Chapter 17: A great birthday surprise
MC POV:
"I can't believe ten years passed this fast," I said, looking at Selen as we sat in the living room of the Living Quarters.
She has changed a lot since the day we met. Right now, she no longer resembles a child in any way whatsoever. Her height stopped at 170 cm tall, but that's the only thing that stopped growing as her other 'assets' developed beyond my expectations culminating in 94-57-96, a nearly hourglass figure.
Girls with cat features are usually lithe, but that doesn't seem to be the case for her. The best way to describe her is as soft and fluffy, as her body has just the right amount of fat in addition to her womanly curves.
In addition, her tail grew a lot, resembling more that of a snow leopard than a house cat, with how long and fluffy it was. She lets me touch it from time to time, and it's a truly heavenly experience.
As for the other changes, her hair now reaches her butt, with a part tied into two tails falling on her shoulders. Her clothes, previously a light-blue knee-length folded dress, white socks, and blue Mary Jane shoes, at some point got swapped into a far more 'troublesome' outfit.
She started wearing a light gray 'virgin killer' sweater that, despite leaving her back wide open, also functioned as a skirt and a black pantyhose accentuating her legs.
I don't understand women. I always thought we were like siblings, so why is she wearing this kind of outfit? We spent a lot of time together and cuddled on multiple occasions, but that's it. That kind of behavior should be typical even among siblings. I never considered myself dense, but with how little she says outside of explanations, I don't know how to decipher her intentions.
"Pervert," she muttered with a soft, slightly mischievous smile.
"Says the person wearing this type of clothing," I countered while moving my eyes away in slight embarrassment.
"They are very comfortable. It's your fault for being horny," Selen replied, her smile unchanged.
"I can't help it, okay!" I exclaimed. "I am a grown man that spent the last ten years in abstinence. To make it worse, someone I considered a sister developed in a way perfectly fitting my tastes. Why do you have to make controlling myself harder?" I explained in self-defense and asked.
Hearing that, she turned her face slightly to the side.
"Who asked you to hold back..." she muttered, her beautiful big sapphire blue eyes flickering for a moment.
"Eh?" was the only sound that left my mouth.
Eh? Is she saying what I think?
Deciding it was better to get my face scratched than lose such a great opportunity, I extended my hand and made her face in my direction. Then I leaned in for a kiss with our eyes locked, but as our lips were about to meet, we closed them. At first, it was a bit clumsy, but as we kept kissing, we gradually got the hang of it.
Knowing she felt uncomfortable lying on her back, I pulled her on my lap instead of leaning further and 'pinning' her to the sofa, and then...
*Ping*
A screen popped out accompanied by that annoying sound, destroying the mood.
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Happy birthday, Arthur.
Seeing that you have trained diligently for the last decade, I prepared a small gift. I am sure you will be pleased. Sincerely,
-Matrucksa.
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A decade of diligent training, my ass!!! You did it on purpose, you bastard!!!
Then another screen popped out, accompanied by a sound I will curse for generations.
*Ping*
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Hidden Quest: A decade of diligence
Status: Completed
Completion Grade: SS
Rewards: Challenge Room function unlocked, Workshop function unlocked, Asauchi, Skill Advancement Book, 100k SP
Note: Keep working hard~!
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Selen stood up and left the room with her mood visibly worsened, something indicated by her tail swaying in annoyance and dropped ears.
Instead of following her, I went toward the kitchen. The best way to deal with her anger is to cook something delicious.
Let's make a chocolate cake and a bunch of other sweets.
***
After an incredible amount of sweets, Selen's mood finally improved.
It wasn't enough to continue where we left, but she was willing to explain to me the new functions of The Orb.
"Let's start with the Challenge Room," I proposed as we stood in the central room and looked at the entrances to the two new rooms.
"The Challenge Room has two functions. The first allows you to increase the level and grade of all skills, excluding innates. Each day, you will receive a chance to use it. The uses stack up, so if you enter after a week, you will have seven tries." Selen explained.
"How exactly will it allow me to increase the level and grade?" I asked.
"As the name suggests, you will be assigned a challenge. If you can overcome it, the proficiency of the skill will increase," Selen replied.
"What about the second function?" I inquired.
"The second function allows you to awaken an innate every five years, under the condition that your proficiency with all the other innates reached an adequate level," Selen answered. "Inside, you will find a set of nine doors. Starting from the left, they lead to nine tests responsible for mind, body, spirit, emission, absorption, mitigation, creation, manipulation, and sensory innates. These tests are what will help you in developing your innate abilities. Also, you can't exit the test until you pass. However, you can awaken only seven of them, excluding The Orb," she explained further.
"Wow, I never expected it to be this amazing," I commented.
Innates, at least the ones we awaken ourselves, are a kind of abilities that are impossible to take away from us. Another plus of these is that, with enough mastery, you can even mitigate or outright ignore some of the laws governing the records. Everyone has the potential to develop these abilities, but without the right stimulus, it's nearly impossible.
"If I can't exit a test, does it mean my body in the outside world will stay in a coma?" I asked worriedly.
If it has an obvious drawback like that, I won't be able to use it for a long time.
"No," Selen replied. "The space inside the tests has a different rate of time. The time dilation is so massive that it's nearly like the time has stopped on the outside," she extrapolated.
"I see. What about the Workshop?" I asked.
"Inside that room, you have everything you may need to make a powerful weapon or accessory. Similar to the library, you have to start from lower-quality materials before you can use the advanced ones. You can create as much as you want, but you won't be able to take your creations outside the room," Selen explained.
"Is it only for practice then?" I asked.
"No. Once you get the required materials, you can bring them inside the Workshop, and it will automatically assemble them based on what you created inside," Selen replied.
"So, it works like unlocking a new recipe in a game?" I inquired.
"Yes," she confirmed.
"Every function of The Orb could be an amazing cheat on its own," I commented, once again realizing how lucky I was to have them all.
I looked at Selen with a big smile and said, "As always, thank you for your work. I don't know what I would do without you."
Hearing that, she left toward the Living Quarters without saying anything, but I could see her tail curl up from happiness.
Now then, let's have a look at the two items I received.
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//Asauchi//
The base form of zanpakuto. The user needs to stay with the sword for roughly ten years to connect with it and for it to develop a name.
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That's exactly what I dreamed about as a swordsman!!! With an Asauchi, I can create a zanpakuto that is perfect for me, and with the quality of my energy, it will be able to cut through anything.
The sharpness of the zanpakuto is based on the quality of the spiritual energy. Since Origin is the purest form of all energies, it means my sword will be the sharpest.
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///Skill Advancement Book///
Use: You can upgrade any skill, excluding an innate, to the highest level and grade.
Restriction: This item can't be used outside a record. The level cap of the skill is restricted to the level of the inhabited record.
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...Maybe that cockblock was worth it?
This book alone would turn me into a true monster. Unfortunately, I won't use it until I can travel to a higher-level record. Using it now would be an unimaginable waste.
"I need a rest..." I muttered. "Too much happened in a single day..." I added and directed my footsteps towards the bedroom.