Chapter 186: Upgrading Aria Class (2)

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.

"...What the hell is this?"

There...

[Please choose the following Common Classes:]

[1. Apprentice Samurai (Common)]

[2. Apprentice Samurai (Common)]

[3. Apprentice Samurai (Common)]

[4. Apprentice Samurai (Common)]

[5. Apprentice Samurai (Common)]

Jake read it again and again.

And then a third time, just to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

They were all the same.

"..."

Jake slowly narrowed his eyes.

’Was this a glitch?’

Had the system of his unique class finally broken?

Maybe something had gone wrong when he upgraded Aria’s class, and the system had simply copied the same option five times.

With that thought, he waited for a moment, expecting another notification to pop up and correct itself.

But after a few minutes... nothing happened.

Jake sighed at this.

"Whatever."

At least he didn’t have to worry about letting Aria choose for herself.

Jake couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought.

’Well, this makes things easier.’

He looked at the five identical choices again.

’No matter which one I pick, I’m getting the same thing anyway.’

’Guess the system saved me the trouble of making her choose.’

With that, he simply chose the second one.

Why the second, you might ask?

Because he simply thought Aria was his second crew, that was all.

[Select: Apprentice Samurai (Common)]

[Ding!]

[Class Change Complete!]

[Fail Samurai (Trash) → Apprentice Samurai (Common)]

Then light wrapped around her body again.

Aria gasped softly in her sleep and held onto him.

The change sank in deep but not painfully... just strong, like a dull blade being sharpened while she dreamed.

Jake kept one hand on her back until the light faded.

Then he smiled and opened her status, full of expectation.

’Let’s see how much you changed!’

[Ding!]

[Name: Aria Fragarach]

[Bond: 1 Star]

[Class: Apprentice Samurai (Common)] NEW

[Unique Class: Sword Collector (Dormant)]

[Strength: Average] NEW

[Intelligence: Average] NEW

[Vitality: Average] NEW

[Agility: Average] NEW

[Endurance: Average] NEW

[Luck: Average] NEW

[Skills:]

Cracked Stance (Passive) → Basic Stance (Passive) NEW

Fail Insight (Passive) → Insight (Passive) NEW

Uneditable Cooking (Passive) → Simple Cooking (Passive) NEW

Issen (Lv. 0) → Issen (Lv. 1) NEW

Round Slash (Lv. 0) → Round Slash (Lv. 1) NEW

Fail Katana Mastery (Passive) → Katana Mastery (Passive) NEW

Mental Clarity (Passive – Lv. 10)

Steady Footwork (Passive) NEW

Basic Combat Mastery (Passive – Lv.1) NEW

Poison Resistance (Passive) NEW

Samurai’s Oath (Passive) NEW

[Current Condition:] Deepening Affection, Relief, Determination.

[Remark:] (...Protect.)

Jake’s eyes moved down the list.

Every trash tag was gone and every weak stat had been pulled up to Average.

The broken skills had cleaned themselves into real ones.

On top of that, new lines of skill had appeared that were not there before.

Jake’s mouth curved in satisfaction.

Strangely, upgrading his woman’s status made him feel more satisfied than he expected.

It was not just numbers.

It was the feeling that she would not break or devalue herself as easily now.

Then he noticed something else.

He looked again, more carefully.

The poison line was gone.

At that, Jake let out a long breath he did not know he had been holding.

That was what relieved him most.

The poison must had not been that strong in the first place.

After the class change, Poison Resistance must have finished the job.

Her body had pushed the last of it out while she slept on his chest.

Jake checked her condition one more time, just to be sure.

[Current Condition:] Deepening Affection, Relief, Determination.

[Remark:] (...Protect)

’Determination and... Protect?’

Jake blinked and looked down at the beautiful sleeping face, noticing that even in her sleep her... expression was quite serious.

He let out a wry smile at this sight and couldn’t help but think that perhaps this was just who she was, not solely a result of her skill.

Perhaps this was her true nature, not merely a learned ability.

Mental Clarity had likely only intensified her existing personality; that was all.

The calm, the stubborn will, the need to finish what she started, the quiet promise to protect... those things were already inside her.

The skill probably just made them sharper.

Jake brushed a strand of hair from her cheek.

"Mhmm..."

Aria shifted slightly as she pressed her soft cheek even tighter against his chest.

Jake smiled and accessed his own status to see his Upgrade Points.

The figure caused him to pause.

Upgrade Points: 3,400

He stared at it for a moment.

’I made a slight miscalculation..’

He had thought there would be more left.

After raising all of Aria’s stats and pushing her class from Trash to Common, 3,400 was what remained.

Jake ran the numbers again.

If he went all in, he might be able to upgrade Aria’s class one more time... from Common to Rare.

But if he did that, he would not have enough left to raise his own stats to Superhuman.

So now he has to choose between one path that made her much stronger and the other path that made him much stronger.

Jake looked down at the serious sleeping face on his chest.

His thumb rested against her hair.

"...Not yet," he thought.

A Rare class could wait.

If he became too weak to protect her now, a better class would not matter.

Jake looked at his own stats.

He had 3,400 Upgrade Points remaining, which is sufficient for three upgrades with his current 150 gold coins.

He stopped thinking about Aria’s Rare class and opened his status.

"Alright. My turn."

[Ding!]

[Vitality has been upgraded!]

[Trained → Superhuman]

[-1000 Upgrade Points, -50 Gold Coins]

[Ding!]

[Agility has been upgraded!]

[Trained → Superhuman]

[-1000 Upgrade Points, -50 Gold Coins]

[Ding!]

[Endurance has been upgraded!]

[Trained → Superhuman]

[-1000 Upgrade Points, -50 Gold Coins]

The three changes hit together.

Jake remained still, sensing the change taking hold within him.

His body felt entirely unlike before.

His heart was now beating with greater strength, and his breathing was deep and effortless.

Even his blood felt more vigorous.

As he lay on the cold stone floor, the slight unease he had experienced earlier had vanished.

Simultaneously, everything seemed more distinct.

The air within the cave, her subtle movements, the area surrounding him... all of it was sharper.

If something were to approach them now, he was confident he could react first.

Jake smiled faintly. "So, this is what being Superhuman feels like."

When he first upgraded his Strength to Superhuman, he had expected some kind of dramatic transformation.

But in the end, the difference had not been as overwhelming as he imagined.

His strength had increased tremendously, of course.

That part was obvious.

He could feel the sheer power in his muscles.

However, every other aspect of his body had largely stayed the same. His breathing remained normal, his movements were normal, and his senses hadn’t altered significantly.

At that point, Jake had just presumed that was the typical sensation of being at the Superhuman level.

But now... something felt different.