I tried to store the tree that was growing out of my arm.
Surprisingly, by instinctively moving the muscles in my arm, I could retract it without much difficulty. I could feel it being stored between my elbow joint, biceps, and triceps.
It seemed that I could grow the tree whenever I wanted. After repeatedly retracting and extending it a few times, I got the hang of it. The downside was that every time I grew it, blood would splatter everywhere. I definitely wouldn't want to grow this red tree in front of people. They'd think I was a monster for sure.
Now, about the change in my status…
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**Status**
Makoto Akaya
Level: 0
Health: 1/10
Mana: 10/10
Defense: 0
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 0
Intelligence: 0
Resistance: 0
Agility: 0
Mystery: 0
Spirit: 0
**Equipment**
"Skill Tree"
━━━━━━━『Skill Tree』━━━━━━━
**Skill Tree**
Tree Level: 0
Skill Points: 1
Point Mission: "Outer Perimeter"
**Skill Menu**
"Basic Health"
Usable: 5 times
"Basic Mana"
Usable: 5 times
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The notable change was the addition of the "Skill Tree" window at the bottom of the status screen. A tree…meaning the one growing out of my arm. I looked at the tree. Since it was listed under "Equipment," it seemed to mean it was treated as some sort of equipment for me.
"Still, what exactly is a skill tree… and why did it grow out of my arm?"
Could it be genetic? Maybe my family line has always had trees sprouting from their arms. The fundamental fear that I might not be human crept in… but it didn't take long for me to stop caring.
So what if I wasn't human? Worrying about it wouldn't change anything. I hate overthinking things.
"Instead, I'll just think of it as no big deal."
There are few things in the world that cause real trouble. It's a crazy world where even girls are more in demand if they have something extra growing from them. This is a rare trait, a societal advantage.
I turned back to the window and decided to learn about this mysterious "Skill Tree." It had appeared without any explanation, so I didn't know where to start, but as I fiddled with the window, I gradually got a sense of what this "Skill Tree" was about.
━━━━━━━『Skill Tree』━━━━━━
**Skill Tree**
Tree Level: 0
Skill Points: 1
Point Mission: "Outer Perimeter"
**Skill Menu**
"Basic Health"
Usable: 5 times
"Basic Mana"
Usable: 5 times
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As I traced my finger over the skill points in the window, an explanation appeared.
"By allocating skill points in the Skill Menu, you can unlock skills."
Unlocking skills…if taken literally, that's a tremendous thing. Fearfully, I selected a skill from the "Skill Menu" to unlock.
There were two choices: "Basic Health" and "Basic Mana." I only had 1 skill point. I could only unlock one of them. Each had a description that appeared when I traced my finger over it.
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**"Basic Health"**
Passive Skill
Increases health stat
Everything starts with a solid foundation.
The more health, the better.
Begin your great journey.
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━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
**"Basic Mana"**
Passive Skill
Increases mana stat
Everything starts with a solid foundation.
Mana is the cost for many skills.
You can never have too much.
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After reading and pondering the descriptions, I decided to unlock "Basic Health."
The reason? I didn't need mana. I didn't have any skills that consumed mana. Sad, isn't it? This process of elimination.
"A new skill has been unlocked!"
A mysterious voice echoed directly in my mind. It was more like a sensation than a sound.
I checked the status window.
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**Status**
Makoto Akaya
Level: 0
Health: 1/100
Mana: 10/10
Defense: 0
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 0
Intelligence: 0
Resistance: 0
Agility: 0
Mystery: 0
Spirit: 0
**Skill**
"Basic Health"
**Equipment**
"Skill Tree"
━━━━━━━『Skill Tree』━━━━━━
**Skill Tree**
Tree Level: 0
Skill Points: 0
Point Mission: "Outer Perimeter"
**Skill Menu**
"Basic Health"
Usable: 4 times
"Basic Mana"
Usable: 5 times
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Wait a minute! My health is now 1/100! Ten times…? Did it really increase tenfold!?
Just by unlocking the skill "Basic Health," my maximum health went from 10 to 100. The digits have changed. Skill Tree, you're something else, aren't you?
"As expected, the skill points have gone down to zero."
The numbers on the window had changed. The skill points were now zero, and the "Basic Health" count in the Skill Menu had decreased from 5 to 4. Because I unlocked a skill just now, the number went down?
If taken literally, it means I can only unlock "Basic Health" four more times.
But now, I'm out of skill points. Hmm, come to think of it, there was something called a point mission in the Skill Tree section.
"Want skill points? Then try a mission."
If I complete a mission, I get skill points. That's a straightforward explanation, very helpful.
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**Today's Point Mission**
Keep at it every day!
"Outer Perimeter"
Run around the perimeter of Hero High School 0/10
**Streak**: Day 0
**Consistency Rank**: Bronze
**Point Multiplier**: 1.0x
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It looks cluttered, but if I complete this point mission, I'll get skill points. I'll do it, I'll definitely do it. Let me do it endlessly.
The task is to run around Hero High School. The word "perimeter" brings back memories. I often had to run around the school during club activities in middle school.
"But first, I need to clean up this room."
To put it mildly, my room looks like a crime scene.
Let's start with cleaning up. This can be cleaned up, right?
━━4 hours later
Feeling like a criminal covering up evidence, I managed to finish cleaning. I stuffed the pile of blood-soaked towels into a garbage bag. Thankfully, the floor was made of wood, so it was easier to clean. The splatters on the walls and ceiling were challenging, but I managed to make it look clean enough.
Exhausted, I left the dormitory, walked through the wide school grounds, and headed to the school gate. It was 4:30 PM. Dinner was served in the dormitory, and it was free. Missing dinner meant being hungry until morning, so I wanted to finish this as quickly as possible.
I started running.
By the time I got back to the school gate, my tracksuit was drenched in sweat, and my entire body was fatigued. Had I done ten laps already? Oh, just one lap? I see.
The first lap took about 30 minutes. What's going on? It felt like around 5 kilometers.
Darn it. If I knew I'd be running this much, I wouldn't have worked so hard on the treadmill this morning. Wait, if ten laps are 50 kilometers, is this setting correct? Is it set to 10 laps just because 5 would be too few and 7 or 8 wouldn't be a nice round number?
"Alright, let's do this…"
Everything is for the skill points.
━━5 hours later
I collapsed in front of the school gate, completely exhausted.
"I can't do this anymore, I'm gonna die…"
I was beyond tired. I felt the lactic acid building up. Tomorrow, muscle pain was guaranteed. I checked the point mission.
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**Today's Point Mission**
Keep at it every day!
"Outer Perimeter"
Run around the perimeter of Hero High School 10/10
**Reward**
1 Skill Point Earned!
**Streak**: Day 1
**Consistency Rank**: Bronze
**Point Multiplier**: 1.0x
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I did it, I really did it…
I got a skill point as a reward. I wanted to unlock a skill right away, but I didn't want to leave blood stains in front of the school gate, so I returned to the dorm, headed straight to the bathroom, washed off the sweat, and opened the status window with the skill tree extended.
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**Status**
Makoto Akaya
Level: 0
Health: 1/100
Mana: 10/10
Defense: 0
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 0
Intelligence: 0
Resistance: 0
Agility: 0
Mystery: 0
Spirit: 0
**Skill**
"Basic Health"
**Equipment**
"Skill Tree"
━━━━━━━『Skill Tree』━━━━━━
**Skill Tree**
Tree Level: 0
Skill Points: 1
Point Mission: Completed
**Skill Menu**
"Basic Health"
Usable: 4 times
"Basic Mana"
Usable: 5 times
"Basic Defense" NEW!
Usable: 5 times
"Basic Strength" NEW!
Usable: 5 times
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Seems like some new options have appeared...