[Conditions for purchase met.]
[Initializing...]
[Synchronizing data...]
[Calculating customer credit...]
Ding!
[Greetings valued customer. Welcome to the Life Store.]
...
Sena woke up in a void to a mechanical voice greeting her. As one would expect her current mood was, "???....?!"
Sena confused, "You are?"
[...]
[The Life Store.]
"..." The corner of her mouth twitches
Sena decides to try and choose her questions carefully lest she get another useless answer, "... What do you sell?"
[We sell whatever the customer desires. The number of products the customer can have depends on their credit. The customer can also select a complementary additional product namely: Reincarnation, Transmigration, Rebirth, Revival.]
!!!
Eyes almost falling from her skull, "Please explain the complementary products."
[Reincarnation is being sent to another body as a fetus gaining a completely new life.
Transmigration is being moved into another body taking over that person's life. Customers also have the option to switch lives with other customers.
Rebirth is going back to a point in time during your life memories intact.
Revival is being brought back to life through all mortal wounds being healed.]
Sena took a few moments to digest these words. Frowning in suspicion, "Why would customers choose to switch lives?"
[Customers who select transmigration normally take over a completely random body, a body with the same name or a death they've heard of. This happens at random. The switch is to allow customers to have an idea of the kind of life they are taking over.]
With a feeling of apprehension Sena continues to question, "Are the other three options random as well?"
[Besides revival the other three are random.]
She is dumbfounded. Doesn't that mean she could go back to when she was born? Or go back a few minutes before she died? Now Sena has lived a life although short she's grown from a naive girl to a mature woman. And only one word came to mind hearing this. SCAM!! Everything besides revival and the switch is fools gold!
"Can you choose the day you are reborn?"
[Yes, using credit.]
"What is credit?"
[The amount of products the customer can select excluding the complementary ones.]
"... How much credit do I have?"
[The customer has 3 credits available.]
Internally screaming that her net worth is too poor, "How do you decide-"
[What products would the customer like to purchase?]
"..."
Cutting her losses she considers her options. She is not willing to abandon her life so reincarnation and transmigration are out. Revival won't help her. Being as old as she is even though talented no school or sect would want her. Even those who did would be chased away by the circle on her ring finger. That leaves rebirth. "I would like to be reborn firstly."
Ping!
[Selection complete.]
Sifting through her memories Sena finds two major pitfalls in her life. The first is her lack of improvement in her cultivation. The fault clearly lies with the method not with her, after all she was born with three spiritual roots. This alone would be enough to call her a prodigy. The second would be her lack of ability to defend herself...
"I want a complete cultivation technique that I can use from being a mortal to the highest cultivation stages, it must be suitable for any element . "
Ping!
[Selection complete. ]
[The customer has 2 credits remaining. ]
"Give me a complete poison manual with recipes for the poisons and their antidotes or lack thereof, refining methods and poisoning techniques or lack thereof for each one. I should be able to use them from being a mortal to the highest cultivation stages."
Ping!
[Selection complete.]
[The customer has 1 credit remaining. ]
"I want a complete weapons manual for the khopesh for both dual and single wielding, along with as many training swords as possible." Thinking she added, "Most of the training swords should be sharp edge training swords."
Ping!
[Selection complete.]
[The customer has no more credits left.]
[Collecting data...]
[Compiling manuals...]
[Fetching training swords...]
Ping!
[Compilation complete.]
[Creating 1×1 metre storage space.]
[Placing 50 training swords in space.]
[Does the customer wish to have the manuals as a hard copy or have them directly scanned into your memory. ]
"Scanned directly into my memory."
[Scanning memory...]
[Merging...]
[Calculating time of rebirth...]
Ding!
[Beginning rebirth...]
Ding!
"How do I access the space and the manuals."
[Think about it.]
"Will I be able to keep the storage space when I've taken the training swords out?"
[No.]
[The customer also cannot place objects that are not the 50 training swords given by the store into the space.]
"..."
[Does the customer have any more inquiries?]
"When will I be reborn?"
[Right now.]
"..."
[We wish the customer a prosperous life.]
Feeling grateful"Thank you."
Ding!
[We sincerely hope to never receive the customer's patronage again.]
"..."
Ding!
[Rebirth complete.]
Sena lies asleep in her bed, hair a mess, frowning lightly as light peeps in from the slightly open curtains.
Her eyes snap open glancing around the room and getting out of bed carefully. As if something would randomly jump out of a shadow and attack her. In this cautious manner she looked through the rest of the room.
Sena choked up. The room she is in, is her safe haven. Her home of 16 years. Where none of the dirt outside could get to her. She bit her bottom lip and covered her mouth with one hand to stifle her sobs. Sena stumbled over to a wardrobe that was full of dresses. Opening it she looked at the inside of the door a twelve month calendar hung there. It had circles on some dates in different colors corresponding to the dress she was to wear on that day. The dates that had already passed were colored in with black.
Today is seven months before her wedding day and four months before the date was picked. This was also three months before Panoptēs Academy's entrance exams. She couldn't ask for a better respawn point. Sena feels a little embarrassed for thinking of the Store as a scammer.
Looking back to the calendar Sena finds her line of sight blurry. Realizing she was crying, she went back to sit down on her familiar bed. Heart full of nostalgia she stopped biting her lip. Grabbed a pillow to hug and sobbed freely.
When Sena stopped crying her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. Going back to the calendar she sees the monthly trip to the hall is 5 days away. Sena decides that for the next 5 days she'll act like the world and her future don't exist and simply enjoy this peaceful time. After, yes after she will make a plan for her escape and future. For now she rests. Returning to a routine long forgotten.
Five days later.
Sena dressed in an all black sweatsuit and went down to the hall. However, unlike when she was younger she paid attention to the people around her and what they were doing and saying. From bits and pieces of others conversations she found out this was a monthly evaluation to check our progress.
While she wasn't planning on cultivating while she was here, this assures her that her choice is for the best. These relatives of her's were the ones that gave the "manual" she was using. Clearly they don't want her to make any progress. If she suddenly advanced to Entry stage they would probably find another way to obstruct her. While obstruction is a possibility they will definitely become suspicious. That is something she cannot afford happening as it will directly interfere with her plans going forward.
Same as her memories she was simply sent back to her room. Going to her bedroom she decides even though she can't cultivate, it doesn't mean she can't read the manual. After all there is a lot of knowledge she lacks, although she stops herself from reading the actual method for now. Sitting cross legged with her eyes closed she thinks about the cultivation manual she bought. It simply appears in her head causing Sena to jump slightly. Getting comfortable Sena reads through her future life line.
After reading Sena feels like she's finally seeing the world through a cultivator's eyes. To summarize the info it was...
The 12 major stages of cultivation
Entry stage
Qi condensation stage
Foundation establishment stage
Core formation stage
Core refinement stage
Void creation stage
Expansion stage
Spirit condensation stage
Nascent soul stage
Ascension stage
Transcendent stage
Tribulation crossing stage
With the latter three having a heavenly tribulation to enter the next major stage.
Next were the thirteen spiritual roots and their innate abilities and the stage they manifest in.
Neutral root
Color= white
No innate abilities
Only possess this root
Cultivation speed depends on the person, the quality of their techniques and their resources.
Cultivation speed is affected by the number of spiritual roots. A person's spiritual roots are always equal in strength. The more spiritual roots the weaker the innate abilities.
Fire
Color=red
Innate abilities
Entry stage
Heat resistant.
Fire resistant.
Sensitive to temperatures.
Void creation stage
Can produce heat and fire and manipulate them.
Water
Color=dark blue
Innate abilities
Entry stage
Is a naturally good swimmer and breath in water.
Void creation stage
Can produce water and manipulate it.
Can sense the presence of water.
Wind
Color=pink
Innate abilities
Entry stage
Can erase their scent and have good sense of smell.
Void creation stage
Can manipulate wind.
Earth
Color=brown
Innate abilities
Entry stage
Sensitive to vibrations in the ground.
Void creation stage
Can create earth and manipulate all it's forms
Thunder
Color=purple
Innate abilities
Entry stage
Can recharge their qi using electricity
Void creation
Can generate electricity (no control, can't reabsorb)
Ice
Color=light blue
Innate abilities
Entry stage
Resistant to cold and frostbite.
Sensitive to temperatures.
Void creation stage
Can generate cold air.
Can create ice and control it.
Sound
Color=magenta
Innate abilities
Entry stage
Sensitive to sound and good hearing
Void creation
Can manipulate sound
Wood
Color = green
Innate abilities
Entry stage
Can feel properties of plants
Void creation stage
Can sense spiritual plant treasures and treasures made from them
Aurora
Color = teal
Innate abilities
Entry stage
Enhanced eyesight and sensitive to mirages
Void creation stage
Creates bright flashes of light and can pull the surrounding light to one area blackening your surroundings
Plasma
Color = yellow
Innate abilities
Entry stage
Faster self healing speed
Void creation stage
Can help healing and make wounds more serious
Gravity
Color = gold
Innate abilities
Entry stage
Manipulating their own gravity
Void creation stage
Manipulating the weight of objects in a certain area
Metal
Color = silver
Innate abilities
Entry stage
Can feel properties of metals
Void creation stage
Can sense metal spiritual treasures and treasures made from them
When Sena was tested as a child the crystal glowed red, dark blue and green. That means she has triple fire, water and wood spiritual roots. Seeing the things she could do in the future and what she would be able to do with a little effort Sena was itching to read the actual method and start cultivating. This time caution won over impulse.
Sulking she thought away the cultivation manual. She then brought up the poison manual. She started to read through it. She put it away a few minutes later. Sena wishes she could physically hold the book in her hands. That way she could throw it. The pages were blank! How passive-aggressive!
Sena stood up walking to the empty space in her room she uses to exercise. Calling up the storage space she holds out both hands. She summons two blunt training swords from the space.
"They're light!" Sena immediately recovered from her sulky mood. She had been expecting the swords to be heavy. Beaming Sena summoned the khopesh manual. The moves were simple, sweeping cut, chop and thrust. They were simple but they can be combined any way with no specific order. Sena began practicing filled with excitement. As long as she can use her weapons well she can apply for the Academy and get out of here. How Sena is going to make it out of the mansion is something she has yet to consider.