Experiments, and Power-Leveling

The Kasugano Siblings were currently eating their dinner. The menu was rice, Miso Soup, Scrambled Eggs, Salad, and other dishes. As always, Suzuka had outdone herself; the food she cooked was delicious. They savored their food while chatting about Haru's novel. It started when Haru asked Sora about her opinion regarding his work.

"So, how far have you read, Sora?"

"I have read one-third."

"Then, what do you think?"

"It is fun to read! I never read anything like that before! Still, it is kinda scary if something like that happens in real life."

"Meh, don't worry about it. It is just a story. Besides, the world's technology isn't advanced yet to build the first functional VR-tech."

"Excuse me," Suzuka, who stayed silent so far, suddenly interjected, "Is it about Onii-chan's novel?"

"Yeah."

"Yup."

Haru and Sora answered at once, though Sora lacked her previous enthusiasm.

"Is it really that good?" Suzuka inquired with a touch of curiosity. Sora silently nodded her head and continued to concentrate on her food.

Suzuka then turned her attention to Haru, who had a wry smile from their detached interaction. Although Sora and Suzuka had stopped their intense rivalry after the family meeting four nights ago, they were still behaving awkwardly around each other. The cause was their awareness of each other's status as a rival-in-love. Both of them were possessive girls, and as the saying goes, "One mountain doesn't need two tigers, (or tigresses in this case)."

Still, they made an effort to interact cordially for Haru's sake; Haru was aware of this, so he was happy with their efforts.

"I will give you the draft after you finished your homework," Haru said before Suzuka could say.

"You promise?" Haru answered Suzuka's question with a silent nod.

Their dinner continued until everything was eaten clean. Then, Sora offered herself to wash the dishes.

Before Haru and Suzuka went to their respective bedrooms, Sora suddenly called out for Haru.

"Haru."

"What's it?"

"We will have another sleepover, right?"

Suzuka, who had stopped because of her curiosity, was quickly filled with tension; she gave Haru an intense look as she waited for his answer.

Haru was speechless but quickly recovered. He then nodded at Sora and said, "Well, sure. Actually, since we have been sleeping together so far and won't likely stop, it will become another habit sooner or later, right?"

"Good. Then, let's sleep together every night," Sora said with a pleased expression.

"M-Me too! You won't snub me out, right, Onii-chan?!" Suzuka asked in a high pitched voice.

"Okay, okay! No need to get high tension like that."

After that exchange, Haru and Suzuka left the kitchen. They entered their own bedrooms.

Haru decided to give Suzuka the draft now because he wanted to use his free time to experiment with his new toy; his sisters wouldn't knock his door until 9 PM at the earliest. After handing over his draft to Suzuka, Haru returned to his room.

After entering his room, Haru didn't immediately start doing some experiments with the Innovate Clear; he accessed his Status Board and inspected it.

"I guess I am gonna spend my Stats Points," Haru remarked.

In the past four days, Haru had tried to increase his Stats with exercise.

According to his past-life memory, Protagonists with the power of "The Gamer" could raise their Stats with exercises. Haru was full of expectations when he started his training. But alas, he met with disappointment after finding that his Stats didn't go up from muscle exertion. He was irked because he couldn't raise his stats like how the protagonists from "The Gamer" fanfiction! It was so unfair!

Haru dumped one Stats Point into his VIT and INT each. His Stats Points got reduced to 23 points, but his VIT and INT got increased to 1.8 and 2.2 points each.

With that, the value of Haru's vitality and mental capability was roughly around two ordinary men in their twenties. Haru also noticed the change; he felt more energized and had a better mental capacity. His mental fortitude got increased too. Basically, the INT attribute is like the fusion of INT and WIS attributes in "The Gamer" story and fanfiction.

Haru then inspected his Status Board silently. Other than the change on his Stats, he had a new ability listed in the Notable Abilities attribute. It said [Longinus: Innovate Clear]. When he used his Appraisal ability on it, he found that his Sacred Capability had gone up!

The world of Innovate Clear had expanded. In addition, the limits of the nearly-perfect imitations of living beings had risen up!

'Is the growth of Innovate Clear tied with my VIT and INT attributes?' Haru pondered silently. After a while, he put the topic aside and promised himself to figure it out later.

Haru then fixed his gaze on the Stats Points attribute. There were still 23 points left. After thinking a little, Haru decided to dump another point for VIT and INT each once again. Then, his VIT and INT became 2.8 and 3.2 each.

'It developed again! It looks like the development of Innovate Clear is really tied to my VIT and INT!'

Haru was excited when he discovered this information. He then dumped another point for VIT and INT each, raising them to 3.8 and 4.2. He repeated his action until Innovate Clear stopped developing.

'Huh? It stopped going up?!'

At this point, there were only 15 Stats Points left; meanwhile, his VIT and INT were 5.8 and 6.2.

'Hm, I guess I need to achieve Balance Break of Innovate Clear now. But, I don't know how to unlock its Balance Break.'

Haru felt like he had met a wall in his development of Innovate Clear. However, Haru quickly put this matter at the back of his mind. At least, for the time being.

'Now, let's see how far my capability in utilizing Innovate Clear has grown!'

With the help of his system, Haru discovered that the world of Innovate Clear had become a proper planet with the same size as Earth, but it had more landmasses than Earth. He also could control the flow of time inside this world from 1:1 scale in the second to 1 second: 1-month ratio or five years in the Innovate Clear's world was 1 minute in the real world.

Regarding the creation of near-perfect imitations of life, he discovered that he could create 10,000,000 mice, or 5,000,000 rabbits, or 2,500,000 dogs, or 1,250,000 cows, or 612,500 bears, or 312500 elephants.

In addition, the green-colored little tree had grown up into a supermassive tree that reminded him of the Yggdrasil tree in Alfheim Online from the SAO series.

Haru decided to set the time's flow into 1 second: 1-day scale and entered the world of Innovate Clear.

'This place is beautiful...' Haru was amazed by the scenery in this world. 'The air is also fresh... Well, no wonder that the Innovate Clear is said to create a paradise; this place is amazing!'

Haru decided to enjoy the scenery for a while since he had ample time in this world. After spending his time for sightseeing, Haru finally focused on his reason for entering this world.

It's time to find out if the living beings in this world could give him EXP!

Haru created a single mouse; it was a cute, white mouse that often became a pet instead of a pest. He felt a negligible drain in his stamina and mental energy.

When Haru killed the mouse by twisting its neck, the dead mouse then disappeared like an illusion. It was interesting. Still, he felt bad for killing it, but he convinced himself that this was for SCIENCE!

"A mouse only gives me 0.1 EXP. Next, let's try a rabbit."

Haru created a cute rabbit with white-colored fur. After twisting its neck, Haru obtained 0.1 EXP.

"Next, it's a dog, but a dog can be dangerous for a human if it's wild and cornered. Since I am the master of this world, can I control elements in here as I please?" Haru wondered loudly and then experimented with how far he could control this world.

Several hours later, Haru discovered as to why the possessor of Innovate Clear called "Someone Who Impersonates God" in "High School DxD"; he could control anything in this world, even life-and-death of this world's residents, with a mere thought. It was both a scary and exciting experience.

Haru also discovered that all animals he killed, irrespective of their size, rewarded him with 0.1 EXP.

'Well, since animals, irrespective of their sizes, only give me 0.1 EXP, I should use a mouse to power-level because I can create them in a ten of million,' Haru thought before creating exactly 471 mice.

By killing them all, Haru would obtain the exact amount of EXP to raise his level to 6. What's more, the stamina and mental energy were quite low.

Haru looked at the hundreds of mice floating a few dozen meters away from his spot. He then used his Absolute Authority over this world to kill those mice.

—————

Level Up! You're now Level 6! You obtained 5 Stats Points!

—————

And just like that, Haru leveled up.

'I have around 9 hours left until one day passed there. By the way, I haven't felt hungry or tired. Perhaps, it's because of my high VIT and INT? Well, whatever. Now, I'm going to power-level myself until I max out my Protagonist Job's Level.'