Kai leaned back against one of the glowing tree trunks, his eyes scanning the translucent Status screen floating before him. His mind wasn’t tired—not by a long shot. Compared to the grueling 48-hour gaming marathons he used to endure, this grind was nothing. If anything, the rapid feedback and the sheer thrill of manipulating a real-life game system fueled him. The System’s responsiveness, the instant gratification of leveling up, and the sheer amount of possibilities had him hooked.
"This is my element," Kai muttered, a grin spreading across his face.
He focused back on the screen, studying his progress so far.
“Not bad for about an hour of work,” Kai muttered, his lips curling into a grin.
The paths, however, nagged at him. Their costs were steep—prohibitively so for all but Novice— yet as with all games, the more expensive something is... the better it is except for gachas, those are just outright scams. He tapped his fingers against his knee, his thoughts racing.
He scrolled back through Log, replaying the initialization messages. There had to be something he’d missed. The System wouldn’t just hand out compensation mechanics without a loophole buried somewhere in the fine print.
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SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
System compensation (1): Lower threshold to create and level up skills ×2 until 3 Tier 3, 10 Tier 2, or 20 Tier 1 skills are reached.
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Kai froze, his mind snapping to attention. The thresholds were explicit: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3. He could min-max this by getting up to 2 Tier 3 skills, 9 Tier 2 skills and 19 Tier 1 skills giving him a grand total of 30 skills… but what about Tier 0, Tier 4 and beyond?
“There’s no limit on Tier 0, Tier 4 and beyond,” he whispered, the realization hitting him like a bolt of lightning.
A wave of excitement coursed through him, turbocharging his racing thoughts. Tier 4 skills weren’t mentioned in the thresholds, which meant they didn’t count against the compensation limits. If he could grind a skill to Tier 4 before reaching the cap, it would bypass the restrictions entirely.
“This is it. This is the exploit,” Kai murmured, his voice trembling with anticipation. “I could perpetually retain the system compensation by pushing skills up into Tier 4+ as long as I keep a careful count and pick the skills I push into Tier 1, 2 and 3 for focused cultivation!”
The implications were staggering. Tier 4 skills would likely require an enormous amount of effort, but with the System compensation doubling his leveling speed, it was within reach.
To make things even better, he can continually unlock as many skills as possible for a huge pool of Tier 0 skills with aid of the lowered system thresholds for skill creation to pick and choose the most suitable skills to power-level.
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Kai’s earlier efforts had been rudimentary, focused on unlocking and leveling the available information skills to get more data. Now, with a clear loophole in the system, his strategy shifted.
First, he needed to identify skills with the greatest long-term potential… but also the ones he can rapidly level to Tier 4. Inspect, Status, Help, and Log were already at Tier 1, and the ability to chain up the mental commands for rapid grinding is another key exploit.
Not to mention that Status provided detailed information about his attributes, paths, and skills—essential tools for planning and optimization. That said, Help boosted other information-based skills, effectively amplifying effectiveness of information across the board. Combined with Status and Log, it would likely create a synergistic feedback loop, allowing him to extract maximum value from the System’s data.
“That’s my core skill combo,” Kai decided. “Status, Help, and Log. If I push those to Tier 4, I’ll have everything I need to exploit this world’s mechanics but that’s only useful in the long-term… I’ll need a better selection of skills for immediate needs and gaining enough power to survive whatever this world can throw at me.”
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Kai leaned forward, his mind racing with ideas. The conditions for skill creation still weren’t entirely clear, but his earlier success with Focus provided a hint. Effort and intention seemed to be key factors, but talent—some intrinsic alignment with the skill—likely played a role as well although the system compensation would probably help in that regard.
“Focus unlocked because I was pushing my mental limits,” he mused. “What else can I unlock if I push in different directions?”
A dryness in his throat interrupted his thoughts, “Damn how can I forget the basics of any survival game - gathering water and food plus crafting basic tools and shelter.”
Kai pushed himself to his feet, moving towards the stream to solve his immediate thirst. He crouched by the stream to scoop up some water and sipped it after throwing a quick inspect at it.
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SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Stream: Clean flowing freshwater with some small fish and lifeforms in it, it’s roughly 8 metres wide and half a metre deep. Drinkable.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Gathering unlocked (Tier 0):
Improves the efficiency of collecting materials from the environment.
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Kai chuckled. “So, just picking stuff up counts. Good to know.”
Encouraged, he began wandering the safe zone, collecting anything that caught his eye: smooth stones from the stream, sturdy branches from the glowing trees, patches of moss, and even clusters of strange bioluminescent flowers. The repetitive actions quickly leveled the Gathering skill, making his efforts noticeably smoother with each attempt.
As he walked from point to point, he made a mental note of “resource nodes” such as locations of fruit-bearing trees, patches of moss, freshwater streams, and piles of loose stones. All the while he continued the rapid cycling of Inspect, Log, Status, and Help commands.
With his entire focus on grinding all these skills at once, Kai finally paused only after walking right up to the edge of the safe zone where a shimmering boundary greeted him.
Testing it with a cautious hand, he felt resistance—like pressing against rubbery jelly. A system message flickered into view:
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SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Warning: Exiting the safe zone will deactivate it permanently.
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“Good to know,” Kai muttered, stepping back. The implications were clear: he’d have to make the most of this space before venturing beyond.
Flopping ungainly onto the mossy ground near yet another glowing tree, Kai idly did some mental calculations. Assuming that he landed right in the middle of the safe zone, it should have only taken him approximately 5 to 7 minutes even after including delays in navigating the forest terrain to traverse the 500 metres to get to the boundary.
“Looks like it took me closer to an hour with all the meandering and gathering I did though… I should check the logs too, I tuned out everything on the way here.”
Rapidly scrolling through the logs to pick up key notifications, Kai zoomed in on a few things.
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SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Mental Map unlocked (Tier 0):
Aids in the mental recording and recall of visited locations.
Walking unlocked (Tier 0):
Improves efficiency and stamina during physical movement.
Grinding unlocked (Tier 0):
Slightly reduces time taken and effort required for repetitive tasks.
Multitasking unlocked (Tier 0):
Improves ability to manage multiple simultaneous actions.
Mental Calculations unlocked (Tier 0):
Improves ability in basic mental arithmetics.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Status (Tier 1 - Level 14): Improved clarity in physical conditions and attribute estimates.
Log (Tier 1 - Level 15): Increased capacity to store 250 messages and refined classification of Skill notifications (”Inspect”, “Status”) versus System Notifications.
Help (Tier 1 - Level 16): Enhanced detail for system notifications and skill descriptions.
Inspect (Tier 1 - Level 12): More accurate estimates of observable dimensions and detailed descriptions.
Focus (Tier 0 - Level 9): Enhanced mental clarity, concentration, and endurance for sustained tasks.
Grinding (Tier 0 - Level 9): Improved time and effort reduction for repetitive tasks.
Gathering (Tier 0 - Level 4): Improved collection speed and reduced energy expenditure.
Walking (Tier 0 - Level 6): Improved efficiency and stamina during physical movement.
Multitasking (Tier 0 - Level 9): Improved capacity to handle simultaneous mental and physical tasks.
Mental Map (Tier 0 - Level 3): Improved accuracy and recall of mapped locations..
Mental Calculations (Tier 0 - Level 2): Improved ability in basic mental arithmetics.
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Kai smirked broadly as he scanned through the notification logs. The rapid progression was almost addictive, and he could see the foundations of his strategy coming together especially with the addition of Grinding and Multitasking skill.
“Focus, Grinding and Multitasking, these meta skills are going to be indispensable! Sign me up for everything that will improve the efficiency of skill levelling. Odd that they are all neatly sitting at Tier 0 level 9 though.. Frig.”
Kai sweared as he smacked his head in frustration. “I missed the Tier up notifications… I hope experience accumulates and carries over after Tiering up else it’ll be a waste.”
He leaned back against the glowing tree trunk, glancing at the list of skills that had reached their tier-up thresholds. The sight of Multitasking, Grinding, and Focus waiting to ascend felt like the System itself was urging him forward. These skills weren’t just useful—they were the keys to accelerating everything else.
“Time to push these through,” Kai muttered with a grin, mentally confirming the advancements.
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SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Multitasking: Tier 0 - Level 9 has advanced to Tier 1 Level 10.
Improved capacity to manage multiple simultaneous actions with greater efficiency.
Grinding: Tier 0 - Level 9 has advanced to Tier 1 Level 10.
Reduces time and effort for repetitive tasks and improves the yield of cumulative actions.
Focus: Tier 0 - Level 9 has advanced to Tier 1 Level 10.
Enhanced mental clarity and endurance for sustained tasks with increased effectiveness.
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As the upgrades completed, a rush of clarity swept over him. The strain he’d been managing subtly throughout the day—the mental juggling, the constant stream of commands—eased significantly. It wasn’t just that things felt easier; everything felt smoother, with the equivalent of a strong auto-aim adjusting his every action.
Kai immediately noticed the difference as he resumed grinding. His mind handled the simultaneous cycling of Inspect, Status, Log, and Help far more effectively than before, and he was able to maintain this mental loop while physically moving around the safe zone and gathering materials without missing a beat.
“This is insane,” Kai whispered, marveling at the efficiency. “It’s like the skills are doing half the work for me.”
He picked up a smooth stone near the stream, throwing an Inspect command as he examined it.
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SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Stone: Smooth gray pebble, roughly 6 cm in diameter, 250g. Suitable for crafting basic tools or as a throwing weapon.
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Kai smiled at the precision of the result. Each skill worked in tandem now, the meta-skills amplifying his overall efficiency. Even while inspecting the stone, Multitasking allowed him to simultaneously log the resource’s location on his Mental Map and continue refining his other skills through rapid command cycling.
It wasn’t long before the new tiered skills began paying dividends.
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SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Focus (Tier 1 - Level 11): Improved stamina for sustained mental exertion.
Grinding (Tier 1 - Level 11): Increased experience yield for repetitive actions.
Multitasking (Tier 1 - Level 11): Expanded ability to manage concurrent tasks without cognitive overload.
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Kai felt the results immediately. His mental commands became faster and more efficient, and the constant cycling of tasks that would have left anyone else overwhelmed was now relaxing—even mundane.