8 Upgrade

'What is happening this time? When do I get a break?' Nigel, with a fed-up face, sighed as he began to observe the paranormal situation happening to him. A sudden light appeared in front of him as he saw a dialog box slowly materialize from the light.

'CASE CLOSED. Mystery: Chaotic Library. Rank: F. Reward: 10 HINT XP'

Nigel read the message from the dialog box and understood what was happening. When he was learning the capabilities of his hint system, he read in another popup dialog box stating that he needed a certain amount of "HINT XP" to upgrade his hint system.

'So this is how I gain HINT XP, solving mystery cases.' Nigel re-read the floating dialog box in front of him to confirm his conjecture. 'Cases also has its own rank, huh. Does that mean that I'll get more HINT XP if I solved harder cases?' Nigel guessed as he pondered the method of distinguishing a case's rank from another case.

'HINT XP FOR UPGRADE ATTAINED. SYSTEM NOW UPGRADING, PLEASE STAND BY'

A new dialog box popped out while he was forming theories in his head. The light began to shine stronger, completely drowning his world with it. A few seconds elapsed when the light began to dim, returning his surrounding in its previous state.

The light was now replaced with another dialog box. No, it was more appropriate to call say that all of the previous floating dialog boxes were replaced by one. It was a polished interface, with its brighter surface and cleaner font. But it is more correct to call this new dialog box as Menu, as it looks similar to the menu found in online websites and computer software.

'For now, I'll call it HINT MENU.' Nigel told himself as he explored the menu's interface, features, and functions. Right off the bat, he noticed there were several items in the menu: "BINDINGS", "SKILLS", "CASES", and "HINTS". When he pressed "BINDINGS", he was taken to a new interface displaying several commands that he can use to interact with the menu.

Command to open menu: [MENU OPEN].

Command to close menu: [MENU CLOSE].

Command to open skills: [].

Command to close skills: [].

Command to open cases: [].

Command to close cases: [].

Command to open hint: []

Command to close hint: []

Most of the items were empty, aside from the commands related to the main menu itself. He started assigning key phrases to each command, following the style of the menu commands for uniformity. Satisfied with his handiwork, he tried using the commands. He was able to successfully use the commands verbally. He also discovered that the command can be spoken softly that barely anyone can hear it, but he also discovered that the commands will also work fine even if he spoke them inside his head, making his previous discovery totally useless.

He also discovered that whenever he opens the menu, he will enter a state of lightheadedness and enter a domain of different time dilation from the outside world. He tried measuring the difference between the time inside the domain and the outside, however even when he waited for thirty minutes inside his time domain, the second hand of his watch did not move at all upon exiting. He also experimented if a movement was possible inside this domain, which leads to another startling discovery.

He can technically move, however not with his body. A so-called out-of-body phenomenon happens when he tries to move. He did not notice it before when he pushed the bindings item in the menu, but now he can clearly see it when he tried doing it again. While his soul might be able to go out from his body, it can only move in a limited range, with his body as a center point. In other words, he can fly up, or pass through the floor down, or move sideways, but it will never be more than three meters from his body.

Confirming that his soul was able to go out from his body, he continued on to the next item on the menu. He pressed the "SKILLS" tab, opening a new dialog box. There were three items inside the dialog box: "COMBAT", "SPIRIT", and "MIND". He opened "COMBAT", replacing the content of the dialog box with a single item. "BOXING – Level 1" was the only item in the dialog box under "COMBAT". 'Maybe because I included shadow boxing in my exercise routine?' Nigel guessed.

'My boxing is level 1, which makes sense since I'm not really a boxing club member. Since the skills menu is displaying its level, does that mean that I can increase it here?' Nigel further guessed, with his conjecture solidified when he saw a label with "Total Skill Points: 0" in the topmost part of the dialog box. When he touched the "total skill points" label, new information was delivered inside his mind.

'I see, so I can only earn skill points from solving cases and the skill points rewarded increases the higher rank the case. Also, I can't earn skill points from "F" rank cases. That sucks!' Nigel pondered on the new information that he received. He also learned that he can only improve skills here and he has to personally learn the skill before it can even be registered in the skills menu.

He went back from the previous skills menu, but this time opening the "SPIRIT" tab. Once again, the dialog box's content is replaced. "SPIRIT SENSING – Level 1" appeared inside the dialog box. He wondered how he got this skill, inferring that it was from the incident that he had inside the hospital. He proceeded to the last item, pressing "MIND". This time, there were two items inside the dialog box: "MEMORY – Level 5", and "CHARAKMANATA SYMBOL TRANSLATION - MAX".

He didn't really need to think about the two items under the "MIND" tab, as he does possess both of these skills. The only thing astonishing about it is that his "CHARAMANATA SYMBOL TRANSLATION" skill is maxed level.

Next, he opened the "CASES" menu. A dialog box opened displaying three items. The first one was odd, as it was all in questions marks. Nothing can be read about it. The second item is "The Haunted Elevator" case. It displayed the rank of the case, which was "B" for this particular case. 'B? I guess it's more than just a haunted elevator then?' Nigel thought as he was quite shocked to know the rank of that elevator case. Aside from the rank, it also displayed the current information that he knows about the case, a literal mind note. Lastly, there was a clickable option for using a hint for a case of his choosing.

The third case was the incident regarding the cult whom he had intruded during their ritual, guessing from the name of the case. "The Convenience Store Backroom Cult" was an "E" rank case, which is again contrary to his estimation.

Lastly, he opened the "HINTS" menu. Another dialog box opened, but this time it had a simpler content. It was the familiar display of his total number of hints and his experience bar for a system upgrade. He was quite happy to see that his hint points were increased by one. Touching the interface, new information surge through his mind once again. This time, he was informed of the number of rewards that he gets whenever he solved a mystery, depending on the case's rank.

Rank F: 10 HINT XP, 0 SKILL POINTS

Rank E: 50 HINT XP, 1 SKILL POINT

Rank D: 100 HINT XP, 3 SKILL POINT

Rank C: 250 HINT XP, 7 SKILL POINT

Rank B: 500 HINT XP, 15 SKILL POINT

Rank A: 1000 HINT XP, 25 SKILL POINT

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Seeing the rewards table, he now understood how to improve his skills via the hint system. He has to solve rank "E" cases, at a minimum. Seeing another item represented fully with questions marks, Nigel inferred that there might be special conditions in order to unlock these unknown items. 'Just like in a video game.' Nigel commented on the nature of this unknown information.

He also noted in his mind that he needed two hundred "HINT XP" to further upgrade his hint system. He can only smile wryly, complaining to whoever gave him this system about the high cost of upgrading it. Before he can even start to farm up some "HINT XP", he wanted to know the factors in which a mystery can be classified as a "case" by the system. By knowing these factors, he can narrow down which mysteries will be highly likely recognized by the system as a "case" and making the entire process efficient.

"Time to head back to real-time" Nigel whispered and promptly exited the time domain. Nobody noticed any change in Nigel, even with the ones that are a couple of centimeters away from him. Everyone went outside the library, with the security head strictly commanding the rest of the security personnel to prevent anyone from going inside the library.

"For now, I'll be heading to the administration building to inform the bosses. Nigel and Rena, you two will be escorted to the hospital where the silver-haired lady is currently admitted. I would like you two to be there in the moment when that lady awakens from her unresponsiveness state. Free to contact your guardians to inform them of your situation. "

The security head swiftly turned around and began walking towards the administration building. The rest of the security personnel started to form small groups and quickly followed the last commands of the security head before he went away.

One of the small groups went beside Nigel and Rena and began to encircle them. They protected the two of them from being swarmed by gossipers and journalists who were hungry for some news scoop, while also guiding them to the university parking lot where a university-owned ambulance is stationed there, ready to pick them up and go.

"This has been one crazy day for me. I have been in high tension since earlier, and now I have started to feel the exhaustion of my body."

"Me too! I'm feeling sleepy right now…hey, Nigel. Lend me your shoulder, okay?"

Rena, with her face as red as a tomato, slowly went near Nigel. They were inside the ambulance. It was carrying them to the hospital where the silver-haired girl was admitted by the medic earlier. Unbeknownst to Nigel, it was the same hospital where he was admitted a few days ago.

Rena was sitting beside Nigel. They were sitting very close, to point that Nigel can clearly smell the shampoo that Rena used. Rena, on the other hand, was very embarrassed. Her heart was pounding frantically, and she can feel the warmth coming from Nigel.

She slowly pushed her head towards Nigel's right shoulder. Feeling Nigel's broad shoulder made her blushed more. Nigel, on the other hand, was stiff as a stone because of the unexpected request of Rena. Still, he wasn't dense from the situation. He slips a little closer to Rena and adjusting her head so she can feel comfortable while sleeping on his shoulder.

While they were enveloped in a sweet atmosphere, it only lasted for a few minutes before both of them fell asleep. The driver of the ambulance drove a little slower in consideration of the two young people sleeping behind him.

Meanwhile, in front of the university main gate, a young man was standing there solid stiff for a long time. He was halfheartedly complaining about something while moving to and fro, not knowing that every person who had passed by him were all thinking that he went insane.

"What a poor chap. His girlfriend must have left him, or else why would he keep standing there for a very long time."

"True. Maybe that was there meeting spot? Let me call a counselor, maybe one can help his recovery."

"Young man, your life does not end here! Look for a better woman!"

The young man was completely oblivious that he was the topic of the passing people. All he knows that he was completely stood up by his so-called best friend.

"God damn it, Nigel! I curse you to be a virgin your entire life!"

While inside the ambulance, Nigel sneezed for a bit but he went back to sleep shortly afterward with Rena still sleeping in his right shoulder.