Shadow Author

"…"

Sitting off to the side of the battle I was full of embarrassment.

It seems that the skills Lucas had didn't transfer over to me.

I never had to wield a sword in my previous life. Nor had I ever learned any techniques to attack.

I was not an athletic person. I hid in my room and wrote books all day. I did absolutely no exercise.

Although Lucas's body is well toned and his muscles have the instincts to block, my mind is unable to keep up.

With the clash of my mind and body not cooperating, I was left a mess. In turn, 742 was easily able to defeat me.

I contributed nothing to the team and got out in the first minute.

Disappointed with myself, I watched the remainder of the fight. Luckily both Noah and Billy were able to pressure Mia enough for her to make a mistake.

Putting too much weight on her left foot her balance was disrupted and Noah quickly took advantage of the situation. He sliced his blade down which crashed on Mia's head instantly eliminating her.

The two of them then went on to easily defeat the archer and mage without taking any more damage.

With the battle complete Billy led Noah as they made their way over to me.

I didn't have the nerve to look them in the eye but Billy stood in front of me anyways.

"Whew, that was a tough one. Mia sure is a lot stronger than she looks."

Noah nodded his head to agree.

"She's decent."

With their conversation ending, they turned their attention to me.

Billy was the first to speak up.

"You did alright, newbie, maybe next time try to keep them busy for a minute or so."

I didn't know if he was being sarcastic or not.

"Uh, yeah, I'll keep that in mind."

"Great!"

Billy punched my shoulder. It seems he wasn't making fun of me.

Noah didn't bother to even speak to me and the two of them turned to head toward their friend groups.

Being alone in the class and embarrassed, I dropped to the floor to wait.

There would only be one round during the first semester which meant I blew my chances for the day. I would have to wait till tomorrow when the next set of teams was picked.

Unsatisfied with my performance I decided to make use of my special power to see if there was a way to get stronger.

I was already one of the weakest and now that I learned I didn't have the same abilities as Lucas I was even further behind.

I had to have some sort of cheat to make me stronger or I'd end up getting kicked out.

The actual knowledge to learn was only worth around 35 percent of the yearly grade. The other 65 percent was combat.

Griffin was an academy meant to guide the students into becoming strong players who could become incredibly powerful. It didn't care about how smart someone was.

The only reason the school had an education program was to give data. The school explained how to survive in certain conditions, how to become stronger, find the weaknesses of monsters, and more.

But even without this knowledge, the graduates should be able to get through nearly any situation with pure strength.

Of course, it would be much easier if they knew about that stuff which is why it was only worth 35% of the grade.

Turning on my smartwatch I thought back to one of the first messages I got when I looked in the information section. It explained that SP was used to create abilities, gifts, skills, and even stats.

Wanting to take advantage of my powers I asked for information about how much it would cost to create a new Gift.

[All Gifts range from 100 to 15000 SP]

This was great news. I already had over 2000 SP which meant I could get another Gift and a better one at that.

I wondered if I would be able to clearly outline the Gift and make it precisely as I wanted it.

Immediately another message appeared.

[All Gifts range from 100 to 15000 SP but that also means the power of the gift cannot exceed the value of SP.]

Now I understand. The weaker the Gift the cheaper it was. This also meant I couldn't create a Gift that made me immortal because it would probably cost more than 15000 SP.

With these conditions in mind, I began thinking of the most suitable Gift for my current self.

After a long while of debating between choices, I knew what I wanted.

Because I lost all skills that Lucas had and I also knew of no techniques that correlated to other weapons I decided to go with a well-rounded Gift.

[Weapon Comprehension: By using a weapon repeatedly you slowly comprehend how to use it.]

[Do you wish to create this Gift for 1200 SP?]

"Yes."

Seeing the SP I had stockpiled shrink my heart ached but I knew it would all be worth it.

Checking my status I looked at the new gift I acquired.

[Vitality: 3.4]

[Strength: 3.8]

[Speed: 3.2]

[Resistance: 2.9]

[Magic: 2.0]

[Rank: 993]

[Credits: -300,000]

[Gifts:

Sharp Sword (Beginner-7)

Weapon Comprehension (Beginner-10)]

Having the new gift greatly improved my mood. I would be able to become much stronger this way.

The only problem was that since it was a new Gift it started out at beginner rank 10 which was the lowest it could possibly be.

I didn't have the time to level up the Gift especially since I would have to fight again tomorrow.

Plus leveling up a Gift could take years upon years to do and I didn't have that option.

Thus, I thought of another idea.

[Would you like to level up Weapon Comprehension from Beginner-10 to Beginner-5?]

"How much SP would it cost?"

[520.]

"Do it."

I watched as even more SP was sucked away but in turn, I watched the level rise and I couldn't help but form a smile on my face.

Next time I will be ready.