The arrow flew through the slime and its core.

As I let go of the arrow, there was an explosion right in front of me, most likely because of how close it was.

I couldn't dodge that explosion, no matter what.

I should have died by then, but I didn't.

Despite being thrown a great distance and rolling for several meters on the ground, my body managed to endure the impact.

Most importantly, I'm still alive.

Although, of course, I had a preventative plan to defend; it was still a pretty risky bet.

"I nearly died here."

Just now, I quickly upgraded the Protection Necklace using a magic stone and Echidna Flower before heading to see the boss.

Usage: Once → Twice a day. (0/2)

-Re:Counter (New!)

When active, increase your next "Attack Damage" by all the damage taken.

And if that attack is a "Critical Hit", refill the "Re:Counter" by a quarter of that "Attack Damage".

Current Energy: 10%.

--------

'[Redemption Necklace]…'

It is an incredibly powerful, even game-breaking, set of items that only one person has found and he refuses to share any information about it.

And the thing that disrupts the game balance the most is this "Re:Counter" function.

I used it earlier to increase the firepower of the attack by many times.

And I was really lucky too.

Although the Critical Rate reached 42.5%.

[The passive of [Formless Bow] gave 10%, the fully [Charged Attack] gave 17.5%, [Aim Assistant] gave 10%, and [Stab] gave 5%.

I don't know why it ranks E- though.

'It's kinda broken for an E-rank weapon.'

Or maybe because the [Critical Rate] is really low, and its rank drops too.

But, whatever, most importantly, I accidentally got [Redemption Necklace].

'It looks perfect.'

And It also surged in strength.

"Perhaps it has recovered by a quarter of my finishing move as the function was written."

So now one of the three artifacts to make a full set now belongs to me.

The only 2 items left are a pair of gloves and a belt bag.

The way I used to upgrade the necklace is... of course, that's a bug.

== [Detected an error!] ==

== [Review: it can seriously affect the World!] ==

== [Initiate the debugging process immediately!] ==

== [The bug has been completely annihilated!] ==

Sigh.

'Rip another bug.'

The [Reward Chest] suddenly appeared where the Boss was fading.

I went to the chest and opened it.

----Reward Chest----

[Charisma Potion (C)], [Main Stats' Growth Boosting Potion (D-)]x3, [Lightning Magic Book]

----

'So I could learn [Lightning magic] now.'

Even though I couldn't get it as a skill right away, at least I didn't have to be struck by lightning to learn it.

In addition, I also received a [Charisma Potion] rank C!

'Fantastic! I won't need to wear a mask all the time.'

'Soon.'

----Items---

[Charisma Potion] (C)

Description: A very good potion for an ugly idiot.

-Beautify

Upon consuming, immediately increase [Charisma] permanently by 1 stat point.

And after that, every day[Charisma] stat will be increased by 0.05 stat points until it reaches 20.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

--------

'Who wrote this description?'

'Why so personal?!'

Sigh.

I immediately drank it without waiting for anything.

[Charisma: 2 (Unranked).]

I also had 3 potions to boost my growth even faster.

"I should probably use this at the gym."

I put all the items in the ring and then its magic stone part changed from blue to red.

'Perhaps it's out of space.'

'I need to buy a new one sooner than I thought.'

I exited the Temple through the portal.

Since it's already late afternoon, I plan to build muscles and core in the upcoming days by going to the gym and wrapping up the final two days before the class placement test.

Sigh.

The main storyline is about to begin, and of course, comes with many new challenges that are even more difficult.

'Come on, let's go.'

* *

7.30 P.M.

I have walked to the city successfully.

'I swear I'll make a lot of money to buy the gate.'

Entering the city, I encountered quite a few students of Spiral Academy.

The reason I know is that they're wearing the unique uniform of the world's number 1 academy. On the sleeve is attached the spiral, the symbol of the school.

Many Streamers analyze it as the image that represents the strings of fate that are closely tied together.

'You can see it with your own eyes to see how beautiful it is.'

'Not to mention, most of them are pretty good-looking.'

They were standing here probably gathered for that class test.

'I shouldn't go out there because that would make me pretty stand out.'

But from the back, I can see the main characters.

They all have something very eye-catching.

I mean, literally, there were a lot of students and passersby looking over them.

Let me introduce the main characters.

We have the person who will become the strongest in the world, a boy with blue hair and blue eyes.

'Takahashi Haruki.'

Standing next to the male character, obviously the female character, the royal princess of England - the Williams. It was Charlotte Williams with the signature blonde hair of royalty.

Next, we have another princess of Russia, my crush in this game.

Don't judge me!

This character has a very interesting backstory, and her design is top-notch in this game too.

Don't you dare judge me!

'She looks gorgeous...'

I paused as if she had infatuated me.

'This is what it feels like to meet your other half.'

Let me introduce you to her. Her name is Volkov Katia, and as I was saying, she is the only princess of Russia with her elegant silver hair.

And I forgot to tell you this vital information.

'I am currently in England.'

England is one of the most fortunate countries because the First Hero was born‌ here.

Thus, England is currently the most peaceful country on Earth.

However, instead of dominating other countries, they even offered help.

And later they founded the best hero academy for students all around the world.

Therefore, we have achieved the long-awaited peace.

I ignored it and put on the mask.

'They have nothing to do with me in this world anyways.'

I passed them and accidentally bumped into someone.

'Huh? Who did I bump into?'

Ah... that's the girl I don't like the most in this game.

Esther White, a girl from the Five Great Nobles with jet-black hair,

She is also quite beautiful.

"You peasant, what are you doing walking around!?"

See, very unlikable.

"I didn't do it on purpose."

"You don't know who I am, do you? And what is that weird mask?"

'This girl is the most arrogant and hot-tempered person in the group.'

Another person tried to dissuade her.

"Come on, Esther-san."

"Haruki, get out of my way so I can deal with this idiot."

"Esther, stop it."

Katia raised her clear voice, making my heart beat faster.

"We're standing in the middle of the road."

"Stop messing around with people weaker than you, Esther."

"Whatever."

Although Esther immediately shut her mouth up, she looked kind of furious.

'This is the relationship between Esther and Katia.'

'Katia is also really arrogant and superior in the early phase of the main storyline.'

A hand gently appeared in front of me.

"I'm sorry for bumping into you."

"Are you okay?"

I stood up by myself though.

"I'm alright."

'I just wanna get the hell out of here.'

Then suddenly.

"Ryoshu?" Charlotte said my name.

"Huh?"

Then not only me but also their entire group was dumbfounded.

They were staring at me.

Esther took out my mask so quickly that I couldn't see her hand.

"Why does your freaking face look so disgusting?"

"Um, well I gotta admit that you look really different from a week ago." Haruki tried to salvage the sticky situation.

'So my character knew them… That's new.'

Esther then insulted me.

"I cannot believe that this idiot tried to be your boyfriend, Charlotte."

'What the hell?'

'Really dude? I cannot believe that too.'

'They must be thinking that I was so lovesick that I ruined my face.'

"So you were that sad when being rejected?"

'Told ya.'

Sigh. I have to flee quickly.

Many people on the street were looking at me, making me feel insecure as hell.

"No."

"Are you guys done yet?"

"Goodbye."

She tried to catch me,

"Hey, hey, where are you going? I'm not done with you yet."

But this time I used [Lightning Reflexes] to hold her forearm.

And at the same time, I reached and took back my mask.

I glowered coldly at her.

"Esther White."

"You wanna start something?"

She silenced and hesitated.

I immediately turned around, put the mask on, and went directly to the gym without looking back.

However, I still need to cut her way to find me entirely though.

So.

"Hidden." I whined.

"Where is he?"

"That freaking bastard!"

"I hate you!"

She was standing there and barked loudly.

"I didn't ask you though."

I just went on my way to the gym.

* *

8.06 P.M.

I went to the same gym where I practiced archery.

This gym is called "Muscle Number One".

"That name is weird."

And as I had suspected, the System did not give me a quest.

I'm just partially a Player, so although I can appraise other items and check my detailed stats, I still can't do any other things, which is unfortunate.

Being a Player has so many perks, such as a quest system or an inventory system.

Sigh.

'How can I upgrade my system?'

That's a very tricky question.

There is no way to upgrade an [Authority] as far as I'm concerned.

[Authority] is a special ability that a few ones could get in the game.

Even though it's a single-player game, once you take the [Unique Item]... those items will be unique for just that person like forever.

And [Unique Item] will also include [Authority],

'So I'm really confused about my [Authority].'

'How can the [System] be an Authority?'

Sigh.

There is no point in thinking about it now.

At the moment, I have to train to be capable of joining class A!

I paid another 10 RC for two days using their room service again.

"Okay, let's just practice then."

I sat down and meditated.

'Today I will break through my [Store] ability into another realm!'

[Store: 10 (Unranked).]

'And to do that, I need to rank up my [Mana Core] trait to rank F.'

I began circulating my Mana Core and the circuit as I went.

'Ugh. It hurts a lot.'

The process would be swift since my [Mana] and [Magic] potentials have achieved rank F.

"It has only been 10 minutes anyways."

"I just need to endure it for a while."

[The Host's "Mana Core" has been widened!]

[Your trait "Basic Mana Core" has ranked up to rank F.]

Unfortunately, when leveling up, traits will not give bonus skills or anything unless they go to a new realm., it means I have to rank it up to rank E-.

But that's okay, that's not my purpose either.

[Store: 10 (Unranked) → 11 (F-).]

'This is my purpose.'

Now it feels like my Mana capacity should be more than double.

'Great, I have temporarily fixed my Mana problem for now.'

Huff.

I took out three [Main Stats' Growth Boosting Potion (D-)] potions.

"Now it's time to blow my [Main Stats] up!'

"Let's grind!"