"Adam, please look at your status and open the shop," Lyra instructed via neuro-link. Adam opened his status window, which connected and began updating. After a moment, it displayed:
Name: Adam Levi
Level: 2
Experience: 2,000,000,000
Skill: Time Control
Status: Curse/Sealed
"Lyra, I've leveled up!" Adam excitedly told her. "What's happening? Two billion experience points? I have a skill now, my very own skill: Time Control! And my status shows I'm cursed and sealed."
Lyra accessed Adam's system. "Adam, I'm not sure how to explain this peculiar situation. Your actual level, based on that experience, should be 200. However, you only reached Level 2. Reaching Level 200 is impossible due to the system limit of 100 at max. At the same time, two billion experience points is unheard of."
"So what's going on? What glitch is this?" Adam asked.
"Adam, did you by any chance fight 100 of the black anomalies and defeat them?" Lyra inquired.
"Hmm, not really. I was in a war and fought millions of armies invading the other world. There were dragons, demons, hydras, and many more. The dragons were huge and could level a whole city in one breath. Other than fighting the war and destroying as much of the forces, I came back to our world with Emily," Adam explained.
"So that must have been the reason. You didn't open your status once in that world?" Lyra probed.
"Not that I can think of. After the war, I went back to our world with Emily and rushed to this world," Adam replied.
Lyra sighed, clearly exhausted by Adam's lack of awareness regarding his own status. "Let me explain how levels work to give you a better understanding. Every 10th level is a lock or a bottleneck that prevents humans and creatures from progressing further. This is why the level is very low in the green zone. For example, from Level 1 to Level 10: most children can reach up to Level 9 by hunting creatures that give single-digit experience. However, to reach Level 10, they would need to hunt creatures that give double-digit experience. Hence, it isn't easy to hit every 10th level. This is also why adventurers need a minimum of Level 10 to start. So, children who kill 100 rabbits over time, each giving 1 EXP, can never hit Level 10. To bypass these bottlenecks, adventurers either have to hunt creatures that provide double-digit experience in an examination, or kill a group of creatures with single-digit experience at the same time, which can accumulate to double digits. Mages are skilled at using area-of-effect spells to kill many at once, pushing through their bottlenecks. Swordsmen usually hunt stronger creatures that give double-digit experience to push through theirs."
"You somehow killed so many creatures at one time that you pushed your bottleneck to Level 200 with two billion experience. Your glitch somehow registered your level as just Level 2. Your stats should be the same as a second rebirth, with 9999 in each stat. However, due to the glitch, your stats are barely around 10 for each."
"I'll convert it to 20 million system coins," Lyra informed Adam. "You've also unlocked your skill of Time Manipulation, so it might be useful to test it out."
Adam looked at his skill and activated it. Time seemed to stop for a second, then Adam's body exploded with tremendous power. His level instantly turned to 200, and his stats all hit 9999. The ground around him shattered into rubble due to the sheer force of his power. As time returned to normal, Adam's level reverted to Level 2. Everyone present was in shock, staring at the rubble and dust. Adam, amazed, realized how truly powerful he was.
"Lyra, it stopped time, and I'm not sure if it's the system glitch," Adam said. "My actual level returned to Level 200 while my skill was active for one second. However, my mana hit 0, and the skill can only be used once until I recover the mana in the system."
"So your system mana doesn't register your own natural mana manipulation; it must be a glitch as well," Lyra explained. "It will recover over time or after sleep. Another way is using mana potions."