...But I couldn't buy it anyway because I didn't have the money.
"Hmm."
I'll skip this one.
A trait that's useful early on and stays good into the late game...
What could it be?
"Ah."
[Searching for 'Great Nature.']
['Great Nature' search results.]
►[Trait] Blessing of Great Nature (A)
A-Rank...
I don't even need to check the price.
The B-Grade trait I just saw, Gift of Gluttony, was 20,000 points, so an A-Rank one is obviously way more.
"...Ah, that's a shame."
The Blessing of Great Nature was one of the rewards from a tower that appears in the mid-game of the novel.
Its ability is simple.
When cultivating mana, it absorbs natural mana additionally, allowing you to gain a greater amount of magic power.
It might seem ordinary at first glance, but
the true power of this trait lies elsewhere.
It's the special skill that unlocks when the trait's proficiency rises.
I couldn't afford it anyway, but out of regret, I tapped for more details.
［Blessing of Great Nature (A)］
Category: Trait
Description: Absorbs natural mana.
［Passive Effects］
►Great Nature's Blessing
When cultivating mana, you gain additional magic power. Up to 150% extra based on the surrounding environment.
►Great Nature's Respite
Mana recovery speed increases by 50%.
［Active Effects］
►???
*Locked. Unlocks when proficiency rank rises.
Price: 50,000
"50,000 points...
The price gap between a B-Grade and A-Rank trait is a whopping 2.5 times.
I have 6,700 points.
Almost eight times what I have.
Hopelessly short.
No, it's not even a dream.
"Argh, what am I supposed to do with 6,700 points?" I flopped onto the bed. My motivation was sky-high, but things weren't working out, leaving me frustrated.
"...Am I being too greedy?" Thinking about it, yeah, I was.
Today is only the first day since regressing. There are plenty of scenarios left, and lots of time.
In my previous life, I didn't even have 6,700 points at this point. Talk about an ungrateful pig.
Right, if I look carefully, there must be some useful low-rank traits.
I got back up and checked the shop again.
"...Wait."
A brilliant idea suddenly flashed in my mind.
Why had I forgotten about that?
A way to earn over 20,000 points at once.
I immediately used the search function.
And typed in what I was thinking into the search bar.
'Contract Termination Right'
['Contract Termination Right' search results.]
►[Special] Administrator's Contract Termination Right
(???)
"There it is."
[Administrator's Contract Termination Right(??? )]
Category: Special (One-time consumable item)
Description: Exchanges one of your traits for points. (Purchase limit: 5 times)
Price: 6,000
As expected!
The Administrator's Contract Termination Right lets you trade one of your traits back for points.
And I had one useless trait that had grown to A-Rank over seven years.
If I exchanged that for points, I'd get at least 20,000, no doubt.
That would broaden my trait purchasing options considerably.
I bought it without hesitation.
[Purchased Administrator's Contract Termination Right(???).]
[Select the trait to exchange for points.]
The trait I was exchanging for points was none other than Master Chef.
Master Chef was the first trait I bought after falling into the novel.
It started as an F-Grade trait for 1,000 points, but as a growth-type, it had proudly reached A-Rank.
[Exchange Master Chef (A) for points?]
I paused for a moment.
Now that I was actually about to do it, complicated feelings welled up.
"...Ah, I'm hesitating."
It wasn't hugely helpful in life, but I'd grown attached to it anyway. And thanks to this trait, my quality of life had improved over those seven years.
Deleting it now felt kind of sorry to the trait.
[Exchange Master Chef (A) for points,
gain 30,000 points.]
"What? 30,000?"
Seeing that, I hit accept without a second thought.
30,000 points was too big a sum to let seven years of attachment stand in the way.
[Exchanged Master Chef (A) for 30,000 points.]
[Gained 30,000 points.]
"Whoa, jackpot."
30,000 points in an instant.
This really broadened my trait options.
Ding!
[Achieved 'Selling a Well-Raised Trait.']
[Reward: Gained 10,000 points.]
[Calculating trait growth stage.]
[Sold a high-stage trait.]
[Gained additional 10,000 points.]
"Huh? Huh?"
Not only did I get 30,000 points, but I achieved an accomplishment and got another 20,000 on top.
"Jackpot. Jackpot."
50,000 points in a flash.
I kept shouting "jackpot" as I checked the search again.
With 50,000 points, there was only one trait I wanted.
[Blessing of Great Nature (A)]
[Purchase?]
No reason not to.
I bought it without hesitation.
[Purchased Blessing of Great Nature (A).]
"Done!"
Now I had the foundation to build magic power.
Short-term, it might be less efficient than buying stat points with points, but long-term, it's far more efficient and cheaper to increase magic power.
The downside is that as a growth-type trait, immediate visible changes are hard to get.
But that doesn't matter much.
The clear point is that I'm starting from a better position than my previous life.
The next day, Saturday.
I headed to the magic power training hall early in the morning.
Even on Saturday morning, the training hall was bustling with students.
This phenomenon would probably continue for the first week after school starts.
Like how gyms fill up on New Year's Day, everyone gets excited about the fresh start.
I opened the door and entered the magic power training hall.
With so many people, I spotted some familiar faces.
To the right, Yoo Ahra was taking a break, her sweat-soaked hair tied back tightly.
On the opposite side, Choi Seoyun sat alone with a sullen face, all dolled up.
Yoo Ahra, well, she's such a hard worker, so I get why she's here...
But why is Choi Seoyun like that?
"Ah...
I could tell at a glance.
She tried to seduce Lee Seojun and it didn't go well.
Come to think of it, there was that episode the day after the entrance ceremony.
Choi Seoyun desperately flirting, and Lee Seojun treating her like a cute junior.
I could picture the scene in my head, and it made me chuckle.
She looked pitiful sitting like that, but Choi Seoyun is not one to give up easily.
She probably won't quit over something like that.
'That's not important.'
The reason I came here is for mana cultivation.
No time to leisurely observe.
I headed to the mana cultivation room in the corner of the training hall.
—Beep!
[Door opened.]
I tapped my smart student handbook, and with a mechanical sound, the mana cultivation room door opened.
A narrow space of about three pyeong.
Inside was an artificially created natural environment with grass and trees.
Mana has the characteristic of higher density in natural environments. This setup was to boost mana cultivation efficiency.
As I entered, I felt the dense mana.
I sat comfortably on the floor for mana cultivation.
I exhaled and sensed the atmospheric mana. At the same time, a white aura rippled around me.
[Great Nature's Blessing activated.]
[Nature's mana dwells in you.]
Focusing my mind, natural mana seeped into my heart.
Was it because of the trait?
It felt completely different from any mana cultivation I'd done before.
"Huup."
I inhaled.
At the same time, the mana in my heart began to struggle.
My body wasn't naturally mana-affinitive, so as expected, the mana tried to escape.
I forcibly held it using magic power control techniques.
This was the most important part.
I had to firmly grasp the mana here and make it completely mine.
How much mana I capture at this stage determines the result of the cultivation.
After wrestling with the mana for about 30 minutes, a message appeared.
[Magic power increased by 0.01.]
[Great Nature's Blessing effect: Gained additional 0.015 magic power.]
[Great Nature's Blessing proficiency increased by 4%.]
"Whew."
Success.
0.01 wasn't super satisfying, but combined with the extra 0.015 from the trait, it was pretty good.
"Nice."
I readjusted my posture comfortably.
I couldn't settle for just this.
Let's keep going.
...How much time had passed?
After the long, drawn-out mana cultivation, I opened my eyes.
[Achieved 'Wizard's First Step.']
[Reward: Gained 1,000 points.]
"Oh."
A single achievement message floated before me.
This was one I'd achieved before regressing.
As expected, accomplishments I'd gotten before could be achieved again now.
'How much did my magic power go up?'
［Stats］
Stamina: 42
Strength: 34
Magic Power: 21.2
Speed: 30
Agility: 32
Dexterity: 28
"Up by 0.2."
About four hours of meditation.
0.2 might seem low, but it was decent for the time invested.
Simple math: if I grow like this every day, I'd exceed 70 magic power within a year.
Of course, base stats slow down as they increase, so hitting over 70 in a year is impossible.
As magic power growth rises, the amount gained per session will decrease.
"Uuuum!"
I stood and stretched.
Sitting all day without breaks made my whole body ache. Constant focus tired me mentally too.
Mana cultivation has a daily limit on magic power gain anyway, so forcing more here is pointless.
Time to head back to the dorm.
Three days later, Monday morning.
I put on my uniform and went down to the dorm basement.
To use the dorm cafeteria that opens at 7 a.m.
Was I a bit late?
Already, lots of students were lining up for breakfast.
In the end, I had to stand at the very back of the line.
"Yawwwn."
Even after a good night's sleep, sleepiness lingered.
Getting up was really hard.
Just a few days ago, I lived freely by my own schedule, but now forcing a routine felt mentally exhausting.
"What about today's evaluation test?"
"Hey, at least you have skills. I'm totally screwed."
The biggest topic this morning was the all-year ranking evaluation test at 9 a.m.
From the chatter, it seemed less worry about their rank and more about the embarrassment of performing in front of everyone.