*As a System, you actually lagged out and went offline. Have you no shame?!*
Facing Aaron's accusation, the System responded in his mind with a calm tone.
[Tester 233, since you asked so sincerely... I will graciously tell you a story.]
*I wasn't that sincere... And I'm supposed to be the angry one here!*
[A long, long time ago—]
*Skip the crap and get to the point.*
[Sigh, you're no fun at all. Fine, we'll skip the prelude and get straight to the point.]
[To put it simply, this System used to operate on a real-time notification basis.]
*Isn't that better? Why change it?*
[But among the previous 232 Testers, most were ordinary people. They lacked outstanding combat skills and only gained superhuman strength through the abilities this System gave them.]
*And then?*
[You have to understand, even if ordinary people gain great power, without a certain amount of training and combat experience, it's easy for them to get distracted.]
[And generally speaking, many of the conditions for triggering hidden missions involve defeating powerful enemies. But sometimes, Testers encounter more than one powerful enemy at a time.]
*Uh-huh... so what does this have to do with you changing the rules?*
[One Tester, while fighting several strong enemies, defeated one of them, triggering the condition to unlock a hidden mission.]
[But he was inexperienced. He got distracted right then, and...]
*...And then?*
[Why do you think you're No. 233?]
Although the System didn't directly tell Aaron what happened, that one sentence said it all.
Everything was said without being said. It was probably best to change the subject.
[Forget it, the past is the past. Tester No. 233, please select your reward.]
*Let me think thrice.*
*First, strengthening a skill can only be chosen from the skills I had before entering the dungeon. That means it would randomly pick one to strengthen from [Basic Weapon Usage Technique] *1, [Basic Hand-to-Hand Technique] *1, and [Honkai Resistance] LV1.*
*I see. So this is what the System meant by 'unlocking' before.*
To be honest, Aaron really wanted to strengthen that skill directly.
After all, his main world was a Honkai world. The higher the [Honkai Resistance], the higher the chance of survival.
But if he chose to randomly strengthen a skill, he only had a one-in-three chance of hitting that ability.
Besides, he wasn't strong enough right now. In a world like *Akame ga Kill!*, where he couldn't just steamroll everything, it was probably better to choose one of the other options for the sake of his immediate survival.
*If I can't even survive now, what's the point of worrying about the future?*
Suddenly thinking of something, Aaron immediately asked the System.
*System, you never said what would happen if I failed the mission. Don't tell me now that failure means obliteration.*
[Tester, you're overthinking it. If you fail the mission, the most I'll do is make you complete it before you can return to your main world.]
[This System isn't as brutal as that orb of light, always going for 'obliteration'.]
*Oh, that's surprisingly humane.*
[So, have you made up your mind yet?]
*I have. I'm not picking the one with the low floor. I'll choose to draw a skill.*
[Drawing skill... Loading...]
[Ding! Drawing attack skill—Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist!]
*Ooh, a powerful attack skill!* ...
*Wait, isn't this just a charged basic attack? Who besides a certain leather-clad man can even use this properly?!*
[Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist—Automatically learned.]
[Description: One of the combat techniques created by Orca, a magnetic field master from the world of "Sea Tiger". After using this skill, the user will launch an extremely powerful punch at the enemy.]
[Note: Using Current Drive / Magnetic Field Rotation to power this skill will grant it a special bonus.]
[Note 2: Those lacking in technique will easily end up using this skill as a charged basic attack. Also, this skill has high consumption; users, please be mindful.]
[Note 3: Those with indecisive personalities gain a power bonus when using this move.]
*Whatever. It's a decent attack skill, which is better than just braining people with a bat after activating Ittou Shura.*
*But I've been meaning to ask... Knight of Owner and Ittou Shura both require mana, right?*
*And there's absolutely no setting in *Sea Tiger* that says 'those with indecisive personalities gain a power bonus when using this move,' is there???*
*Is it really okay for you to add one's own fan-settings to skills like this, System?*
[Tester, there's a reason for this. A long, long time ago—]
*Get to the point.*
[Fine. In short, you're not the first Tester to draw the Noble Phantasm buff 'Knight of Owner'.]
*Ah, that seems normal.*
[But the last Tester who drew this buff had no mana. And someone with no mana, who doesn't know how to convert life force into mana, naturally can't use a Noble Phantasm that requires it.]
*...So what happened to him?*
[It's the same answer.]
......