Memories awakened in Mason's mind, the blurry images from his dreams becoming clear. He started to remember the years of experience he had of the apocalypse, up to the point the world ended.
[[Mental Library Lv. 1] processes the information...]
To sum it up, in his previous life, he had also written a novel with Zen and the apocalypse started. He survived with his knowledge and luck (and a bit of Zen's help). Zen then pulled a few strings to send Mason's memories back in time into a dream, which he had just awakened fully.
"Huh."
[Your Sponsor has granted you the Vestige [Writer's POV]]
[This is all I can do for now. You know what will happen next, so get ready. After this I will show you something interesting]
Zen's voice disappeared, and the Statues continued.
[We will give you 6 hours to rest. After that the next scenario will start. You are free to wander the school, but both the rest and the scenario will be within the school area.]
The statues disappeared and after a moment of silence, everyone got up from their chairs. Some formed groups, others stay on their own. Mason headed to Keith and Haley.
"What Sponsor did you get?"
"Its...it's hard to say..."
"It's fine if you don't wanna tell me."
"No, what I meant is that I can't pronounce it. His real name is...um...Orea? Aura? Oreos?"
"Oreos?"
"Oureas."
"Right! Whatever you just said."
"He gave me cool attack skills! And I'm a knight, see!" He thumped his new breastplate proudly.
[World Book Lv. 1]
[Character Sheet]
Name: Keith Young
Race/Gender: Human, Male
Class: Knight
Sponsor: The Mountains of the Earth
Vestige: Mountain Leveling Charge, Mountain Splitting Palm
Personal Attribute: The Buff Guy(Rare)
Unique Traits: Buff, Chivalrous, Muscle-brained
Stats: Strength G(10), Agility G(9), Vitality G(11), Intelligence G(6), Will G(7), Charisma G(8)
General Skills- Basic Shield Arts Lv. 1, Basic Swordsmanship Lv. 1, Basic Armor Mastery Lv. 1
Specialisation Skills-
Exclusive Skill: Toughen Lv. 1
Unique Skills- Guardian Knight
Class Skills- Taunt Lv. 1
"Hmm...What about you Haley?"
"Well...my class is Mage."
("Impressive.")
Most skills in Regressor's First Rule were supernatural in nature, but true magic and true spellcasters were rare.
[Character Sheet]
Name: Haley Clarke
Race/Gender: Human, Female
Class: Wizard
Sponsor: The Three-faced Witch
Vestige: Witchcraft
Personal Attribute: Scholar(Rare)
Unique Traits: Focused, Loyal, Sagacious
Stats: Strength G(5), Agility G(7), Vitality G(8), Intelligence G(10), Will G(9), Charisma G(8)
General Skills- Basic Magic Knowledge Lv. 1
Specialisation Skills-
Exclusive Skill: Toughen Lv. 1
Unique Skills- Witch's Blessing
Class Skills- Concentrate Lv. 1
Stats fitting a top scorer. With Hekate as a Sponsor, her future was accounted for.
"Ok. Let's go." Mason turned and power walked out the school hall, his companions jogging to keep pace.
"You aren't gonna ask who my sponsor is?"
"No."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"But you asked him. Hnnggggggg..."
They jogged down two flights of stairs and reached the canteen on the first floor.
"We need food and water. Your school supplies are only useful as fire starters, so dump out most of it. You should also have an inventory."
"Inventory? Oh yeah, cool!"
Mason eyed his 10 by 1 row of slots and continued his exposition, "Each slot has about 4 cubic metres of space, around this big." He motioned with his arms, "So fill it up. Individual slots can hold different things, and perishable items can be stored as it seems to freeze time."
"Then what's the point of individual slots?"
"No idea."
"How do you know this?"
"Estimation."
They broke into the canteen stalls (good thing no one was in there) and started emptying the place.
"I got water! Do you guys want Koke or Pepsea?"
"Sandwiches, sandwiches...I never knew they had onigiris here!"
"I always wanted to eat this!"
After filling their inventories and bellies with food, Mason sat them down and asked Keith for his sword.
"You want it back?"
"No. I'm upgrading it."
Most monsters were resistant to non-magical weapons, especially with high stats or defensive skills. If that weren't the case, humans would bulldoze through them with heated weapons. (Things with gunpowder like guns, grenades and missiles.)
Mason pulled out the bottle of [Raw Monster Fluid (F, Poison, Refine)] from his inventory. Though it was raw, he had no way to refine it right now and for now it was enough. He laid the longsword on a table and poured the liquid onto the metal blade. Instead of coating the steel, the viscous liquid strangely melted into the weapon, and the weapon took a slight greenish tint. He handed it back to Keith.
"Here."
"Whoa, what did you do?"
"I poured spider blood on it."
"What?!"
"Also, have this. Use it as a shield."
"What's this?"
"Spider shell."
"Heok!"
While Keith inspected his new spider sword and shield, he turned to Haley who was looking at him expectantly.
"I don't have a weapon for you." Haley's face fell, "but I'll make one."
[Scavenge Lv. 1]
After using the skill several times, 30% of his Mana was drained. A bunch of random junk appeared, but he got what he needed. A metal bar almost a meter long, and a bunch of cord, tape and cloth.
He pulled out a sharp spider leg from his inventory and attached it to the metal bar, winding layers of rope, cloth and duct tape around it. Next he wrapped two lengths with cloth to act as handles.
"Here, a spear. You should use it as self defence or to save Mana."
"Okay…?" She lifted it up and swung it around clumsily.
"I'll teach you how to use it."
Mason was primarily a swordsman, but he practiced with many types of weapons in his past life. He displayed a series of movements from the Martial Art [Chase Soul Spear] and Haley followed. Meanwhile, Keith also started swinging his sword after seeing them practice.
[The Twin Wolf Lord smiles in appreciation]
[The Three Faced Witch nods silently]
He stopped them after an hour, "We should rest for the remaining two hours." They sat down unhesitatingly and Mason closed his eyes. The [Genuine Heavens] cultivation method was truly broken, but for any type of inner cultivation (neigong), there were several requirements to using them. One was the ability to manipulate your inner force without skills. The other was meditation. Mason sat in the lotus position and focused his mind. He had taken a few mindfulness lessons before, so after an unknown amount of time, he woke up from his trance to an alert.
[You have learnt [Meditation Lv. 1]]
The main function of this skill was to boost recovery and allow for a concentration of the mind and senses, the latter of which helps with the practicing of Neigong.
Now for the control of inner force. Mason popped the lid of the Mana Elixir off and drank it. His body began to absorb it.
[Your Will has increased by 4]
[Your Will has increased by 2]
[Your Will has increased by 3]
[Your Will has increased by 3]
[Your Will has increased by 1]
[The residual energy rests within your body]
Although he could not fully draw out the energy within the substance, through the focus of senses from [Meditation], he had grasped the movement and presence of inner force. Mason started to carefully guide the stream of Inner Force in a spiral shape in accordance with the first of seven chapters in [Genuine Heavens], called the [Jade Spiral].
The [Jade Spiral] was subpar in cultivation speed, comparable only to ordinary cultivation methods. But it built the foundation for the higher levels, and once practiced to completion, progress would skyrocket. A faint jade-green line formed in Mason's heart by the time he was done.
When he opened his eyes, 5 minutes were left before rest time ended. Surprisingly, his legs were not numb from sitting cross legged for two hours. Keith and Haley were up, ready to go as well