Welcome Gift!

8:30 PM.

The dusking sun gradually settled over the horizon. At the new district, street lamps turned on row by row, welcoming the peace of the night.

One after another, the residence lights here were turned on, drizzling the district with a spray of yellow glow.

However, Jake's penthouse remained dark.

Yep, he fell asleep already.

Studying the scrolls were tiresome for the mind. Then Jake tried out the 'Nautilus Body Refining Guide.'

This guide had a set of 8 yoga-like moves. After doing two sets of these moves, Jake didn't feel anything different.

However, when he repeated the same moves the third time, Jake's stamina quickly drained away. He couldn't even finish the entire 8 moves!

Hunger. Physical tiredness. Soreness in muscles.

All in all, the experience felt a little magical.

After a large dinner, Jake decided to take the night off, and just enjoy some rest and sleep...

Until...

Ding~

...

Ding!

...

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

"Alright! Alright!" Jake sighed and woke up.

Taking a look outside, it's still dark out there.

'How troublesome...' Jake rubbed his face, waking himself up a little.

'Seriously. Do you really have to be this obnoxious over a notification.'

'Open 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 ( 2.85% ) [+]

Nautilus Body Refining Guide - Entry Level ( 0.25% ) [+]

< Click Points: 0 >

...

No message popped up. Jake decided to wait for a moment.

Yep, through studying those equipment scrolls, Jake gained 0.3% in his artifact crafting ability.

Through practice, Jake also gained 0.1% in the Nautilus Body Refining Guide. Though... Jake still couldn't pinpoint exactly how this strengthened him.

Stamina. That's most likely. Strength? A little maybe. What else? Can't be sure...

Even though the gains were rather small, Jake didn't plan to stop this exercise.

At the moment, none of the detectors had any ways to strengthen themselves.

Even for artisans, they could only rely on external artifacts for self-defense.

Except for Jake's body refining guide. This could be the only strengthening path for detectors in this world!

Even if the effect could be limited, and the process could be troublesome, Jake still wanted his physical body to be stronger.

Yep. Jake felt that he had a third path forward.

The path of the red underpants (copyright) flying man? Nuh.

The path of the black bat (copyright) battlesuit man? No thanks.

The path of the red spider (copyright) battlesuit man seemed to be the most suitable.

The path of technology and the path of physical might. I want them both!

Thinking of this, Jake finished setting up his coffee machine. With a snap, Jake turned on the switch.

Bloop bloop bloop...

Jake watched the coffee brewing process with blank eyes.

Suddenly, a 3D gift box popped into Jake's view.

Jake blinked a few times. His wandering mind returned.

Red box. Yellow ribbons. The box was emitting a golden glow. Just like the system interface, this gift box looked a little transparent, like a hologram.

'Oh. So I get a beginner welcome gift box too.' Jake nodded, accepting the situation.

'K. I'll take it.' Jake focused onto the gift box.

Nothing happened.

A moment later, the gift box exploded... in a lagging manner. Stopping from frame to frame.

The gift box suddenly disappeared. A loading window took its place.

[Loading Welcome Gift... 0.10%]

[Loading Welcome Gift... 0.15%]

'Not even surprised.' Jake lightly shook his head. By the looks of it, this might take a while.

Checking his phone. 4:17 AM.

'Since I'm already awake... May as well do some work... How troublesome...'

After 40 minutes of blankly staring at a scroll...

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Jake blinked a few times. Checking his interface, he had just gained 1,000 click points.

'More reliable than I'd expected...' Jake raised his brows.

'Looks like I can actually use the system to level something up...' Jake nodded, accepting the situation.

Sure. The points were nice to have.

However, Jake wasn't going rant if the system was totally broken either. Even if the system swallowed his click points and returned with nothing, Jake was fine with this.

'Either way, I will get to the other side. I will make this happen.'

'In my last universe, I'd die to know the truth. Yet, unless a time machine was created, this was simply impossible.'

'Now there is an actual chance! I'm not going to let it slip by!'

Since these 1000 click points could be all there was to the system, Jake wanted to think through his decisions thoroughly.

'In this case, I have five options then... Level up the system. Level up my body, unlock the speed buff. Or I can level up my skills. Upgrade my skills a few times, save some points. Or do not use any points at the moment.'

'After all, I can level up the skills through practice...'

Jake made one last check reading through the system interface.

'These are the only available options huh...'

'When the system leveled up from level 0 to level 1, it seemed to have stabilized a little.'

'Yet, with a broken system, I can't be certain with anything.'

Pouring himself a cup of coffee, smelling the fragrance of fresh coffee, Jake closed his eyes.

'The worst outcome with the system upgrade: the system blows up. It messes with my brain.'

'The best outcome with this choice: I gain some way to gain click points. The system becomes more stable.'

'My concern with ignoring the system: even at the moment, it seems a little unstable, still flashing from time to time...'

'Also, I can't uninstall...'

Taking a sip at his coffee, Jake closed his eyes.

Thinking through his choices, making sure that he had thought out all the possibilities clearly, Jake sat in the silence of night.

'I haven't left out any important information.'

'I understand the situation fully now.'

'In this case. I'll take the gamble.'

After making a final decision, Jake relaxed a little.

Without further hesitation, Jake focused on the [+] button after System Level.

After a moment, a system window slowly opened up like it was lagging.

[ Would you like to level up the system for (1000) Click Points? ]

[ System Level 1 => System Level 2 ]

[ Your Balance: 1000 => 0 ]

[ Y / N ]

'Yes.'