if it is new information. For this description’s purpose, the environment’s conditions must be ideal for maximum range to be achieved. Notice Discrepancy

(5 CP) Sometimes, when you are reading a book, even if it is a subject you are unfamiliar with, you can just tell that something you just read is wrong or incorrect. This power grants your eyes the capability to see errors in the written word, used to keep the reader from diluting his knowledge with misleading information. Appropriate Tome

(5 CP) What is a library without books? A waste of space. This power grants you the knowledge of a way to transfer a standard book of sufficient quality and move it to your Memory Palace. This allows you to access the knowledge within as you see fit by taking it back out as you wish. Detect Knowledge

(5 CP)

Everything has an aura, books and documents included. With this ability, you can see the auras of the written works as you see fit. Getting some semblance of what is contained within, how relevant it is to you, and how old it is before you even touch it.

“Wow,” Colin said, wanting them all. Each one of them had uses, even Peripheral Learning. Sit him down in the study hall of any university, and all he’d have to do was wait and watch his levels increase.

Out of curiosity, Colin looked at the new options that appeared after looking at the free power, ‘Memory Palace.’

Memory Palace Level 2

(10 CP) The second level of the Memory Palace power increases the space’s size where you can store information. Previously, your Library was the size of a medium-sized office. Now, it is the size of a medium-sized apartment, effectively doubling the maximum book count. Index

(10 CP) As your Mindscape Library size grows, so will the need to order and find all the information within it. The power adds an alcove to the inside of your Library, where it can be found easily. This index will properly organize your Library and make it easy to find whatever you store in there. Projection

(10 CP) The MindScape Library, or Memory Palace, is a place created with the help of mental magic and your pre-existing knowledge and wisdom. This power allows you access to the Library with a mental projection of yourself for as long as you are actively meditating. While in the Library, your faculties shall be absent from your physical form, making all Perception skills useless while inside.

“Well, this is fascinating,” Colin said, rereading all of them again. “I think I have an idea of what this Career actually is,” he said, finishing the text again with a smile. “I believe that this Career creates a small library in my mind that I can actively store information inside. Depending on what powers I chose, will either alter the free ability or grant me more ways to add to the Library.”

Nox nodded along, “certainly interesting, but doesn’t explain why it is a Tier four Career,” he said, stating his opinion.

Given all the information he had on hand, Colin had to agree. He had no frame of reference, given that Nox hadn’t really talked about his career choice and Rielle wasn’t high enough level. He had no way to know if this was normal or underpowered.

But, since it was what he had to play with, Colin thought about his choices. He threw out all those Memory Palace upgrades this time, given that he only had ten points to spend and had no good way of adding anything to his Library yet. It was a weird thought, Colin mused, something is mine, but I have no way to honestly know it exists yet.

To that end, Colin chose and bought the Appropriate Tome power and the Notice Discrepancy power. The first one was obvious, given that he needed a way to add books to his Library, and this power would allow him to do so. The other was for a more simple utility because the corresponding text did not say that it would only apply to standard books and texts. With any luck, it could apply to other, more… secretive writings.

Career Points left to spend: 0. Would you like to apply the powers bought to your character now?

Colin said yes, and the knowledge was granted to his mind. This was a lot more gentle than every other time he was actually granted knowledge from an outside source. This felt more like he spent three days reading a book straight, and now he was very brain-fried. The seconds passed, and Colin could say that he simply knew the power granted to him.

You have been granted the Career Powers: Summon Book, Appropriate Tome, and Notice Discrepancy.

Two were titled after the power he’d gotten them from, but the first took a moment for the answer to come. It was a power granted by the Memory Palace itself to be able to withdraw books as needed.

Curious, Colin grabbed his Dimensional Bag and started to pull out the books he’d been collecting and hoarding since he’d gotten the bag in the first place. He wasn’t sure which one to go with but started by picking up one of the first books he’d gotten and one that had almost gotten him killed and Appraising it.

Book: Primer for Enchanting. Weight: 310 grams. Item Quality:4

A book on the basics of the Skill: Enchanting and its first subskill: Attune Item. This item was initially crafted to be a working guide on the skill but contains a danger without guidance. This tome is an unwitting trap to those without help; the Author, a man unknown to the community, believed Enchanting to be the work of the chosen, not a profession for monetary gains.

“Item quality four,” Colin hummed before setting the book back down. “Not high enough.”

He searched through his book collection, finding so few of them actually above Item Quality four or five. When he was done, he found three books at Item Quality six and one at seven. The one commonality that all three books had was that they were ones he’d stolen from the Prince’s household the night he’d gotten Rielle.

The Quality seven-book was a Lore book that was remarkably well made and preserved, considering the publication date on the inside cover was from over one year ago. The other two were called ‘A study of Effigies’ and ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Cosmos.’ These books were all gotten before he had gotten his Channel Effigy skill, so the book had held little meaning to him when he’d first acquired it. As such, it did not hold a spot in his memory until now, when he saw it again. In case the Appropriation did not go well, Colin did not want to risk that book. So, instead, he picked the most disposable of the three, the guidebook.

Following his instincts, as if he’d done this a hundred times, his knowledge of the rite moving him forward, he set the book down on the bed next to him. Placing his hand upon it, Colin could feel the space in his mind where the book would go and took in a deep breath. He felt it; the moment the room became confirmed in his mind, Colin spoke the trigger words that were common for activating magic in this world. “Appropriate Tome.”

A soft blue light issued forth from the balm of his hand, the glow encapsulating the book and causing it to fade away under his touch. He knew the process due to the absorption of the knowledge, and he had to admit that this was pretty cool. The act of ‘Appropriating a Tome’ was almost like faxing a copy into his brain and destroying the original copy. The process took an amount of time and mana depending on the book’s size and quality, which meant this could not be used on the run. But when the one-hundred and fourteen-page book was finished being added to his Library, Colin got a new Prompt.

You have Appropriated the book, ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Cosmos.’ This book can now be recalled to your hand using the Summon Book power and can remain up to 1 hour. You now have 1/50 available books in your Library.

Just to know, Colin opened his palm and said, “Summon The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Cosmos.”

The same book he’d just added to his Library appeared in his hand. The item fell from a flat circle of blue magic that seemed to be this Career’s primary color scheme. Colin turned it over in his hands, smiling as he saw the exactness the book was replicated with when it was reintegrated into this reality.

“Enjoying yourself?” Nox asked, smiling himself at the happiness that Colin was experiencing with the new ability.

“I am,” he said honestly.

“Well, you should be about to get a quest. Something to give you more Career points-” Nox started before Colin raised a hand to stop him.

Quest: Quality Bookkeeping. Objective: Your Career is one about quality over quantity, especially when it comes to knowledge. To show what your Career can do, find an Item Quality 10 book about a subject you know and ‘Appropriate’ it. Objective: ‘Appropriate’ one Item Quality 10 book about a knowledge Skill you know. Reward: 5 Career Points.

“Yup, got it,” Colin said, a little disappointed. He’d already checked all the books he already had, and none of the ones he had were that high of a quality. “What makes a book a higher quality?”

Nox looked at the book he was holding and pointed to it. “Usually, it’s based around the quality of the materials used to make it, the skill level of the person who made it, and how accurate the knowledge in it is. The higher the quality, the better. Why?”

Colin told him, and Nox groaned, “good luck, DevilWalker. Books of the quality are few and far between given how accurate the knowledge within has to be. But don’t worry, these quests are not the only way to get Career Points. You also get some when leveling, usually ten if you are actually using your Career. The universe does not like it when an ability you gain, like Career’s, go stagnant.”

“So, use it or lose?” Rielle asked, trying to understand the information too.

“Indeed,” Nox answered, turning back to his book. “DevilWalker, I would suggest you get some food then go to sleep. You look like an act for dead after all that has happened to you today. Paladin will return tomorrow, and then you can decide what you want to do next.”

Colin cast the spell Black Mirror and saw what Nox meant. Colin’s face was looked sullen and pale in the dying light. His eyes had dark circles underneath them, and now that he knew it, there was a sense of weariness pervading his entire body. Looking back, he had done a lot today, but hadn’t Rielle done a lot too?

“Why doesn’t she look half as bad as… Wait, never mind. Stupid question,” Colin said. “The Neuropathic Siphon, right?”

Nod nodded, “it took a noticeable toll on your body. I wouldn’t worry, DevilWalker. With some food and a good night’s rest, you should feel remarkably better,” Nox assured him. “If not, We’ll give it another day.”

Colin nodded, “yeah. Hopefully.”

Rielle volunteered to get the food while Colin looked through the rest of his stuff in the Dimensional Bag. The books were just one example of things that he hadn’t gone through anywhere near as much as he should have, and he was reminded of a few things he’d found in his early times in this game.

New ideas were formulating when she came back with a literal basket of day-old bread, cheese, cured meat slices, and lettuce. They made some sandwiches, with Nox only eating some meat before Colin fell asleep over the covers.

---

When Colin woke up the following day, Rielle was not in the room, and Nox was eating what looked like bacon while mixing some dark fluids on the desk across from him. He sat up and looked over to Nox, watching him as he carefully sat up in the bed.

“Welcome to the world, DevilWalker,” Nox greeted, holding a clear black flask up to his eyes to see it properly.

“What time is it?” Colin asked, groaning from the effort of waking up. He rubbed his eyes, wishing he had a little more time to sleep; it must not have been long since he went out for the rest of the day.

“One-o’clock,” Nox answered, adding a pinch of what looked like black salt to the mix.

“At night?” Colin yawned.

“In the afternoon, DevilWalker,” Nox corrected. “You slept for almost fifteen hours.”

“What?” he asked, confused. Other than a brief coma he’d experience before meeting McKenna, he’d never slept more than nine hours. “Then why am I still tired?” he moaned, forcing himself out of bed and to his feet.

“Probably a side effect of the ritual you performed yesterday, DevilWalker. Don’t worry; if sleepiness is the only symptom you have right now, then you will be fine. Here, drink this,” Nox instructed, adding a pinch of some kind of ground before handing him the flask. “And drink it all.”

Colin took the mixture and sniffed it wearily, “what is it?”

“Super Coffee,” Nox told him. “It was one of my favorite things when I was younger, alchemically strengthened coffee,” the Goblin told him. “Trust me, it is delicious,” he commented.

While he wasn’t so sure about that, Colin swallowed once and then put the flask to his lips. He tilted it farther back and chugged the whole thing to avoid tasting it, which was a terrible thing. Colin pulled the flask away from his face, looking at it with wide, wild eyes before looking at Nox, and saying quietly, “it’s delicious, perfect.”

“I know,” Nox stated smugly. “The part of it that’s alchemical is the taste and caffeine levels. Both should have been just right,” he told him.

“You know,” Colin said, now glaring at the Goblin. “I wish you had told me BEFORE I drank it all. I would have liked to enjoy it,” Colin said. “I thought it was going to be gross when I didn’t smell anything.”

“Now, DevilWalker,” Nox asked, his voice the epitome of calm. “Why would I do that?”

Colin rolled his eyes before rolling his shoulders. “Is that stuff fast-acting too, because I feel great,” Colin stated, continuing to stretch his aching muscles back to normalcy. Sleeping for fifteen hours is not good for the body.

“Indeed it is,” Nox grinned, “helps the day go on a little easier.”

Colin couldn’t help but agree. “So,” Colin said, putting his hands on his hips and leaning back. “Where is Rielle?”

“She is downstairs with Paladin. Apparently, the more active Outworlders are downstairs having another meeting. They wanted her and him there, considering they have both been outside and survived,” Nox said, pulling out the same book as the day before and sitting in his chair.

Looking at the title on the spine, he read out, “A history of the Dwarvish Nations. Why are you reading that?” Colin asked, curious as he glared at the still full bathroom and scowled.

“I guess I could tell you the short version. Get it? Dwarves, short, Ha” Nox barked out, happy at his own quip. “I was killed by a Dwarf, and I wanted to see if she showed up in the history books,” Nox answered.

For a moment, Colin forgot that he needed to pee. This was the first time Nox had been specific about the subject of his death, and he was hoping to press his luck, “and, is she?”

“Yes, she is. But not for killing me, no. She’s in here for creating the Hydraulic Knight class, which, by the way, she used to kill me,” Nox said, spitting towards the wall, away from Colin. “Fucking took a specialize three-meter tall mech to made by a Hero Dwarf to beat me,” Nox grumbled.

“Hero? Whose?” Colin asked, remembering what he knew of heroes. There were heroes like Nox was the Hero of Hel, and then there was The Hero, who would come and defeat the Demon Lord. Colin assumed that it would be more accurate to call it the Protagonist, given that he was the Antagonist, but that was splitting hairs.

“Hephestus,” Nox spat again. “DevilWalker, I don’t want to talk about this; all it does is make me angry. I don’t like being angry. Amused, excited, eccentric, those are me,” he stated in the way that told the world that he knew who he was. “Anyway, I think you should go and see what is going on with that meeting. They haven’t been gone that long, and maybe it’ll be useful.”

Colin nodded and started grabbing anything he might need, which right now was a change of clothes. He took a quick moment to change; the only piece of clothing he kept was the jacket, which was starting to fall apart. He needed to get it repaired or replaced, but he didn’t want to. He’d grown attached to it since he got it as a quest reward before becoming the Antagonist.

Now equipped and with a change of clothes, Colin took one more moment to use the overcrowded facilities before leaving the Hotel room. He hurried down the stairs, meeting very few people before entering the lobby and finding it much more crowded with what he assumed mainly was NPCs. He headed towards the Main Ballroom, where the man Salazario could be heard arguing with someone else.

He entered the room and found that most of the people in there watched the Druid Salazario in his lion skin cape having a shouting match with someone in the crowd.

The woman he was arguing with just stood there, arms folded as she looked at the man who was shouting at her. She looked thin but toned in a way her red leather jacket would not hide. It was padded along the back, and the sleeves were rolled up to expose her forearms and pants made of the same red leather-covered and protected her legs. From where Colin stood on his way into the room, the only other thing he could tell was that his hair was a deep chestnut brown tied into a short bun.

“No, no, no,” Salazario yelled. “For the last time, that is not a good idea. You know Mini-bosses are not to be trifled with. Especially considering what one of them did to Lit’lev! Fighting them without more information is stupid!”

“No,” she stated, her voice carrying over Salazario’s with a single syllable. “It would be foolish to not at least attempt what I am suggesting. I have seen a report from my guild that said one of them, a crystal golem, was defeated by a team just yesterday, which means one less defender for the main compound. We need to go and take the fight to the Mini-boss that is just sitting there; it hasn’t moved in almost a day. The longer we wait, the better the chance it will move.”

Colin had to grin at that information. Someone had been watching them fight but did not come and help. Sounds right, he told himself, shaking his head while he looked for Rielle and Paladin in the crowd. Which was easy enough given Paladin’s bulk. They were both leaning against the back wall, listening to the proceedings passively while Rielle was tapping her foot impatiently.

“So, how long have they been screaming?” Colin asked, walking up and joining them against the wall.

Rielle looked happy to see him, her foot stopping almost immediately, “Walker! Uh, maybe ten minutes, I wouldn’t say they as much as he has been. She has been trying to be diplomatic, but he is trying to avoid taking risks.”

Paladin nodded in his direction, “feeling better?” he asked, smiling at Colin.

“I am,” Colin said, looking over the giant of a man. Ignoring the two for a minute, Colin thought about what the Choice Moderator Jim had told him would be good advice. “Trust, huh?” Colin asked out loud.

Colin shook his head, “Paladin. I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor?”

Smiling, he said, “anything within reason.”

He was about to ask when the woman looked around the room, looking in every direction as she rotated, looking at everybody briefly. “If you wish to stay here and cower with him while you make plans, be my guest, but I want to lead some groups against the Mini-bosses around the city. We know where two are, and with some help, maybe we can take both down at once. Who’s with me!” she called out, cheering everyone on with her.

He was a little amused by the speech, sure, but she was right. If there was the chance, then they had better take it. But, Colin had his priorities straight; while a dozen people around the room cheered, Colin looked back at Paladin. If I gave you my wife’s phone number and a message to tell her, would you?” Colin asked.

Paladin smiled, “on one condition, and I think you know what I want,” he stated, his smile very smug.

Gritting his teeth, Colin took a deep breath and restated his question, “would you please call my wife for me… Pal.”

Letting out a quick belly laugh, Paladin answered, “Of course, Walker. We are friends, right?”

As much as he knew he would not say it today, Colin knew the answer was a solid and annoying Yes.