11

He sat in the classroom after lunch, completed his lessons, and in the evening quickly left school and went to the library.

He entered the library and began searching among the books.

It seems the Host is a diligent student.

"And why do you think I'm alone?"

What book is the Host looking for?

"A book on ancient languages. I'll try to decode the language of the book I got from the ruins."

Naoto was searching in the library. The library was full of books and different resources, and he had to browse carefully to find the right book.

But he couldn't find it, so he went to the librarian.

"Is there a book on ancient languages?"

"Yes, we certainly have a wide collection of books related to ancient languages. Let me guide you to the correct shelf," the librarian answered with a smile on her face.

Naoto headed to the shelf the librarian pointed to and began browsing the books. The books were organized systematically by topics and languages.

After a few minutes of searching, Naoto found the book he was looking for. Its title was "Ancient Languages: A Comprehensive Study." Naoto quickly took the book and thanked the librarian for her help.

He took the book and sat at one of the available tables in the library. He began opening the book and reading the first pages. He found that the book contained many different ancient languages, including hieroglyphics, Sumerian, and ancient Hebrew.

Then he took the book from storage and began searching for the language matching his book through comparison, but he found nothing.

Should I tell you about it?

"About what?"

There's a skill in the shop called Language Comprehension.

"You waited until now to tell me this! Come to think of it, I've never looked at the shop before. Show it to me."

A huge window appeared before him:

Shop:

Tools

Skills

Elixirs

Cards

Naoto had understood most of what appeared. He clicked on the Skills button. A list of skills appeared before him, divided into levels. The first and second level buttons were open, while the rest were locked. Each skill was specialized in a specific field.

Naoto began scrolling through the list until he found the Language Comprehension skill.

Skill: Language Comprehension

Category: Subsidiary

Price: 1000 points

"This is robbery! I nearly killed myself to get 1000 points. But what's this grade? What do you mean by subsidiary category?"

Skills are divided into:

Subsidiary: Fixed skills that cannot be developed and add few features

Low grade: Upgradeable skills but with little increase

Medium grade: Upgradeable skills, and after reaching maximum level there's a chance for evolution

High grade: Skills like the second grade but with higher evolution potential

And higher????

Now you know why I didn't tell you.

"Is there another way to get it?"

The draw system, but the chance is slim.

"Explain more."

The draw system, known as gambling, is a luck-based system containing items available in the shop. The higher the item's rank, the lower the chance of obtaining it.

"Show it."

The shop window closed and another window appeared containing a large wheel.

Since this is the Host's first time, you've been given a free draw opportunity.

Naoto looked at the wheel. It was divided into several sections, each bearing a different name for a skill or item in the shop. There was a section dedicated to the "Language Comprehension" skill.

The wheel began spinning, and he hoped to get the "Language Comprehension" skill without paying 1000 points.

The wheel slowly stopped, and after a few moments, it landed on a random tool mark.

Naoto was shocked but was thinking about what he might get and waited.

Congratulations to the Host for obtaining a potato peeler.

Naoto was unsatisfied with the result but sighed, knowing it was just luck. If he had gotten what he wanted, he would have thought the system was cheating.

He left the library and walked down a street full of cars. He noticed in the car windows someone wearing a black jacket whose features seemed familiar to Naoto. He turned and took several turns until he was sure he was being followed. He took the last turn, stopped there, and turned around. As expected, the person appeared before him.

"Why are you following me?"

The person was covering his face with a mask and turned, trying to flee. He quickly caught him. The person tried to resist. Naoto grabbed him by the neck and pinned him against the wall, then removed his mask. He found it was one of Akihiro's followers.

"Either you answer or would you prefer I smash your teeth?"

"You think I'll tell you anything?"

"You think I don't know? He's looking for me because of my return, isn't that right? He searched for me in the classroom and didn't find me, so he sent you after me. After all, I'm his means of proving his dominance."

The follower who was trying to escape began sweating a little, but his expression only changed to a smile.

"You think you can touch me? Go ahead, do it, or are you afraid of Akihiro?" the person taunted Naoto.

The follower was confident that Naoto wouldn't dare touch him for two reasons: first, he knew Naoto was Akihiro's victim, and second, he was used to seeing Naoto weak and consumed, not considering him a threat.

Naoto slowly released the follower, and the follower began provoking him more:

"Come on, you piece of garbage, you coward."

Naoto quickly raised his hand and slapped the servant until he fell to the ground, saying mockingly:

"You think I'm afraid of you? I only let you go so you could relay my message to him."

Then he moved quickly toward him and lowered his head beside his ear, whispering like a snake's hiss:

"Tell that bastard I'm waiting for him tomorrow behind the school early, because I don't like waiting."

Then he put his hands in his pocket and left, leaving him frozen in place.

Ding! The Host gained 13 shock points.

Mission launched

Difficulty: D

Description: Revenge on those who hurt you

Required: Defeat Akihiro in single combat

Duration: One day

Reward: 200 experience points, lottery chance

Failure: Drop two levels

Naoto heard the notification and smiled calmly as he left the place.

The next day, Naoto stood half an hour before his appointment with Akihiro behind the school.

"How many emotion points do I have?"

Emotion points: 372

"Open skills."

Skills:

Street Fighting (Low Grade) (1/IV)

Kickboxing (Low Grade) (1/17)

Jujutsu (Low Grade) (1/IV)

"Upgrade Street Fighting skill to level three, and Kickboxing and Jujutsu to level two."

This will cost 350 points. Do you agree?

"Yes."

Congratulations to the Host. Strength increased by three points, Endurance by five points, and Agility by two points.

After a short while, Akihiro appeared and began declaring in an arrogant tone:

"Now you decided to show up, you rat."

"Did you come to fight or burst my eardrums?"

Akihiro became angry and rushed toward Naoto.

Naoto walked slowly toward him.

"If you had shown up yesterday, you would have escaped me today."

Akihiro was throwing his fist from far away.

Naoto didn't exert any effort dodging it.

Then Naoto counterattacked with a punch that hit the middle of Akihiro's face, making him step back a few steps with a bleeding nose.

"You bastard!"

Akihiro raised his fist and tried to hit Naoto, but he dodged it.

For Naoto, it was like child's play.

This made him think whether it was worth it, but each time that feeling was erased by the memory of the pain he had suffered from him.

So he decided not to suppress himself. He rushed toward Akihiro's head, grabbed it, and delivered a knee strike, making Akihiro fall to the ground. Naoto stood over Akihiro and rained down punches until Akihiro lost consciousness with a swollen face and clear, pinkish bruises in every corner of his face. The dark colors of the bruises reflected on his pale skin as his cheeks filled with traces of pain and blood flowing from his nose.

"It was too easy."

Suddenly Naoto heard cheering sounds from his right side. He turned to find all his school members watching him from the building, clapping and chanting his name.

Naoto didn't care about them and headed to his classroom. When he opened the classroom door, he was surrounded by his classmates who began showering him with praise.

Naoto passed through them and sat in his seat, indifferent to them.

Isn't the Host happy?

"What's good about these ass-kissers?"

These ass-kissers made you earn more than 2000 emotion points.

"How?"

Naoto was momentarily shocked.

Your school contains more than 200 people. If you got ten points from each one, you'd harvest more than 2000 points.

"Why didn't I receive any notification?"

The value is still being calculated.

"Well, that's interesting."

The teacher suddenly entered the classroom and looked at Naoto.

"You've been requested to the principal's office. Honestly, you've been causing too many problems lately."

Naoto didn't care and headed to the principal's office.