2 A rather... 'questionable' system

Ding!

A crisp bell-sound echoed in Jake's mind.

'Oh. So I get a system too...' Jake lightly nodded, accepting the situation.

A transparent message box popped into Jake's view.

[Loading The Strongest Melee Hero System... 15%]

[Loading The Strongest Melee Hero System... 80%]

[Loading The Strongest Melee Hero System... #4^ ???]

[@*#@ *!(!!#! *!(#& ... [][][] ]

That message box flashed a few times and disappeared.

A minute passed. Nothing else happened.

Jake thought for a moment, quickly browsing through the web fictions he knew.

'Well. This is new...'

'So I do not get a system? Ok. I'm fine without-'

A message popped into Jake's mind.

[ Think 'Open Interface' to open system interface. ]

Jake squinted in thought for a moment. He wasn't sure if he wanted to continue with this. This system appeared rather... questionable...

'Did it run into some problems and reset? Or is it just buggy in general.'

'Could a broken system mess with my mind? I mean... But it could be useful...'

'Who am I kidding. A broken system can totally mess my brain.'

Jake had read way too many stories about this before. You know. The system threatening the host of self-detonating. Tsk. Nothing new.

What if this system self-detonated by accident? Jake was not very interested in testing out the consequences.

[ Loading Me?#e @3ro $y$T3m INnnn$$#@e... ]

A transparent blue screen popped up by itself.

[ System Level: 0 [ + ] ]

Looking at this screen floating in air, blocking his sight, Jake sighed.

No matter how Jake looked at it, this system looked more like a threat than an aid.

The transparent blue screen constantly flashed as if it's suffering from a glitch.

'Uninstall.' Jake made a final decision. It's better to be cautious in situations like this.

Nothing happened.

Jake: ...

After carefully studying the interface for a moment, making sure there wasn't any fine prints anywhere, Jake lightly nodded, accepting the situation.

Even though there wasn't any instructions, Jake could guess what to do next. It's probably not that different from web fiction.

'Since I can't uninstall this thing, I guess I'll just have to stabilize it. This is the only path left.'

'Logically, upgrading the system would achieve just that, right? Logically...' Jake closed his eyes and paced his breathing.

Since the system was broken, it could just blow up during the upgrade.

Tough decision. The consequences could be severe.

Jake tried to think outside of the box. Is there a third choice? There didn't seem to be one.

Jake could either ignore the system, or go with the upgrade.

Either way, there's uncertainties and dangers.

'Can't be helped then...' Jake opened his eyes and focused his mind at the [+] button.

[Upgrading System... 0.1%]

A few seconds later...

[Upgrading System... 0.2%]

This did not seem like a quick process.

Carrying out the decision, Jake relaxed a little. 'Now the only thing I can do is wait. I'll just have to let fate decide...'

'At the moment, I have no way of uninstalling the system. Looks like I'm stuck with it for a while. Ok. Alright. Are there any positive aspects to the situation.'

Jake thought for a moment. 'Since the system is buggy... Maybe there are loopholes? Maybe it's possible for me to exploit this feature? Melee Hero System... I don't have much information to work with...'

Jake took a look outside the window and enjoyed the view for a moment. The dawning sun was climbing above the horizon, painting the distant sky into a youthful pink.

'Either way... Even if the system is a hindrance, I will make this work. I will definitely get there someday. I'm not giving up that easily.'

As it got brighter outside, the system level-up finished loading.

A faint stream of warmth quickly circulated around Jake's body. It felt rather nice, like drinking hot coffee in winter. As abruptly as this stream of energy appeared, it disappeared in an instance.

Jake's wondering mind returned to the present moment. In front of him was the upgraded system interface.

[ Character ] [ ????? ] [#] [#] [#]

System Level: 1 [ + ]

< Abilities >

Body (Unranked) [ + ]

Hero's Physique (Unlocked). Speed Buff (Locked)

???? (????????) [ # ]

?????? (????????) [ # ]

< Skills >

Detection - Entry Level ( 35.75% ) [+]

Artifact Crafting - Entry Level ( 2.55% ) [+]

Nautilus Body Refining Guide - Entry Level ( 0.15% ) [+]

< Click Points: 0 >

Looking at this transparent blue screen, Jake sighed in relief.

Even though it still appeared a little broken, at least the screen was only flashing once every few seconds now.

From the results, by the looks of it, choosing to upgrade the system was the correct decision.

Even though Jake didn't have any click points, he still tried to click the [+] buttons.

The replies were simple. Upgrading the system, or unlocking a body-type ability, both cost 1,000 click points. Upgrading a skill cost 100 click points.

Except there was one problem. There wasn't any instructions on obtaining click points.

Since the system was broken, perhaps gaining click points was not possible at all.

'And I'm totally fine with this.' Jake lightly nodded, accepting the situation.

'Nevertheless...' Jake clenched his fist. 'On top of system stabilization, there seems to be even more good news!'

That stream of warmth only lasted a brief moment. But Jake could sense that his body was completely different now.

Jake could subtly sense that he'd been strengthened in many ways. However, he couldn't pinpoint the exact aspects...

Strength, for one, had to be one of those aspects.

To make sure that he was not delusional, Jake took out a quarter out of his wallet.

Lightly shaking his head, Jake changed that quarter into a penny.

Holding that penny with his thumb and index finger, Jake pressed on it. Felt like crushing a piece of play-doh.

Holding the penny in front of him, Jake looked through the hole in that penny.

'Looks like I've gained the power to fight too now...' Sensing the raw physical power in his body, Jake faintly smiled.

Flipping the penny into the air, Jake caught it and rolled the penny down his knuckles.

'Wait, I can actually do this? This easily?' Jake widened his eyes. His breath became shortened for a moment.

Without knowing it, that penny had already dropped onto the floor and rolled down the aisle of the bus.

Jake carefully moved his hand around, drawing simple strokes.

With every stroke, Jake's smile widened a little. With every stroke, his breath became a little shorter in excitement.

'My hand is doing precisely what my mind wants it to do! Perfect precision! It's not even shaking!'

Jake was a low-key person. Blending into the crowd was his preferred option. Yet, now, in public, Jake felt an urge to heartily laugh out loud.

Perfect body control!

A steady hand like a surgeon!

This enhancement was dozens, no! Maybe hundreds times more important than his strength enhancement!

Sure. With this level of raw physical power, Jake could defeat a good number of explorers.

But passing through the boss room of the highest levels? There's still a long way to go.

The ability to control his body perfectly... This had totally different meanings!

Without hesitation, Jake took out a marker-like pen out of his backpack. This was a mana marker for drawing mana circuits.

Directing his mana energy into this marker, Jake started to carefully draw out strokes in air.

With each stroke, the pen left a trail of mana energy in air.

In a moment, Jake had finished the last stroke of a runic character. In response, that runic character self-folded into a small chip emitting a green glow.

Seeing this result, Jake lightly chuckled in disbelief. 'Just like this, I succeeded?'

To be honest, the entire process felt a little too easy.

'If I can repeat this level of performance, I can easily make a fortune with this one skill!'

Mansions, yachts, sports cars, expensive arts collections... A luxurious lifestyle awaits.

More importantly, very soon, Jake would be able to start building powerful equipment.

If this success was not a fluke, a bright future was ahead of him.

'The result from the upgrade is much better than I expected. Looks like I've made a good decision. Tsk... Very nice.'

'From this day on, I am no longer a detector. I have ranked up into an artisan!'

Out of habit, Jake felt his pocket. Yep. His wallet was still there.

'To think someone like me could live a luxurious lifestyle... What a magical world.'

Wearing a faint smile, Jake looked out the window at the direction of his hometown.

'Looks like my high school classmates will be in for a real surprise...'