Free Web NovelChapter 10: Integrating Returns...
’Integrate Returns.’
[Ding-!]
Immediately, the familiar blue, transparent screen materialized in front of Lucien, hovering steadily in his field of vision.
[Command Accepted.]
And, as if reminding him what his rewards were, the list of returns unfurled on the screen:
[1. Mental Fortitude]
[2. Nurturing Gaze]
[3. Mana Blessed]
[4. Steel Body]
[5. Cooking Mastery]
[Integrating Returns...
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 0%
.
.
█▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 10%
.
.
██▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 20%]
Lucien blinked, sucking in a deep breath as he sat upright with his arms crossed, fingers caressing a beardless chin.
’Well,’ he thought, shrugging, ’that wasn’t quite what I expecte–’
Crackle––!!
"Huh?"
Lucien winced, brows furrowing. Something had shifted in his bones. Something faint and barely noticeable.
That... What exactly was tha–
Crackle––!!
It happened again! The feeling was unreal. His muscles spasmed, skin stretching and hardening, while his bones cracked in place, sharpening, growing harder, grating the insides of his stretching skin.
Lucien was befuddled.
But befuddled he might’ve been, he was even more astonished by the fact that the entire process didn’t hurt.
Well, it did hurt... vaguely. But it wasn’t some brain-wringing pain that Lucien couldn’t ignore. It just felt as if the insides of his skin were being pricked by a hundred needles, and as if his bones were cracking and somehow... restructuring?
Bah, it didn’t hurt much. No, it didn’t hurt at all–
[███████▒▒▒ 70%]
[Ding–! You have acquired skill [Steel Body!]
[Ding–! You have acquired skill [Mental Fortitude!]
Lucien remained perfectly still, eyes affixed to the hovering gamelike projection, fingers interlocked, the cold marble tiles kissing his butt, grounding and reminding him that this was all real.
But...
’How anticlimactic,’ he sighed. ’I had braced myself, expecting the whole process to hurt like shit. This kind of stuff always hurts in webnovels. Now I’m wondering, were the main characters in the novels all just wimps who couldn’t withstand a little pain?’
Lucien shrugged.
"I shouldn’t judge," he whispered. "Those guys didn’t get stronger by feeding kids pudding."
Just as Lucien’s mind was fixed on this, a series of strange memories zoomed into his consciousness, occupying the space. And as Lucien squinted his eyes, trying to make out these strange memories, he felt them widen, growing larger, their array expanding.
Finally, Lucien raised his brows, an innate understanding of the memories forming in the back of his mind.
And as he understood them, he smiled a warm, knowing smile.
Somehow, it turned out that Lucien now knew the recipes for almost every dish on Earth.
[██████████ 100%!]
’Right on time.’
[Rewards Successfully Integrated!]
Lucien closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. And then, with his emerald eyes still shut, he clenched and unclenched his fists, feeling a new... uncertain sensation in them. In fact, his entire body felt different now.
He didn’t feel strengthened or exceptionally powerful, no. Lucien felt renewed, invigorated, like he could perform every task he once thought was beyond him.
Opening his eyes, he took in the sight of the plastic plates that sat on the ground in front of him.
"Right," he whispered.
He still had to clean that up.
But before that...
’I wonder, is there a way to check these skills out? To gain a better understanding of them? I can’t only get by with a vague understanding of–’
Lucien blinked.
"Oh."
All the information he needed about his newly acquired skills was in his mind. How convenient. It seemed, during the process of integrating the rewards, the memories of aforementioned rewards had been transfused into his mind, along with the recipes and...
How curious.
Lucien felt his hand quiver, but he quickly stilled it, clenching and unclenching as he raised it jaw-level, caressing his beardless chin as he sifted through the system-granted information that swirled in his mind.
Mental Fortitude was a skill meant to keep him levelheaded, to let the radiant blade that was rationality prevail in every single situation — drastic or not — that he found himself in. The skill made his brain abandon the pure irrationality that emotions almost always carried. It gave Lucien a clear, calm, and focused mind. It would also — as he grew stronger — serve as a shield against mental attacks.
Mana Blessed, as the name implied, was simply the blessing of mana. It basically meant Lucien, when the time would come, would have a rather high affinity with mana, making him at least five times better than the average awakened. But to talk about mana and ’awakened’ when Eden was far from now was a bit too... Yeah, right now on Earth, mana didn’t exist. Not even in the slightest. Lucien would know, because his sensitivity to the energy increased with this new skill of his.
Cooking Mastery... Well, he already knew that one. It was also the one he was the most excited about, to be honest. He’d never really taken the time to learn how to cook properly during his life as Jacob. And, the original Lucien wasn’t much of a good cook either. Which was why they mostly ate outside.
The former Lucien did know how to cook.
But knowing how to do something didn’t always equate to being good at that thing. And, to put it plainly, Michael hated Lucien’s cooking. The author had stated this fact in the novel, too. The boy, Michael, just put up with Lucien’s shitty cooking because it was mostly all they could afford to cook with the limited access to ingredients and proper recipes.
These facts were major parts of the reason why Mikky was always happy when they got takeout.
Yeah, it was a really well-deserved break from Lucien’s shitty cooking.
’Well, it won’t be shitty from now on.’
Now Lucien just needed the money to even buy ingredients in the first place.
A soft sigh broke out of his lips. And he lifted two fingers, massaging his forehead with them, easing the aching anxiety.
Back to the topic. Steel body.
Yes, Lucien would need to experiment more with this newly acquired steel body. It apparently made him more durable and made his body stronger. And it also made him less likely to die in the first five minutes following Eden’s arrival. That was a good thing, really.
Lucien scoffed.
Last, but not least... fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
’Nurturing Gaze.’
As Lucien thought of this, his emerald eyes softened, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he looked at the corner where Mikky was–
Where was Mikky?
