Rayen checked the three remaining questions to make sure that he wouldn't miss something, even though he already had prior knowledge of it. And as he thought so, he realized he might have really missed some if he had skipped them.
The first and third ones were just as he expected. He wasn't kidnapped; he was really dead. Rayen was already becoming numb to the reality of his death, so he only skimmed through the entire dialogue.
What he learned anew was that this place was just a special area built to accommodate the people who were revived here. If this place was located in the real world—if there was even a proper distinction between real and unreal—he wasn't informed.
However, the answer to the second question was a bit unexpected to Rayen. He had already witnessed Plotter's supernatural abilities, but his mind still couldn't process the entire thing at all.
It also indirectly confirmed his speculation about Plotter being the one who wished for his revival. He was really one of those special individuals.
And those special individuals were the other case that he had specifically mentioned: those whose souls hadn't wilted but bloomed instead.
What made them special was that they were able to reincarnate and remember their past lives as long as their soul hadn't exhausted its lifespan. They also gained abilities and were considered people who guard souls from straying from their fates.
Plotter mentioned in the dialogue that the World Immortal said, "When a person gains merit through his actions, it could serve as nourishment for the soul, allowing it to bloom by itself."
Those who gained enough merits in just one life to make their souls bloom were truly rare.
Rayen even wondered, 'Were those people philanthropists who consider doing good deeds the same as breathing?'
He thought he was actually not that bad when he was alive. Having done some good things that he could be proud of was apparently still not enough for his soul to bloom.
So Plotter was one of those people, huh?
When he remembered Plotter's cunning smile and the way he would always talk in circles just to gauge people's reactions while enjoying it, Rayen doubted it. How could that be someone who breathes good deeds during their one lifetime?
Reining in his thoughts, Rayen finished reading the answers to all the questions. He stared at Plotter's character, producing a wry smile before tapping the next button.
"Now that you've heard all the answers, let's proceed with the tutorial."
Plotter shrank into a mini-mini version of himself again as the screen dimmed, leaving only the area under Rayen's flower pot icon and name highlighted. Inside the highlighted area were different boxes.
This time, he was wearing different clothes. A thin stick was in his hand, and a pair of black-rimmed glasses accentuated his perfectly shaped face.
The way Plotter wore the clothes only deepened Rayen's uncertainty about his gender.
His top was a blouse with playful colors, frilly collars, and embroidered flowers on the torso—clearly designed for women who usually adored wearing cute dresses.
On the other hand, his trousers and shoes were a sharp contrast to the top. With simple jet-black pants and shiny black leather boots, they gave off an aura of minimalism and masculinity.
Even though it was just an anime character, this version of Plotter still looked otherworldly. Would it be different if he met him in flesh?
Plotter raised the stick in his hand and pointed toward one of the boxes, as if acting like a primary school teacher.
"These are your primary stats. Remember how we assessed you earlier? The data was collected and reflected in a system that my physical incarnation created to monitor your soul's stats. You can increase these stats by either natural means or through page boosters. I will explain the boosters later."
Rayen confirmed Plotter's words by reading the information in the boxes.
[Singing: S]
[Dancing: D]
He couldn't help but twitch his lips when he saw his dancing stat. This was the first time he had seen it. Just earlier, he felt offended by Plotter's words, but this stat was definitely screaming failure!
'Am I doomed?'
"That system was installed in this phone for portability, and of course, to look normal," Plotter explained. "After all, what would happen if you all tried to tap into thin air while using the system in public? That would look weird!"
Rayen agreed, though he wasn't even sure if he'd still be alive by the time he was able to socialize in public again.
"Anyway, that system my physical incarnation created... well, it turned into me." Plotter let out a cheerful mechanical laugh, and a kitten emoticon with heart-shaped eyes appeared on his dialogue box. "I'm Plotter the Propagator. Please, take good care of me!"
'If only it wasn't you, I'd be glad...'
Rayen tapped the screen, trying to resist the urge to shudder at the thought.
Plotter continued with his stick pointing toward the bottom area on the screen.
[Life Book: 0 (803,051)]
"This is your Life Book Stats. This stat represents the number of Life Book pages that you were able to leave a mark on."
Rayen's forehead wrinkled after seeing the odd grayed and lined numbers beside the 0 in his Life Book stat.
"The numbers next to it represent the number of Life Books you were mentioned in before your death. These numbers couldn't be counted and increased. Now that this world recognizes you as dead, all these numbers are deemed invalid."
But why was it shown there if it was useless?
"You're curious why it was there, right? Right?" The eyes of Plotter's character gleamed with a cunning glint. "I won't tell you. You'll have to figure it out yourself after you re-mark those Life Books again."
Expectations surged, only to fall back down. Rayen felt the urge to beat this system again. What did he even expect from Plotter? Of course, the system would inherit all of its creator's traits!
Plotter's mechanical voice giggled through Rayen's phone speaker.
"Let's move on to the next one!"
Rayen let out a sigh. He thought it might be better to just rest and return to his coffin if he had to deal with this Plotter system every day.
As the character vanished from the screen, the light in the highlighted area faded, merging with the dimmed parts.
A glittering icon surfaced on the screen. The label and the icon itself were emitting colorful lights, practically shouting to Rayen that it was special. A choir sound effect even accompanied its appearance.
"Ahhhhhh~"
Rayen didn't pay attention to the sound and instead focused on reading the icon's label.
[Memorial Shop]
After the sound effect finished, the special lights also faded, and the icon shrank. It flew toward the top right corner of the screen, fixing itself in place.
Without even waiting for the system's cue, Rayen tapped the shrunken icon curiously.
Rows upon rows of images of brown parchments filled Rayen's screen. Listed under the images were words that didn't make sense to him. He could understand the meaning of the words individually, but when strung together, it was too complex to understand.
'What's this?'
Plotter's character suddenly popped out again.
"Welcome to the Memorial Shop. You can find various items inside this shop. From boosters to materials to scenarios—everything—as long as you can afford it."
A ding rang from the phone, and the numbers in the top right corner of the screen changed.
"Here's a bonus of 5,000 memorial coins. You can use this to buy book pages in this shop. All of the items here are in the form of book pages, taken or copied from original Life Books. Once you buy a book page, it will manifest. You can choose to keep it or use it immediately. Here's a freebie to demonstrate."
Plotter's character scrolled through the screen with his hands and found a particular page. He tapped on it, and a modal pop-up appeared. Before Rayen could even read its description, Plotter pressed the buy button.
A parchment suddenly materialized in front of Rayen.
What caught Rayen's attention the most was the drawing of a sack of fertilizer with a dancing person logo on it.
[Dance Fertilizer: The Overseer of Scribes found an interesting page from a life book of a famous choreographer who had an epiphany about the art of dancing. The Overseer copied the page, ground it to dust, and mixed it with a special compost.
Using it on a Seed will make the Seed experience the same epiphany the famous choreographer had. It's up to the Seed's capability how much they can absorb from the fertilizer.]
"It's a freebie. Use it well." Plotter's character winked. "Oh, to use it, you have to scan the barcode at the back of the page with your phone. Only consumable pages have barcodes to monitor the number of stocks. Other types of pages don't have codes and could only be acquired and used once. Those are also more expensive."
Rayen, thankful for the usefulness of the item considering his low dance stats, felt lucky. He had expected mini Plotter to choose a useless item for him.
But "Dance Fertilizer"... What kind of naming sense was this? No wonder he hadn't understood it. Who would ever think those two words could be connected?
Plotter continued talking from his phone screen.
"You can earn memorial coins by completing missions assigned to you or by achieving hidden feats."
Clutching onto the brown parchment, Rayen watched as another interface appeared on his phone screen. A list of missions lined up vertically. Rayen's eyes locked onto the first one on the list.
[Mission: Successfully pass the audition!
Reward: Free book page, 15,000 MC]
He didn't know how generous the reward was, but either way, he had to pass or it would all be for naught. He didn't need a reward to remind him that he had to do well in the audition. Just the reward of staying alive was already enough!
"This concludes our tutorial for today! Good luck, Participant Rayen!" Plotter's character smiled wide, eyes gleaming with fervor. "Sow the seeds and take root in people's hearts!"