The System’s Integration—

I didn’t waste one second to ignore it, even as the Status jumped in front of my eyes. I had more important things to do.

— Status —

Name: Shane Leone

Points: 99,000

Race: Human

Age: 18

Strength: 16

Recovery: 10

Endurance: 12

Vigor: 10

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 15

Luck: 25

System Shop! Give me the damn Shop!

— Shop —

Available Points: 99,000

Abilities - Artifacts

I ignored everything as I physically jammed my hand over ‘artifacts’ and immediately bought the first item that had appeared in my view.

‘Minor Health Potion - Restores A Little Health’

Cost: 10 Points

I bought it, seeing my overall points go down, but immediately receiving a System Notification.

You have gained a Limited Title, ‘Greedy Bastard.’

Greedy Bastard: You are the first to use the System Shop during the integration. System Shop Prices -30%, Luck +20

You earn 300,000 System Points.

I laughed out loud, exhilarated. When the first Limited Titles had been disclosed back on Earth, this had made people mad. For some unknown reason, the owner revealed that he had it after making a fortune just reselling System Shop items at 80% of their price.

Now, though, there was something else in the System Shop that I was after. In my past life, I had not been very keen on which items or abilities could have helped me survive the apocalypse. Considering that many abilities were limited in how many could be sold to the general population, though, I needed to hurry up and see if it was still there. People would still be confused, and he most likely had days to peruse the humanity-exclusive System Shop and accumulate enough points to get it, but there was no reason to risk it.

Especially considering…

I had way fewer points than this the first time around, I thought, looking at the astronomical amount of points I had. I know for a fact that the upper limit is 100,000 and that they should be distributed rather randomly…

Those who had gained many points at the start of the apocalypse had been dubbed ‘Chosen.’ That was because they could afford abilities that allowed them to plow through the first stages of the apocalypse with no trouble whatsoever.

Takehiko-Sensei had 80,000…

I shook his head, noticing the Japanese man was still reeling, probably consulting all the information that the system was raining on him.

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In my past life, I had had a constitution-based style. I had been some sort of tank with a sword, and not a particularly talented one at that.

In this life, I could just coast by my master’s side, who would be able to single-handedly repel the apocalypse thanks to the Legendary artifact they’d retrieve together. Therefore, there was one ability I had always drooled after, an ability that, incidentally, could be used only once. The same ability I had just earned enough money for.

“Here goes nothing,” I muttered under my breath, clicking on the shop and thinking hard about the name—that’s how you searched for something if you didn’t want to scroll through endless windows of racial abilities to turn yourself into a Werewolf.

Hero’s Shadow — 333,333 (0/1)

“Select ability, Hero’s Shadow,” I muttered, seeing a cursor appear by its side. “Accept.”

Suddenly, a rush of light materialized in front of me, startling Takehiko-Sensei. The ball of light slowly entered my chest, and a description appeared in my mind.

You unlocked Beginner Hero's Shadow (1/10)

Generate One Copy of yourself with one-third of your power.

A wide smile blossomed on my face: this was one of the most powerful and scary abilities that had ever existed. It had belonged to Liu Zhang, the King of Shadows. He had been a legendary figure, one of the first to openly condemn and attack the undead. It wouldn’t have been out of place to call him the man who had given humanity their first and only chance at eliminating the undead scourge…

Now, I have the same ability, I smiled to myself.

The lesser-known effect of Hero’s Shadow, that almost everyone had overlooked until Zhang’s meteoritic ascent, was that your copies were, in fact, you. If you happened to die, you could simply take the place of one of your copies.

I held off from materializing my first shadow. Still, before I could tell Takehiko-sensei what I had planned for us and what advice I had for him, I remembered another ability… a rather cheap one.

Sword Beam — 1,000 (0/999,999)

Damn it, Takehiko-sensei always said it was a useless ability, but it looked so cool…

The downsides of the ability were extreme. It generated an energy blade from your attacks, but the blade exponentially lost power for every inch of space it traveled. It did not extend the length of the blade, either. But…

I’ll just buy one. I don’t need it, but it’s… so cool.

Knowing what was at stake, I would have never wasted my points so frivolously in my past life. But I felt like taking a few more liberties in this one.

“Select ability, Sword Beam,” I muttered, seeing a cursor appear by its side. “Accept.”

You unlocked Beginner Sword Beam (1/10)

You can infuse your own attacks with Mana to project slashing beams from your blade.

“Cool,” I grinned like an idiot. After a few seconds of elation, I turned to Takehiko-sensei, who now looked suspiciously at me. “I was using the System Shop, sensei. Here, let me show you how you do that.”

…

I had steered Takehiko-sensei toward choosing the Formless Blade, a sword art that took all his points to buy. It was the same choice he had made in his first life, and only three copies of such ability could be purchased through the System Shop.

The man inhaled slowly and closed his eyes, wielding a katana he had retrieved from a safe. The air around him changed, feeling much sharper than before.

I had just instructed him how to focus his own insights to start leveling up the most important ability for both of us.

“Advanced?” I asked, curious.

“Hee,” the man nodded, releasing air from his mouth in a low hum. “Advanced.”

Advanced Sword Mastery was the third stage of the skill. That Takehiko-sensei could reach that stage just by focusing his sword intent was truly out of this world.

“You too?” The man frowned, asking me if I was about to do the same.

“Yes, sensei. I need you to step back.”

We were currently in the middle of the dojo, and Takehiko-sensei took a few steps back. I stared at him. He took another two steps back. I still stared. He frowned, walking up to the entrance.

“Good?”

I nodded back as I clutched the sword the man had given me.

The old man carried sharp, dangerous swords in his shop, obviously, I smiled.

Then, all was gone. As I closed my eyes, I saw only darkness, still visualizing, however, my own form. I could feel the sword as an extension of my own body. Cherries started blossoming in my mind, and thousands upon thousands of leaves entered my mind view, all distributed unevenly around me.

I collected a deep breath, and then I unsheathed the katana.

All the leaves in my mind's eye were suddenly split in two, right in the middle.

You unlocked Beginner Sword Mastery (1/10)

Beginner Sword Mastery has reached Level 2 (2/10)

Beginner Sword Mastery has reached Level 3 (3/10)

…

Master Sword Mastery has reached level 10 (10/10)

That was the fifth stage. I had no idea up to what point these levels stretched, I just knew that Takehiko-sensei, by the time we separated, had just unlocked the seventh stage of Sword Mastery.

“What now, Shane-san?” The old man asked.

“Now, sensei, we find a Dungeon. We need to reach level 10 and unlock our classes and… you’ll see. There’s a lot to do.”

“Shane-san,” the man hesitated. “I need to make a call.”

“Sure,” I nodded, knowing who he was about to call.