Sword Hero, Upgrade Card, Flame Qi Art

Shin was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect all those Prestige Points to come into his pocket so soon. He didn't think too much and immediately said.

"Thank you for the support! I should leave now."

He showed a slightly embarrassed expression as he hurriedly dashed away from those villagers.

Seeing his embarrassed expression, those villagers simply laughed and understood him. After all, anyone would get embarrassed when they were praised so much.

In their minds, it was a normal reaction so they didn't ask him anything.

But, for Shin, this embarrassment was rather acting. He wasn't embarrassed at all but rather wanted to remain alone and properly sort out his thoughts.

After walking for half an hour, he eventually reached his home. First, he puts everything that those villagers gave him on the ground next to his bed and closes the door.

He walked up to his bed and sat down, finally looking at the panels in front of him.

[You have successfully completed a hidden achievement 'Famous in Village']

[You've earned Talent 'Sword Hero', Random Upgrade Card, Flame Qi Art, and 100 PP]

"System, can you show the individual panels for Sword Hero, Random Upgrade Card, and Flame Qi Art?" Shin asked.

The next moment, three different panels appeared in front of him.

[Talent- Sword Hero

Description- This talent allows the Host to acquire the potential to learn and use swords. Whenever this talent is wielded, Host can also speed up his sword training effects.

Effect 1- Sword Potential

Effect 2- Sword Arts and Sword Moves power increased by 200%

Effect 3- Clear Mind

Note- This talent can be upgraded]

[Item- Random Upgrade Card

Description- This card can be used to upgrade anything from talents to abilities to martial arts to the human body.

Effect 1- Potential and Ranks of the Talent can be increased

Effect 2- Power and Quality of the Martial arts and Abilities can be increased

Effect 3- Human body parts can be improved to become superhuman

Note- Effects of the upgrade are unknown until it is upgraded]

[Martial Arts- Flame Qi Art

Description- An ancient qi art that allows the Host to squeeze out a new form of energy known as Qi. Upon extracting Qi, Host can ignite Qi and create flames inside Host's body.

Effect 1- Temperature of the Flame can be manipulated at Will.

Effect 2- It allows the Host to freely ignite the flame and control that flame

Effect 3- The host can store Qi inside his veins but can't store flame.

Note- Just because Host can control flame doesn't mean the host is fire resistant]

Looking at these three panels, Shin was genuinely surprised. The first thing that he got was a talent that allows him to wield a sword.

In his previous life, he had read many stories where a hero of a story wields a sword, and in some of them, the power of the sword in itself is a journey for a hero.

That's why he loved Sword very much. It's just that he likes fighting like a berserker more than a swordsman. So, seeing this talent, he became a bit hesitant about whether to accept it or not.

But, at this moment, a picture of a young man holding a broad sword came to his mind. He slapped his thigh and said.

"Yes, how can I forget that? I don't need to practice Gentlemen's Swordsmanship or fast-paced swordsmanship. A swordsman defines his swordsmanship, not the other way around."

"And, this talent doesn't specifically state that I need to practice a certain kind of swordsmanship. As long as I can create my own kind of swordsmanship, it won't become a burden to me."

After he calmed down, he changed his thoughts to the second reward which is Random Upgrade Card.

"Unlike the first reward, this is extremely important for current me. Originally, I thought I should upgrade my Iron Body but looking at the last effect, I change my mind."

"Even though having a higher rank Iron Body would help me a lot, it doesn't give me powerful strength or rather something unique. Strength is a main factor for survival but in some situations, strength might not be that helpful."

"So, I thought of two situations. One is that I upgrade my ears to gain superhuman hearing. This would allow me to hear any kind of sound nearby and even predict my enemy's moves with my hearing."

"I could do that same with my eyes or nose but there are certain restrictions to them. For example, what if my eyes are covered, or what if something spicy or sand falls in my eyes?"

"The smell could be devastating in a certain situation that wouldn't be helpful. After all, I still remember that Arc where 'that guy' won a battle just by farting in the opponent's nose."

"Ears don't have those restrictions. Of course, there is a chance that my ear drum could get destroyed but at least, the chances of that happening are a lot less than the other two."

"The second option is to upgrade my blood veins. A human can temporarily increase his strength through blood flow."

"If I can fasten my blood flow, I will be able to increase my strength for a certain amount of time but it might burst open my blood veins and cause my death."

"But if I upgrade my blood veins, it would strengthen them and allow me to increase my strength in the middle of a battle. So, which option should I choose?"

Shin thought for a moment. As he couldn't decide which was the best option for him, he started brainstorming for a moment. Eventually, he came to a sudden realization.

"Wait, I almost forgot something. I am still in Novice Area. At least, from what I learned, this place can be called Area for Novices. As long as I train for a month, I will gain strength enough to easily travel around this area."

"That means I won't have any use for the second option but I might have a use for the first option. I am alone. In this situation, if I am surrounded by a lot of enemies, the superhuman hearing could allow me to predict my enemy's moves and fight them without taking much damage."

"Not only that, I might be able to get another Random Upgrade Card in the future. The only problem with this upgrade might be loud noise. And this problem alone pushes it next to eyes."

"No, I think I will be able to control my hearing so that my ears won't be destroyed. This is a huge risk but I must take this risk. At least, if I can have Superhuman Hearing, I will be able to fight with better ease."

After thinking for a moment, he finally decided on upgrading his ears. But before he does that, he finally sets his eyes on the last reward.

"Flame Qi Art! It is a perfect opening for me. With the power of flame, I will be able to inflict much more damage on my opponent. At the same time, I will be able to launch large-scale attacks as well."

"But, there is one problem. Flame Qi Art doesn't makes me fire resistance. That means the temperature of the fire released from me depends upon the temperature that I can bear."

"Of course, there are several ways to utilize low-temperature flame in the battle. After all, if the flame is highly concentrated into a certain shape, it can do exponential damage."

"That's it for now! All these ideas can only be realized if I start training in Flame Qi Art. But before that, let's use Random Upgrade Card."

"System, how do I use Random Upgrade Card?"

[Host, you can withdraw Random Upgrade Card from System's inventory and then hold it in your hand.]

Shin follows its instruction and holds the Random Upgrade Card in his hand. Surprisingly, this card was just like normal poker cards except it had a strange heart shape in the middle and the entire card was white.

The next moment, a new panel appeared in front of his eyes.

[Random Upgrade Card has been detected at Host's hand]

[Please confirm if you would like to use Random Upgrade Card]

[Use] [Keep]

Without any hesitation, Shin clicked on 'Use' with his other hand.

[Please instruct which 'Item' 'Martial Art' 'Abilities' 'Talent' or 'Body Part' would you like to upgrade]

"Upgrade Ears"

[Please confirm if you would like to use Random Upgrade Card to upgrade Host's Ears]

[Continue] [Back]

Shin raised his hand once again and clicked on 'Continue.

Suddenly, the white card started releasing white rays of light inside the room. For a moment, his vision went blank and his mind also paused. But, it was only for a second as the light suddenly vanished as well as the card in his hand.

Before Shin could properly wake up, he found a strange sensation in his ears.

"Shhh…. Koko.... Hey, where are you going? Roar! Roar!"

Soon, several sounds came to his ears and he started hearing those sounds. Some were human words while some were animal cries.

He could even hear the flow of air. He covered his ears as he forcefully closed his eyes and fell to his knees.

"Damn it! This is too much."