For the first time since she regained her full consciousness and faculties, Evot feels at home. Despite a rather tumultuous youth and an extremely invasive youth therapy that had taken her a lot of time to recover from, she had spent a large portion of her adult life finding peace between archival shelves and between masses of historical records. All kinds of regulation and compliance laws specify that certain types of data need to be retained for long periods of time in a physical form. And, as every single proper archivist knows, there isn’t a better secure, long term, and safe way to store information than properly climate controlled paper. And Evot just reached the Valhalla of her profession.
Her heart both beating madly and serenely at peace, she touches rows of record boxes. The number marking on the shelves and boxes themselves immediately tell her the answer to an age-old question. Apparently, the ancient sapients that designed this collection of regulations and laws had deemed the 'fonds, series, file, and item' the proper way to catalogue. The initial fonds indication obviously indicated the collection of data. In this case, it seems to be GalaxSec Regulation version one five two zero three eight three.
Elated at solving the mystery, Evot starts wandering through the collection of dry paper. She glides her hands across endless rows of boxed papers, marvelling at the extreme neatness and rigid order in which the entire body of law is stored. She then switches over to another shelf, and sees to her horror that another sorting system has been used.
“No, no, no! You can’t just use a different system, just because the content is different! A true and proper system will be able to handle anything. Surely they knew this, even hundreds of thousands of years ago?”
Despair creeping into her voice, she sees that the group of environmental law regulations is sorted through a completely different framework. Instead of treating the documents like an archive, this tall and endless file cabinet seems to be sorted on a basis of substantive law or procedural law. This is then further divided into civil and criminal law. Evot stops there, not able to suffer the stupidity of these idiots any longer.
Evot mentally brushes the last remains of her broken dreams from her consciousness and starts doing her job. She thought this before, and she will think this again; you've got to do the job yourself if you want it done properly. Her recent lack of need to sleep and eat is also rather useful, she half-heartedly thinks.
[ New skill generated; Archiving ]
[ For generating an entirely new skill, +5 lvl, skill limit set to III ]
[ Archiving III lvl 5 ]
“Now listen here, you idiotic blue boxes! The thing I’m doing right now is not archiving at all, even a child knows this. I’m currently doing an archival assessment. I’m taking stock, inspecting the storage conditions, checking the integrity, and making indexes on how the availability scheme should be set up. Calling that archiving might as well be the same as calling a vegetable harvester a star chef cook.”
Evot stops rummaging through the boxes, expectably staring at the vision blocking series of projections. She keeps at it for a long while, refusing to move a single muscle. She ignores the continues series of shocks and tremors permeating through the building. A chaotic series of sounds start coming from above, but Evot ignores it, refusing to bend on an area of professional pride.
[ New skill generated; Archival Assessment ]
[ Archiving III lvl 5 consolidated into Archival Assessment lvl 1 ]
[ Archival Assessment lvl 5 ]
[ For generating an entirely new skill, +5 lvl, skill limit set to III ]
[ Archival Assessment III lvl 10 ]
“I thought so…” Smiling victoriously yet viciously at the new screens, she flicks them away with a dainty hand as she continues taking stock. “And you imply that each new skill starts at level one, but when rewarding the five levels, it only adds up to five instead of six? Please be more consistent with your own rules.”
The silent rustling of paper and storage boxes being slid from their place permeates the massive archive. The slowly increasing hubbub above is none of her concern, and she pays it no attention.
“Hmm, it’s almost as if the people putting this together don’t want their information to be easily found… That subsection of law is scattered here and here, while I’m still missing the foundation that it is built upon. This is going to need some more thought. I didn’t want to do this, but I guess I’ll have to spot read the contents of all archives…” Muttering to herself about the massive workload ahead of her, Evot starts reading random sheets of paper.
[ New skill generated; Archival Appraisement ]
[ For generating an entirely new skill, +5 lvl, skill limit set to III ]
[ Archival Appraisement III lvl 5 ]
“Well done! I am indeed appraising. You are learning. I think, from what Douglas told me of classes and skills so far, it will need two more skills, right? And the most basic skills at that, truly the minimum to get the profession started. And you did so well in differentiating between Appraising and Assessing. Assessment is done when figuring out what archival system is used in collections that you receive. Appraisement is the in-depth study of the material in order to sort them into their suitable positions. I really appreciate this, you know. Nearly no-one is interested in the Archivist profession. I think people actually avoided me because I really like this, and maybe I talked about it a bit too much!”
Evot continues reading through the pages, a small yet intense smile on her face. She keeps reading through the documents, scanning the pages with an experienced eye.
[ New skill generated; Speed Reading ]
[ For generating an entirely new skill, +5 lvl, skill limit set to III ]
[ Speed Reading III lvl 5 ]
Blinking at the odd ways her eyes want to skitter across the new text, Evot’s blissful face turns a few shades darker. “Well, this is useful, I think, but what about Archivists that work on something other than text-based documents? Archivists that analyze artifacts aren’t going to get much use out of this one. Those people also should know about conversation and customer service. Most archives are made with accessibility in mind, after all. Not like this stuff needs any maintenance, but you get my point, right?”
Not a single new blue screen shows itself. Even the slight blue glow at the bottom of her vision is oddly silent. It’s almost as if the System that has invaded her life and being is feeling chided and is now sulking. Evot scoffs at the stupid idea, and then wonders what the fourth skill should be. Her eyes light up when she realizes what will be useful to her current situation. She is pretty sure that the entire death of her home planet has broken countless laws, regulations, and more official sounding things that people far away and long ago agreed on, but she doesn’t even know where to start looking for those. She starts grinning to herself as a realization strikes. She has no doubt in her mind that the mandatory physical copy of the entire GalaxSec legal framework she is now standing in had started as an attempt to obstruct justice. A computer might be able to find the law that is broken in a flash, but if sapients are needed to go and find the correct file, file the proper paperwork, and go through the entire paper mill, then those rich kids and corporate executives can keep committing crimes all they like. The arm of the law is then simply physically unable to catch up, as tied down as it is with archaic regulations.
Evot’s starts rummaging through random boxes, now intent on finding the rule that states that every planet needs a nutrition buffer storage. “Now I’m looking for a certain law. As you see, I first start searching for the correct category. I see plenty of original order provenance here, so that’s an aspect I’ll need to keep note of. Other than that, there seems to be a distinctly chaos-based sorting scheme going on here. Working through large volumes of data like this is called-”
[ New skill generated; Indexing ]
[ For generating an entirely new skill, +5 lvl, skill limit set to III ]
[ Indexing III lvl 5 ]
[ Congratulations; yo
u have generated an entirely new Tier 1 class; Archivist ]
[ Would you- ]
“Yes please!” she cuts it off with a brilliant smile.
[ Archivist; UNKNOWN. Skills; Archival Assessment, Archival Appraisement, Speed Reading, Indexing ]
“Excellent,” she croons, rubbing her hands together with a smile on her face that would scare even the most hardened con-man, criminal or politician. “Now let's start working on how I can become an Arcane Archivist, shall we?”
Chapter Nineteen – Bureaucracy, Bookkeeping, and Boredom
Douglas has been waiting for a long time, ticket in hand, happily standing at the front of a one-person line. The desk he's been standing in front of is empty, though. He had patiently put his skeleton back together with his Mana Hand spell when he regained consciousness inside the GalaxSec foyer. He had seen and waved away the new skill gains in his fighter class, but as Douglas isn’t really planning on punching stuff anyway, he hadn’t really paid those notifications any attention. He then looked around for Evot, sensed her presence below, and had ventured downward to go see what she was up to. Then, he remembered why he’d wanted to come here in the first place, taken a number as indicated, and started waiting for someone or something to which he could express his desire to join up.
That was quite a while ago, and from the sheer lack of any activity whatsoever, he suspects that he might have to wait a little longer. The carpet of dead people everywhere is also not helping, he idly muses. Then, like a thunderclap, a new idea strikes him. Maybe the person that he is now waiting on is also dead? Douglas peers at the high counter he has been patiently waiting at and estimates that he might be able to peek over the desk. Standing on his bony tippy toes, not even daring to touch the counter, he sees the top part of an oozing mess.
Leaning forward, he sees more mess, its ooziness only increasing. An odd collection of fish scales and transparent bones is slowly turning into a messy puddle. Douglas then concludes that this splash of undercooked seafood soup might have been the receptionist that might have been able to answer his question. If only the fellow had not been dead.
Leaning back, Douglas decides to have a good think about the situation. Then the skeleton remembers that he has recently gained the Magical Control and Soul Binding skills. The first one is a wonderful collection of new magical circuits, while the latter one seems like a simplified version of his Death spell shape. Soul Binding is several factors less complex, and Douglas suspects that the amount of mana needed to cast it will be equally less.
Taking a figurative deep breath - he is pretty sure that crawling over the countertop towards the employee-only area is illegal - he crawls over the countertop towards the employee-only area. His joints clacking together from the extremely faint trickle of nerves rushing through his bones, Douglas kneels down to examine the fallen being. He sees a vaguely humanoid puddle of ooze partially contained in a thin black deflating water balloon. The most complex piece of near transparent bone is located where the head would usually be, so Douglas decides to focus on that part.
Calling up the Soul Binding skill, he starts feeding it mana in a near instinctive manner. Like with the Mana Stone Production skill, there appears to be a spell shape at the core of this skill. His level is probably not high enough, as he only catches a vague hint of the actual spell. The information trickling into his skull is enough for him to realize what he needs to do, however. One aspect of the skill envelops the flames of his eyes, and he immediately sees the shiny blue spectre wrapped around the convoluted piece of head bone. Reaching out a digit, he touched the place where he would estimate its forehead to be. A blue flash sucks in the glowing ethereal wisp, pulling it into the minuscule spell circle that is slowly being branded onto the translucent bone.
[ Mana Control IV lvl 31 ]
[ Mana Sense IV lvl 31 ]
[ Engraving IV lvl 31 ]
[ Soul Binding IV lvl 2 ]
The entire being immediately changes. A slight blue glow starts flowing from its forehead, droopy slime congealing and covering the skull in an even film. Douglas trains his senses on the odd event, as he has never seen anything like this happening. Also, he finds that he can actually feel the pathways the mana is being channeled through somehow. From a sense that is not his sight, he sees the hollow cavity inside the skull being filled back up, strands of thick grey slime being pulled in through its every opening.
[ Mana Sense IV lvl 32 ]
Then four small blue flames appear inside four hollows that Douglas had honestly thought were earholes, and he scurries back over the counter. Actually breaking the rules is one thing. Doing so in the presence of someone who can see him breaking laws is another thing entirely. So Douglas stands there waiting again, patiently letting his mana regenerate. The spell might have been pretty simple, and he was too preoccupied to really notice during the casting, but the Soul Bind took a good chunk of his mana. This time, the waiting is less mind-numbing because he has something interesting to look at. The creature behind the counter slowly changes over time, the deflated water balloon filling back up and all the goop slowly retreating. Blue light flickers throughout the entire thing as thin bones are realigned, its skull is rotated upside down, and a general feeling of life and volume returns to the heap of slime.
Then Douglas’s mana is full once again, and there has not been much movement from the being on the floor. Douglas holds out his hand, brings up the Mana Stone Production skill and spell shape, and lets the resulting filled mana crystal fall on top of the puddle of goop. The resulting spasms, flailings, and shining light show is something to watch.
[ New skill generated; Alien Anatomy lvl 1 ]
The new skill breaks the trance, and Douglas decides to do what he came here for. “I’d like to join the GalaxSec force.”
The wildly flailing collection of goop and bones pauses for a moment. Then it seems to get itself back together, as it quickly stands up. Douglas then sees he put the Soul Binding on its chin instead to the forehead he had been aiming for.
[ Alien Anatomy lvl 2 ]
Telling the blue boxes to go away and bother other people for a couple of hours, Douglas repeats the line he has been internally practising while he was waiting in front of the reception desk. “I’d like to join the GalaxSec force.”
“Fill out an A-four triangle four-oh-nine form request form.”
Douglas is at a total loss of how to proceed. “I’d like to join the GalaxSec force.”
“Yes, I heard. If you want to join the volunteer corps and get a cushy job like me, you need to fill out an A-four triangle four-oh-nine form request form.”
The realization as to what this being just told him takes a bit to percolate through his partially empty skull. “No. Blue.”
“Blue?” is the bubbling reply from the now fully reformed spluttering creature.
“GalaxSec enforcer.”
Four glowing orbs stare at the armored skull for a long while. “You should talk to your patron. I hope he has at least city leader level clout, or else you will be put in with the misdemeanor recruits.”
“No.”
“You don’t want to be put up with the misdemeanor recruits? Can your contact even put you in the officer track? If they told you to join up with the rabble, rethink your relationship with them.” Here the creature looks around, swiveling its goop covered head from side to side. “I’m not allowed to tell you, but as this is as far from standard operation as I’ve ever seen it, here it is. Don’t join if you can’t get into the officer fast lane. You will die.”
“I’d like to join the GalaxSec force.”
More silence. The wet creature tugs on its clothing, slipping the slick black rubber over a loosely floating rib bone. “Wel…” It turns around and starts rummaging through desks. Somehow, it doesn't leave behind a trail of slime everywhere. “An actual volunteer, huh? I don’t think there is a precedent. I do remember a single line in the handbook, though. I think you’ll need to…” The being starts r
ifling through file cabinets, not even looking at all the other dead people around. “Here it is. Get a medical checkup. With the medical bot set to max. In short; dead for sure. For that, you’ll need a medical indictment file. Which you can’t get without a…”
Douglas keeps looking at the mysterious person he just sort of revived. To be totally frank, he did not expect this to happen at all. He merely hoped that he could create something or someone that would help him a bit. This totally new person… thing shuffling around behind the desk is extremely and totally outside the realm of his expectations. Also, the paper the person seems to be pulling from random drawers and cabinets everywhere looks off to the skeleton. He isn’t sure why, but the ultra-thin, half translucent sheets do not match with his expectations at all. A single folder or box also seems to hold way too many of the perfectly smooth rectangles. And the text moving around and shifting slowly on the boxes and drawers seems odd too.
“There. This should be the requisition form that should get you a new recruit application form. You can turn this one in on the second floor, at desk four-two-sixteen. Have a pleasant day!”
Douglas happily grabs the incredibly thin piece of smooth paper and turns around. He walks a circle around the central ring of counters before ending up in front of the same sapient again.
“The second floor can be accessed through the ramp behind that door. Have a pleasant day!”
Douglas does an about-turn and starts walking into the direction he was just pointed at.
“That one was great for my ticket time. Now… where were we? I remember something about an infection, and then… hey, why are you not moving? Why are there no living microorganisms here? Hey, Trudy, stop sleeping on the job, we’ve got wo…”
GalaxSec: A Sci-Fi LitRPG (Skeleton in Space Book 2) Page 23