Chapter 116: Advanced Abilities
"Hmmm… what should I pick this time?"
Subaru Natsuki sat on the ground with his arms crossed, staring at the system screen in front of him, lost in thought.
Originally, when leveling up, there were only a few options available.
But this time, after dying, the system seemed to have updated without his knowledge.
In addition to the original choices, several new ones had appeared.
Looking at the two new abilities that appeared under the Strength Advancement category, the first was "Overdraft Burst," and the second was "All-Out Attack."
The former was fairly easy to understand—it probably allowed him to boost combat power by overdrawing stamina or something similar.
The latter seemed to be a straightforward all-out strike.
Subaru let out a helpless sigh as he looked at the two skills.
While the system had helped him quite a bit, he couldn't help but complain—why didn't it come with a manual? Not only was there no manual, but there were also no instructions on how to activate the skills.
This wasn't a game where you could open the settings to see which keys did what.
Everything had to be figured out on his own. If it was a game, he'd probably have uninstalled it by now!
If not for the save/load ability someone had mysteriously given him, he would've abandoned the system long ago.
Sighing again, Subaru turned his attention to the remaining four advancement abilities.
After Strength came Agility Advancement. It offered two skills: "Bullet Time" and "Reaction Speed."
"Bullet Time" was a common ability and easy enough to understand, but… how did you activate it? As for "Reaction Speed," it was probably a passive skill.
After all, the Defense Advancement options all seemed to be passive.
The two Defense Advancement skills were "Battle Continuation" and "Status Resistance." This time, "Status Resistance" came with a small clarification: does not include mental effects.
Reading that, Subaru stroked his chin in thought. It felt like he had discovered a pattern. Strength advancement skills were active. Agility and Defense were passive.
Moreover, while "Battle Continuation" and "Status Resistance" made sense for defense, they still felt a bit off.
For example, you could argue "Battle Continuation" didn't directly relate to defense. But if you considered "defense" as referring to the physical body, then this ability wasn't so hard to grasp.
Strength enhanced the body's explosive power, Agility improved its responsiveness, and Defense boosted its endurance. Thinking about it, he'd faced a lot of danger in this world.
There were times he should have died for sure, but his improved defense had not only increased his durability but had also slightly sped up his recovery. If not for that, no ordinary person could maintain such high-intensity work, training, and study every day, only to recover after less than a night's sleep.
Taking that into account, perhaps "Supernatural Power" referred to mental faculties. After all, "superpowers" are generally associated with the mind.
Thinking this way, everything started to make more sense.
And the reason there was no advancement for Supernatural Power this time might be because it hadn't been leveled up to 5 yet.
Only when it reached level 5 would it unlock its true potential.
"Well, since there's no manual, I'll just try each skill once. I've got 960 points, so trying them out shouldn't be a big deal.
Besides… even if I put all the points into basic attributes, they won't help much against the White Whale."
With that thought, Subaru tapped on "Overdraft Burst." The level went up by one, but the points dropped by 50.
"Fifty per use?" he muttered, puzzled, then tapped it again. His points instantly dropped by another 100.
"…Looks like I can't just tap around recklessly. Let's just try each remaining one once."
After trying all the new skills once, Subaru looked at his remaining 560 points. After a bit of thought, he upgraded Supernatural Power to level 5.
With 260 points left, Subaru waited to see if the Supernatural Power advancement skill would appear, but nothing showed up.
It seemed he'd have to wait until next time to see it.
Just imagining being able to use supernatural abilities made Subaru look forward to dying again.
But before he could get too excited, he realized something was seriously wrong with his thinking.
He calmed himself down and, after some thought, decided to put four points into "Gate Quality" and then raised "Mana Capacity" to level 3. With only 50 points left, he couldn't level up anything else.
Subaru let out a breath of relief.
He hadn't just randomly added points to Mana and Gate.
After all, using magic was one of a man's romantic dreams.
Due to a curse left by a magical beast, he'd been unable to use magic. Now that his Gate quality was good enough, if he learned a few spells, he might be able to forcefully break through the curse's remnants.
That would significantly expand his attack options.
Although he couldn't learn magic yet, he already had a rough plan for dealing with the White Whale.
That's right—he would ally with Crusch. With her forces and his intelligence, they could take down the White Whale without as many sacrifices.
However, Crusch and his strength alone still wouldn't be enough—it was still too dangerous. So he needed another ally. And he already had someone in mind. The question was, how would he persuade them?
Shaking his head, Subaru stopped thinking about it and looked at his current system panel:
Strength: 5 Defense: 5 Agility: 5 Supernatural Power: 5
Mana Capacity: 3 Gate Quality: 5
Strength Advancement:
Overdraft Burst: 2 All-Out Attack: 1
Agility Advancement:
Bullet Time: 1 Reaction Speed: 1
Defense Advancement:
Battle Continuation: 1 Status Resistance: 1 (not including mental effects)
Remaining Points: 50
Subaru nodded in satisfaction at his well-rounded development.
Even if he had to face the Sin Archbishop of Sloth again, he wouldn't need to be afraid.
"Alright then, time to go find Wilhelm-san for a little test. He'll definitely be surprised—I really want to see what kind of expression he'll make."
With anticipation, Subaru stretched out his hand and hit the "Deploy" button, starting another new round of battle.
.
.
.
"Lady Crusch?"
"…."
"Lady Crusch!"
"Ah."
Crusch Karsten straightened up, a bit dazed, looking at Felix beside her.
"Sorry, Felix. I actually fell asleep."
Felix looked at her with concern.
"Lady Crusch, you really don't have to push yourself this hard."
But Crusch's expression suddenly turned firm and cold.
"No. If we're not fully prepared, no one knows how many people might die in the battle against the White Whale. We also don't know if we can even win. That's why I can't rest."
Felix was momentarily stunned.
Seeing the expression on Crusch's face, he had to admit—she had genuinely startled him.
"I understand, nya… but Lady Crusch, you still need to rest a bit. If you're mentally exhausted, no matter how hard you work, it won't help."
Hearing that, Crusch frowned in thought, then sighed and said:
"Alright. I'll go take a walk and rest a bit."
"Then Felix will come along too. Oh, by the way, Lady Crusch, did you have a nightmare just now? You looked really uncomfortable. If not for that, I wouldn't have woken you."
"Yeah… it wasn't a good dream… By the way, where is Subaru now?"
"Oh? It's rare for Lady Crusch to ask about Subaru. He should be training with old man Wilhelm right now. Want to go take a look?"
"Yes, let's go see him."