‘Isn’t this getting a bit too cliche-y, now…?’

  [Indeed, this sort of situation seems to be a common trope, particularly in self-published novels. Would you like for the Archive to refer to themselves as a ‘System’?]

  “No, that's… Not going to be needed.”

  Arthur spoke with a befuddled expression, at that slate speaking with him, and seemingly reading his mind.

  Arthur had first noticed the existence of that ‘Archive’ during the conversation with the man that had just left the room. When Arthur was trying to remember what he had seen in the dark space, it appeared, conveying information with unknown meaning to him.

  Then, soon after, it started talking about the properties of Moonstones, and tried to explain what ‘Ley Lines’ were. The man didn't seem to notice it, so Arthur assumed it was another side effect of the transmigration.

  Taking the form of a computer browser like window, it really did resemble the Systems which he often found in webnovels and webcomics. Though, he cringed at himself, recognizing it as one. Was he in the shoes of one of those boring protagonists, whose main selling point were action scenes and stupid amounts of strength?

  ‘As if I'd be a protagonist, anyways…’

  He sighed. The life he led on his old world, on Malkuth, the life of Arthur Luria, wouldn't be worth having a book written after it. If anything, it would be some boring, repetitive tragedy, or a psychology study into the misery of working an office job.

  [But Arthur isn't Arthur Luria.]

  “What?” Reading the text on the slate, a dumbfounded expression appeared on his face. “I'm not Arthur Luria?”[Arthur is Arthur. Arthur Luria lived on Malkuth. Arthur is currently on Irminsul. Arthur Luria of Malkuth isn't the same of Arthur Luria of Irminsul.]

  Arthur tried to think of a way to rebuke that, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. He could start a new life in that world.

  He didn't know much about Irminsul, or the empire he was currently in, but more importantly than that, no one knew who Arthur Luria was, nor that he was a transmigrator from another world. Well, apart from Ayn.

  If he so wished, he could take on a new identity, severing all ties to the life of Arthur Luria. Surely, that would be a dream. He shook his head, he could think about that more later. For now, he wanted to figure out what ‘the Archive’ was.

  “Right, anyways. What are you? And don't respond ‘the Archive’ again. I mean, what are you? Are you some kind of magic… Spell? Ritual? Computer?”

  Arthur could hear the sound of electricity buzzing and mechanical components turning coming from the floating Archive, followed by the clicking of a keyboard. Was the Archive thinking?

  Maybe that was like how a person would sometimes hum while deep in thought, or mumbling under their breath.

  [I am a result of the Innate Gift of the body Arthur Luria is currently inhabiting, and the Innate Gift bestowed upon Arthur Luria by…]

  Arthur covered his ears. Despite it being written on text, as soon as he read that next word, a terrible sound resounded in his head, it was hard to describe. Like nails scratching on a chalkboard, or the air being cut by a blade. The ticking of a clock, and the sound of waves.

  [Arthur Luria cannot comprehend that concept yet. I shall refer to that concept as ‘THEM’.]

  “Thank you, I guess… So, what's an Innate Gift?”The typing on the slate stopped. Once again he could feel the inner machinations of the Archive buzzing into action, and soon, it duplicated itself. A number of other windows appeared, all with different information written on them.

  At the very top of the windows were words, presumably the titles of each slate. He could read ‘Archê’ on one, ‘Ark’ on another, then ‘Ley Lines’, ‘Ley Core’, ‘Archêometry’ and ‘Innate Gifts’. He had heard some of those words already, but didn't know what they meant.

  Giving a few glances to each window, without reading them fully, he'd take in some bits and pieces, mostly reading keywords and trying to grasp the general picture without having to read it all. He only got more confused.

  “Is this all related to Innate Gifts?” A smaller window popped out in front of his eyes, a text box for the Archive to communicate with him.

  [Not quite. As part of general consensus, Innate Gifts are a part of Archêometry. Those are the main concepts related to Archêometry, which are currently stored in the Archive through your body's memory.]

  “Through this body's memory… I see.”Even if he didn't quite understand what an Innate Gift was yet, he was starting to understand what the Archive was, at its core. A source of information available only to him, not because of some reason such as being the protagonist of a webnovel. But rather, because that body held memories which Arthur could learn.

  Then, that Archive was simply a medium for that information to be relayed to him. ‘Wait, isn't this way better than some overpowered ability?’

  He debated with himself, thinking. Even if he had the chance to become the protagonist of a story, he wouldn't like being too involved in violence. Had he discovered some sort of ability that forced him to fight to use it, he wouldn't be sure how to feel.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  On the other hand, this Archive, was just that, an Archive. A storage of information. That was much more in line with Arthur’s preference, surely. Though, since magic existed in that world, what if he needed to fight? Would it be useful, then?

  [Would you like for me to debate with you?]

  “What?” Arthur tilted his head.

  [I am merely a visual representation of your subconscious thoughts. Which means, I write down stuff you don't realize you notice. You can think of me as a second, keen eyed Arthur Luria in your head.]

  “Stuff I don't realize, is it. I see, I guess that's pretty useful in any situation.” Arthur nodded slowly, reading the appearing bits of text.

  If he understood correctly what it meant, then, it would be like having a second pair of eyes. Not only that, a pair of eyes that would focus on that which Arthur couldn't bother to, or simply couldn't notice alone.

  He glanced at the floating windows surrounding him. If he could pull up the specific window containing the information he needed, at any given time, then this certainly would find its uses.

  Arthur sat up straight, crossing his legs and arms, and nodding. If he trusted the information given to him by that Archive, then he'd be able to find out a lot about that world's magic just by reading from the text boxes, surely.

  “Alright, let me see…” Moving his hand towards the window titled ‘Ley Lines’, he pinched it with his fingers, testing out whether he could interact with them physically.

  Sure enough, the window reduced itself into nothingness as soon as that motion was completed. Arthur rubbed his chin, interested in how this Archive worked. On cue, a text box immediately appeared in front of him.

  [Physical motions are not needed to interact with the Archive. That was simply a response to Arthur Luria's preference for user interfaces.] The Archive chimed out, with a resounding clicking noise.

  Arthur tilted his head slightly, before understanding what it meant, hitting his open palm with a fist in a gesture of realization.

  “What you mean is, I don't need to touch the windows, but you reacted because I thought this would work, right?”[Correct.]

  Arthur hummed something to himself, rubbing his chin with a glint of curiosity in his eyes. He wanted to experiment with the Archive, discover what he could do with it.

  He reached out with a finger, tapping the air, and visualizing opening the window titled 'Ley Lines’ once again. A ripple spread through the invisible surface, and the text box revealed itself once again.

  He tapped the window with his finger, and holding the point of contact, traced a line in the air, in an attempt to displace it. The window followed his finger, moving through the air silently.

  Then, he reached for the other open, floating windows with his hands. With a swift movement, he pushed them all towards the center of his vision, without touching them directly.

  Pinching the air once again, he closed most of them. ‘Interesting. So long as I have a specific interaction in mind, I don't have to actually touch them. It’s as it said.’

  He shifted his focus to the two windows he had kept open. The text box with which the Archive could communicate with him, and the one titled ‘Innate Gifts’.

  Although he figured out what the Archive could do, he didn't quite understand what Innate Gifts, as a whole, were. He tapped it with his finger, bringing it to focus. The window grew in size, similarly to a scroll being fully unrolled.

  “Woah, that's… A lot of information.” He took a glance at the literal wall of text in front of his eyes, hoping that the Archive would summarize it.

  [This window contains: the meaning of Innate Gift, how an Innate Gift works, the etymology of the term Innate Gift, the history of Innate Gifts, the first recorded Innate Gifts, the method to advance an Innate Gift, the…]

  “Ok, ok, wait, stop. Summarize it, I only need to understand what they are for now, not their entire history.” He placed a hand in front of the window, as if to stop it from talking any more. He was sure he'd find a use for all of that information someday, but right now, he only needed to know the basics.

  ‘How did this guy even know all of that…’ He thought to himself, referring to his current body. Either he was really interested in the history of Innate Gifts, that was common knowledge in the world of Irminsul, or he had inhabited someone truly incredible.

  The electrical static and mechanical noises came to a halt, as the Archive produced a summarized version of the Innate Gifts window. Arthur sighed in relief, it was quite shorter than the other version.

  He started reading through the information window, his attention completely focused on it.

  [The term Innate Gift refers to the abilities each and every individual on Irminsul possesses, obtained at birth, hence the name Innate Gift. They are believed by many to be gifts of the gods, blessings or curses, and in some cases, that would be correct. Although, it's more of an interference from the gods, rather than a gift.]

  [Innate Gifts are also known by the name ‘Talents’, due to their nature. Most people possess an Innate Gift that could be taken for simple and pure talent, had it not been recognized, whereas others possess Innate Gifts with more unique abilities. Such as the Gift of the Archivist in your possession.]

  [Common examples of Innate Gifts misunderstood for talent are higher proficiency in a specific typology of magic, or preference for craftsmanship rather than fighting, the ability to craft incredible weapons and artifacts. However, an individual is innately able to recognize their own Gift, which is the only reason these misunderstandings don't last long.]

  [On a more practical level, Innate Gifts exist as Ley Lines placed upon one's Core. Thanks to the constant influx of Ark from the Core to the rest of one's body, a Gift is constantly active, without draining excessive amounts of energy form their user.]

  [In the case of some Gifts, such as your Gift of the Archivist, the Ley Lines spread to other parts of one's body, affecting them with the ‘passive ability’ granted by the Gift. In your case, the Ley Lines affect your eyes, as well as part of the occipital lobe. The Archive isn't an illusion, but rather, an hallucination brought forth by your Innate Gift.]

  “Well… Excluding all the terms whose meanings I have no idea of, I think I get it now.”Arthur nodded after reaching the end of the text box, processing the information over in his head. ‘In short, it's like a 'passive ability' everyone in this world has, and some of them are handed out by Gods… So, there's Gods in this world. That's kind of crazy to think about.’

  ‘What I don't understand is, if it's given at birth, then is this Gift this body's? I sure as hell wasn't born here.’

  Arthur glanced at the text box in front of him, expecting to hear the sound of information being processed, or keys being clicked on. However, the information that was revealed to him wouldn't be what he expected.

  [Arthur Luria can only know this is a gift from ‘THEM’. Any further information would be dangerous for his mind.]

  “Dangerous for my mind, huh…”He sighed. He thought the Archive would just give him any information he needed, but there seemed to be some sort of restriction on it. But more than that, how could it be information dangerous for his mind?Shouldn’t it already be in his mind, if the Archive was aware of it? He shook his head, trying to figure out what he shouldn't was a bad idea. For now, he'd just read up on what he needed to learn.

  Waving his hand at the air, a number of text boxes appeared, the ones he had closed earlier. He wanted to learn more about that world, and its magic.