Chapter 36: Day-2 Begins!
Within the last hour of the 18-hour rest period, Kay and MJ got themselves busy handling the matters regarding the technology advancements and our Enterprise.
Meanwhile, I relaxed as I watched movies with Qew in my home theatre.
Even though it was the first time for me, I adjusted my enhanced time perception to match the playback speed.
Within the 10 hour-long training, I learned from MJ that the time perception was generalised into two types, namely True-time perception and False time perception.
By increasing stats in Spirit Attribute, one can increase their perception of time. But it can only be called True-time perception when the Stats in the other 4 main Attributes were at least the same or more than the Stats in the Spirit Attribute.
If not, it was categorised as False time perception since Strength, Agility, Vitality and Endurance Attributes couldn't keep up with the time perception of the Sprit Attribute.
Soon an hour passed and I was teleported back into the tree burrow that I was in before teleporting to Earth. Since it was dark within the tree burrow, my Lv.10[Night Vision] was automatically activated.
Even though all the colours were dimmer, I was still able to see in the dark clearly.
Just then, a series of 12 notifications resounded in my mind, similar to the ones that appeared in the sky after my Tier-1 Evolution.
I exited the tree burrow as I removed the bushes at its entrance and looked at the enormous notifications shining in the sky.But they were less than a quarter the size of the gigantic notifications that congratulated the other two Alpha Chosen that evolved to Tier-2 before me and I included.
Those were congratulatory notifications for the 12 Alpha Chosen that evolved to Tier-2 during the 18 hours of the rest period.
12 more names were added in the [Trial World Leaderboard] below my name. I committed their names to my memory and turned my attention to the time notification that indicated the start of Day-2 on my vision's top left corner.
[Day-2, Alpha Program, 00:00:10 (hr:min:sec)]
I stood there as I let myself bathe in the warm sunlight for a while and soon returned into my tree hideout after not finding any presence of monsters nearby.
The first thing I did was merging with the common grade skills, Lv.10[Auditory Sense] and Lv.10[Olfactory sense] that could increase my hearing and smell senses.
Similar to when I merged with the skill [Night Vision], the merging process caused a burning sensation in my nose and ears. Still, with my high Physical Pain resistance, I hardly felt any pain.
Once the merging process was completed, my hearing and smell senses which were already 3.7 higher than a human was further increased by 10 fold. As a result, those two senses became 37 times higher than the average human.
With that, my hearing and smell senses were heightened to a point where I started to sense every small sound and all kinds of fragrances within a radius of 900 meters around me.
Even with 37 Stats in my Spirit Attribute, my brain couldn't process all the information that I received through my senses.
A soaring headache hit me. I quickly used the [Limiter Debuff] on myself and limited the skill levels of [Auditory Sense] and [Olfactory Sense] from Lv.10 to Lv.2 at the expense of some Spirit Energy points.
Only then was I able to adjust to my senses, but still I could sense every smell and sound in detail within the radius of 180 meters.
It took me a minute to properly adjust to the increased senses. I knew that even with my [Passive Spirit Energy Regeneration-I], my Spirit Energy expenditure couldn't maintain the cost set by [Limiter Debuff] for more than a few hours.
So, I intended to quickly increase my level to improve my Spirit Attribute to adjust myself to higher skill levels of the [Auditory Sense] and [Olfactory Sense].
Then, I left my tree hideout and moved towards the North direction where I fought against the Tier-2 monsters, Bloodthirsty Earth Bear and Dire Wind Wolf in the hopes of finding monsters.
It didn't take long before reaching that location, and all there remained where the bones and dried blood of the two Tier-2 Monsters that I killed. It seemed that other monsters scavenged their carcasses.
MJ's voice resounded within my mind, "Master, the Tier-2 monsters were not scavenged just because of food but of their Spirit Crystal."
"Every monster has a Spirit Crystal in its heart and that within that exists that monster's pure Spirit Energy. These Spirit Crystals were extremely useful as they can be absorbed to quickly replenish one's Spirit Energy and during a battle, that comes handy."
"Moreover, once a life planet assimilates with the System, any device that doesn't have Spirit Energy as a source will cease working."
"Since the Spirit Crystals act as the main power source, they are even used as currency in the worlds that finished their assimilation with the System."
"As to why monsters eat other monster's Spirit Crystal was because those Spirit Crystals are one of the requirements for evolution to a higher Tier."
Till then, I didn't even know that a Spirit Crystal even exists but thanks to MJ, I even learned about its importance.
"So, is it the same advanced technology that you discussed with Kay?" I asked.
"No, Master, That was just an advancement in earth's current technology in various fields. The purpose for that was to make Nav-Yuga Enterprise into a global conglomerate so that other powerful corporations cannot pressure it."
"But to incorporate Spirit Crystal as the power source for any device, someone with a variant Innate Talent related to 'Spirit Energy Engineering' is required."
"Another option was to obtain a Skill that's related to 'Spirit Energy Engineering' which was extremely hard to obtain."
"But, Master! You need not worry about that. As long as I enter my Battle Form, I can open my A.I space, and in there, no Tier-4 being and below can match me in 'Spirit Energy Engineering'."
From MJ's tone, I could already imagine a smug smile on his little chubby face. After I merged with the skill [Personal Soul A.I], I left everything regarding the [STATUS] for MJ to manage and didn't even go through the new description after that.
So, I opened my [STATUS] for the detailed information of MJ in the [Personal Soul A.I] section.
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[Personal Soul A.I]
An A.I entity formed from the System and a part of the host's soul.
Name: MJ
System access level: Grade-4 (Epic)
[Battle Form] (not awakened)
With MJ being a Grade-4 Soul A.I, awakening 'Battle Form' requires maintaining a constant transfer link of at least 40% of the owner's overall stats.
Battle Form Perks: [A.I Space], MJ's personal [STATUS].
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"Master, my true prowess can be shown only by awakening my Battle Form."
"If it's others, they wouldn't dare to awaken 'Battle Form' because they had to offer at least 40% of their overall Stats permanently. Moreover, they had to keep on offering their Attribute Stats as they level up to maintain the [Battle Form] with 40% of their overall Stats."
"But in the case of Master, Looted Stats can be used instead of normal Stats. Not just that, Master could even offer the maximum of 100% of your overall stats in [STATUS], and then my stats will be the same as Master."
I was surprised that MJ has a 'Battle Form' and that I could sacrifice Looted Stats to awaken it.
With my overall stats in my [STATUS] being at 215 Stats, I just need 86 Looted Stats (40% of overall stats) to awaken the 'Battle Form.'
But I was not in a hurry since my overall Stats in [LOOTED STATUS] were 400 and that was less than double the amount of my overall Stats in [STATUS].
With that, my [INVERSE] mode was temporarily locked. I felt vulnerable without my hidden trump card. So, I prioritised on gaining more Looted Stats to unlock [INVERSE] mode again.
After that, I followed the connection I had with the [Rusted Short Sword] and soon found it in the location where I was just before undergoing [INVERSE] for the very first time.
The [Rusted Short Sword] was barely hanging with a single point in Durability.
It reminded me of the fight with the Dire Wind Wolf that before I awakened [INVERSE], where I nearly lost my life.
I picked it up the [Rusted Short Sword] and placed it in the storage space of my [Limiter Ring].
Instead of a weapon, I wanted it as a memento that reminds me of how weak I was in front of a higher tier creature, and to grow powerful to a point where I would not be in such a situation anymore.