The Growth of an Ability

You were born into a wealthy family on the Arad Continent.

From childhood, you practiced swordsmanship. Because your family was wealthy, you hired many swordsmen to teach you. And because you were a transmigrator, you hired G.S.D as your teacher.

At the age of seven, you cultivated qi.

By the time you came of age, none of your swordsmanship teachers except G.S.D could defeat you. G.S.D decided to teach you the Ghost Sword Technique and help you cross the threshold into becoming a Sword Soul. But that year, a woman named Kelly moved near your home.

You practiced your swordsmanship while living as a prodigal, and you spent time talking with Kelly, helping her through some problems in her life. The two of you became friends.

A year later, your swordsmanship reached a bottleneck. You could not enter the realm G.S.D had described, where one could sever an iron sword with an iron sword without using qi and remain unscathed, thus earning the title of Sword Soul. But you did help Kelly build a Reinforcement Machine. Kelly said that although she had no money, she would compensate you in other ways—and she could give you part of that compensation right now.

Kelly gave you the first reinforcement attempt. After hesitating again and again, you finally took out your sword at the drunken Kelly's insistence.

You died.

"Kelly, damn it!"

Li Ke shot upright in bed. Neither the headache nor the heat flowing through his body could calm his heart.

Because Kelly was such a scammer!

In his final memory, he had put his sword into the Reinforcement Furnace, and then...

Then the furnace exploded.

Kelly and he had both been wiped out of that world, naturally bringing this trip to that world to an end.

Covering his face with trembling hands, Li Ke could not understand why he always had to run into that fraud Kelly! She had not screwed him over the first time, but this time, she had truly sent him straight to the grave.

Even the excitement of advancing further in the dream and learning a complete set of swordsmanship, along with several interesting moves, had been utterly wiped away by the absurdity of it all.

He had learned some really interesting swordsmanship!

"Really..."

The pain caused by his vitality strengthening his body gradually began to fade. Li Ke moved his body, recalled the vitality he had just received, and, though his head still hurt somewhat, confirmed one thing.

The feedback ratio for vitality was one-tenth.

The vitality he had just received was one-tenth of the vitality he possessed in the dream world. In other words, the stronger his life energy in the dream, the stronger the vitality fed back to him would be.

Unfortunately, he had still only been human in the dream world. Though his vitality was more vigorous than that of an ordinary person, it was only slightly stronger—not all that much.

"That's a good thing. If I can figure out how to reincarnate as another race, like a Minotaur or a Dragonoid, their life energy must be incredibly abundant."

Li Ke sighed softly. Only at times like this did he envy the convenience of a system.

"If only it were as clear as a system, and could even give me a summary..."

Muttering to himself, he prepared to get dressed and go to sleep.

But his heart suddenly fluttered again. The Void within his mind began to change. A thin veil covered it, slowly shifting until it formed a line of text.

Li Ke

Mental: 90/140

Vitality: 203/157

Transmigration Attempts: 3

Innate Talents: Profiteer Magnet, Heart of a Swordsman, Transmigrator.

Profiteer Magnet: Able to attract profiteers into becoming your friends, and increases the favorability of high-level merchants.

Heart of a Swordsman: You yearn to become a "cheap(?) swordsman," greatly increasing your chances of becoming a swordsman.

Transmigrator: You have a high chance of knowing the plot and a chance of obtaining the Hard Drive Spirit talent.

Hard Drive Spirit: You understand hydraulics, glassmaking, soapmaking, agricultural improvement, basic industry, aerospace knowledge, history precise down to the day and hour, and human history. You know all poetry, songs, and essays from five thousand years of history, as well as perfect-score essays. You know the times, exact locations, and specific details of natural disasters and man-made calamities. You also know obscure place names ordinary people have never heard of, historical trivia, and historical names.

Explored Worlds: League of Legends, Dungeon & Fighter, CrossFire.

Li Ke instinctively thought that a system had attached itself to him. But the instant that thought arose, he saw the words disperse like mist and turn back into The Void.

"This..."

Li Ke looked thoughtfully at The Void. He imagined wanting something like a status panel, and the words appeared before him again, continuing to extend as several options emerged.

Quick Simulation: Consume 100 Mental Energy and 50 Vitality to conduct one quick simulation. Receive feedback based on your experiences. There is an extremely low chance of obtaining a special talent after the simulation ends.

Mental Energy and Vitality can be consumed to obtain talents from within the simulation, or increase the chance of obtaining items and talents.

You may choose whether to blur simulation memories to prevent memory confusion.

Real Life: Consume Mental Energy and Vitality to conduct one real-life simulation. You must participate throughout this simulation.

Mental Energy and Vitality can be consumed to improve your status, talents, or increase the chance of obtaining items and talents after the simulation. You may choose your age in the simulation.

"So... is this really a system, or is it my special ability? That extra vitality must be the vitality I received through feedback, right? My body can't digest it for now, so it overflowed."

Li Ke's head buzzed as he looked at the system panel. But he realized that the system gave him no different feeling. It was still that Void-like existence.

It was still his own ability. It had only appeared before him in the form of a system because he "wanted a system." If he wished, he could shatter this system at any time and continue using his ability the way he had before.

But in essence, it was still that Void he had yet to fully master.

With a thought from Li Ke, the background of the "system" panel changed into an animated image of Tifa. With another thought, it became the twenty-four-character mantra of harmony, love, equality, and so on.

Rubbing his chin, Li Ke wondered whether it was just his imagination, but it seemed that the changes in his ability were because it had grown.

"...This is really interesting. Does this count as mastering it a little further? Is this thing some kind of treasure, or a talent I awakened because of transmigrating? And why did this changing ability activate?"

Li Ke was certain that The Void was not a system, but its psychic display was quite interesting. Unfortunately, he did not have enough Mental Energy to start a simulation right now. Otherwise, he could test how his simulations differed now that he had this system.

Taking his sword, along with the letter and scroll given to him by the elder, Li Ke ate breakfast, packed some dry provisions, bade farewell to Elder Souma and Yone, who gave him a slight nod, then left the dojo.

On the road, Li Ke tested the sword a few times and found that Yone's sword was more than twice as heavy as the swords he normally used. It was also single-edged, making it very awkward to wield.

But that was not a problem. In this simulation, the swordsmanship he had learned under G.S.D was meant for a weapon called a katana. Using one briefly would not be a problem. He could replace it with another sword once he reached the next town.

But...

When he reached a crossroads, Li Ke stopped and looked toward the bushes behind him.

"Come out, Yasuo!"

The troublesome person had followed him.