The Passive Skill Collection System

*Huff* *Huff*—*Gasp*

Lu Jae-sung was doing his last rep of the 300 push-ups mission, completing every daily mission before midnight.

Stats:

- 100/100 HP

- 1/1 MP

- 76/100 Exhaustion

- Level: 0 (0/100 XP)

- Strength: 6

- Endurance: 8

- Intelligence: 8

- Mana: 1

- Dexterity: 3

- Agility: 5

- Stat Points: 6

To avoid exhaustion, he increased his endurance by four stat points before starting the workout, which he completed.

While doing the push-ups, he thought he might get a passive skill related to energy, but after completing them, not a single notification appeared.

"You have completed every daily mission. Additional reward granted."

- Run 5km (5/5km) (Reward: 1 point of agility)

- Do 300 Push-Ups (300/300) (Reward: 1 point of strength and endurance)

- Punch 1000x (1000/1000) (Reward: 1 point of dexterity)

- Completion Reward: 1 stat point

This addition felt nice, and satisfaction filled his heart. He could store them for as long as he didn't need to increase his power.

"Ah, I still have dinner ahead of me. I wonder how will my parents react to my awakening." He thought, feeling calm as to whatever was about to happen.

Before doing anything else, he showered and changed into his casual clothes.

"I forgot to check the details about my school transfer." He remembered while waiting in his room.

Although reading through the list of rules and what knowledge he should have was uninteresting, he still read the whole thing. The principal set the date of enrollment for the upcoming Monday.

"It's overwhelming for a transfer student near the end of the semester to know so much. How can I store all this knowledge in my mind?" He said to himself, overwhelmed filled his mind.

After going through rows and rows of curriculum, the only thing that could save him from this hell was his intelligence. He might increase it enough to humble those who oppose him.

He is not the type of guy who would show off his intellect or any skills, destroying some of the big-nosed noble descendants would be a satisfactory bonus.

The continuous strategizing led to raising his intelligence by four points.

- Intelligence: 12

- Stat points: 3

So, he believed learning would demand far less time and attention, preserving his freedom.

The message also listed helpful books. They would send them to the household during this week. Hopefully, they will arrive earlier than Friday. If he had to, he could raise his stat to make it even less difficult.

*Knock-Knock*

A faint voice came through the closed door to the micro-apartment.

"Young master, the dinner is ready. The headmaster wishes to speak with you."

With the fading steps, Lu Jae-sung took a minute before heading to the common dining room.

Upon showing up at the doorway, the only person seated was Bu Bujeo, the chill atmosphere filled the room with coldness.

Signing Lu Jae-sung to take a seat, he slowly approached the side of the cherry-wood table to sit.

"What is it you wanted to talk about, Father?" he asked, yet again pretending to show respect.

"I've got a call about your situation. You know what I mean, so I will cut straight to the chase. What special ability do you have? And don't give me the crap like you don't know, or that the system won't show you." He said in a deep tone, staring at his son while frowning.

A threatening aura appeared around Bu Bujeo, showing his strict nature.

"It doesn't matter if you believe I am faking the state of my special ability. From what information I have about it is none. Why can't you accept the fact, the system can behave differently for each individual?" Fury whirled wildly in his mind as he retorted.

Suddenly, the frigid atmosphere around him changed. Lu Jae-sung felt immense pressure crushing his whole body. The chairs and the table creaked. The chair below him has even fallen apart. He fell on his knees and vomited blood.

Wooden chips covered the floor, as the chairs exploded from the enormous force.

"Tell me the truth, or you will end up somewhere worse than a mere hospital if you won't spill the beans!"

"I didn't know this fucker had such a strong special ability!" It crossed his mind, gritting his teeth.

The surrounding pressure tightened even more, causing him to lie flat on the ground. His chest hurt like hell, feeling his ribs might break.

"I—really—don't know!!!" He screamed as much as his lungs allowed him to, running out of air.

Taking such a high-risk gamble, not revealing his Transcendent ability.

The gravitational field dissipated and Lu Jae-sung stayed still on the ground. Upon considering his circumstances, the interface materialized, highlighting its upper part.

His lungs, stomach, and torso showed up yellow, which would heal after a few days of resting.

Stats:

- 83/100 HP

- 1/1 MP

- 95/100 Exhaustion

*Beep-Beep*

Lu Jae-sung ignored the system notification, focusing on the problem in front of him.

"If you really don't have one, that means you are completely useless! Let's see how you manage school for now. I will give you a chance to stay with this family. If you won't embarrass us and work hard at school, then I can let it slide and won't bother you about it. Not only that but if you are going to excel in every subject, I will enroll you in the same academy as Hae-ryung. Be prepared that I will mess up our life even more if you have a single, really poor grade on the leaving school exam!" He stated with a furious tone, looking down at his son.

*Pant* *Pant* *Cough*

Because of his damaged internals, he slowly rose, too weak to stand on his own. His appetite for food died out, leaving the messed up room. Bu Bujeo stared at the puddle of blood.

*Whistle*

He whistled at one of the close-by servants.

"Clean this up and bring new chairs from the storage room." He ordered.

Lu Jae-sung, slowly, with difficulty, eventually climbed the stairs on all fours, and barely got back to his micro-apartment and went to sleep.

-----------------------------------------

After the commotion, nothing else bothered Lu Jae-sung, leaving him at peace while finishing multiple daily tasks.

It was Sunday, and he just completed his last daily task. Each day, the tasks got harder, and the exercises were exchanged each time. That day, he had to run 10km with a 10kg vest. When he was running across the streets, people looked at him in admiration and sometimes cheered him on.

Following this, he performed 400 squats while wearing the vest, then side steps. In contrast to his past self, the coordination of his fist attacks, his speed, and his strength improved tremendously.

Doubling up his stats meant he delivered two times stronger and faster punches, which meant his output power was four times higher than in the fight with the wannabe gangsters.

During his free time, he forced passive skills to gain XP by testing some of his ideas. Yet, he didn't do so with his uncommon skill, which led to the conclusion that he had to fight for real.

When his dad had crushed him with the gravitational special ability, he gained a passive skill, 'Pain Tolerance' and his list looked like this.

↓ Common:

- Cognitive Resilience Lv 3 (6/30 XP)

- Drowsiness Defiance Lv 1 (6/10 XP)

- Pain Tolerance Lv 2 (12/20 XP)

↓ Uncommon:

- Fist Fighting Mastery Lv 1 (1/100 XP)

After spending some time with the system, he guessed he couldn't force the passive skill to appear by hurting himself directly. He had thought about cutting resistance, but when he did it a few times with paper, cardboard, scissors, and then a knife, he only upgraded his pain tolerance.

His other idea was to be bitten by a snake, infecting him with weak venom. He hasn't yet tried it, and he would have to buy and care for the snake himself because people wouldn't willingly let a stranger be bitten by their snake.

Later proving some theories he had, he upgraded 'Cognitive Resilience' by solving hard puzzles, which were confusing him, and 'Drowsiness Defiance' by taking sleeping pills every night, which was slow, but nothing else came to his mind.

He also discovered that the system can show the image of his body and internals, with added signs on them. Bruises, cuts, punctures, all you could think of, pictured accurately on top of it. This would be handy in a fight since upgrading his pain tolerance might act like a double-edged sword.

Being so excited about his research, he forgot to look at the study books. Confident enough, it might not pose a challenge at all. In the end, his intelligence was also doubled from his original, and he was the smart type of person.

Unbothered, on his bed, he opened up one book and swept through it swiftly.

"I can remember it all!"

Excited, he performed well, remembering everything he had read.

There were seven books in total. He read two books before midnight; each took two hours, preventing completion of all books in a day.

"I think I will perform extraordinarily at school. I will be the sharpest tool in the shed! Hahaha!" His diabolical laugh intensified.

He slowly, and surely wanted to show the world his fast growth. His mind racing with excitement, he was going to change the course of his destiny.

-----------------------------------------

Somewhere on the southeast side of Haneulguk, in The Boundless Sea, multiple hunting ships started to disappear in an area of 20-30km². An immense invisible aura surrounded the area for an unknown reason. Few clans prepared expedition teams with E-rank Awakeners, who specialized in scanning the surroundings for finding out further clues.