At this moment, the development abilities laid out before Gwen were three things unheard of in the world of DanMachi, clearly appearing because of what made Gwen special.
Nourish Soul with Soul was probably derived from the Spirit Awakening Scripture he cultivated, Gwen guessed. After all, those exact words had appeared directly in the item description.
However, Gwen could not determine whether Nourish Soul with Soul nourished his own soul and made it increasingly powerful, or nourished another's soul to achieve the effect of reviving the dead.
In comparison, Nourish Body with Soul, which likely also originated from the Spirit Awakening Scripture, was much easier to understand. A powerful soul would feed back into the flesh, accelerating the body's growth.
The appearance of this development ability also made Gwen wonder whether the reason he had progressed so quickly before was because this effect of the Spirit Awakening Scripture had been working, allowing his comparatively outstanding mental power to drive the growth of his other attributes.
As for the last one, Power of Earth, Gwen could basically confirm that it came from the Light Shadow Stone he had purchased.
Upon seeing this development ability, Gwen could also confirm that his constant infusion of energy into the Light Shadow Stone over this period had not been without direct gains. Instead, it had formed some sort of connection through a method he did not understand, causing this development ability option to appear in his body.
Still, while Power of Earth sounded rather intimidating, its literal meaning revealed no obvious effect.
Would standing on the ground grant all sorts of hidden buff bonuses?
But the problem was that Destiny Headquarters, where Gwen currently was, was a floating island in the sky. There was a high chance it would not be considered "earth."
After such a simple analysis, Gwen easily made his choice—Nourish Body with Soul.
The effects of Nourish Soul with Soul were unknown, and even if it acted on himself, it would most likely only strengthen his mental attribute. For Gwen, who cultivated the Spirit Awakening Scripture, that could only be considered an uncertain icing on the cake;
The effects of Power of Earth were equally unknown. Though its potential benefits might be enormous, it would most likely be useless to Gwen while he was on a floating island.
In comparison, Nourish Body with Soul, which would most likely use his mental attribute—the one destined to grow fastest—to drive the growth of his other attributes and thereby speed up his leveling, naturally became Gwen's best choice.
As for the other two... Gwen was not limited to leveling up just once. He could choose them slowly in the future.
Besides, for something like Nourish Soul with Soul, his own soul needed to be strong enough before it could support a new soul...
Sighing inwardly, Gwen stopped hesitating after making his decision. With a thought, he selected Nourish Body with Soul, confirmed it, and chose his first development ability.
The next moment, the other two flickering development abilities vanished, leaving behind only the dazzling Nourish Body with Soul.
At that point, Gwen's attribute panel returned to its original state, with no more selectable options.
"It's June 2012 now. There are still a year and a half until the Changkong City Honkai Incident at the start of 2014, and four and a half years until Queen's Arrival at the end of 2016.
I still have time, but not much.
Then... let's set a small goal first. Reach lv4 within a year!"
Recalling the various tragedies that had occurred in the original future, and having confirmed his potential with the system's help, Gwen set himself a short-term goal.
As for his long-term goal... there was no need to say it. But fantasizing about something so distant now would only make him restless, so Gwen merely kept it in his heart—
If Nourish Soul with Soul really resembled the Nourish Soul with Soul from his memories, then...
The conclusion that "the world allowed consciousness to match a new vessel, but did not allow vessels to gather dispersed consciousness" would be completely overturned.
Having set himself a small goal, Gwen, already brimming with energy after leveling up, felt even less sleepy.
Drawing on the experience he had gained half a month ago, Gwen circulated the Spirit Awakening Scripture to see whether simple cultivation could increase his mental power. At the same time, he opened the system shop and used its nearly endless white items to pass the time.
Another half month passed. Gwen's point balance had already exceeded ten thousand again, but since the limited-time shop was about to refresh, he temporarily restrained the urge to buy ten Invitation Letters. He planned to see whether the limited-time shop would refresh any good items before making a decision.
After all, Invitation Letters could go to waste, but items purchased from the shop with points would not—
The Spirit Awakening Scripture and the Light Shadow Stone alone had brought Gwen three development abilities.
Under such circumstances, using points to directly buy items had become a higher priority in Gwen's mind than sending Invitation Letters in an attempt to invite group members.
Time always passed quickly when browsing Taobao.
Gwen, who had allocated part of his consciousness to browsing the shop, had just opened the description for a new white item when his vision blurred. His viewpoint abruptly rose, and hazy light flickered continuously before his eyes, nearly blinding him.
He glanced at the timer above the limited-time shop and found that the remaining time had once again become one month. Knowing that the limited-time shop had refreshed, Gwen blinked away the discomfort caused by directly witnessing the shop refresh and turned his gaze to the items below, which were still all white.
He filtered through the items with practiced ease. Discovering that there were once again no gold or purple items, only two blue ones, Gwen frowned in disappointment, but still opened the two blue items for a quick look.
Upon discovering that they were again two things completely useless to him, Gwen could only put away his expectations, withdraw his gaze, and look toward the Invitation Letter above, which always emitted a faint golden light.
He clicked the Invitation Letter, selected ten copies, confirmed the purchase, and confirmed the send.
He clicked confirm with an uneasy heart. Gwen waited for a moment, yet saw no sign of any changes in the group member list.
Otto: I Will... Tear Down the Wall!
"Though Invitation Letters seem to have a high chance of failure now, there is still a chance that one or two out of ten will work.
Besides, if an Invitation Letter suddenly appears on a table for no reason, any normal person would treat it cautiously, right?
Perhaps after some time, once they confirm there is no problem, those who received the Invitation Letters will choose to open them..."
Though Gwen was somewhat disappointed, he had already prepared himself mentally and could calmly comfort himself. His emotions did not fluctuate much just because the points spent on Invitation Letters—enough to buy two Light Shadow Stones—had gone down the drain.
Withdrawing his gaze from the group member list, Gwen did not immediately close the system and go to sleep. Instead, he opened his attribute panel again.
His mental attribute had always been the exceptional EX, making it impossible for Gwen to directly notice the improvement brought by the Spirit Awakening Scripture.
Now that he had leveled up, Gwen naturally wanted to see whether the Spirit Awakening Scripture, which had cost him two hundred thousand points, actually had any effect.
Gwen—lv2 Strength—I0 Endurance—I0 Dexterity—I0 Mental—I10 Energy—I0 Energy System: None Development Ability: Nourish Body with Soul
"Is this what you'd expect from a gold item?
The effect is truly astonishing."
Seeing that merely cultivating the Spirit Awakening Scripture while distracted for three hours had increased his mental attribute by ten points, Gwen could not help but marvel inwardly.
There might have been the factor that Gwen's attributes were still relatively easy to raise at lv2, but he had not just focused all his attention on cultivation. He had only allocated a portion of his mind to cultivating, while a large part of his attention had been on examining the nearly countless white items.
Gwen could already foresee that even after his level rose, as long as he could cultivate the Spirit Awakening Scripture without restrictions, his mental attribute would still improve smoothly all the way.
As for now, this was all he could do—
Gwen was an amnesiac patient from three months ago. Without having encountered a certain Immortal, suddenly assuming strange postures to cultivate would look suspicious no matter how anyone saw it.
For the sake of caution, Gwen could not be sure whether there were surveillance cameras in his room, so this was all he could do.
Fortunately, as a divine art of the orthodox Mystic Gate, the Spirit Awakening Scripture also emphasized following nature and accumulating progress little by little. It could be circulated during daily activities.
After checking his attribute panel, Gwen glanced once more at the Chat Group, which still showed no changes whatsoever. In the end, he could only sigh silently, pull up the blanket, close his eyes, and sleep.
While Gwen closed his eyes and slept, Otto—the man Gwen deeply suspected and feared, to the point that Gwen had not even cultivated wholeheartedly in his own room—was still diligently working on the other side...
Of course, judging only by the content of his work, Otto, the Overseer of Destiny, could also be said to be neglecting his duties—
"Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
Looking at the increasingly clear results in Otto's hand, Void Archives clicked his tongue and said in an exaggerated tone,
"Should I say this is what one would expect from Otto Apocalypse's child?
He really is complicated enough.
He is clearly putting on an act, yet it is not entirely an act. There are also some genuine feelings mixed in."
"Humans are all complicated."
Otto, who was conducting the final summary, spoke calmly, as if Void Archives' chatter had not displeased him in the slightest—
People as simple-minded as Caslana were ultimately rare.
Besides, even a simple Caslana would use that not-so-clever brain of theirs in an unfamiliar and complicated environment, let alone an Apocalypse?"
"True enough. Someone like your elder brother only appeared once after so many generations in your family."
Void Archives agreed with a sigh, though his words precisely danced across every landmine—
Aside from Otto's dear elder brother, the Apocalypse family was either made up of calculating old men with schemes in their eyes, vicious women with hearts like snakes and scorpions, or clowns who had done every foolish thing imaginable...
"Heh...
Though a pure heart sounds nice, people with more complicated thoughts are more likely to survive most of the time."
A mocking curve rose at Otto's lips, yet his words still carried faint amusement as he looked at the profiling report in his hand—
When Gwen had encountered Amber in the cafeteria, among the Valkyries and staff members eating dinner in scattered groups, there had been an elegant lady with a gentle smile. She had silently observed the two, who had already become the center of attention, and profiled Gwen.
Similar observations had been conducted more than once over the past few months. The final combined result was the report in Otto's hand, as well as the assessment Void Archives had mentioned.
"So, are you planning to play the villain? Let our little Gwen understand the darkness of the world and remind him to be careful?"
Seeing that Otto remained unmoved, Void Archives put away his aggressive demeanor from earlier and asked curiously.
"No, no..."
Otto casually pressed the profiling report onto the desk and laid his hand over it, as though he wished to seize the person depicted on it in his grasp—
"All I need to do is help him tear down that wall, so that he can see the beautiful scenery beyond it.
After that, he will naturally understand what he should do..."
"Being forced to move forward by some unnamed mastermind, is that it?"
Void Archives mocked him, then changed the subject and said something that seemed unrelated to their current conversation—
"Looking at the forums now, people aren't even buying stocks one by one anymore. They've started buying couples..."
"Everything is simply following its natural course, isn't it?"
Otto smiled and casually gave Void Archives another full mute package.
Meanwhile, the profiling report beneath Otto's hand had turned into a pile of ash at some point. As Otto rubbed his fingers together, it scattered away in the wind.
After muting Void Archives, who had become increasingly noisy lately, Otto casually picked up half a bottle of red wine and walked to the open window. Looking up at the stars in the sky, he murmured with a sigh,
"Everything should simply follow its natural course..."
His words drifted away with the wind. Otto discarded the aristocratic airs of an old European nobleman that he usually bothered to maintain, raised the bottle in his hand, and drank straight from it...
At the same time, in some corner of the universe, an Invitation Letter that had appeared at some unknown time had already been buried among a pile of discarded letters. Looking utterly ordinary amid the similar-looking letters around it, it had failed to catch its owner's attention.
Meanwhile, in a somewhat crude laboratory, an Invitation Letter that appeared out of thin air had received its owner's attention.
However, just as Gwen had imagined, the owner here was extremely wary of the inexplicably appearing Invitation Letter—
The fate of "Chadwick" was still fresh in her mind. The cool and aloof black-haired beauty understood perfectly well that while the halo of being a "Genius Club member" was dazzling, it also attracted covetous gazes...
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Otto: Caslana Needs Talent Like You
Although he had discovered that the path to leveling up seemed easier than he had imagined, Gwen did not relax in the slightest. He maintained his previous diligence and effort, even surpassing it.
For Gwen, who possessed a leveling system, the originally rather motivational saying that "hard work will be rewarded" was almost absolutely true.
With such conditions, if he ever regretted not having worked hard enough in the future, Gwen felt that he might as well buy a block of stinky tofu and bash his head against it until he died.
Moreover, though the attribute points gained from the same training after leveling up had indeed become fewer and slower, just as Gwen had expected, Gwen's speed of improving his attributes had not slowed much—
While the progress brought by training had decreased, the effects of the medicinal baths that Gwen had previously received had also diminished.
Then, before Gwen even raised the issue, the medicinal solution required for the baths was replaced. Even the method itself was upgraded from medicinal baths to soaking in a nutrition chamber.
Though he had no ability to look inside his own body, Gwen could still sense through the excellent perception granted by his outstanding mental power that compared to the original medicinal baths, the current nutrient solution seemed more effective and potent, but also more... forceful.
After reaching this conclusion about the current nutrient solution, Gwen understood immediately—
Given Gwen's previous physical condition, it was normal for those responsible for treating his body to use gentler medicine when they did not know that he had external help in the form of a leveling system.
Only after his body showed obvious improvement would it be appropriate to bring out the real heavy medicine.
Thus, with technology in one hand and cheats in the other, Gwen's rate of progress left the trainee students of the same period far behind. It even reminded some instructors of the many legends left behind by predecessors in textbooks.
Not only that, even Rita and Anna, who were around him, had teased Gwen about this more than once.
Before you continue