- Oliver -
Oliver said goodbye to Nico, who would return to the hotel to prepare for the trip to Olympus. The boy, in turn, would embark on another journey back to New Earth. For him, this was the worst part of the trip; the ship always shook too much during atmospheric re-entry.
Sitting in his seat while the noise of the engines filled the cabin, Oliver activated his gauntlet to analyze what had changed with his latest evolution. A hologram floated before his eyes, displaying his status page.
| Status Page
| User: Oliver [Nameless]
| Level: 4 [Knight]
| Experience: [130/800]
| Credits: 7,100
| Congrats you're Knight-level
A notification from Athena appeared, congratulating him. Oliver gave an ironic smile.
"Impressive, but damn, now I need an absurd amount of experience," he thought as he looked at the first part of his profile.
Oliver slid his finger over the hologram, revealing his attributes.
| Select your main status.
| Stats
| Strength: 7 [Pawn] [Select]
| Agility: 14 [Knight] [Select]
| Constitution: 6 [Pawn] [Select]
| Energy: 14 [Knight] [Select]
Just below, a new option blinked on the hologram that only he could see. He could now select which attribute would be his main one, each with a blinking button awaiting his choice.
"Strength and Constitution are good. They helped me a bit to advance in the Trial Tower, but it's not my fighting style," the boy reflected. "Maybe they'd help me use [Prometheus] for a longer time, but it should be a finisher, not something I use during a long fight," he thought, looking at his options.
"Energy could increase the power of [Prometheus] and maybe boost the firing strength of the Energy Pistol," Oliver analyzed; it would be a good option. But thinking about his recent battles, agility had always been the one to save him.
He used it to flee from the Orks, escape the Goblins, protect himself in the Trial Tower, and even fight against Kyle.
The boy felt that this was the right choice.
He finally pressed [Select].
| +5 Points in Agility
| Agility is your Main Status
| Agility will be cheaper than your other stats
| Stats Shop Open!
| Stats
| Strength: 7 [Pawn] [Buy for 400 Exp]
| Agility: 19 [Knight] [Buy for 200 Exp]
| Constitution: 6 [Pawn] [Buy for 400 Exp]
| Energy: 14 [Knight] [Buy for 400 Exp]
As soon as he confirmed his choice, several new notifications appeared. The first indicated the increase in agility points. Oliver frowned.
"I don't feel any different," he thought, even seeing the disproportionate increase in his points.
"Now I can buy more points. The options keep increasing, but now that I need 800 experience to level up, it's better to start investing in Boons," he analyzed while looking at his boons.
| Boons
| Insight [Pawn][Growth]
| [Use 200 Experience Points to Upgrade]
|
| Observation [Pawn][Growth]
| [Use 200 Experience Points to Upgrade]
|
| Left Eye of Learning [Knight]
|
| Right Eye of Secrets [Knight]
|
"Secrets?" the boy thought, curious about what he had just unlocked.
Clicking on the new item, a second screen appeared with a simple description.
| Right Eye of Secrets [Knight]
| While your left eye will teach you about the world, this eye will show you the opportunities behind the world.
"What the hell is this?!" he exclaimed internally, surprised and not fully understanding how the new Boon worked.
However, he noticed something strange. A list of pending notifications was in the corner of his screen, but that wasn't precisely what caught his attention.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
What confused him was that some golden lights were around the notification—something that had never appeared before.
‘Could it be the effect of the eye?’ Oliver thought. ‘Alright. Let's see.’
He clicked in the area where the golden glows danced. A series of old notifications in his message box started to appear automatically.
| New technique learned
| New system unlocked - Traits
| New Trait unlocked
| New Trait unlocked
| New Trait unlocked
Oliver noticed that the first notification was from the time he was imprisoned.
‘So I'm still evolving; I just don't receive notifications of what I've got?’ he questioned.
| You unlock the evolution, but it will only take effect upon contact with a Z Crystal - Athena explained, appearing in a side window.
‘So the new technique was learned using the [Left Eye of Learning], but I need to use the Z Crystal to absorb it?’ Oliver asked.
| Exactly. You use part of your Energy to use the ability, but your connection to the crystal allows you to internalize it - Athena confirmed.
Oliver was about to click on the first notification when the ship experienced slight turbulence. The boy took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, and refocused on the system before him.
| New technique learned
| [Language] Orkish
| Progress: 10.59%
| You heard 5,433 minutes of Orkish.
| You are now able to understand the fundamentals of the language.
‘What?!’ Oliver's eyes widened. ‘So I can learn anything? I thought techniques were only for combat.’
| Hey! It's the Left Eye of Learning, not the Left Eye of Combat - Athena said jokingly.
‘Yeah, makes sense,’ Oliver nodded.
The boy was curious to test what he had just learned but didn't want to have to look for a random video of an Ork.
‘I'll do this later,’ he thought as he looked at the other notifications that still needed his attention.
| New system unlocked - Traits
| Traits
| This menu was unlocked when you reached level [Knight]
| Your achievements will help you adapt and survive against your opponents.
| Complete the conditions and unlock Traits.
Oliver read the brief description before seeing a huge list with thousands of traits he could unlock.
| ■■■■■
| Use ten fishes to defeat an Ork
| ■■■■■
| Pilot a ship for 100 hours
| ■■■■■
| Pilot a mecha for 1,000 hours
The name of each trait seemed locked until he met the correct condition to unlock it. However, he had received three other notifications. Each of them appeared to be an unlocked trait.
| Radioactive Skin
| Survive radioactive poisoning ✔️
| Your resistance to radiation has increased [+50%]
| Masochist
| Receive 1,000 Lashings ✔️
| Your resistance to pain has increased [+50%]
| Titanic
| Survive an encounter with a Titan ✔️
| No effect. You were lucky.
‘Hey! Seriously, surviving a Titan doesn't have any effect?!’ the boy said to Athena.
| You just survived; you didn't even deal any damage to the Titan. So don't complain—it serves more as a medal - Athena replied.
‘Damn it,’ he thought internally.
Oliver closed the notifications, pensive. Despite not receiving anything for surviving a Titan, he couldn't deny that he had evolved considerably with this last progression.
The boy looked out the small window beside him. The stars shone intensely against the dark veil of space, and New Earth, in the distance, was beginning to emerge like a bluish jewel.
The soft voice of the onboard system announced, "Dear passengers, we will begin our atmospheric re-entry shortly. Please ensure you are properly seated."
As soon as the announcement ended, Oliver knew that the trip to the spaceport would be quick. He could then use teleportation to Mars and return to Katherine's house, making this the most peaceful part of his journey.
Although less than two days had passed since they separated, the boy felt tired, as if he had traveled an entire week. His shoulders and neck ached from being tense on the ship.
‘I'd rather get nauseous from teleporting than spend eight hours on a ship between one base and another,’ he thought, sighing.
Upon returning to Arcadia, Oliver needed to take one of the subways that ran beneath Mars to reach the central building, which served as both the official government tower and the residence of the Yorks.
The boy took a deep breath, relieved to be back.
Entering the building was easy; his registration had already been made when he was taken to the infirmary, marking him as an ally of the York family and, therefore, granting him access to the family's private levels—except for the throne room and the Heir's floor.
Oliver headed to the sixty-third floor. Katherine had explained that it was the floor the York family used daily. Upon opening the doors, he once again noticed the classic décor he had seen on the meeting room floor. Additionally, the tones of red and black were repeated—predominant colors in almost all official buildings of the Yorks or the government of Mars.
The boy was calmly walking through the silent corridors when he suddenly felt a tremor run through the building, followed by the muffled sound of an explosion. Dust and pieces of stone were thrown along the corridor. Worried about the possibility of an attack, Oliver ran in the direction from which the sound came.
Upon arriving at the room where the explosion had occurred, he encountered an unexpected scene. There were the two girls, both wearing their armors. Katherine wielded her bloodied sword, and Isabella had her gloves.
"Cough, cough," Isabella coughed, trying to clear the dust from her face.
Katherine noticed Oliver's presence and flashed a challenging smile.
"Hey there! Ready to train?"