Morning.
Bright sunshine woke Lee from his peaceful sleep. He rubbed his eyes and made sure threats are temporarily 'unavailable'. A sudden urge to pee alarmed him. He guided his naked body to go down to the second lowest branch on the tree. He sat on one side of the branch and held his 'turret' to blast off. He felt a great relief at the moment.
[You know, I never had one so big when I was alive. You must teach the younger generation how to acquire that!]
Lee nearly screamed out loud. He said in an annoyed voice-
'Can you just not scare me for one minute? I'm doing an important job here!'
[Okay!]
'Wait, you told me that you'll be asleep for a day or two. Then why are you here?'
[My tiredness was greatly reduced when you fell slept. I think the connection between us can share fatigue too.]
'....'
Quickly completing the action, Lee returned to his usual place up among the branches. He spoke inwardly-
'D?'
[Yes, Mr. Lee Shen. At your service!]
'Lee is enough. By the way, I still have some doubts.'
[Shoot]
'What is the comparison basis of my attributes?'
[An average 'human' in this world has value 10 for all attributes. You are only 20, and you surpass others.]
'What is this Essence?!'
[Life Essence or Essence in short is the vitality that flows through all beings. It is a form of energy. You may find it in stones, trees and even in the atmosphere! Anything dies when essence is gone. The system is constantly scanning your surroundings and will notify you.]
'The immunity thing?!'
[When exposed to elements or substances that can affect you adversely, an immunity is built up against it. Your body will undergo some changes to be immune. For example, if you're exposed to fire, you'll gain Fire Immunity.
Immunity is divided into 4 grades. Lesser, Medium, Higher and Absolute. All immunities start at Lesser and go all the way to top. All you have to do is endure. When you reach absolute immunity, what you are immune to becomes your tool at disposal.]
'So if I reach Absolute Poison Resistance, I can drink poison?!'
[Exactly!]
'Cool! And why do I have both Mana and Qi?! Isn't it impossible?!'
[I said only one affinity for those born 'HERE'! You are someone from another dimension. So basically, you're an outsider living like an insider.]
'Hmmm...A cheat code! Thank you. And please explain the Innate Skill 'Foresight'!'
[Foresight helps you to see the trajectories of literally anything. It's a practical skill. It enables you to see, hear, and sense from where, how and when an attack can arrive. You will feel that the time around you is slowed down a bit, when it's in use. It is enough for you to come up with an escape route. You cannot activate it with command. It activates itself when a hostile being shows up in the vicinity. It is the best hunting assistant anyone can have!]
'Such an OP skill! But what about 'View'? Does it have a condition?'
[Yes, it only activates when something is in your visual range.]
'Oh…..then let's try it on this tree!'
Lee focused on the tree trunk. Then, an interface opened up showing the details regarding the tree.
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Name: Cold Pine
Species: Tree
Age: 28 years
State: Healthy
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'Wonderful! Such a useful skill! Thank you, D! Now…...back to the point. What are Quests, Shop and Remodel?! I read the description, but I need more information. Please explain.'
[Such a pain in the ass. I become a system, and the first thing I'm told to do is to teach a toddler! Does heaven even exist?!]
'You're being melodramatic. Now explain!'
[Whatever...'Quests' are where you get tasks to do. These tasks are given directly by Will of Dimension, through me. So expect global scale tasks, ok?! There will be small ones, but they'll be rare. Oh, and your actions can also trigger quests outside the 'Quests'.
'Shop' was exceptionally hard to pull off, but….TADAA! You can sell and buy stuff from the Shop. There are separate sections for Weapons, Ornaments, Consumables, Outfits, Talismans, Magic Spells and Cultivation Techniques. There are certain parameters before selling things to Shop. You can't just sell dirt and waste!
'Remodel' is about altering your physical appearance. You can't do dirty work with your normal appearance or your Fame will plunge to zero. Altering comes at the cost of Essence. The degree of alteration done will decide the cost.]
'I didn't know you'll be this smooth when transforming to a system. I was expecting some glitch or bug!'
[Want one?!]
'No thanks!'
[By the way, there's a newbie package for you in the Inventory. Open it. You'll get something to wear, and maybe, something to wield!]
Hearing this, Lee was very happy. He immediately called for Inventory in mind.
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Newbie Package available. Open? YES/NO.
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Lee screamed 'Yes' in his mind and the interface vanished. A few seconds later, some notifications appeared in front of Lee.
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Obtained 'Leather Pants'. Equip?
Obtained 'Leather Jacket'. Equip?
Obtained 'Leather Shoes'. Equip?
Obtained 'Free Buy Token for Weapon section'. Use?
Obtained 100 Essence.
=====
Lee was uncontrollably screaming so loud that some small wild animals ran away thinking it was some fierce beast! Before Lee came to senses, D alerted him.
[What are you doin, fool? Stop this ruckus! You're attracting the attention of beasts.]
Lee suddenly shut up and squatted down on the branch without making noise. After a few seconds, some wolf-like creatures came sniffing around the tree. They nearly sniffed Lee out, but the urine's smell was too much for their enhanced senses. They ran away making some weird noises. Lee silently witnessed these actions and sighed inwardly.
'See, my urine saved me! Be thankful, D.'
[For once in life, your stupidity had saved you. Congrats!]
'Hey, your behaviour has changed greatly! What happened?!'
[I don't know. I just suddenly have this explosive attitude in me. It's from you, probably.]
'Whatever….just be the old D, and Equip Leather Pants, Leather Jacket and Leather Shoes!'
A white fog immediately surrounded Lee's torso and waist downward. It faded away in an instant and Lee was wearing a pair of leather shoes, a leather pants and a leather sleeveless jacket. He felt an immense sense of comfort from these. It was as if they were tailored only for him.
[No need to be amazed. Every outfit that system gives will be perfect for you.]
'What is this 'Free Buy Token for Weapon section'?!'
[This is a token that can be used to buy a weapon from the Shop. Since you got it from the newbie package, you can only buy Mortal grade weapons with it. Remember, Tokens can only be used once, regardless of its level of purchase. Now go and get yourself a weapon!]
Lee used the token and Shop interface of 'Weapons' section opened up. He scrolled and skimmed through many Mortal grade weapons. There were swords, spears, halberds, blades, sabers, katanas, daggers, glaives, bows, whips and a lot other more. Lee didn't feel a sense of satisfaction from them. The more he scrolled downwards, the lesser the quality became. His scrolling became faster than naked eye could follow.
Suddenly, he stopped scrolling for a moment, and scrolled upwards slowly. A certain weapon caught his attention. It looked like a normal blade, partially covered in red cloth and exposing a part of its black blade. But something was off about it. There was a feeling running through him when he saw it. His eyes went wide as he gasped for air. He unconsciously muttered-
'It's my blade!!!'
Lee didn't think twice before hitting purchase like a maniac. He was ecstatic and happy to find a weapon to which he felt a connection. After hitting purchase, the token vanished and the blade materialised in his hands.
The blade had no sheath, but was covered in red clothes. He slowly removed the cloth and exposed the blade to light. He doesn't know how, but he felt an incredible connection with this blade. The wavy, mottled pattern of dark grey and black running through the blade gave him a feeling of serenity. The dark-brown wooden hilt was 5 inches long, wrapped in purple leather and was perfect in his hand. The blade was 30 inches long, straight and single-edged. He was sure of its sharpness like a long-term friend.
Before he could enjoy its beauty anymore, D interrupted his train of thoughts.
[I see that you are capable of releasing the memory seal yourself.]
'Memory seal?! Wait…...did I just access my memory?!'
[It seems so. You forcefully unlocked memories related to this blade when you saw it. I suspected this, so I put it there myself. Since you achieved such a feat, I shall unlock your memories regarding 'Sword Mastery'.]
Lee sat on the branch and closed his eyes in excitement when a few memories flooded his mind. His body began to tremble intensely. He didn't sweat, but an uneasiness crept up his face. After a couple of minutes, he opened his eyes wide while gasping for breath. His face had an expression of fighting life-and-death battles nonstop. When he calmed down, 4 notifications appeared.
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Obtained 'Lesser Sword Mastery'
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Obtained 'Medium Sword Mastery'
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Obtained 'Higher Sword Mastery'
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Obtained 'Absolute Sword Mastery'
=====
Lee was wonderstruck to see these notifications. He never knew it was this simple. He raised his doubts to D.
'D, is it that simple to achieve mastery in weapons?'
[Tell me, how many minutes did it take to complete those memories?]
'Like a couple of minutes!'
[Outside, it was a couple of minutes. Inside, you were experiencing Sword Mastery for 7 whole years!]
'My god, 7 years?! What was I in my past life?! Blade God?!'
[The memories were stitched together from several periods of your life, and it's accumulated length was 7 years. It's just that you were proficient in way of blade before coming here. Your body has recovered it's muscular and neural memory to what you had before. You can try, if you want. A wolf is still lurking nearby!]
The Map was integrated into Lee's mind, so he didn't have to glance at it like an interface. He turned a sharp 180 degrees to see the wolf standing near the trunk like a statue on the ground, with its head down sniffing. Lee searched for the pack in the vicinity, but they were far from this lone wolf.
Without giving a warning, Lee jumped onto the wolf. He was silent and stealthy. The wolf only got to react when it saw a shadow, but it was too late. It couldn't make a sound. Lee landed on the wolf, cushioning the impact while his blade swept clean through his victim's neck silently.
Lee immediately covered the wolf with snow. Or else the pack will return smelling blood. He jumped up the tree and returned to his seat to inspect his weapon. There was no trace of blood on the blade. It was as if it's never used. Lee used 'View' on the blade and a panel opened.
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Name: Damascus Blade
Owner: -----
Grade: Lower Mortal (Upgradable)
=====
Lee was surprised to see the 'Owner' as blank. His eyes stuck on the word 'Upgradable' too.
'D, Why is the 'Owner' name blank?! What's with the 'Upgradable' feature?!'
[The 'Owner' is set blank because the sword is yet to recognise you as it's owner. To become its owner, you need to drip your blood over the blade and say 'You are me, I am you. We'll cut our enemies two'. The 'Upgradable' is a feature very rarely seen on weapons. In normal cases, a weapon cannot be upgraded once it's made. But some can grow into higher grades. This blade's grade is very low, but can be upgraded. It can even become a Higher Deity grade weapon, if nurtured.]
Lee didn't hesitate to drip his blood on the blade. As soon as the blood touched the blade, Lee said in a soft voice-
"You are me, I am you. We'll cut our enemies two".
A notification opened up as soon as he finished.
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Lee bound to Damascus Blade.
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