Alvian ran at full speed down the Academy hallways, past shocked students and teachers. He held his broken arm to his chest as golden code flashed in his eyes. He only cared about reaching a safe place before the update finished.
He ran into his apartment and quickly checked on Martha. Her breathing was stable, and the medicine was working. Little Leo was sleeping in the corner, holding a charcoal stick with drawings of glowing warriors on the wall.
Alvian went into the bathroom, locked the door, and sat on the cold floor holding his broken arm.
The System processed.
The System began updating. Streams of golden code flowed past his eyes. Strange symbols flashed and disappeared. The roulette wheel sat still while its inner system rebuilt itself. He felt a deep vibration inside his body as the System changed its rules.
His high VIT stat (39) slowly healed his broken arm. After four hours, the deep bone break shrank to a small crack. By hour six, he could move his fingers without bad pain. By hour seven, his arm worked fine again, though it still felt sore.
At exactly 0300, the System completed.
The golden code stopped, and a new, cleaner menu appeared. Below the space-themed roulette wheel, a second wheel appeared. Made of shiny metal, this second wheel had icons for weapons, skills, and proficiency levels.
[UPDATE COMPLETE. VERSION 2.0 (PROFICIENCY TIER) ONLINE.]
[New Mechanic: Skill and Weapon Proficiency Multiplier.]
[Every time the Host uses a Skill or swings a weapon, a secondary proficiency wheel spins. The proficiency wheel applies a multiplier to the Skill or Weapon’s mastery EXP, independent of the primary EXP wheel.]
[Proficiency EXP accumulates within each Skill or Weapon profile. Upon reaching mastery thresholds, Skills and Weapons can evolve, mutate, or ascend in rank.]
[New Mechanic: Skill Evolution.]
[Skills that reach maximum proficiency at their current rank can evolve into higher rank variants. Evolution outcomes are influenced by Host Stats, Talent resonance, and the proficiency multiplier achieved at the moment of threshold breach.]
[New Mechanic: Weapon Mastery.]
[Weapons now possess their own proficiency tracks. Sustained use generates mastery EXP, unlocking weapon specific abilities and passive bonuses. At maximum mastery, a weapon can fuse with the Host’s Talent, becoming a Talent bound Armament.]
Alvian read the new rules carefully. Version 1.0 gave him massive EXP for his stats. Version 2.0 allowed him to grow his Skills and weapons super fast. Now he could use the roulette wheel multipliers to level up his Skills just like his body.
Getting a 1,000x multiplier on his Clearwater Palm skill would be like practicing for thousands of hours in a single hit.
The second wheel had the same chance rates as the first: Common (1x to 10x), Uncommon (11x to 100x), Rare (101x to 1,000x), Epic (1,001x to 5,000x), and the super rare God Roll (10,000x).
Then he saw a new menu option that shocked him:
[Proficiency Pool. Gambler’s Delay Compatible.]
He could save up skill EXP from using a Skill many times, just like saving main EXP from killing monsters. This meant he could practice a Skill hundreds of times safely, save all the skill EXP, and then spin for one huge multiplier. If he got a high multiplier, his Skill would upgrade instantly.
His status panel updated:
┌──────[ Profile]──────┐
│ [Host]: Alvian Vance
│ [Level]: 22 (Mortal Tier)
│ [Talent]: Clearwater [E-Rank]
│ [Skills]: Clearwater Palm [D-Rank, Enhanced]
│ Clearwater Coating [E-Rank]
│ [Weapon Mastery]: Short-Sword [Novice]
│ [STR]: 28 | [AGI]: 27 | [VIT]: 39
│ [INT]: 16 | [Essence]: 16
│ [Karma Points]: 0
│ [EXP Bank]: ~50,000 / ∞
│ [System Version]: 2.0 (Proficiency Tier)
└─────────────────┘
His Clearwater Palm skill was at D-Rank, upgraded by Serah and close to max level. Clearwater Coating was E-Rank. His Short-Sword Mastery was at Novice, the lowest tier.
If he pooled enough proficiency EXP and hit a decent multiplier, Clearwater Palm could evolve to C Rank. Or higher. The evolution outcome depended on the multiplier and the Talent resonance. Because his Clearwater power made dangerous chemical acid instead of normal water, the upgraded skill would become super corrosive, melting anything it touched.
He gripped his short sword. The blade was damaged from blocking Torsten’s heavy hammer, but it was still usable. With Version 2.0, every single sword swing had a chance to win massive skill EXP.
A new line appeared beneath the weapon status.
[Short-Sword (Novice): 0/100 Proficiency EXP]
Zero out of one hundred. One swing would give 1 base skill EXP. Saving 100 swings together using Gambler’s Delay could give an amazing reward if he hit a high multiplier.
Outside the bathroom, Martha coughed in her sleep. She sounded better than last week, but she was still sick. The reward money would buy medicine for months, but medicine only slowed down the sickness without curing it. The grey marks on her fingers showed she was still ill.
Alvian needed more power than just stats and money. He needed powerful Skills that broke the rules. Now he had the perfect tool to get them.
He looked at the new metal proficiency wheel floating in front of him. He stood up from the floor. His arm was fully healed and moved without pain. His body was ready, and his System was upgraded. The tournament was over, and his meeting with Helen Croft was set for tomorrow morning.