[Elise du Trae added to the system. Congratulations.]
[The system is now unlocked. Various functions will be activated.]
Noah was still frozen in front of the empress.
"What are you still doing here? Are you feeling unwell?"
"I'm sorry, I had a drop in blood pressure. I'll leave you in peace now. Have a good evening."
As he left, the empress continued to stare at him suspiciously, as if she didn't trust a single word the boy had said.
Noah noticed her sharp gaze, but decided to ignore it and escape from that place as soon as possible.
***
"System."
Back in his room, he needed to understand what had happened to his system. It had never activated before, so why now?
As always, he could view his stats.
[Strength: 10->12]
[Agility: 6->8]
[Dexterity: 8->10]
[Constitution: 12->14]
[Intelligence: 16->18]
[Mana: 5 -> 7]
[Luck: 1]
All had increased by two points, except for luck.
Despite this, Noah was amazed by something else.
[Level: 0->1]
[XP: 10/100]
The level, which had remained at 0 for months, had finally risen.
This brought him a sense of joy, but it wasn't enough. He still knew little about what had happened.
"System, why did you start working?"
He had never tried it before, but he was so frustrated that he asked the system itself what had happened.
"..."
"..."
Five minutes passed, and Noah was visibly angry.
'I'm so stupid,' he thought, before receiving another notification.
[Features unlocked thanks to level advancement.]
[You will now have access to quests and can also increase your stats.]
[It is also possible to copy a random skill from people entered into the system. Do you want to proceed?]
Noah didn't quite understand what was happening, but he knew one thing. He could become stronger, much stronger.
That was enough to convince him.
"Go ahead."
[Random skill chosen: "Blood Sovereign"]
[Allows the owner to gain power based on how much blood they have lost in battle compared to their opponent. If the opponent has lost more blood than the user, the skill is cancelled. Losing too much blood could lead to hemorrhagic shock.]
[Cooldown: 12 hours.]
[Rank: SSS]
"Unbelievable..."
Noah was stunned. Not only had he obtained a skill belonging to Elise, but it was also SSS rank.
Skill ranks vary, but the highest are: SSS, SS, S, and A.
At this moment, Noah had obtained the highest possible level skill.
Very few people had the privilege of obtaining skills of this level. Those who obtain them either have them from birth or train so hard that they awaken them. Noah, on the other hand, had obtained it without the slightest effort.
After obtaining this opportunity, a tear fell from Noah's eye. He couldn't believe that the system he had believed in since childhood, the same system he had always been mocked for, had become a reality.
"Open the skill window."
It was still too early to be surprised, it seemed.
[Skills]
[Blood Sovereign. Rank: SSS]
[Status Control. Rank: ?]
He had another skill that had probably been unlocked as he advanced in level. However, its rank was not written.
[Allows you to check information about women within the system.]
[Can also be used on people, allowing you to check various characteristics. More limited than the main effect, can be used a maximum of twice a day.]
'I've wasted all my luck, it seems,' thought Noah, as he tried to recover from what had happened.
While interacting with the system, he didn't notice that dawn had already arrived.
"Shit, it's already morning."
Noah was tired and could barely stand, but he had to go back to training. Despite his accumulated fatigue, the idea of discovering the extent of his enhancement made him impatient.
He quickly changed and went out, arriving at the usual training room.
He was usually late, but that day he was on time.
"Hey, what are you doing here at this hour? Do you want to be humiliated more than usual?"
It was Ozi who, as usual, was trying to get noticed.
As always, Noah ignored him and continued training.
It was time to train against the dummy.
Usually Noah couldn't even scratch it, but this time was different. With a single stroke of his sword, he managed to make a cut for the first time.
Kuer, like everyone else present, looked at Noah in amazement. The reaction was completely normal. Noah had just improved overnight, when in previous months he had done nothing but stay at the same level.
He was completely unmotivated.
"Finally putting in some effort, huh, Noah?"
Kuer's face was proud, as if the improvement was thanks to him.
Suddenly, Noah remembered one of the skills he had unlocked, so he decided to try it out.
"Status check."
The system opened, displaying the characteristics of Kuer, the chosen target.
[Strength: 150]
[Agility: 100]
[Dexterity: 123]
[Constitution: 160]
[Intelligence: 60]
[Mana: 20]
[Interests: Discipline, perseverance, and loyalty]
Noah noticed that the skill only showed the statistics and interests of the selected person.
It was, however, a very powerful skill that allowed him to know his opponent's strength before even facing them. Although, it was limited to two uses per day. He therefore had to learn to use it only in times of extreme need.
As expected, the captain was really strong. With those stats, he was probably in the advanced realm, perhaps even close to the silent realm. It wasn't very high, but it was still higher than Noah's.
The knights of the world were classified into nine ranks: Novice, Advanced, Expert, Silent, Shadow, Master, Supreme, Overlord, and Absolute Blade.
"Perfect, future knights, remember that you will have to participate in the tournament in less than a week."
"What do you want to do instead, Noah? You're new, so you could wait another six months for the new selection tournament. This will allow you to gain more experience in the meantime."
For once, Kuer spoke sincerely to Noah, without teasing him. He really wanted him to prepare as well as possible.
"Okay, I'll do th——"
[Tutorial Mission: Win the selection tournament.]
[Reward: Medium Elixir, 40 XP points and ???]
[Failure: Death]
'You're joking, right?'
Noah was panicking. The mission reward was incredibly good. The elixir was one of the methods to amplify the mana of a human's body.
Not being a wizard but a knight, mana was hardly ever used. It would never have been useful to an ordinary knight, but that wasn't the case with Noah.
The skill he had unlocked required a lot of mana, but Noah currently had only 7.
It was low, too low.
With that amount of mana, he would only be able to use the skill for half a second, maybe even less. It wasn't enough.
The problem, however, was what would happen if the mission failed.
"Will I die if I don't complete the mission? What kind of joke is this?" he muttered before answering Kuer.
'So we're exploiting each other, huh? I accept the challenge, system.'
"Don't worry, Captain Kuer, I'd like to participate in the tournament."
The captain, who had been almost cold until then, changed his expression. It was almost imperceptible, but he had a small smile. He seemed pleased with Noah, finally seeing him with some determination.
'I don't want to do this, damn it...'
Noah knew that even with his skill, he wouldn't get past third place if he participated.
He needed help, and there was only one person he could ask.
Training was over, so he approached him when everyone was gone and asked him as sincerely as possible.
"Captain, please train me."