Chapter 5: THE LIMITS OF GREED
Noah Kurtz stood still in the Memory Cabinet. His eyes looked at the shelves that went on forever in every direction. The huge library was still amazing after seeing it before. It was like a collection of books floating in a empty space where time did not matter. Thousands of glowing books floated quietly among the shelves and old keys floated through the dark like little stars. Far away locked vaults were very quiet and Noah could feel their heavy presence even from far away.. This time he was not scared like he was the first time he came here.
Something else was growing inside him.
Greed.
The greed for knowledge.
The greed for power.
The greed for possibilities.
A few hours ago, Noah was a normal F-rank awakener who was struggling with debt and disappointment. Then everything changed. The wooden books in the Memory Cabinet gave him access to training methods and techniques that he did not know existed. The Memory Cabinet changed everything he thought about his future. For the time since he came to Sentinel City he could really imagine a path where he became something more than a failure.
Noah looked deeper into the library past the shelves past the part he could reach toward another area. He saw bronze shelves. The books on these shelves looked very different from the books he had been reading. They were made of a metal that looked like old bronze mixed with glowing symbols. From far away Noah could feel a strange pressure coming from them. The books looked more polished, more complete and more powerful.
His heart beat faster. If the wooden books had things like Ki cultivation and mana perception then what kind of abilities were inside the bronze books?
Noah swallowed slowly.
"I will just take a look " he said.
He knew he was lying to himself. He really wanted to open one of the bronze books.
Noah carefully walked toward the bronze shelves. The deeper he went into the library the heavier the air felt. Strange symbols flashed occasionally across the dark and away shelves disappeared into shadows that were too dark for his eyes to see.
Finally he arrived at the bronze shelves.A single bronze book floated a little away from the others. The title glowed softly.Before Noah could read it his hand had already moved. His fingers touched the cover. Instantly a loud pulse went through the library.
A message appeared before his eyes.
[ACCESS DENIED.]
Noah jumped back. The bronze book released a pressure that forced him to take a few steps back. A red message appeared before his eyes.
____________
Archive Authority Insufficient.
Current Access Level: WOOD
Required Access Level: BRONZE
____________
Noah blinked.
"That’s it?" he asked.
Another message appeared.
________
Current Archive Progress: Wood Level
Synchronization Rate: 0.03%
Higher-Tier Archives [Locked]
________
"So I’m stuck " he said.
The library was quiet. No explanation came. Just a clear restriction. This realization annoyed him more than he expected.
After years of being weak Noah finally found something. Naturally he wanted more. But this was the limit for his greed. The Memory Cabinet had rules he did not understand.
Noah walked around the bronze section for a minutes looking for a way around the restriction. Every attempt gave him the same result.
Access Denied.
Access Denied.
Access Denied.
Finally he let out a sigh.
"Fine " he said. "If I cannot skip ahead then I will have to grow "
All he had spent most of his life struggling for things that did not come easily. Why would this be any different?
His eyes briefly looked at the floating book in the center of the library. The coverless book was still there with glowing symbols appearing on its pages. The buffering icon was still spinning beneath it. That mystery would have to wait.
Noah slowly closed his eyes. Reality returned. His eyes opened in his apartment. The familiar sight of wallpaper, worn furniture and unpaid bills greeted him again. The rain still tapped softly against the window and distant city lights lit up the room in shades of blue and orange.
For a moment Noah just sat there silent and thinking. Everything that happened in the twenty-four hours felt like a dream. He died, entered the library returned to life and learned new techniques from memories that were not his.
Now he sat alone in an one-bedroom apartment as if nothing had happened. Noah looked down at his hands.
"Lets see if any of it was real " he said.
Noah slowly got up. Sat cross-legged in the middle of the room. He closed his eyes and started following the Basic Ki Cultivation Technique exactly as he remembered.
Noah’s eyes snapped open instantly.
"It worked " he said.
The sensation felt even clearer than before. Ki moved slowly beneath his skin like a stream of warm water. His body remembered the technique. The technique had become a part of him. Excitement surged through Noah’s chest.
He stood up and started testing himself physically. Push-ups, squats, jumping movements, balance drills. Everything felt a little easier, enough to notice enough to matter. His movements flowed naturally than before. His breathing remained steady during exertion. Importantly, his body felt connected, like every part of him was finally working together instead of against itself.
For years progress was impossible. Now progress existed, that changed everything. After an hour of testing Noah stopped and looked toward the apartment window. Beyond the glass Sentinel City’s skyline stretched endlessly beneath the night sky.
Somewhere there Hunters fought monsters every day.
Somewhere there powerful awakeners grew stronger through combat.
Somewhere out there waited the future he had spent years chasing.
Noah’s gaze sharpened. Theory alone was not enough anymore. He needed solid proof. He needed to know how much stronger he had become. Which meant there was only one thing left to do - Fight.
A slow smile appeared on his face a smile of anticipation, hope and determination. Not the defeated smile of the man who died in Sector 19 not the smile of the twenty-two-year-old failure.
Noah walked toward the door and grabbed his worn jacket from a nearby chair. He decided that tomorrow morning, he would head to one of the public monster training zones outside Sentinel City’s districts.
The area had low-level F-rank monsters for beginner Hunters and training exercises. If the Memory Cabinet truly worked, if the Ki technique truly strengthened him then tomorrow would prove it. Noah slipped on his jacket. Looked one final time toward the floating system panel only he could see.
For the first time, in his life Noah felt like he was standing at the beginning of something extraordinary. Tomorrow would be his step, his first test, his first battle. Perhaps the first Chapter of the future he had always dreamed of.