Damien's eyes lingered on the status window before him, his brows furrowing for a moment.
At first, he had been too distracted by the thoughts of claiming MILFS for himself, but now, he noticed it.
"…Huh." he muttered.
There was no level bar on his status window, neither was there an experience or EXP tab.
Just his stats, his hunter points, and the bold line marking his unawakened class.
This surprised him.
In all the fantasy stories he'd read in his past life—no, in all his lives—this wasn't how things worked.
The main character always had a level. Always had an experience bar to grind, to push forward, to break through.
And leveling up was usually the very core of how they grew stronger. Kill monsters, gain exp, level up, gain stats. It was always that simple, that straightforward.
But here… his system was very different.
Damien exhaled slowly, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "So no levels, huh?" he muttered under his breath.
He leaned back slightly, his eyes drifting over the stat section again.
'I don't see any stat or attribute point either…' he thought.
Normally, those came hand in hand with leveling up. But here, there was nothing of the sort. Just the numbers as they were.
His eyes finally slid downward, locking onto the bold tab that displayed his Hunter points.
"…So Hunter points are all I need to grow stronger?" he thought to himself, the realization sparking in his mind.
As if in answer, the glowing window shimmered. A new line of text flashed into existence before him.
[Host can increase stats using Hunter Points.]
Damien's lips curled slowly into a grin.
Before he could even process it, another notification appeared directly beneath the first.
[Hunter Points can be allocated to stats at the ratio of 100:1. For Health and Mana, the ratio is 100:100.]
His eyes flickered as he read it over, once, then twice. Then he chuckled to himself, low and quiet so as not to wake Claire or Nora.
"…That's cool also." His smirk widened as he tapped a finger against the sheet.
So this was it. This was his method of growth. Not hunting monsters. Not grinding like the protagonists in other stories he used to read. His path to strength was carved in an entirely different way.
The only way to get stronger… was to keep fucking more and more MILFs.
Damien didn't find this unpleasant in the slightest. In fact, the thought stirred something in his chest, a kind of exhilaration that made his blood rush.
If anything, this made his system feel even more like the best possible gift he could've asked for.
Power and pleasure tied into one. A cycle of growth he would never get tired of.
"Perfect," he murmured under his breath, eyes glinting faintly.
His gaze drifted back upward on the window, toward the bold text at the top. Class: Unawakened.
His smirk dimmed, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Of course… it's still unawakened."
He knew why. In this world, classes only awakened at the age of eighteen.
Classes, along with skills determined everything—your path, your future, your power.
And Damien… Damien was currently nineteen years old.
His jaw tightened slightly, his gaze flickering with faint irritation.
He should have participated in the last year's awakening ceremony.
He should have stood there among the other eighteen-year-olds of the village, ready to claim his future. He should have claimed his class then and there.
But he didn't.
He missed it.
Not because he was weak. Not because he was lazy. But because of something far more frustrating—something far more humiliating.
Lack of funds.
The awakening ceremony was not free. Even in a small village like theirs, it came at a cost.
The price wasn't unreasonably high, at least not for the wealthier families. But for a struggling family like his, it was too much.
Every coin they had was stretched thin, spent on survival, on basic needs, on scraping by day after day.
There was no room for luxuries like an awakening ceremony, even if that "luxury" determined the entire course of his future.
He could still remember how much this had pained Claire, since she felt she was the reason his future got stalled.
His expression hardened, his fists clenching tightly at his sides.
But this year… this year would be different.
The next ceremony was coming in about a week's time.
And Damien's eyes narrowed sharply as a fire burned within them.
"I won't miss my chance this time."
The words hissed in his mind like a vow, like a promise carved into stone.
He couldn't miss it this time. He wouldn't.
If he missed this ceremony, then he would have to wait an entire year before he had another chance. And waiting a year…
His lips twisted in disdain.
That would mean wasting precious time. That would mean stalling his growth. That would mean standing still while others surged ahead.
And worse… it would mean being locked out of Evergreen Spire Academy again.
Evergreen Spire.
The name itself carried weight, carrying echoes of prestige and recognition. The greatest academy in Turus. The place where the future heroes, leaders, and champions of the world gathered. The place where the strongest talents were honed, where destinies were forged.
And also… the place where the majority of the game's main characters would be.
Damien's eyes shone faintly, his lips curling once more.
"And also… so many MILFs."
The thought filled him with a mix of anticipation and hunger.
He could already imagine it—the noble mothers, the widowed instructors, the powerful women hiding behind the walls of the academy. All waiting, all ripe for the taking.
He could practically feel his pulse quickening at the mere thought of it.
Still, as he repeated the name again in his mind, a slight cringe pulled at his face.
Evergreen Spire.
The name was terrible. Awkward. Almost laughably so.
He remembered just how badly written the game was, how its naming sense was clumsy, how its worldbuilding was shallow. The academy's name was just another reminder of that.
But in the end… did it really matter?
No. Not at all.
Even if the name was bad, even if the game itself had been a mess, this was the reality he lived in now. And in this reality, Evergreen Spire Academy was the key.
Remaining in this village would only stunt his growth. The people here were weak, the opportunities scarce, the ceiling low.
To grow stronger, to advance further, to seize power and pleasure both… entering the academy was the best choice. The only choice.
And beyond that, it was the only way he could truly participate in the upcoming events of the game. The events that shaped everything, that shifted the course of history.
He had no intention of missing them.
His eyes narrowed, a slow smirk forming on his lips once more.
"Now then…" he muttered under his breath.
His gaze slid back to the glowing window before him, eyes sharp with intent.
"…Time to check out the system shop."