Chapter 185: Upgrading Aria Class.

Aria said nothing as she looked at him quietly and seemed to smile.

Jake tried the button one more time before giving up.

"Forget it. Leave it open. You’ll be more comfortable that way."

Aria quietly held the edges of the shirt together.

A faint smile remained on her lips.

"...Yes."

Jake glanced at her.

For some reason, she seemed happier than before.

Then he looked around the cave again.

His expression became serious.

"There isn’t anywhere comfortable for you to rest."

Aria looked around as well.

The cave floor was hard and cold, with only the faint warmth from Jake’s light orb keeping the surroundings from becoming completely freezing.

Jake scratched his head.

"Looks like I’ll have to improvise."

Jake walked around for a bit before finding a small, flat area that looked comfortable enough.

He sat down and then lay on his back.

After getting comfortable, he lifted his head and smiled at Aria before patting his chest.

"Come here."

Aria blinked.

"Jake...? You mean..."

"You need to rest."

Jake patted his chest again.

"You can lean against me. It’ll keep you warm."

Aria stared at him for a moment.

Then she slowly moved closer.

Jake smiled.

"Just use me as a bed."

"...Won’t that be uncomfortable?"

At those question, Jake laughed.

"Uncomfortable? My body is tough. This is nothing."

He smiled confidently.

"I’ve slept in much worse places than this."

Aria still looked worried.

"But..."

"No buts."

Jake gave her a reassuring smile.

"You need to rest, and I’m perfectly fine."

Aria looked at him for a moment.

She seemed to want to say something else, but eventually, she gave a small nod.

"...Then I’ll trouble you for a while."

"See? That’s not so difficult."

With that, Aria slowly moved closer.

She carefully lay down against him, resting her head on his chest.

The moment she settled in, she became quiet.

A warmth slowly spread throughout her body, and she could hear Jake’s steady heartbeat beneath her ear.

Thump.

Thump.

It was slow and steady, unlike her own.

Aria closed her eyes.

For some reason, hearing his heartbeat made her feel strangely at ease.

She could feel the warmth of his body through the shirt, and his familiar scent still lingered around her.

Her cheeks slowly became warmer, but instead of feeling embarrassed, her body gradually relaxed.

For the first time in a long while, she allowed herself to simply rest. There was no need to remain alert, nor to worry about what might happen next.

Jake was here, and strangely enough, knowing that made her feel safer than she ever had before.

Jake remained still as Aria rested against his chest.

At first, he didn’t think much of it.

But after a while, he became increasingly aware of how close she was.

Her soft body was pressed against him, and her warmth slowly seeped through his clothes.

Jake swallowed.

’Damn... This is kinda bad, isn’t it?’

He could feel his desire rising again.

For a moment, his hand moved almost instinctively toward her waist.

Then he stopped.

His eyes lowered to Aria.

She was completely relaxed.

Her beautiful face was peaceful, her eyes gently closed, and her breathing had become slow and steady.

She appeared completely different from the cautious woman he had encountered previously.

Her expression showed no tension, no fear, and no hesitation.

She simply trusted him enough to fall asleep in his arms.

Jake’s faint, mischievous smile slowly faded.

He let out a quiet sigh.

"...Forget it."

His hand gently settled against her back instead.

He adjusted his position slightly so she could rest more comfortably.

"Good night..."

Aria remained asleep, completely unaware of his muttering.

Jake leaned his head back against the stone wall and closed his eyes.

For now, he decided to simply let her rest.

_

_

_

Time seemed to pass quietly.

Jake remained lying down on the stone floor, one hand gently patting Aria’s back from time to time.

She had fallen completely asleep against his chest.

Jake, however, wasn’t sleeping.

His eyes were fixed on the ceiling.

More precisely, he was looking at the status screen only he could see.

He had already decided that he was going to upgrade her.

The problem was deciding what to upgrade first.

Normally, Jake wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to spend his Upgrade Points.

He would carefully consider the options and choose the one that gave him the greatest benefit.

But this situation was different.

Right now, they were in a dangerous place, and Aria is still poisoned.

Even though she appeared fine on the surface, Jake couldn’t be certain that nothing else would happen.

There could be more enemies, another poison, or even some other unexpected situation waiting for them.

And if something happened to Aria again, Jake wasn’t confident that he would always be able to protect her.

’I’ve been relying too much on luck.’

His eyes narrowed slightly.

He didn’t want to find himself in a situation where he could only watch helplessly because Aria wasn’t strong enough to protect herself.

If he wanted to keep her safe, then he needed to strengthen her as much as possible.

’This isn’t the time to be stingy with Upgrade Points.’

Jake took another look at her sleeping face.

She looked completely peaceful, as if she had no idea how dangerous their current situation was.

Jake’s expression became serious.

Whatever he chose to upgrade, it had to be something that would increase her chances of surviving the dangers ahead.

’First, I need to make sure she can survive.’

With that thought, Jake opened his status screen and checked his total Upgrade Points.

Upgrade Points: 5,000

Jake couldn’t help but smile when he saw the number.

’This should be enough to push her into the Rare Class.’

A faint smile appeared on Jake’s face.

With these upgrades, Aria’s strength should increase significantly.

At the very least, he would feel a little more confident about keeping her safe.

However, there was another problem.

Jake carefully reached into his pants pocket, making sure not to disturb Aria, who was still sleeping peacefully against his chest.

His fingers soon found the small gold pouch.

He felt its weight for a moment.

It was noticeably lighter than before.

Jake sighed.

’I’ve only got around two hundred gold coins left.’

Originally, Vivian had given them five hundred gold coins.

But during their time touring the city, he and Grace had spent quite a bit of it on various things.

At the time, Jake hadn’t thought much about it.

Now, however, he couldn’t help but feel a little regretful.

’And I still have another thousand five hundred gold coins in my account at Vivian’s bank...’

Unfortunately, that money was useless to him right now.

There was no way for him to access it from here.

Jake quietly sighed again.

’Well, nothing I can do about it.’

He put the pouch back carefully, making sure not to wake Aria.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he calculated.

’After I upgrade Aria’s class to Rare, maybe I should still have enough points to raise two of my own stats to Superhuman.’

Right now, raising one stat from Trained to Superhuman cost 1,000 Upgrade Points and 50 gold coins.

’Let’s see...’

Jake focused on Aria’s status.

The familiar information appeared before his eyes.

Slowly, a smile spread across his face.

’It’s time for an upgrade spree!’

[Ding!]

[Strength has been upgraded!]

[Below Average → Average]

[Ding!]

[Intelligence has been upgraded!]

[Pathetic → Average]

[Ding!]

[Agility has been upgraded!]

[Below Average → Average]

[Ding!]

[Vitality has been upgraded!]

[Below Average → Average]

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

Jake did not stop.

The numbers kept climbing, one after another, accompanied by quiet chimes that only he could hear.

Aria slept through everything.

Her cheek remained against his chest, her hand resting loosely against his side, unaware that her body was changing.

A warm current slowly spread beneath her skin.

Her weak muscles gradually tightened, becoming stronger and more resilient.

Her breathing grew deeper, while the dull heaviness left behind by the poison began to fade faster than it should have.

Even her heartbeat, which had been weak and tired, gradually became steadier.

Jake watched the changes with a satisfied smile.

’Good...’

He had no idea exactly how much stronger she would become after all these upgrades.

But one thing was certain.

Aria was no longer the same person she had been a moment ago.

Jake’s faint smile gradually disappeared.

His expression became serious as his eyes settled on the final option... Class.

Unlike the other attributes, upgrading the class was something entirely different.

Jake had experienced it once before with Grace.

And he still remembered how dramatic the transformation had been.

Going from Trash Class to Common Class wasn’t simply an increase in numbers.

It was a complete transformation of the body.

The change had been so explosive that even Jake had been surprised by the result.

Now, he was about to do the same thing to Aria.

Jake looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms.

She remained completely unaware of what was about to happen.

’This is probably going to be the biggest change yet.’

Jake took a slow breath. then he began.

[Ding!]

[Aria Fragarach’s Class Upgrade Initiated!]

[-200 Upgrade Points]

[-50 Gold Coins]

Then,

A soft light enveloped Aria’s body as she gasped quietly, closing her eyes as warmth spread through her.

[Ding!]

[Aria Fragarach class evolution met!]

[Please choose the following Common Classes:]

Seeing the list...

"Hmm..??"

Jake blinked once, then again.

The list in front of him was not what he expected.

He stared at it, his mouth slightly open, appearing a little dumbfounded and... quite confused.