A torrent of data surged across the screen, eventually forming an attribute panel:
Name: [Sulu Portley]
Profession: [None]
Class: [0]
Title: [None]
Strength: [1.1], Agility: [1.2], Constitution: [0.9], Spirit: [1.5]
Skills: [None]
Passives: [Common Hebraic LV3], [Basic Physics LV4], [Demon Hunting Lore LV1], [Ancient Hebraic LV2]
XP: [0]
[Ding!! Skill book detected—Corpse Maiden Creation. Prerequisites: Ancient Hebraic LV2 and Spirit 1.4!... Conditions met! Spend 50 Experience Points to learn?]
A cold, mechanical voice rang out in Sulu's mind.
"Could this be... the character attribute panel from that lousy online game I was playing when I suddenly died in my previous life?"
Sulu was too exasperated to even complain. "My cheat skill is arriving years late... My worldview is shattered... completely shattered... beyond repair..."
He had a rough idea of what was going on. The shock he'd just experienced had brought back a flood of memories, allowing him to truly merge with the original Sulu Portley—or rather, become a part of this world. Only then had the cheat skill appeared. The two things had to be connected.
Of course, this page from a black magic book might also have been one of the reasons the attribute panel had activated.
In short, everything was shrouded in mystery.
"Corpse Maiden Creation?... Since even the attribute panel recognizes it as a skill, then clearly... supernatural powers really do exist. Why did this body's brother, Rhode, give his younger brother a page from a book of black sorcery to look after? Where did it come from? Could it be... dangerous?"
Sulu's expression grew solemn. His instincts told him there was something fishy going on!
A younger brother who'd run away from home for four years suddenly got a letter from his older brother, and there was a page of evil black sorcery inside. How could that not seem suspicious?
"More importantly, XP? Experience points? Where am I supposed to get those? Do I have to go kill monsters?"
Sulu looked troubled.
In a game, he could of course kill as much as he liked, and experience points would come pouring in. But this was a real, living world. He'd been living here for four years, and he didn't want to plunge headfirst into a sea of corpses.
As he hesitated, a faint, chilly current suddenly emerged from the page of black sorcery in his hand. It passed through his fingers and entered his body, making Sulu shiver.
Then the display before his eyes shifted, and the number beside his experience points began to climb rapidly: +1, +1, +1...
"That's it!"
Sulu suddenly understood. "That old online game worked the same way. You could get experience points not only by killing monsters and completing quests, but also by reading and practicing!"
He thought that was probably the case, though it was also possible the attribute panel was absorbing some kind of power from the page.
Sulu tested it with a serious expression. "System! Sys-tem?!"
"Quest log?"
"Give me a quest..."
"Damn, so only the attribute panel came with me. What a lousy cheat skill!"
After trying for a while, he finally concluded that his only cheat was the character data system—in other words, the attribute panel.
As for a quest system, a mysterious old man living inside him, artificial intelligence, or anything like that—sorry, none of the above!
"Fine. If I don't have them, I don't have them!"
Sulu muttered, but felt relieved. As Sean had put it, he "looked expressionless but was actually a sharp-tongued cynic." Still, he longed for freedom and wasn't keen on having a mysterious old man at his side or being forced to complete quests.
After fiddling around for a while, his XP finally crept up to 50, and the current inside the page ran dry.
Sulu took a deep breath. "I have to give it a try."
He brought up the prompt from earlier and firmly chose "Yes"!
"Confirm learning skill—Corpse Maiden Creation!"
With a thought, the experience points at the bottom of the attribute panel were instantly spent, dropping to 0.
At the same time, Sulu grunted as he felt a brick being rammed into his head. A mass of knowledge surfaced, all of it related to the black sorcery skill Corpse Maiden Creation.
"Corpse maidens are the most basic creations of black sorcery. Materials required: a female corpse and the caster's blood... Note: It must be a female corpse. A male corpse won't work!"
"When drawing the ritual circle, pay attention to the position of the pentagram. Its points must face the dark-aligned constellations in the sky. This will increase the chance of success..."
"Corpse maidens have no intelligence and are weak in combat. Among black sorcerers, they're mostly servants... But by increasing their level, powerful black sorcerers can create enhanced corpse maidens for battle."
Sulu clutched his head. This was nothing like the memories that had surfaced earlier.
After all, Sulu's earlier memories had belonged to the body he now inhabited. They'd merely been forgotten, but they were still in his mind.
This time, though, it felt as if someone had split open his skull with an axe and violently stuffed foreign knowledge inside!
The pain was worlds apart from what he'd felt before!
Sulu clenched his teeth with all his strength and managed not to scream.
"Haah... haah..."
He panted heavily. A few minutes later, he finally calmed down. When he looked at the page of black sorcery again, many parts that had originally been difficult to understand flowed smoothly through his mind, clear as day. He even felt a little eager to try it out.
He checked the attribute panel again, and sure enough, it had changed:
[Spent 50 XP. Learned black sorcery—Corpse Maiden Creation, current level LV1!]
A new subcategory, [Corpse Maiden Creation LV1], had appeared beneath the skills section.
Sulu lightly touched it with his mind, and more information surfaced: [Corpse Maiden Creation LV1: Through a certain ritual, grants temporary vitality to a female corpse. Low chance of success.]
"It's real!"
Sulu murmured, clenching his fist.
He took a deep breath, carefully folded the page of black sorcery, and put it back in the envelope. Then he tidied up the rest of his belongings one by one and stood up.
He glanced around. A few other students were scattered across the lawn. The nearest one was lying in the sun more than ten meters away, snoring like thunder.
More than fifty meters away, a couple were sitting on a spread-out blanket, enjoying a picnic date.
He looked up. The sun was still blazing.
No one knew that just moments ago, right beside them, one of their classmates had confirmed the existence of sorcery!
"This world... really is about to change!"
Sulu thought, then left without looking back.
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