36 The Updated System

I went back to Chris's room and locked the door. Chris and Claire were going out to buy some groceries. Now is the best time to look at the updated system.

I sat at the bed and clicked at the patch notes notification. The familiar blue screen appeared in front of me. Wow, I somehow missed it.

From the notes that I got, there are several buffs that the system had after the update.

<1. There is a blue Mental Power (MP) Bar showing the amount of User's Mental Power in number.

2. Rank will be assigned next to the User's abilities and show how many mental points it required for every activation.

3. Knowledge System will be implemented.

4. Equipment Slots will be Implemented.>

<Further description can be seen when User taps one of the note's numbers.>

These new additional features blew my mind. It was getting closer to a game system after this update. I wonder if the system will get a new update later on.

I proceed to look over the first point. The long blue MP bar appeared permanently in the corner of my eyes along with the golden EXP bar under it.

<Mental Powers (MP) - 310/310>

<Experience Points (EXP) - 48550/50000>

I proceed to tap the bar to get an in-depth explanation. The MP worked just like a game system, every time I used an ability, the MP would decrease. However, the unique feature is that after it reached 0 points or depleted, I wouldn't die or be exhausted yet.

If I use another ability when it was still in 0, the MP points would reach negative state, and that was when my head started getting headaches. For example, if I had 10/10 points in MP, I could use it until I reached -10/10. However, when it reached -11/10, it will start to deplete my life force. That was how mental power works.

I proceed to tap the second note. Basically, there were 6 levels of ranks, from E up to S Rank. However, there's also Unranked ability written next to them and it didn't reveal any explanation after I tapped the word several times.

It might have something to do with the system because the abilities such as Reinforcement and Personal Assistant had Unranked Rank written next to them.

I couldn't hold my curiosity and opened my status to see the changes.

<Edward Kavka>

<Level 17 - Mercenary>

<Mental Power (MP) - 310/310

<Experience Points (EXP) - 48550/50000>

<Strength (STR) - 21>

<Dexterity (DEX) - 21>

<Constitution (CON) - 21>

<Intelligent (INT) - 31>

Unused stat points - 0>

<Main Power: Reinforcement - Unranked>

<Special Ability: Reinforced Body- Unranked, Permanent Reinforcement - Unranked, Personal Assistant - Unranked, Eagle Eye - A, Superhuman Strength - A, Superhuman Regeneration - A, FlowMotion - A.>

<Knowledge: Basic Firearms Mastery, Basic Japanese Linguistic, Basic French Linguistic, Intermediate English Linguistic.

I tapped on all of the abilities to see them.

<Superhuman Regeneration - A-Rank >

<Passive>

<It multiplies the effect of regeneration by 100% based on the CON stats. It also gave users body ability to regrow any destroyed limb or parts of the body>

------

<Superhuman Strength - A Rank>

<Passive>

<It multiplies the strength by 100% based on the STR stats. It also gave users the ability to move faster than normal.>

------

<Flow Motion - A Rank>

<Active>

<Cost: Max Points. Cannot be used when MP is in a negative state.>

<It allows users to brain the process the information faster and make the world slower by 100 times, once every one hour. It also gave the user abilities to move inside this slowed world, but how fast the user could move depended on the Strength and Dexterity stats.>

------

<Stealth - S Rank>

<Active> <Cost: 0.5 MP/seconds>

<An ability to merge with shadows and out of others' vision. Could only be detected with higher-ranked detection ability than the current Stealth's rank.>

------

<Reinforcement - Unranked>

<Active> <Cost: 5 MP/use>

<The ability to increase the durability, altogether with function, ability, or purpose of the target. (Cannot be used on living creature) Grants special ability, Reinforced Body, and Permanent Reinforcement to the user.>

------

<Reinforced Body - Unranked>

<Passive>

<Grants the user's ability to gain stats on every level up.>

-------

<Permanent Reinforcement - Unranked>

<Active> <Cost: Max Points. Can only be used if MP is in maxed state>

<Unlike the regular strengthening that has an active duration, this ability provides the user to permanently strengthen the target. If the number of reinforced target exceeds the maximum allowed limit, reset the first target. (Currently reinforced target - 0/1)>

------

<Personal Assistant - Regina - Unranked>

<Passive>

<An ability that was granted by the system. Its purpose was to support the user in any way it could. It has been given authority to access the system, however, in-depth access would need permission from the Admin.>

------

<Eagle Eye - A rank>

<Passive>

<Improved user's vision and grants the ability to see far away or small objects in greater detail. Clear Vision limit - 10 Kilometer. Blurred Vision limit afterward - 1 Kilometer>

------

There were several changes, which explained the abilities clearly. What surprised me was the Stealth ability to be S Rank. It means I was basically invisible unless someone had an SS rank sensor ability. Nice.

I moved to the next section, which was the Knowledge System. Currently, I had three Knowledge which was granted by Regina when I was fighting the Genmas.

There were four ranks in Knowledge. Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and Superior. Unlike the special abilities that couldn't be raised to the next rank, Knowledge could be raised by training or study.

And the last part was the most exciting part. But first, I need to check the changes in the coat that I used Permanent Reinforcement on.

Before PR: <Hell's Chameleon Hooded Trenchcoat>

<Durability = 100/100>

<Grants Moderate resistance to physical, fire, and dark element damage. It has the ability to change color in any way the user wanted to.>

After PR: <Hell's Chameleon Hooded Trenchcoat>

<Durability = 400/200>

<Grants High resistance to physical, fire, and dark element damage. It has the ability to change color and shape (cannot exceed the item's volume) in any way the user wanted to. Grants automatic temperature adjustment, and access to one cubic meter storage in available pocket.>

The coat was raised by a whole level. From the information so far there several steps in the Reinforcement effect that I found, weak < low < moderate < high. I could infer that the next level would either be strong or powerful. I don't know how the abilities work, I need to ask Regina for this, but let's save it for later.

I opened the Equipment and Inventory tab by thinking. A blue screen appeared showing a mini 3D model of me. Which was kinda naked, glad I still have underwear. There a lot of equipment slots surrounding my "character" into two half-circle lines.

The inner-circle was for Apparel, such as head, shoulder, body, leg, forearms, hands, and feet. The outer circle was for accessories, for example, ten rings, two bracelets, a necklace, two earrings, and a belt.

However, all the slots for my right arm were filled with the Oni Gauntlet, Limbo. This thing took a whole arm to use. The worst thing is Limbo was actually bound to me. Cannot be unequipped, trade, drop, or destroyed.

I stare at the small bracelet, it was still in its "sleeping mode". This beast just deletes 6 of my equipment slots.

The next one is weapon slots. This was a lot different than what I thought. Usually, in RPG, there are 2 slots for weapons. However, in front of me, there is one line of 10 weapon slots with Blackbeard, the sawed-off double-barrel shotgun already equipped. There was even a 'plus' (+) symbol near it if I wanted to add another line of weapon slots.

Maybe it was because I keep changing weapon mid-fight and the system just gave up and let me use everything. Well, don't mind if I do.

The Inventory Tab was a bit simple, it was actually connected with the spatial pocket on my coat, the items were arranged like Tetris, resembling the inventory from Resident Evil 4. There are 5 tabs, which was actually the same number as the pockets on the Hell's Chameleon Hooded Trenchcoat.

I was a bit tempted to use cargo pants as the next equipment. That thing has an almost infinite amount of pockets.

When I tried equipping the trenchcoat, it took the shoulder slot, not the body slot. I didn't have to worry about myself, being bare-chested and plowing through the enemies like some particular macho guy.

I just leave the other slots alone, since currently, I only had this equipment that worth equipping. When I put the trenchcoat in, there was no change. The coat just went into the box, forming the coat's icon.

'Do I have to activate it like how I use Limbo?'

I shouted, 'Activate!' inside my mind while posing. And it works. Dark smoke covered my body and formed the shape of the coat, the Oni Gauntlet also automatically activated in its full form. But that's it. I was in my underwear, only wearing the coat and the gauntlet.

'This is embarrassing.'

[You can change the effect if you want, Sir.] said Regina, startling me. I was glad that I'm still a toddler. If a grown up adult doing it, not just the FBI, but SHIELD would also intervene.

I finally finished looking over the updates after turning back to my daily clothing. I moved my eye back on the character status. I remembered that I got leveled up twice after fighting Ranmaru at level 15 and assigned all the stats to INT. There were only 1450 points until I reached the next level.

"Regina, can I get another ability from my stat increase again?" I asked the question I kept thinking about in my mind.

[Yes, Sir. After you passed 50 points in any attribute, whether it's STR, CON, DEX, or INT, you will get another ability.]

"Then, from now on assign 2 points on INT and 1 point on the other stats on each Level Up until my INT reached 50 points."

I need 20 more points, which means I need to reach level 27. The lack of options in obtaining stat points would also be a problem. I was afraid that there are not enough stat points until I reached a higher level. The more I leveled up, the more EXP points I need to fill. It will take ages. If only there is another way to gain stats. But first, I need to level up faster before the main event started.

"Regina, is there any way for me to level up faster?" I asked. Since Regina was part of the system, asking her help was the best course at the moment.

[There is, Sir. You need to use the Mercenary system to get mission contracts. My suggestion, for now, is that you should join an organization that could give you missions and the contract would automatically apply, giving you experience and mercenary points later.] answered Regina.

"What's a mercenary point?" I asked this was the first time I heard about it.

[You'll find out later, Sir.] answered Regina again, keeping my hopes up. Whatever it is, it must be something useful.

As I closed all of the blue tabs, leaving only the long bars of MP and EXP, I went back to the living room. Aunt Claire and Uncle Chris still, haven't come home yet. I just laid on the sofa and watched TV. Nothing interesting. The Local News also didn't cover anything about missing persons or any attack.

After rolling around on the sofa for a while, I heard footsteps behind the door. Finally, the loneliness was killing me. I ran to the door and opened it and then complained,

"Why did you take so long!?"

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