Chapter 19 - Max Level! (Patreon)

[Sin of Lust sighed in relief that it was over.]

Nova narrowed his eyes. Even his Sin was scared of it, so it must be some kind of hidden Boss!

Nova looked around, but he was shocked speechless. All around him was a grand city that spread quite far, houses were built either from rocks or bricks. There were paved side-walks and roads for transportation. There were street lanterns all around.

Nova could not believe his eyes.

"Hello~!" A cheerful young lady approached him. "Welcome to the Starting Town."

"Isn't this city?" Nova couldn't help but say it out loud.

The young lady chuckled. "Everyone has the same reaction, but this is just a 'name' for this place. It has nothing to do with its size." She puffed up her chest.

"Okay, how can I continue to the next Boss?" Nova sighed. He didn't really need anything currently, so he would just skip the Starting Town.

"You don't intend to fight a High Elf with a wooden sword, right?" The young lady frowned.

"That doesn't matter." Nova shook his head. He wanted to try and battle a harder version of the Elf he met in the >Easy Tutorial.

The young lady shook her head. "What a shame that you will die." She sighed. "Follow me."

She led the way to another location. It was sort of a small shrine with that hateful 'angel' on top of it.

"You can enter from here. There are no checkpoints, so keep that in mind." The young lady was quite dismissive, since she didn't believe that he would be able to kill the Boss.

Nova nodded gently and proceeded forward.

...

[You have entered the final Boss Room!]

Nova immediately readied himself, since he expected getting shot by an arrow, but that arrow did not come.

Instead of the projection that he expected, a half rotten corpse was staring at him. There was fire burning instead of its eyes, like it was the same with that strange individual.

Nova tilted his head. The undead was unable to move quickly, much less notch an arrow into its bow.

Nova felt something wrong about this, but he still stepped forward. Either he kills it, or he will be killed.

The undead slowly approached him, and Nova did the same.

When he was within the striking range of his sword, the undead Elf's eyes suddenly shone.

Nova felt a strange feeling of weightlessness. He then noticed that his body was cut into parts as his head flew across the room!

...

Nova respawned in a familiar place, but he didn't move for a while... He still couldn't believe what happened!

That undead was able to cut him into pieces in a matter of a moment. It made him completely speechless.

'That's JUST >Hard?!' He couldn't believe it at all!

Nova couldn't figure out how much strength one needed to conquer >Hard, much less >Hell.

'This is a joke...' Nova snorted, but he didn't give up just yet.

'I can Level up more right now.' He would gather more Skills, before he changed his Class into a proper one.

'Let's do that right now.' Nova was not discouraged at all!

He immediately went into the >Hard Tutorial.

...

Nova bypassed everything and only focused on levelling up. He ignored the system, ignored the Sin of Lust and even his equipment.

He wanted to get as strong as possible!

...
......
.........

[Class: {[Commoner Lv.99], [Mortal Lv.99], [Trainee Lv.99]}]

'It's stuck again...' Nova frowned. He had been levelling up for quite a long time, yet he was unable to reach that Max Level.

He kept smashing them until his sword could no longer hold shape. His sword had a total of 350 durability! Yet, it could not bear the relentless abuse from him.

It happened just when he used his fists...

[Level Up!]
[Class: {[Commoner Lv.99->Max], [Mortal Lv.99->Max], [Trainee Lv.99->Max]}]

'Fuck yeah!' Nova immediately jumped from happiness, since he was in this dump for such a long time...

*Crunch*

...

He returned to the very beginning to look at his Skills!

[Commoner has reached Level 90, please choose one Skill: [Endless Night], [Stars Guidance], [Nature Guidance]]
[Mortal has reached Level 90, please choose one Skill: [Tinkering], [Invention], [Research]]
[Trainee has reached Level 90, please choose one Skill: [General], [Grand Leader], [One against All]]

[Commoner has reached Level 99, please choose one Skill: [Slave Worker], [Last Explorer]]
[Mortal has reached Level 99, please choose one Skill: [Pleasure of Loneliness], [Last Road Ahead]]
[Trainee has reached Level 99, please choose one Skill: [Walking Fortress], [Final Hope]]

[Commoner has reached Max, please choose one ???: [Selfless] - [Self-Serving]]
[Mortal has reached Max, please choose one ???: [Blessed] - [Enlightened]]
[Trainee has reached Max, please choose one ???: [Hero] - [Royalty]]

##################################################

[Endless Night (✦)]
[Passive (Unique) - Endless Walk: You will regenerate more resources during the night! (Condition: Night)]
[Passive (Unique) - Pleasure Night: You can't be outdone during the night! (Condition: Night, Intercourse)]

"I might consider it..." Since he already had the Sin of Lust, he might go for it.

[Stars Guidance (✦)]
[Passive (Unique) - Sea of Stars: Stars will guide you during the endless Nights! (Condition: Night, Sky Full of Stars)]
[Active (Unique) - Calling the Stars: The stars will shine upon you. You will never be alone! (Condition: Night, Sky Full of Stars)]

"Not bad, especially during voyages." Nova nodded gently.

[Nature Guidance (✦)]
[Passive (Unique) - Sea of Trees: Nature will guide you in times of need... (Condition: Greenery)]
[Active (Unique) - Calling the Dryads: The dryads might guide you... (Condition: Greenery, Trees)]

"Too questionable..." Nova sighed.

[Tinkering (✦)]
[Passive (???) - Grand Craftsman: Other passives will apply to this Skill!]
[Active (Unique) - Tinkerer of Ages: You can tinker with anything! Change its properties and adjust it! The sky is the limit! (Condition: Considered Item)]

"The best thing I could ever ask for!" His eyes shone brightly.

[Invention (✦)]
[Active (Unique) - Grand Inventor: You can invent things that are not in Akashic Records! (Condition: Full Insight into the Thing)]

"I already decided on the previous one, so nope, you can't convince me." Nova shook his head.

[Research (✦)]
[Active (Unique) - Grand Researcher: You can research and get information on anything you want! (Condition: Safety First)]

"Nope." He grinned.

[General (✦)]
[Passive (Unique) - Grand General: You can lead every Soldier! (Condition: World Army)]
[Active (Unique) - Insurmountable Morale: Your Armies' Morale will never drop into dangerous territory! (Conditions: Entertainment for at least 50% of your Army)]

"Skip~" Nova was in an incredibly good mood.

[Grand Leader (✦)]
[Passive (Unique) - Grand Leader: You can lead anyone! (Condition: Knowledge, Leadership)]

"Skiiip~" He hummed happily.

[One against All (✦)]
[Passive (Unique) - Fearless: You will not fear the impossible! ]
[Passive (Unique) - All Alone: You stand in front of an endless Army, alone, but you will never surrender! Increases your stats if you are alone! (Condition: All Alone)]
[Active (Unique) - Might of Ages: As long as you stand tall, all will fear you! Decreases the Morale of the enemy! (Condition: Standing)]

"Come to daddy~" He laughed.

##################################################

[Slave Worker (✦)]
[Passive (???) - Slave of Ages: As long as someone orders you, you will complete the orders flawlessly! (Condition: Order)]

"Do not insult me." Nova glared at it.

[Last Explorer (✦)]
[Passive (???) - The Last Explorer: We know our way anywhere we go. There is no map that we can't read. No place that we can't visit. No place that can be hidden from us!]

"Sounds powerful..." Nova flexed his muscles, which were few in number.

[Pleasure of Loneliness (✦)]
[Passive (???) - The Grand Monk: The Monk that was always alone. The same Monk that was the strongest in the world! Increase your stats by X%! (Condition: Stay alone for at least 10,000 days)]

"Nope." He needed someone to talk to, so this was impossible.

[Last Road Ahead (✦)]
[Passive (???) - The Road of No Return: This is a road of no return. If you go there, you won't be able to come back. It's a road of self-destruction, but at the same time, a road of truth. Do you still wish to go that way?]
[Buff/Curse(?): You will see the Truths of the World, but you are doomed to suffer for it.]

"Could be worse." Nova smirked.

[Walking Fortress (✦)]
[Passive (???) - Grand Fortress: I alone can hold armies back. I alone will stand like a tall wall. I alone protect this Last City! I alone will die defending what I love!
[Buff: Your defence will increase the more you wish to protect.]

"That sounds seriously badass, but I won't have that much to protect..." He narrowed his eyes.

[Final Hope (✦)]
[Passive (???) - One Last Shining Light: Final hope in an endlessly dark tunnel. I can't see anything, but I can't collapse here. I will not collapse!]
[Buff: Additional Life. Replenishes all of your energies and cooldowns. (You need to replenish it with X amount of Vitality.)]

"Ohhh boy. I can already see the trouble incoming." He grinned.

##################################################

[Selfless] - [Self-Serving]

"Self-Serving. Without a question." Nova nodded.

[Blessed] - [Enlightened]

"Enlightened. I do believe in Blessings, but I believe more in my own knowledge." Nova analysed his own personality.

[Hero] - [Royalty]

"I'm no Hero..." Nova shook his head.

##################################################

Now that he went through all of them. He would pick them.

[You have chosen: [Endless Night (✦)]]

"That's for you, Lust. So reward me properly~" Nova chuckled.

[Sin of Lust pouted. ( ￣^￣)]
[Effects: Max Vitality: +20%]

"Thank you~" He smiled. Even 5% was a lot for him!

[You have chosen: [Tinkering (✦)]]
[Inferior version removed: [Reinforce Equipment Lv.Max/1 (✦)], [Craftsmanship Lv.Max/1 (✦)]]

"Without a question." He smirked. He would be able to adjust his equipment, and possibly wipe out those disgraceful Embryos!

[You have chosen: [One against All (✦)]]

"This is just perfect for me after the threat from that guy." Nova nodded. He had to pick in order to survive, so this one was due to that.

"I'm no slave!" Nova proclaimed.

[You have chosen: [Last Explorer (✦)]]
[Inferior version removed: [Pathfinder Lv.Max/1 (✦)]]

[You have chosen: [Last Road Ahead (✦)]]

"This one was kind of hard to swallow, but I can't pick anything else..." Nova sighed.

[You have chosen: [Last Hope (✦)]]

"Without a question once again. This is just too good to pass on, especially thanks to that threat." Nova snorted.

[You have chosen: [Self-Serving]]
[You have chosen: [Enlightened]]
[You have chosen: [Royalty]]

"I have no idea what these do, so I will pick what resonates with me..." Nova narrowed his eyes.

[Self-Serving]
[You will get more loot as long as it serves your selfish purpose.]
[Unlock new 'Classes'.]

[Enlightened]
[You will gain more Insight, a lot more Insight.]
[Unlock new 'Classes'.]

[Royalty]
[You stand above all.]
[Unlock new 'Classes'.]

"These are incredible!" Nova smirked. He should be limited in Classes, but even if he gained just SubClasses, it was still worth it!

"So you have finally lost it, huh?" Tom interrupted Nova's celebration, which pissed him off.

"Piss off." Nova said as he clicked the >Easy Tutorial.

...

"This familiar hallway looks so pretty. Even the dust is so tasty!" Nova lost his mind.

He didn't know how much time he spent in this place, but it must've been a lot, since his own mind was quite worn out, even more so now.

He danced around, dodging the traps, until he made it to the front of the second part of the Tutorial.

Nova tilted his head and then smiled evilly. "You will have to wait for me, you little green bastards. I will just power up~!"

There was no danger here! Nova would be able to obtain proper Classes finally!

"So what do I do first..." Nova narrowed his eyes. "I have plenty of Vitality, so let's start with that!" He took out the [How to nurture Aura inside your body].

As he opened it, information flooded his mind.

"Was it always this convenient?" Nova tilted his head. The book turned into dust. "Ohoh, so it's one-time use, and if you don't remember everything, you are screwed." He clicked his tongue. "What a vicious place." He shook his head. 'But I remember reading it without it vanishing, so what's really going on?' He raised his eyebrow.

"First thing first~" Nova sat down, since the first part was to get a feel for his heart beating.

He waited quietly in the even quieter hallway. There were no people bickering around, no assholes getting close to him, no traps triggering. It was peaceful.

*Ba-dump**Ba-dump*

At that moment of stillness, Nova was finally able to hear his own heartbeat.

It was quiet, frighteningly so.

"I never knew I was so weak..." Nova gripped his chest. He was doing quite well, all things considered, but compared to others, he was abysmally slow...

Most had already cleared the >Easy Tutorial dozens of times, and some even left the Tutorial altogether.

Yet he was still stuck with not even one Final Boss defeated...

"I will grow stronger." Nova said quietly. With this newfound determination, he kept sitting down.

He would crack this down and progress through the book.

*Ba-dump**Ba-dump*

*Ba-dump**Ba-dump*

*Ba-dump**Ba-dump*

Nova was able to hear the constant beating of his heart and the warmth that spread through his body.

"The next part is to fight a monster while listening to your heartbeat." Nova frowned slightly.

It didn't say ambush them but fight them. That meant he would have to fight head-on to complete this part.

Nova gently stood up, wanting to get right to it, but then he realised something.

"I can't hear my own heartbeat any more..." Nova was shocked. The moment he stood up, he could no longer hear his own heartbeat!

"This is troubling." Nova frowned. He would have to get used to hearing his heartbeat even while walking, working and finally, during fights.

'But how do I do that?' Nova did not know how to do it.

'Practice makes perfect?' Nova sighed. This was the only way forward for now. 'Unless I get 'Enlightened', heh.' He chuckled.

Nova slowly sat back down on the ground in order to hear his heartbeat again.

"I feel like a child who is learning how to walk..." Nova chuckled.

[Sin of Lust is encouraging you in this strange training.]

"Shush." Nova chuckled again.

[Sin of Lust ( ￣^￣) ]

Nova once again focused on his heartbeat. It took a while to get a grasp on it, but he felt it once again.

The quiet beating inside his body. Slowly spreading the rivers of life through his body.

Nova felt warmer the longer he listened to it. It was a nice sound that was slowly putting him to sleep.

'This is nice...' Nova fell asleep inside the familiar hallway.

...

"Ugh..." Nova woke up cranky. He didn't think that he would fall asleep just like that!

"That soothing sound is simply amazing!" Nova rubbed his cranky body. "If I could put my enemies to sleep just from being around them, that would be amazing." He smirked.

"But now that begs the question... how am I supposed to train if I fall asleep?" Nova rubbed his head gently. "Do I have to go and do the 'First learn how to sprint before you learn how to walk'? That sounds too dangerous. What if I fall asleep during a fight and get captured?" Nova frowned. He could not figure out a proper way to do this.

'The item also didn't describe how to achieve it by steps, so I'm pretty much relying on my wits.' Nova clicked his tongue. 'Let's do it like this...' He narrowed his eyes. 'Once I hear the first heartbeat, I will try to stand up. If I can keep standing, then I will start moving and so on.' He nodded to himself. That was quite a good plan for now.

He sat down once again, feeling his body's heartbeat, but once he made the slightest of movements, that sound and feeling disappeared.

Nova did it again and again, countless times until he gave up. "I can't progress like this..." He frowned. "I will have to use 'that', but it will hurt..." He clicked his tongue.

*Crunch*

...

Nova was back at the starting area and stretched his neck. In order to do this, he needed the healing ability of the beginning area.

He would overload his brain with information and then only focus on his body.

While he was at it, he would also use the Healing Breathing to consume his Vitality, and he could, in theory, Level up his necklace? His necklace did Level up after he lost a lot of Vitality, so it was possible to hit two birds with one stone!

Nova ignored them and sat down under a lone tree. There were others too, but they were likewise meditating, so Nova just joined them without saying a word.

As he sat down, some of them glanced at him. Most of them had the same clothing as he did, so he could understand what kind of thing they were possibly doing.

He closed his eyes and used his unstable, broken brain to register all the information he could. At the same time, he also slowly adjusted his breathing so that [Healing Breathing] would activate.

[Your [Vitality Necklace Embryo] has grown, thanks to the [Growth] Effect!]
[Your [Vitality Necklace Embryo] has grown, thanks to the [Growth] Effect!]
[Your [Vitality Necklace Embryo] has grown, thanks to the [Growth] Effect!]

As expected, this was a powerful combination, but he would not be able to attempt this outside of this place, since he would absolutely drain himself at best and die at worst.

He felt blood rushing through his body. The sound was repulsive, considering that it was one of the things that kept him alive.

The heartbeat was clearer than ever, quietly beating, waiting for something.

Nova breathed out. He didn't know how much time passed, but he felt drained even here.

[You have found a Secret.]
[Acquired: Aura Sprout]

[Aura Sprout]
[First step to acquire Aura.]

Nova plopped down on his back and felt a gaze on him.

"What is it?" Nova asked without looking around.

"You were quite menacing." A soft male voice said.

"Possible, since I was in pain." Nova was softly breathing, resting his weary brain.

"Amusing." The voice snorted. He didn't believe him at all, since this place could heal everything.

Nova ignored him, since he didn't need to explain anything.

[Vitality Necklace Embryo is panicking!]
[Vitality Necklace Embryo failed to protect you again, and it's grieving!]

'It's fine...' Nova sighed and looked at the necklace.

[Vitality Necklace Embryo (Q-31): 217/217 ((5×31)×(1+.4))]
[Rarity: Starting Gear Lv.30/30]
[Traits: [Growth], [Soulbound], [Persisting], [Chastity Embryo], [Powerful Feeling], [Soft Energy]]
[Bonus Stats:
Vitality: +61%
Willpower: +61%
All Willpower Gain: +61%
Energy Softness: +61%
Comfort: +61%
Awareness: 31/100]
[Growth: +30% All 'Effects', +30% All Bonus Stats, +30 Quality]
[Soulbound: Nova]

[Powerful Feeling]
[Effect: Increase your Willpower and All Willpower Gain!]

[Soft Energy]
[Effect: Your Energy is much softer, but not less powerful!]

[author]

I figured out how to make the multiplication~! Now I just need to edit more... x]

[/author]