A man with long black hair, messy but briefly styled in a wolf cut, stood there. He was lean in appearance, but on closer look, his fit health was clearly visible.
Half naked, the man stood on a circular grass field, his gaze locked onto three dolls made up of wooden sticks, standing six meters away from him.
All three were equipped with different armours. The first was covered with cheap dry grass, the second was covered in thick wooden armour, and the last one wore actual steel armour.
In reality, this large training ground was inside the same one-room tiny apartment of Enric. As information sank in, Greyman understood more about this world. And one thing in particular that helped him make sense of a lot of things was the existence of magic.
Though very few humans could actually cultivate mana and explore the endless path of magic, magic was still an integral part of this world. Instead of petrol, diesel, and nuclear reactions that powered Earth, this world was powered by a more sustainable and efficient source — the mana ores.
Another thing that came to his knowledge was that, though cheap from the outside, Enric's apartment was actually a top-class luxurious place crafted by one of the best magic engineers.
This apartment held the power to shape and change itself according to the owner's will, without needing even an ounce of the owner's mana in the process. The needed energy was transferred from the building's main mana ore reserve.
Thus, he only needed to visualize to transform his bedroom into an actual training ground.
But as for why the training ground supplies looked so cheap, it wasn't due to his poor imagination, but because higher characteristic material and space consumed more mana through ores, and their supply wasn't unlimited. It was allocated to owners based on their subscription.
"From how swiftly he died, it should have been obvious he had the cheapest subscription," Greyman let out a disappointed sigh.
Owning such a luxurious apartment, working in the church, having so many battle scars and a disfigured face.
He didn't appear to be a normal church clerk for sure.
Then who was this Enric really?
And at a time like this, a mobile phone is the only thing you need to know a person's past, connections, and everything.
But—
"That damn bastard has a lock on his phone."
Well, that was to be expected.
Shrugging off what he couldn't do now to later, he focused on completing the task at hand.
[Quest: Practice stigma on training grounds.]
[In progress...]
Greyman closed his eyes to better feel his senses, and just as he felt an alien part connected to him like his very own familiar senses, he willed his intent through this new feeling to slash at the first doll.
And in a mini second... Sap!
The doll fell on the ground in half.
Astonished and excited at the same time, he now focused on the second doll...
Sap!
The sound was the same, but the result was different. This time, only slash marks appeared; the strength and force of his strings weren't enough to cut it in half.
[Warning: Insufficient Karma!]
Like he had thought, even a mythical grade stigma was powerless if its power source was insufficient.
Just like magic needed mana, stigma originating from a villain's destiny needed karma to be used effectively.
"That should be enough for the quest, right? Trying on the third doll is meaningless for now. Anyway."
And just as he muttered, another notification popped up.
[First Training Session Complete!]
[Stigma Proficiency: 12/100]
[Stigma Skill Awakened!]
[Marionette's Gift: Allows you to control strings efficiently...]
[Current No. oF strings: 2]
[Note: Number of strings increases as skill levels up.]
"Great! I have finally awakened my first stigma skill."
He gazed at the pop-ups with a sense of satisfaction. His childhood dream of reincarnating into a game-like world and experiencing his powers growing first-hand , it finally felt real.
Though danger lurked, there was always a reason to be happy.
But that wasn't the end.
[Processing the reward...]
[You received Beginner's Pack!]
[Do you want to open it now?]
Just these three pop-ups were enough to make this skeptical man twice as joyful as before.
He let out a laugh before processing, {Yes}.
In his vision, a pack displaying his own face appeared...
[Slash the pack to open it...]
Without wasting any time, he slashed his hands around in air multiple times to slash it open. Soon, the pack exuded a blinding bright light, and when his vision cleared again, three cards floated before him.
[One Peak Greyman Card received!]
[One Full Heal Card received!]
[High-grade Stigma False-Identity Card received!]
"Damn!"
This was the real thing.
Without letting excitement get over him, he studied the description of each of them.
And like their names suggested, the Peak Greyman Card restored the peak version of this body — maybe the one he saw in the memory fragment.
The Full Heal Card worked exactly like it sounded.
But the one that mattered the most was the Stigma False-Identity Card.
At least from the information he had received about this world, there wasn't any commonly known method to camouflage your stigma and destiny. In low grades, maybe cheap methods would work, but this high-grade card did exactly what no known magic could.
When used, you could design another Stigma and Destiny Identity, whatever you wanted — layered above your original stigma. And it would make sure no one would be able to identify it.
Though it wouldn't change the powers and characteristics of your original destiny and stigma.
Just thinking about its limitless usage, a wide smirk appeared on Greyman's face.
Though it was a one-time use item, if he used it cleverly, he could create another identity and most importantly, no one would be able to know his real stigma, so they couldn't never really prepare against him.
As he was engrossed in thinking about all sorts of possibilities, a notification popped up.
This time not from his system, but—
[You have a visitor!]