"Yes! Please have something good"
With anticipation Kain opened up the home screen and tried to find any differences.
"System…can you maybe give me a tour of your new features" He eventually decided after nothing different stood out to him.
*Of course Host*
*The System now has three new functions*
*Firstly, the System shop. Where you can exchange GP you don't want to use on system upgrades for rare items. The contents of the shop will refresh every week*
Filled with anticipation, Kain immediately went to the shop and saw 3 items available for sale:
An object that looked like a blank red playing card, a vial filled with a blue liquid, and an object that looked like a fishing net.
He focused on each object so that the description could appear.
Red-Grade Condensation Card—this card lowers the difficulty of a beast-tamer successfully condensing their second star. 300 GP
D-level Mental Strength Elixir—Can increase the users mental strength by 30% for 3 hours. (Note: only effective for those red-grade spiritual power and below). 100 GP
D-level Capture Net—Can ensure that anything with red-grade or lower spiritual power will be trapped and unable to escape without the user's wishes. 250 GP
"Not bad…but everything is pretty expensive." It'll already took Kain weeks to reach the 100 GP required to upgrade the system.
He also wasn't sure how necessary any of these objects would be in his immediate future.
The mental strength elixir may be useful for the academic exam. However, with how he performed on the last practice test, he already felt confident that with the 2 weeks remaining to study, he could rank safely in the top 100, the elixir is an unnecessary expense.
For the net, Kain doesn't need it currently, although there may be some capture missions for specific spiritual beasts once he enters college where it'll be useful, his immediate concern is to actually enter college.
As for the Red-grade condensation card…Kain wanted it, but he wasn't sure if he could afford it.
There were risks to condensing a new star. Thankfully, both the first and second stars did not have severe repercussions for failure.
However, failure higher levels at higher levels may result in permanently damaged mental strength, having your ability to condense spiritual power crippled, or death.
At Kain's level, the consequence for failing would likely not be more than a terrible headache and the inability to use spiritual power for a week to a month.
So close to the exam, he would prefer not to take the risk of failing. However, with the resources available to him with his newfound wealth, and the guidance from teachers at his school, he believes that his chance of failure should be extremely low.
Sigh
"Looks like I'll have to wait until next week to see if anything useful refreshes. However, even if it does, I won't be able to obtain the GP to afford it while that White Widow Spider is out there looking for me"
"Wait… I thought you said there were three new functions?" Kain asked. Suddenly hopeful that there will be something he needs.
*Correct. The second feature unlocked by the System is the Celestial Planetarium*
"A Planetarium? Not what I was expecting…"
Kain accessed the screen for the Planetarium and instead of a screen appearing before him, he was suddenly transported to a room that made it appear as though he was floating in a sea of stars.
*This is the Celestial Planetarium. It was tailored towards the Host's current spiritual power condensation method*
*If the Host attempts to condense spiritual power while their consciousness is in this space, you will find that your efficiency is several times greater than when outside*
Kain was ecstatic. His slower rate of condensing spiritual power was one of his most pressing issues.
Usually, rooms that would increase condensation efficiency were only available at colleges and students were limited in how much they could use them. Kain now had one of those rooms in his mind at all times for free.
"It seems like this upgrade has greatly increased your abilities!"
"How much can it increase my efficiency?"
*The ability to affect absorption will vary slightly between users. However, the System estimates that it should increase the host's absorption efficiency by 2.2x*
"2.2 times…that means, rather than the 5 SP I gain after condensing spiritual power for an entire night, I should obtain around 11 points every night."
"With my spiritual power currently at 912 SP, I should be able to reach red-grade spiritual power and condense my second star before the Dark Moon entrance test in 3 weeks.
"What's the third feature unlock?" Kain asked in anticipation.
*Replying to Host. The Mission Board is now open*
"Mission Board…?"
The System automatically opened up the Mission Board for Kain to see.
"Hunt 5 red-grade spiritual creatures. Have at least one contract advance the red-grade spiritual power…what is this?"
*Hunting spiritual creatures is not the only method of obtaining GP. The host may also obtain GP by accomplishing missions*
Kain clicked on the task to hunt 5 red-grade spiritual creatures and saw that it would reward 30 points.
Normally, 5 red-grade spiritual creatures would give 25 GP, 5 points each. However, accomplishing the same task as a mission would increase the reward 1.2 times.
"Maybe I can continue to increase my GP despite not being able to go into the wilderness," Kain pondered as he scrolled down the long list of tasks.
Of the ones available, there were several that already aligned with his current goals:
Advancing to 2-stars (100 GP).
One spiritual contract advancing to red-grade (100 GP).
Entering the Beast-taming major at a college (reward variable by college ranking).
Taking the academic admissions exam (reward variable by placement).
Therefore, it was reassuring to know that with this system upgrade, Kain now had a way to increase his system GP and his own spiritual power.
"Now the only problem is Bea…"