Tanaka Masao was very happy; he didn't expect to get something good after only sixty tries, thinking he'd have to hit the full pity counter.
It seems the System, while not overly generous, still has some conscience.
He looked at the words that seemed to glow with golden light.
Talent: Hardening LV1 (Requires Talent Experience Card x10 to upgrade).
Description: You can actively harden any part of your body to a small degree. The degree of Hardening is influenced by the talent level and the user's physique.
Looking at this talent, Tanaka Masao was quite excited; it was a fairly practical combat talent.
Although this talent looked like something a minor character in a novel would have, it was still one of those with some value, allowing for many appearances and a named minor role.
This was the first active talent Tanaka Masao had acquired, and he couldn't wait to try it out.
With a thought, his right hand instantly changed; the originally soft skin immediately became taut.
Tanaka Masao touched it with his left hand; it felt a bit like hard wood.
Moreover, he could feel that this Hardening was not just for the surface skin; the internal muscles and bones were also strengthened.
"This is quite strong."
Tanaka Masao swung his fists a couple of times; this indestructible feeling was truly reassuring.
And perhaps because his physical strength increased, slightly unlocking some of the body's protective mechanisms, he felt his fists had become more powerful.
Indeed, for a man, superpowers like body Hardening are super cool—achieving sainthood through the flesh, you know?
After strengthening his ordinary fists, Tanaka Masao then chose to strengthen…
…his hair. He wanted to see what effect Hardening his hair would have.
With a thought, Tanaka Masao felt his head become a bit heavier, and when he reached up to touch it, his originally soft hair felt like individual thorns.
He picked up the mirror in the room and looked at himself, discovering he had become a hedgehog.
And you know what? It looked pretty cool.
After admiring his new look for a bit, Tanaka Masao retracted the ability.
Then he applied the ability to his elbow.
This spot was already quite hard; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a built-in weapon of the human body.
After Hardening, Tanaka Masao delivered an elbow strike to the air.
"Man!"
Tanaka Masao felt that if this strike hit someone, it would at least cause a fracture.
Next, Tanaka Masao tried various other places like his knees and fingers, and even the fragile eyes could be strengthened.
As for how hard his eyes would become after strengthening, he didn't dare to try it lightly; who would experiment on themselves?
As for the strengthened part everyone wanted to see, Tanaka Masao did not try it.
Why, you ask?
Of course, because its inherent hardness was already very high, and LV1 Hardening was completely insufficient; at least LV2 was needed.
Tanaka Masao chose to upgrade his talent with almost no hesitation.
Including this draw, he had a total of seventeen Talent Experience Cards, which was more than enough.
Ding! Congratulations, Host's Talent Hardening LV1 → LV2 (Requires Talent Experience Card x20 to upgrade).
Skill Description: You can actively harden any part of your body to a greater degree. The degree of Hardening is influenced by the talent level and the user's physique.
As soon as the talent upgraded, Tanaka Masao eagerly used it.
If LV1 Hardening could make his body as strong as solid wood, then the upgraded Hardening could make him as hard as stone.
Based on this conjecture, Tanaka Masao felt that when it reached LV3, it should achieve the hardness of steel, and only then would it be considered a truly qualified superpower.
Tanaka Masao subconsciously glanced at his room, looking a bit guilty.
He ultimately couldn't resist the curiosity and vanity of a man and chose to strengthen the area everyone was interested in.
…
A few seconds later, Tanaka Masao adjusted his slightly disheveled clothes, his face filled with satisfaction and pride.
Hardening LV2 was terrifyingly powerful.
Tanaka Masao decided to give it a good name: Unyielding as a Rock.
Unfortunately, his current Degeneracy Points and Talent Experience Cards were not enough to experience the joy brought by Steel Body.
Tanaka Masao played with his ability in the room for a while longer.
He discovered another drawback of this ability: activating it consumed stamina.
The larger the body part chosen for Hardening, the more stamina consumed, and as stamina was depleted, the hardness of the reinforcement would also gradually decrease.
Tanaka Masao estimated that he could maintain full-body Hardening for about an hour without issue.
As for local Hardening of just twenty centimeters or so, the consumption was negligible.
All in all, Tanaka Masao was quite satisfied with this ability.
After exploring his talent skill, Tanaka Masao looked at the four Free Attribute Points.
For balance, he added one point each to his Strength, Agility, and Constitution.
As for the last point, he added it to the seemingly useless Luck.
No choice, since he was rich, he was playing it luxuriously.
As for the remaining twenty-five Skill Experience Cards, he upgraded his three most useful skills—Cooking, Music, and Writing—all to LV3.
A total of twelve Skill Experience Cards were consumed.
A large amount of knowledge flooded into Tanaka Masao's brain and body, making him overwhelmed for a moment.
"Ah, so much, so much, I can't take it anymore."
He felt a bit regretful at this moment, blaming himself for being too greedy, but…
This feeling of being filled to the brim with knowledge was, to be honest, very fulfilling, and seemed quite good.
Tanaka Masao lay on the bed, going from initial pain and discomfort to gradually enjoying it.
He relaxed his body, concentrated his mind, and fully digested the knowledge given by the System.
It was a full hour before he opened his eyes and sat up from the bed.
"The me of now is not the me of an hour ago. With such a rich knowledge reserve, I am terrifyingly strong."
Tanaka Masao was somewhat addicted to this visible improvement, and he couldn't wait to use the remaining Skill Experience Cards.
However, upgrading a skill from LV3 to LV4 required ten Skill Experience Cards, so he could only choose one of his four skills now.
Painting was his intrinsic skill, worth strengthening, and he had already used one Skill Experience Card before, so now it only needed nine.
No matter how he looked at it, its advantage was great.
However, the heroine corresponding to the Painting skill was Eriri, so he passed on that.
Increasing the Music skill could earn him the admiration of four girls simultaneously, but LV3 was already completely sufficient.
Any higher, he feared they wouldn't appreciate it.
As for Writing, Tanaka Masao didn't write himself, and LV3 was enough for him to communicate with others.