THE STRANGE SYSTEM

"Interesting..."

Reiji was researching everything he could regarding the Kali Knife.

"It's a martial art with knives, used by inhabitants of the Philippines. It seems they managed to win against people carrying firearms by merely using the knife."

"It's even a national martial art, and according to this, the people of the Philippines are more likely to carry knives and pocket knives than to carry a gun. Pretty impressive."

'Hmm.'

[You have obtained a point of intelligence!]

Reiji's heart stopped for a second.

"W-WHAT, REALLY!?"

[STATUS]

[NAME: ARAYOSHI REIJI.

RACE: HUMAN.

VITALITY: 10

STRENGTH: 2

AGILITY: 2

MANA: 0

INTELLIGENCE: 30

DEATHS: 3

SKILLS: DODGE LV.1]

"It really increases in one, just by reading about this..." Immediately, Reiji's mind started scheming, and he began to read everything he could about the Kali Knife, both as history, different variations, training methods, and all the knowledge he could absorb.

[You have obtained a point of intelligence!]

...

[You have obtained a point of intelligence!]

...

[You have obtained a point of intelligence!]

...

[You have obtained a point of intelligence!]

...

[You have obtained a point of intelligence!]

...

All of this would have taken at least two to three hours of his time, but since his mental skills and abilities were elevated by simply reading internet content on a specific topic, he was able to increase his reading, retention, and comprehension of data, so he was able to finish reading all of that in an hour and a half.

"I actually feel smarter. It feels strange, suddenly anything that requires some brain effort is easier." He reason.

"It's certainly useful, but in this situation, it doesn't do me much good. It's not like I'm a genius now and can calculate the trajectory of Yuma's spears... No, Rather, Raynare."

He put his hand on his chin.

"Nor does the word seem to help me convince her to avoid killing me. She always seems pretty determined to finish me off." He swallows as he finishes saying the last sentence.

Reiji turned his head away from the monitor and picked up the knife again.

'It's time for me to start practicing with this thing.' He used standing, and read the mission window that had appeared in front of him, he made up his mind.

[Mission]

[Make 10,000 cuts with your pocket knife.

CURRENT PROGRESS: 0/10.000

REWARD: KALI KNIFE¹ LV.1]

Frowning, Reiji made a horizontal cut in the air.

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 0/10.000]

"Huh? Nothing happened?"

He waited a few seconds to see if the system would react, but nothing happened.

"I-It doesn't make sense... There is no other requirement in the mission, so why?"

'... Unless-'

Remembering what he had read and seen a few moments ago, Reiji's posture changed.

The dominant foot is in front and the other acting as a brace. His dominant hand carried the knife and his arm was at shoulder height.

*SLASH*

A quick movement cuts the air.

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 1/10.000]

The hip had moved slightly and the hand holding the knife was in the direction of his left shoulder but Reiji was not stopped by the appearance of the message.

*SLASH*

Other quick movement cuts the air.

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 2/10.000]

'This is a breakthrough! The system doesn't favor meaningless hits. What's more, I think I've completely understood it.'

'The system is a guide. It's not going to give me the Kali Knife information just for giving ten thousand cuts. The system is going to force me to learn the technique myself and it gonna give me a bonus. Just like it did with the dodge skill.'

'Dodge wasn't a skill I couldn't use, as it is simply the result of using my agility to dodge something, but the system encouraged learning the skill dodging and it gives me a buff when executing this skill.'

Reiji couldn't help but smile.

'If this is how I think, then it's worth training every single thing the system can force me to learn.'

*SIGH*

With a sigh, Reiji couldn't help but declare, "Maybe, I have a chance this time..." He whispered remembering all the past events, but he didn't let this consume him completely.

He frowned and tried to forget that as he continued to give cuts.

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 98/10.000]

"Huff, I-I can't..."

Reiji was lying on the floor. He was somewhat sweaty and showing signs of fatigue and pain.

"My shoulder is going to pop if I keep going, and, I think I stopped getting stitches a while ago."

With some pain, Reiji got up from the floor.

"Did I get to that thing they call 'The Failure'? No. Even with some pain, I can say that my technique didn't underperform, at least not that much."

Thinking about his theory, Reiji executed another Kali Knife position.

*SLASH*

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 99/10.000]

"Huh, it was obvious. If the system forces me to learn, it was only a matter of time before it forced me to train in more than one position. But I'm still really tired." The boy put the knife down on the desk and went to the kitchen to get something to eat.

In the end, he takes a slice of pizza, which he has been eating every time he comes back from the dead.

"If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would definitely be pizza..."

'Hmm.'

"If I want to keep training with the knife, I should have more energy." Reiji headed for the fridge and from it, he pulled out a can of a random energy drink.

*PLIFF*

The gas came out and he drank the whole can in one sitting.

"KAAH, Refreshing."

'Well, time to get on with... W-What's that?!'

A new window had appeared.

[Thanks to the effects of caffeine on your body, your physical stats increase by 10% for 3 minutes!]

"Oh, my God!"

[STATUS]

[NAME: ARAYOSHI REIJI.

RACE: HUMAN.

VITALITY: 11 (10)

STRENGTH: 2.2 (2)

AGILITY: 2.2 (2)

MANA: 0

INTELLIGENCE: 30

DEATHS: 3

SKILLS: EVASION LV.1

BUFF: CAFFEINE (2:59)]

"Hmm. A ten percent increase isn't much when we're talking low stats, but I had ten vitality a second ago, and now I have eleven. If I had better stats then I really would be unstoppable on caffeine."

"Currently it's not overly useful, but a buff is a buff, even if it was one percent."

***

[CURRENT PROGRESS: 482/10,000]

Again, Reiji was lying on the floor. The floor seemed to be wet from the sweat he had generated, but despite that, there was an expression of amusement on his face.

"I'm practically dead, but I'm close to getting to five hundred cuts. I didn't think my body could take that much, but I'm sure it was because of the caffeine buff. I probably would have stopped when I got to four hundred and fifty, but I was able to go a little further thanks to the buff."

Behind Reiji was a large number of energy drink cans lying around.

He had been giving cuts in the air for 4 hours straight and was extremely tired.

"Hah, I'll sleep for a while, then I'll make the cuts I'm missing to get to five hundred and go to my date..." Fear embraced Reiji's heart for a few moments, but resigning himself to the fact that he would die that day as well, he knew that fearing was useless, even though it was not something he could continue.

And so, within a couple of seconds, Reiji began to snore.