"I shall take my leave now." Uriel proclaimed as she faded away into magic dust.
I didn't say anything and in the next moment, the world became swallowed by a dark power and I died again.
I woke up on the altar in the Church of Revelation just as I have in all my past lives. I immediately felt intense pain all throughout my body, but it didn't bother me in the slightest.
I sat up and checked my status window. With just a thought, the status window appeared in my front of me with a dark crescent blue hue.
Cindered Regressor Jason Mores [Hidden]
LEVEL 1
Sponsor(s): Uriel (Legendary) [Hidden] , ??? [Hidden]
Special Class: Regressor [Hidden]
Class: [None]
Unique Skills: Ashen Steps (Legendary) [Hidden]
Traits: View Item
Stats
HP: 10/10
MP: 10/10
Vitality - LVL 1
Mana - LVL 1
Strength - LVL 2
Agility - LVL 2
Perception - LVL 5
Special Stats
Intelligence - LVL MAX
Luck - LVL 5
Note: You are unable to regress upon death as the Regressor's Judgement stone has disintegrated.
Note: Since you are already Sponsored, the status window is available at all times even without the presence of The Games.
"I see..." I muttered to myself and placed my hand on my chin.
The Regressor's Judgement stone disintegrating is troublesome but was expected after my conversation with Uriel.
However, something caught my eyes even more than the first note - the Sponsor category. Naturally, Uriel was there, just like every other round.
In the first regression round, she chose me later into the run as she was impressed by my performance in the various levels of The Games and has been my Sponsor since. When a Sponsor, an existence above the mortal plane, decides to sponsor a Player, the Player contracts to remain with that Sponsor until death and the Sponsor gives support to the Player to continue in The Games. Devils, highest ranking Demon Kings, Demigods and any other entity classified as a superior existence can provide some sort of Sponsorship. As a side note, even though I have died in every round, the Regressor's Judgement stone nullifies the condition that death ends the contract between Sponsor and Player.
Uriel is the only Angel who has given out a Sponsorship to a Player since the other Angels ironically hate humanity. At this point in time, Angels have become corrupted by the Demon Realm after the Great War and have become Dark Angels.
However, it is impossible to sign with more than one Sponsor since the soul of the Player becomes tied to said Sponsor. So, what is the meaning of the "???" after Uriel's name. I have never seen this in all my rounds of regression.
I closed my eyes and sunk into thought for a moment.
Could I have two Sponsors? If so, why can I not see the second one's name? How is a feature of my own window being hidden from me?
"If I do have another sponsor, I certainly hope it is not another Angel..."
Uriel should be the most powerful Sponsor, and I have always been able to see her name in the status window. Maybe Archangel Michael found out about my regression in the 999th round and somehow retains his memories in this life and is playing tricks? No, it couldn't be that. Although Michael is powerful as a Sponsor, he doesn't have such capability, nor should he be able to defy the Regressor's Judgement stone and know who I am at this point. In fact, no existence is able to defy the Regressor's Judgement stone at all. Uriel is able to bestow the stone unto me, but cannot even use it herself. The stone, for all intensive purposes, could be viewed as sentient and does not let anyone retain memories from previous rounds except for Uriel and the user, me.
"I suppose I will have to talk to Uriel about this when I am able to contact her next..."
I checked the date and time in the bottom right corner of the status window.
December 31th, 2253, 11:00 PM just one hour before the Angels will descend upon Earth and start The Games. I need to prepare as much as possible before they arrive.
Although virtually all my skills and stats have been taken away as a result of regression, I still retained Ashen Step. In truth, one random unique skill from the previous round is always retained after regressing. I could have gotten any one of them, but to think I got the Ashen Step skill. It certainly is not the best Unique Skill, but fate seems to looking upon me kindly this time. Time is of the essence, and I most definitely cannot complain with this.
Unique Skill: Ashen Steps (Legendary)
Description:
Temporarily accelerates the user's movement by 200% for a period of time determined by the user. However, the user's body and clothes become cindered and leave burn marks, reducing HP the longer the ability is used.
Cooldown: 2 minutes
Fortunately, the reduction in HP from the burn marks is essentially negligible as long as I don't activate the ability for too long. Plus, there are spells and skills that I can obtain later to negate the HP reduction, so I'm not too concerned with it.
I closed the status window and began to move.
...
Unbeknownst to all except the highest members of the Church and its bodyguards, the Church of Revelation was built as a means to hide a gate to a dungeon in another world. I found the gate on accident in one of my later regressions, but it has since become an irreplaceable tool for my success on the 40th level of The Games. Once The Games starts, I won't be able to come back to Earth for a long time, so I have to get that item now.
I quickly sifted through a bunch of magnifying glasses from a drawer near the altar. After rummaging for a couple of seconds, I spotted the magnifying glass I was looking for. I viewed the item description using my innate trait View Item.
Holy Magnifying Glass (Uncommon)
The rest of the magnifying glasses were of lower quality and were decoys to fool people trying to get to the gate. However...
By lining up the moon's dim rays that come from the dome of the Church Of Revelation with the uncommon rank Holy Magnifying Glass, one can create a special beam of decryption from the moon's rays.
I aimed the Holy Magnifying Glass at the stone gargoyle statue's mouth sitting on the altar and rumbling started to occur.
Moving around to the back side of the altar I looked down, which was ordinarily plain floor, and saw the rusty steps to the underground of the Church of Revelation.