It would be the first time a player would reach the level two before their characters, especially as the tutorial introduced the use of exp potion to raise the first character given to level 3.
But that wasn't the point, expecting what kind of change would happen, he decided to claim only one mission, filled with expectations to the kind of rewards he would get.
Not that he didn't knew about the rewards, but raising one's level in 'Erotic Card Maestro' wouldn't give any kind of loot, but instead unlock multiple functions, from event levels to participate in and receive more rewards, places for dates, number of chat energy, and more, but nothing material.
Tapping his finger on the window to claim the Check-in mission, he felt.. nothing.
' ... Is there really no differences ? '
[ Congratulations for reaching level 2. ]
Of course, there was a message that popped up in front of him, but that didn't changed from the game, and waiting for a bit more, seeing that there was no other window popping up, he could only sigh and tap on the ' Confirm. ' button for now.
And once he did..
' Still nothing.. guess I'll still collect the quests just in case something were to happen, but I won't have to force myself for it. '
Thinking that way, he thought that it was better than nothing, at least, he still managed the feat to reach level two before Mariane could do it.
" Master, is something the matter ? "
Her eyes glancing from above his shoulder, he knew that she was also looking at the window in front of him, but maybe couldn't comprehend the terms of it.
" Do you want to try and guess it ? "
Asking her jokingly, he knew that he'll have to explain it in the end, but still wanted to see how far she could guess from just what she could interpret.
As she focused her attention on the text in front of him, her full of life face became slightly pale after a bit and the pupils or her eyes narrowed until she shook her head from left to right.
" ... I would like to, but I honestly can't read what's written in front of you, what seems to be letters are just moving around and it's messing with my head to the point where I wonder how master can be fine reading it. "
Receiving an answer far from what he expected to hear, he also quickly reached another conclusion.
' Was there something like a security system ? '
Thinking about it, it would really help him if that was the case, but just in case, he decided to try a few things.
By calling upon his inventory, which she could see the cases but not the shape of the items in it and described them as ' foggy ' , apparently, the store was a mix of both the unrecognizable letters and fog, and she couldn't even see the descriptions of the various items, though she could see them once pulled out from the inventory.
Having someone to test it with, it really helped him to draw the boundaries of what was possible with the windows of his system, and by the way, she couldn't even interact with it, but this one was obvious, her hand completely going through the window.
" ... Well, you asked about what happened earlier, right ? To tell you everything, I just leveled up. "
" ... ? "
Obviously so, she wouldn't know about the whole concept of leveling up, so he had to explain a bit further.
" Hmm, how to say it, it's like getting stronger once you reached certains prerequisites ? Or more like, by doing specific actions, you gain experience, and once you reach a certain threshold, then, although sudden, you level up and become stronger. "
Trying his best to find a simple way to explain it, he really wished that he could show things of his previous life as he spoke to make more sense out of it, but it was impossible.
" ... I'm not sure to understand the details, but does that mean that master became stronger ? "
Receiving such a question, he felt a spike poking at his body as he obviously didn't benefited of such advantages.
" .. Not really, my level and yours are differents in the first place, and I can level up by doing different actions than you, for you, drinking potions that I can give you or hunting monsters would get you stronger. "
As she seemed to think about it deeply, she wore a complex expression on her face, and eventually, under his stare, explained her thoughts.
" .. Master, won't I become some sort of muscle woman then ?.. "
He couldn't take it.
Laughing out loud once he heard her worries, he couldn't believe that, this was what got her wearing such complex feelings on her usually expressionless face.
Well, since she was pouting, he had to stop and force himself to calm down as he thought he had to explain, yet deeper, about things she didn't knew, like his abilities from another world.
" Ah.. you see, the beauty of leveling up, is that it's really easy to do, and doesn't change your body.. here, let me describe it to you directly. "
Looking around for a stick, he got up and grabbed one that pleased his thoughts and felt comfortable inside his hand before going back to sit on the fallen tree trunk.
" I'm sure you know what a body is, and how it can moves as well, now, what if I tell you that the body abilities can be described as statistics ? "
" ... ? "
Drawing a stickman on the ground, he prepared seven traits next to it first before explaing what was on his mind.
" First come the strength, how strong the blow you can deal will be, then will come speed, which is about how fast one can react or move it's body around, and after that come defense, which will show your own resilience, and those are just the main three stats important for everyone fighting with their bodies. "
" Onto the subpar stats now, those are, magical attack, which will be shown when using spells, magical defense, this one obviously for when receiving a hit from a spell. "
" There's also, resistance, which will stop you from receiving any kind of bad effects lower than your own resistance, like being stunned by an injury, blinded by a sudden light, being frozen, poisoned or even suffering from excessive bleeding. "
" And finally, magic resistance, which will stop any kind of curses thrown at you lower than your own stat, be it confusion, charm, panic, rage and even sleeping. "
Taking a breath in once he finished his explanations, he quickly threw a look at his drawing and his writing before looking at Mariane to see if she understood correctly, but another question greeted him.
" .. Does that means that master know those about me ? "
Nodding at her, he quickly explained what he knew about her character, or mostly her statistics.
" I do, your stats are written on the back of your card actually, but if you wish to know, then you're mostly a jack of all trades, you don't have any specific strong point, but at the same time, you don't show any kind of weakness, your forte being your ability to adapt to any kind of situation. "
" Your stats are high enough even at level one to begin with, to the point where you would dominate easily a white card at level 10 with just your level one, and it would end in the same result with a golden card a few levels above yours or a weaker rainbow card at the same level. "
The fact that she could overpower most cards with just her stats alone and that she was a complete use warrior is what made her such a strong part of the story meta which presented various monsters one after the other.
Of course, she could fill more roles than just being in the story, as she would do well in a dungeon and raids as well, but for those, it just happen that there were more specific choices that suited that position better than she could.
" .. I think I understand, but what are the differences between a blank card, a golden one or a rainbow one besides the fact that the previous one is weaker than the one that comes after ? "
Knowing that he wouldn't be able to tell her about the less complete stories, the less number of sex scenes, or even the embarassing tags as it would put her in an embarassing position for the rest of her life, he choose to draw her attention directly at her question, a bigger difference than strenght.