First Point Reward!

Seeing the words is like seeing the person.

Looking at this familiar handwriting, the face of the girl who was usually stubborn and serious, who was the same age as him yet often acted like a big sister and loved to stand up for him, seemed to appear right before his eyes.

Noah couldn't help but chuckle. While sipping the cooling tea provided by the cafeteria, he opened the letter under the envious and jealous gaze of Rosinante and began to read it slowly from the beginning.

The first few paragraphs were exactly as he had expected, filled with complaints about why he hadn't contacted her for so long.

A series of intense exclamation marks seemed to jump off the page, as if they were acting on behalf of the angry girl to give his head a good thumping.

By the middle of the letter, the girl had finally vented most of her frustration. Her tone softened, the exclamation marks vanished, and every line revealed her concern for Noah's current situation.

For instance, she worried about whether he was being bullied by his seniors at the Headquarters, whether the cafeteria food was enough or to his liking, and whether he had grown taller again since he was just over 1.8 meters when he left the East Blue.

"She guessed pretty accurately..." Noah scratched his head. He had indeed grown a few centimeters over the past few months, and at this rate, he would likely break the two-meter mark before the end of the year.

By the time he saw Bell-mère again, she would probably only reach his chest even if she stood on her tiptoes. He wondered if she would be startled by that...

As his gaze continued downward, the exclamation marks reappeared in the final paragraph.

[Everything that needs to be said is above! Hehe, are you already moved to tears, missing me like crazy?]

[Finally, you idiot Noah! You promised me that we would get married after your twentieth birthday. There's less than a year left now, so you should be prepared, right? When do you plan to come back to the East Blue to marry me?]

Pfft!

Noah sprayed a mouthful of tea directly out. Shiryu, sitting opposite him, was unfortunately caught in the crossfire. However, Noah couldn't care less about the murderous look on the latter's face as he raised his head; he held the letter in stunned silence, his face full of shock.

Married after his twentieth birthday?

When the hell did I ever say something like that!

It was true that he and Bell-mère were childhood sweethearts with a deep bond, but they had never actually had a proper romantic relationship. How did they suddenly skip all the steps and jump straight to marriage?

Oh, wait...

A distant memory hidden deep in his mind was triggered. Noah suddenly recalled that when they were six or seven years old, Bell-mère had fallen from a tree while trying to pick oranges for him and had cried her eyes out in pain.

To comfort her, he had said everything under the sun, and it seemed that "getting married at twenty" was one of those things.

Hiss—

Noah gasped, inhaling a mouthful of cold tea.

No way, do childhood promises made to coax someone actually count? He had bragged about so many things under that orange tree back then; why did she have to remember this one ridiculous thing?

Noah rubbed his temples, his head throbbing. He had always held onto the values from his previous life, believing that marriage was at least something for after twenty-five, and that it was still far away for his teenage self!

Moreover, he had just activated the Love Cell Cultivation System today, and he was counting on this thing to be reliable and help him break through his current physical limits to achieve his dream of becoming a top-tier powerhouse in the Navy.

If he just muddled his way into becoming a married man, how was he supposed to pursue romance or complete any missions...

"Wait a minute..."

Noah suddenly remembered something, his expression shifting slightly. Since Bell-mère had laid it all out like this, what did their current relationship count as? Did it meet the criteria for a romantic relationship under the system's rules?

He subconsciously opened his attribute panel again and scanned the information bar in the upper right corner. Sure enough, in a previously blank space, he saw the following prompt.

[Bell-mère has been initially conquered; an ambiguous relationship has been established]
[Player has received the first tier of points reward: 4000 points]
[A romantic relationship has not yet been established. Please continue your efforts, complete the final conquest as soon as possible, and obtain the second tier of rewards]

There really was a reward?

Looking at his point balance, which had now reached "5501," Noah was both surprised and delighted. It felt like being a pauper who suddenly struck it rich overnight.

Of course, these points didn't exactly make him a tycoon, but it was enough for him to buy the two cheap random items for the week and still have enough left over to exchange for basic attribute points, so he wouldn't have to struggle with the dilemma he had faced before.

"So it's only judged as an ambiguous relationship..."

Noah clutched the letter and pondered in secret. He figured that establishing a formal romantic relationship with Bell-mère probably wouldn't be difficult. After all, the emotional foundation was there; as long as he made a phone call and cleared things up, everything would naturally fall into place.

But he couldn't do that. In fact, for the next period of time, Noah had decided to reply only by letter and absolutely avoid using a Den Den Mushi to contact Bell-mère, so as not to get dragged into the whirlpool of the "marriage" topic.

In any case, he wouldn't think about the distant future for now; he would make good use of the points he had on hand first!

The moment he thought about what he could exchange for from the system, Noah couldn't suppress the excitement bubbling up inside him.

Intermediate Kami-e, attribute points, here I come!

He put away the letter, finished the last of his meal in a few bites, let out a satisfied burp, said goodbye to his two friends, and headed out of the cafeteria, rushing back toward the training grounds.

His training tasks for the day were already complete, but Noah's reputation as a training fanatic was well-known in the Headquarters elite camp, and Rosinante and Shiryu were long used to it.

However, today's situation was a bit special. The two of them looked at Noah's retreating back with strange expressions, then simultaneously turned their heads and exchanged a glance.

"You noticed it too, right, Shiryu?"

"Yeah, that guy seems unusually motivated today..."

The reason was obvious; it had everything to do with that pink letter brought by Vice Admiral Garp.

"It must be nice. If I had a girl I loved caring for me, I wouldn't mind training extra—I'd even train until I dropped dead in the middle of the night!"

"Yeah..." Shiryu, for once, didn't offer any sarcasm.

On a summer night in early 1501 of the Marine Calendar, the air in the corner of the cafeteria was filled with a sour, jealous scent.

This is my first time writing a book as a newbie, so I humbly ask for your recommendation votes. Also, this book has been signed, and once the signing process is complete, I will maintain a minimum of two updates per day during the new book period.