Max looked at the crystal in his hands with wide eyes.
"This…"
Looking at the description given by the 'Interface', he realised just how important it was.
At the same time, looking at the one hundred ninety nine remaining fish, his heart went ablaze as he quickly began tearing them apart, reaching for the crystal present in each and every one of them.
"Hey, what's gotten into you?", Emilia asked in confusion as she saw her brother tar open the fish' bodies like he was possessed.
Amy seemed to have heard something, as her eyes widened slightly.
"This…are yo sure, Lily?" (Amy)
*growl*
The tiger growled as she nodded intelligently, and Adeline looked at this scene in surprise.
"Big Sister, can you communicate with Lily?" (Adeline)
"Ah? Yes, Lily is very smart, not unlike a normal human adult, maybe even smarter than most of them. And the 'Contract' lets me speak to my familiars telepathically." Amy nodded before looking at Max.
As for Max himself, while his ears perked up at Amy's mention of telepathic communication, his hands didn't stop as in a couple minutes, he had taken out all two hundred crystals.
Washing them in the sea water one by one, he sent fifty each to each of the three girls.
((Player [Max Riggs] offers you a Trade {[Tier-0 Cores(G)]*50 - - [None]}. Accept?))
"Ok? Cores? What are these?" Emilia accepted the trade in confusion, and watched as fifty shiny crystals appeared before her. Picking one up, however, it's description popped up, making her eyes widen.
"This…! Big brother, did you get all these from all those fish!?" Adeline asked in shock. After all, the description of the crystals in her hand was too shocking.
. . . . . .
Tier-0 Cores(G) : The Core of a Tier-0 creature. Consuming it can increase any 1 parameter of a Tier-0 creature by 1. Useless to those above Tier-0.
. . . . . .
It was a fairly simple description, but recalling that all their incredible Talents are restricted by their Tier, the three women felt their heart rate quicken.
"Wait! Let me try it first." Max quickly stopped the girls from popping one or more of them into their mouths in excitement. The three were startled at his sudden shout, and quickly looked at Max.
"Don't! We don't know if it's dangerous!" (Emilia)
But Emilia was still too late as Max popped a crystal into his mouth without waiting for them to react. Amy and Adeline felt their heart tense up while Emilia's face flushed in anger.
"Bastard! If you die, I won't ever forgive you!" (Emilia)
Max didn't respond to her as he felt the crystal touch his tongue, and surprisingly melt.
'Strange…but surprisingly tasty.'
He unconsciously licked his lips as he felt the molten crystal spread from the top of his tongue to cover his entire body, giving him an extremely comfortable feeling.
His 'Status' popped up by itself, and a '+' symbol appeared next to each of tue four parameters.
Thinking about it for a moment, Max selected 'Physique', which, according to his guess, should enhance his constitution.
The comfortable feeling suddenly changed, and turned to light warmth. But this warmth changed to a slightly feeling of cold right after. These two opposing feelings interchanged quickly, before slowly disappearing.
Although it took quite some time to describe it all, all of this had actually happened in less than a tenth of a second, and before Max could even properly distinguish the heat and the cold clearly, it all disappeared.
At the same time, he looked at his 'Status' again.
. . . . . .
[Max Riggs]
Race : Human
Age : 27 years
Sex : Male
Tier : 0
Strength : G (0/1)
Physique : G (1/1)
Agility : G (0/1)
Spirit : G (0/1)
Talent : [Absolute Skill Mastery(G)]
Skills : [Fishing(G)(Lv-Max)]
. . . . . .
There wasn't really much of a change, but another prompt appeared making him blink.
((Conditions met. Learn Skill [Core Absorption]?))
"Well…this seems like a useful skill to have."
Max's eyes flashed as he recalled the bonus that max level 'Fishing(G)' skill gave him. Since he could literally catch twice the number of fish every time he pulled the rod, would this 'Core Absorption' skill double the effect of cores, letting him increase any parameter by 2 or even two parameters by ingesting just 1 core?
"Hey! Are you alright!? Say something damn it!" (Emilia)
"Brother…" (Amy)
"Big brother! Does it hurt anywhere!? Are you fine!?" (Adeline)
The trio's voices brought him out of his daze as Max looked at them with a smile.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. Or rather, I'm better than fine." Max shared his 'Status' in the group, making the three women's eyes shine.
"Lily said you can ingest any number of Cores without having to worry about getting saturated or anything, and that you can advance through the Tiers when all parameters reach the current Tier's limit." (Amy)
Amy's words made them nod as Max popped another crystal into his mouth.
The same feeling once again appeared, and Max selected 'Strength' and felt his physical strength improve significantly. Unlike the enhancement to his Physique, he could feel himself get stronger this time.
Then, another two crystals went into his mouth.
. . . . . .
[Max Riggs]
Race : Human
Age : 27 years
Sex : Male
Tier : 0 (+)
Strength : G (1/1)
Physique : G (1/1)
Agility : G (1/1)
Spirit : G (1/1)
Talent : [Absolute Skill Mastery(G)]
Skills : [Fishing(G)(Lv-Max)]
. . . . . .
Looking at his 'Status', Max though of something and tried taking another crystal. But no matter how long he waited, the core on his tongue didn't melt like before.
"A pity." Shaking his head, he put the core up for trade for a thousand Tier-0 Cores, and then looked at the '+' symbol next to the Tier curiously.
"Amy, did Lily say anything about what happens when our Tier increases?" (Max)
Lily seemed to have surprisingly understood Max's question, as she growled in response.
"Lily says that Tier Up is an instantaneous process. No fancy lights or shocking displays of powers. One moment you're Tier-0, the next you're Tier-1. That's it."
Max nodded in response as he tapped the '+'.
Then, the whole Server shook.
((Congratulations to Max Riggs for being the first person to reach Tier-1. Special rewards have been issued. The 'Dungeon' Function for all participants has been unlocked.))