Chapter 7 - Insights of the New World

Fighting his sleepiness, Rynold opened his status window while trying to pick himself up with the help of the kneeling X. Checking the spoils of the fight made Rynold smile. Two and a half levels were given to him just like that. And what's more, is that there are additional windows that popped up too.

[Secret Conditions Completed!]

[New Skill Unlocked!]

[Mana Infusion Lvl 1]

Active Magic Skill

Drains 10 Mana from the user's body every 5 seconds to infuse an item with pure mana.

[Title Unlocked!]

[Insights of the New World]

You are one of the first people who discovered the uses of mana. You have a better understanding of mana, reducing the costs of all Magic Skills by 10%.

'Hell yeah!' Rynold celebrated inwardly. Not only did he level up twice because of the fight, but also able to gain a skill and title that was unique to him. Even though 10% mana cost reduction isn't a lot, it was really better than nothing.

Looking at his attribute screen with 20 free attribute points to allocate, Rynold was even more elated. When his sight shifted to his overall mana, however, he frowned. He only had less than 10 overall mana left because of the cost of summoning X and the mana infusion skill.

No wonder he felt tired beyond belief. The rate of his mana usage in the fight was intense, making his body suffer some sort of backlash from spilling mana all over the place. His stamina shot because of the depressing 8 points he had. He also only had 15 points in his health left.

The fight took a lot more than Rynold expected, but the rewards were somewhat worth the cost. In the New World, if he didn't throw himself into danger every so often, he wouldn't thrive or survive. Rynold knew this fact and took it to heart. He had to find every opportunity to get stronger, better.

Looking at where the ghoul was, Rynold checked for his spoils, only to find a tattered book on the ground.

"X, can you grab that for me, buddy?"

X's eyes shone as it moved with purpose to grab the book from the ground and placed it on Rynold's hand.

[Basic Skill Advancement Tome]

Levels up a Magic Skill.

*Can only be used to level up a Magic Skill to Lvl 5.

Dissatisfied, the tired Rynold cursed inwardly. He expected something better than a lousy book. It was an even bigger punch in the guts because he really didn't have any good skills that benefit from this tome. Well, there was one skill that could work.

Using the wooden staff to prop himself up from the ground, Rynold struggled to let his tired and injured body stand up. Rynold held out the tome and tried to use it on the Summon: Mech Knight skill.

[Unable to use the item on mech-attributed skill.]

Tsk.

Rynold was annoyed. Having a skill tome in hand but not being able to use the skill tome is frustrating. He had no other choice but to keep it on his inventory for now,

In the New World, each specific skill had its own attribute and the qualities that a person possess should be in line with those attributed skills. It wasn't a surprise that the skill tome he had on hand wasn't able to work on X because of the existence of the gear he had gotten before.

Sighing, Rynold decided to move on for now. He looked around the mess hall and found that the entrance was boarded up from the inside.

'That's weird,' he thought. If it was boarded up on the inside, that means a person should be hiding somewhere. Too bad there was a ghoul inside the second-floor area already, which meant that the rest of the people are dead along with corpses Rynold found earlier.

He inwardly wished that his Scan skill worked as a radar rather than a single-target magic skill. It would be useful in situations like these and scouting up ahead.

Regardless, Rynold decided to start towards the kitchen, pushing the double doors to see what's inside. It was a Sunday, so only a few of the kitchen staff would come into work. He decided not to cancel the summon yet. Being injured and tired from the battle could make him easy prey for any opportunists in the area.

Opening the doors with X behind him, Rynold looked around, only to find the kitchen pristine and empty.

After thoroughly looking at the kitchen area, nothing was found. There was only standard kitchen stuff in the room so Rynold relaxed his guard and canceled the summoning. It was his priority to recover the resources he had exhausted over the course of the battle.

A few seconds of just sitting on a kitchen stool made Rynold restless. He felt like he should be doing something that is worthwhile rather than sitting still while waiting for his Mana and Stamina to recover. What's more, was that Rynold was hungry — starving even.

Rampaging through the cabinets with movements worthy of his 10 agility points, there was nothing to be found except for some spices and other utensils. After opening the last row of cabinets and grabbing a few knives, Rynold glanced at the huge metal door.

'You know what. I might as well cook up a steak,' Rynold thought to himself.

Rynold marched towards the freezer with determination and opened the door with a large swing. Shelves of meat and food were the only things that can be seen at first sight. He was half-expecting to have a fight but, in hindsight, nobody's crazy enough to go into the freezer if the entire first floor was safe.

Casually, Rynold went on to look for a good piece of steak and found one that was halfway decent in size that was good enough to fill his hungry stomach but not enough to make him full and slow him down.

He then went on to find a frying pan big enough for the steak and the spices to match. Even though Rynold didn't have that much experience in cooking, he knew at least knew how to cook a steak.

Rynold's muscle memory took over and gave him the opportunity to recap what in the world happened in that single day. One thing only came up to mind as he flipped the steak and put in some salt.

It was INSANE.

New World? A system? His ex? Almost dying? If Oliver was with him now, he would've seen the face Rynold was making. Rynold was freaking out.

This was one moment of weakness, who knew how much more random shit would come up? Rynold knew what he had to do now more than ever before the New World came into existence.

Fight. Survive. Win.

Rynold let out a worried sigh, he didn't know how he could pull that off. The least he could do now is to just go back to the girl's dorm and find Oliver and Skye to plan their next course of action.

Turning off the heat from the stove, a window suddenly popped up, to Rynold's surprise.

[Cooking Successful!]

Overcooked Steak

Rating: C

[Subclass: Cook Unlocked!]

'That's... rude,' Rynold thought with interest. He had to agree that the steak was a bit overcooked but C? Come on.

The subclass system was something to be expected in the New World. Rynold actually knew that it was something that can come up sooner or later but he never really expected it to be that easy. Regardless, he welcomed it anyway.

Ignoring the rating, Rynold decided to eat the steak that was in front of him. It was a lot less tender than he might've hoped but it was good nonetheless. He sliced the steak into smaller, cube-shaped pieces and put them in a plastic container.

Rynold walked out of the kitchen and went to the boarded door. Since the door was made of glass, he could scope out and eat at the same time. As soon as he got to the door, however, Rynold was surprised to see the ghouls were running across the courtyard like something was beckoning them — or an idiot decided to attract too much attention to themselves.

Annoyed, he put the container into his inventory and started taking the boards down. He barely got two bites into the steak that he made but there was no other choice in the matter.

Thankfully, he had enough rest to recover his stamina. But the same couldn't be said of his mana and his injured self. Gritting his teeth, Rynold took down every piece of scrap that boarded the cafeteria door.

Rynold sighed helplessly. He once again pulled out the Wooden Staff from his inventory with a newfound respect for the weapon that can conduct mana which managed to save him from the Stretch-type Ghoul.

'Here we go again, I guess,' Rynold seriously reconsidered why he had to go to where the danger is.

"Damned friends. You better not die," Rynold declared with a serious determination.