After returning home, Shinichi closed the door, shutting out the cold wind outside.
He walked into the bathroom, carefully washed his hands with hot water, changed into a clean set of clothes, then sat quietly by the window for a while, letting his mind settle completely.
He had gone through this routine many times—it had long since become a habit.
Although he knew full well that it wouldn't affect the outcome of the draw, the sense of ritual still had to be there.
After finishing everything, he took a deep breath and sank his consciousness into the personal panel that only he could see.
His gaze landed on that line—
[Draws Remaining: 1 (Purple)]
He spoke silently in his mind.
'Draw!'
In the next instant, a deep and resplendent purple light suddenly bloomed within his consciousness. Unlike the previous blue and green glows, it carried a mysterious, noble quality—as if it had touched upon some deeper layer of rules.
Within the radiance, a new line of text slowly condensed and solidified.
[Flash Step LV1 (Purple): Your neural reflex speed, dynamic visual tracking limits, and hand-eye coordination have all reached the representative peak of this field in the world. In your eyes, the trajectory of an enemy's attacks appears as clear as slow motion. In the blink of an instant, you can discern their intent and allow your body to respond with the most precise counter.]
Wait a second!
Seeing this, Shinichi froze for a moment.
Although the entry he had obtained was exactly the type of reaction-based ability he currently needed, effectively filling in his biggest shortcoming—
This LV1?
Shinichi's gaze fell on the "LV1" behind the name [Flash Step], and his brows twitched slightly.
What did that mean?
Could it be that purple-tier entries had different levels?
That was something none of the entries of other colors had ever shown before!
Before he could think further, a new line of description popped up on the personal panel.
[As you have obtained a purple-tier entry, system permissions have been upgraded.]
[From this point onward, you may freely equip or unequip all entries you possess. There is no cooldown, no cost—only a thought is required to complete the process instantly.]
Shinichi's gaze lingered on these lines.
Freely equipping and unequipping entries?
With a thought, the panel before him immediately changed. The previously fixed arrangement of talent entries now each had a small selectable mark behind them.
He tried unchecking [Bloodied Battle (Green)].
In that instant, a subtle sensation welled up within him—as if something that had always been there had been temporarily removed. His physical strength and base condition were not affected, but that feeling—the ability to passively draw out greater potential under injury or adversity—vanished.
He tried imagining a combat scenario and found it difficult to summon that state of growing stronger as the fight went on, that heightened battle fervor that could be stimulated mid-combat.
He checked it again, and the familiar feeling returned.
Shinichi raised a brow, his gaze shifting to the two blue entries.
[Copper Skin and Iron Bones] and [Rending Stone and Splitting Metal].
With another thought, he unchecked both at the same time.
In that instant, a powerful sense of weakness surged over him like a tidal wave!
His body swayed slightly, and he instinctively grabbed the edge of the table. The sensation was as if two pillars that had always supported him had suddenly been removed—his whole body felt light and powerless, unable to exert strength.
But soon after, Shinichi steadied himself, taking a deep breath. He knew this was only an illusion.
Even without the enhancement of [Copper Skin and Iron Bones] and [Rending Stone and Splitting Metal], his physical condition was still far from ordinary. The foundation forged through years of training was still there. The overall enhancements from entries like [Genius] and [Sword Master] were still there. The powerful vitality brought by [Unceasing Vitality] was still there as well.
It was just…
Having grown accustomed to that feeling of abundant strength and a powerful physique in every movement, losing it so suddenly inevitably created a sense of disparity.
With another thought, he rechecked both entries.
The return of strength was immediate and tangible—the sense of weakness was instantly swept away.
Standing where he was, he flexed his wrist, once again feeling that surging power within his body.
'This ability to freely equip and unequip entries is incredibly useful to me—revolutionary, even,' he thought to himself.
All this time, under the stacked effects of powerful entries like [Copper Skin and Iron Bones] and [Rending Stone and Splitting Metal], his base physical attributes had been elevated to an extremely terrifying level.
But it had also brought a hidden bottleneck—his training efficiency had dropped sharply.
If he wanted to improve his body through conventional methods—physical conditioning, weighted training, impact resistance drills—it had become extremely difficult.
To give a simple example, his original physical condition might only have been that of an ordinary person. But with all the entry enhancements, he had been raised to the level of a "prime Mike Tyson."
That meant his training now had to meet the standards of "prime Mike Tyson." Going back to punching sandbags or lifting barbells—training meant for "ordinary people" or even "elite athletes"—would no longer produce any meaningful effect.
Because for a body at the level of "prime Mike Tyson," even the slightest improvement would require an immense degree of training and effort.
Just like in weightlifting: going from lifting 100 kilograms to 200 kilograms shows clear progress—but going from 200 kilograms to 205 kilograms, that extra 5 kilograms may require far more effort than the initial 100-kilogram increase.
Right now, he was in that "200-kilogram" state.
But now, with the "free equip/unequip" function, everything was different!
He could completely remove, during daily training and foundational practice, those stat-type entries that directly and massively boosted physical attributes, such as [Copper Skin and Iron Bones], [Rending Stone and Splitting Metal], and [Light as the Wind].
And only keep potential-type entries like [Genius] and [Clear Comprehension and Thorough Insight], which enhanced talent, insight, and learning efficiency, as well as support-type entries like [Unceasing Vitality] and [Gourmet], which ensured recovery and optimized energy intake.
In this way, the body he trained with would return to a relatively normal—or even slightly weak—baseline: a "blank slate" state without any hard stat boosts from entries, but with exceptional talent and recovery.
Then, he could take that foundation—which had originally only been at the level of an "ordinary person"—and truly temper it, bit by bit, until it reached the level of "prime Mike Tyson," or even beyond.
And when that time came, once he re-equipped those entries, he would fully achieve the effect of 1+1—or even N+1—becoming a true stat monster.
Advancing to jōnin and obtaining the purple-tier entry [Flash Step] was already a tremendous gain—but the free equip/unequip function unlocked alongside it carried strategic value that might even surpass the newly acquired purple entry itself!
"But… what exactly does this LV1 mean?"
Shinichi's gaze once again fell on the newly obtained purple entry, doubt stirring in his mind.
Unfortunately, the personal panel rarely gave him any explanations. The occasional line of description that popped up already made him feel fortunate—there was no way it would proactively answer his questions.
He could only figure it out himself.
Thinking this, he looked again at the description of [Flash Step], and this time, a particular line caught his attention:
[Has reached the representative level of this field in the world.]
Representative level.
I see.
Understanding dawned on Shinichi.
In that case, his previous speculation about purple-tier entries had been correct—they represented the kind of individuals that people would think of when a certain field was mentioned.
Purple-tier LV1 meant representative. It meant a benchmark. It meant a model.
Then what about LV2?
Following that line of reasoning, the description corresponding to LV2 would likely be—
To stand at the pinnacle of this field in the world!
And above LV2, could there be even higher tiers?
If LV2 already represented the pinnacle within the scope of the "world," then any level beyond LV2 might even lose the qualifier "in the world."
That would no longer belong to the domain of mortals.
But to the domain of true gods!
Shinichi's gaze grew deep. He suddenly recalled the description when class-type entries first appeared—
When a class reached its maximum level, one talent-type entry that met the conditions could be directly upgraded to the highest quality.
And strictly speaking, both purple LV1 and LV2 were still within the purple tier.
Which meant—
Entries beyond purple LV2 very likely existed!
What kind of level would that be?
The domain of gods!
With that thought, Shinichi's desire to compete for the position of Hokage grew even stronger.
"Forget it. Thinking too much right now is pointless—the path has to be walked step by step."
Shinichi shook his head, dismissed the personal panel, and turned his gaze toward the snowflakes drifting outside the window.
At this moment, the "speed" of the world in his vision had already changed.
The falling trajectory of every snowflake became extraordinarily clear and slow. He could see their initial angle of descent, capture the subtle deviations in their paths caused by passing gusts of cold wind, and distinguish the completely different rotational patterns and falling speeds produced by differences in their crystal structures.
Even the faint glimmers of light reflecting off the ice crystals along the edges of the snowflakes, under the dim daylight, were clearly visible.
This vast, ever-changing flood of visual information surged into his eyes like a rushing stream. Without any deliberate focus, his brain automatically completed the instantaneous calculations and dynamic predictions of every snowflake's trajectory—
As if he had been born knowing how to appreciate the speed of this snowfall.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---