Stuck in my current state, with little else to do, I decided to sift through the prompts I'd brushed aside since the clash with Nightfall...
There were plenty of them, offering me some 'entertainment' in the form of reading, if you could call it that...
Let's start from the ones I shrugged off in the heat of battle.
[Your [Determination] has laid judgement. You will have to win this fight. If you don't, you will lose your Talent]
[For the Duration of this fight, your limits to your Talent [Body] and your Talent [Determination] will be slightly reduced. You will be able to fight to the maximum even if your body has less than 1% energy left]
[The experience of your limits loosening will strengthen your talents]
[Your Talent [Determination] has leveled up]
[Your Talent [Determination] has leveled up]
[Your Talent [Determination] has leveled up]
[Your Talent [Body] has leveled up]
[Your Talent [Body] has leveled up]
[Your Talent [Body] has leveled up]
Talents were rather peculiar in the way they worked.
From the get-go, I sensed they weren't straightforward, but this? I'm genuinely surprised. So, this is why I didn't lose consciousness sooner.
I'm a tough guy, sure, but even my Body isn't immune to the mind's imposed limits. There's a point where instincts kick in, forcing us to collapse for survival.
Yet here, my human instinct was stifled, pushing me to fight till the brink of death.
Whether I should be grateful or question how long I'll be able to live, I pondered for a while before moving on. There was so much more to take in, and such light stuff didn't shock me anymore.
Next, when I realized how to use the [Sky Sword Art] even without a sword...
[Your Talent [Sword] has reacted to your insights]
[Your Talent [Sword] has strongly reacted to your insights]
[Your Talent [Sword] will allow [Determination] to create the temporary skill [Hand-to-Hand Sky Technique]]
[Your Talent [Sword] is satisfied. It will level up]
[You have understood a core principle of your Sword Art...]
[As a price for this action, you will have to pay 50 Skill Points to create the Skill [Hand-To-Hand Sky Technique] in the future]
[Note: To ensure fairness, the [Hand-To-Hand Sky Technique] will be adapted in strength to be worth 50 Skill Points. In addition, you will be able to see the Description, Effects, and Limitations of the Skill. As such, the Talent [Sword] cannot interfere in any way with this decision]
[Your Talent [Sword] accepts the conditions]
[As such, The Skill [Hand-To-Hand Sky Technique] will be available to purchase during the Second Trial]
Whoa...
I was genuinely baffled.
So, did you two form some secret pact or what? And why wasn't I part of this discussion? Feeling a bit left out here.
Anyway, onto the important part....
50 Skill Points? What the fuck?
If it's that pricey and not up for grabs right now, it means there's a point where Skills are tagged as beyond the First Trial's Absolute Limits. No manifesting, no buying, no nothing.
The System never spilled the beans directly, but it seems there's a 'ceiling' you can't even scratch in this Trial, maybe in all the others too.
What does that mean? Simply put, there's a level where you hit a wall, and no matter how hard you try, you ain't getting any stronger.
You may think that's unfair, but reality is that perhaps, this is not something the System can put their influence into at all.
The way I see it, it's more because this World itself is not a basket big enough to 'fit' higher level entities...
This time, I mulled over it for a while. There were so many pieces slowly coming together, but I still could not glance at the goal behind all this at all...
Even with my extraordinary [Wisdom], [Intuition], [Sixth Sense]... I could not grasp the truth behind all this.
It felt like ants weren't meant to know the big picture.
It was enough to humble me a little.
Of course, I always made sure to not let all the power I was gaining get to my head.
Sure, I've been packing a punch lately, but hey, I'm just Low Combat Prowess. Who knows how many levels I gotta climb before I'm the real deal?
My mood was a bit sour, and to sweeten it a little, what could be better than seeing what rewards I got for completing the [True Swordsman] quest?
[True Swordsman - Quest Complete]
[Congratulations for having perfectly cleared the Class Quest]
[Rating: S]
[As per your Rating, you will be given enormous rewards]
[You have leveled up] x15
[Your Level has reached the absolute limit of the First Trial. You will not level up]
[Note: To ensure fairness, once you clear the First Trial, this will be taken into consideration]
[Your Talent [Sword] is not satisfied with this arrangement, claiming it's only natural for a True Swordsman to go beyond limits]
[Note: ....To ensure fairness, your Level will be set at 100. For the 5 levels you lost, you will be compensated accordingly. The reward will be worth at least 10 levels]
[Your Talent [Sword] accepts the conditions]
[Your Class [Swordsman] will permanently change to [True Swordsman]]
[As part of your reward, you have gained the Growth Skill [Strength]]
[Strength]
[Description: Your body will slightly grow in strength over time]
[Your body will go through a High-Level Body Purification which will completely remove the waste you have accumulated...]
[As your body has rested enough, your High-level Body Purification will now commence]
[Your [Orc Body] passive skill has absorbed the High-Level Body Purification. It will maximize its effects, aiming to turn you into a perfect, enlightened human]
[Your [Orc Body] Skill will evolve into [Perfect Human Body]]
[Your Talent [Body] has leveled up]
[Your Talent [Body] has leveled up]
[Your Talent [Body] has leveled up]
.
.
.
[Your Talent [Body] has reached the Absolute Limit of the First Trial. As such, it will not be able to level up further]
[Your Skill [Orc Body] is satisfied. While it cannot go against fairness, it can make you into the absolute being of the First Trial]
[Your survival instinct has been strengthened considerably]
[Your reaction speed has massively increased]
[Your Body has been completely purified of all waste. While it's not a big change at the moment, it will aid you tremendously in the future]
It felt like [Sword] had thrown a tantrum and the System was forced to accept it, which made me chuckle a little...
Anyway. While I fought it out in the ring, it seems the reward was on standby. Only when I finally got a breather did it decide to roll in.
Sure, I'm curious about the nuts and bolts of how that worked, but right now, my priority was checking out my status...!
[Status: Exhausted
Level: 90 ➔ 100
Combat Prowess: Low ➔ Medium
Martial Arts: Karate(Lv.1)
Sword Arts: Sky Art(Sky Footwork(Lv. 15), Sky Sword Technique(Lv. 8))
Active Skills: Cooking(Lv.8), Slash(Lv.10), Adaptive Evasion(Lv.12), Turtle Shell(Lv.5), Mirage Veil(Lv.3), Overload(Lv.9)
Passive Skills: Run(Lv.13), Jump(Lv.13), Photographic Memory(Lv.10), Sixth Sense(Lv.20), Observe(Lv.20), Perfect Human Body(Lv.21)
Growth Skill: Strength
Talent: Sword(Lv. 21), Movement(Lv.13), Wisdom(Lv.16), Intuition(Lv.13), Body(Lv.21), Determination(Lv.18)
Awakening: Sword(.1%)
You have 14 unused Skill Points]
[You have to wait 178 days until you can return to your consciousness]
Wait, that means I was unconscious for about two days?
That complicated things...
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Author's Note:
On my Patr eon, I will probably ask you all who do you want as a romance target. It's way too soon to even entertain the notion of truly doing romance in the novel, but I will take into consideration each girl you suggest. An alternative would be to just comment in this paragraph.
But on my Patreon, you also have new pics of the MC, Akira! So... please do visit my Patr eon