- Oliver -

  Oliver said goodbye to Nico, who would return to the hotel to prepare for the trip to Olympus. The boy, in turn, would embark on another journey back to h. For him, this was the worst part of the trip; the ship always shook too much during atmospheric re-entry.

  Sitting in his seat while the noise of the engines filled the , Oliver activated his gauo analyze what had ged with his test evolution. A hologram floated before his eyes, dispying his status page.

  | Status Page | User: Oliver [Nameless] | Level: 4 [Knight] | Experience: [130/800] | Credits: 11,260 | grats you're Knight-level

  A notification from Athena appeared, gratuting him. Oliver gave an ironic smile.

  "Impressive, but damn, now I need an absurd amount of experience," he thought as he looked at the first part of his profile.

  Oliver slid his finger over the hologram, revealing his attributes.

  | Seleain status.

  | Stats | Strength: 7 [Pawn] [Select] | Agility: 14 [Knight] [Select] | stitution: 6 [Pawn] [Select] | Energy: 14 [Knight] [Select]

  Just below, a new option blinked on the hologram that only he could see. He could now select which attribute would be his main one, each with a blinking button awaiting his choice.

  "Strength and stitutiood. They helped me a bit to advan the Trial Tower, but it's not my fighting style," the boy reflected. "Maybe they'd help me use [Prometheus] for a loime, but it should be a finisher, not something I use during a long fight," he thought, looking at his options.

  "Energy could increase the power of [Prometheus] and maybe boost the firing strength of the Energy Pistol," Oliver analyzed; it would be a good option. But thinking about his ret battles, agility had always been the oo save him.

  He used it to flee from the Orks, escape the Goblins, protect himself irial Tower, and even fight against Kyle.

  The boy felt that this was the right choice.

  He finally pressed [Select].

  | +5 Points in Agility | Agility is your Main Status | Agility will be cheaper than your other stats | Stats Shop Open!

  | Stats| Strength: 7 [Pawn] [Buy for 400 Exp] | Agility: 19 [Knight] [Buy for 200 Exp] | stitution: 6 [Pawn] [Buy for 400 Exp] | Energy: 14 [Knight] [Buy for 400 Exp]

  As soon as he firmed his choice, several new notifications appeared. The first indicated the increase in agility points. Oliver frowned.

  "I don't feel any different," he thought, even seeing the disproportionate increase in his points.

  "Now I buy more points. The options keep increasing, but now that I need 800 experieo level up, it's better to start iing in Boons," he analyzed while looking at his boons.

  | Boons | Insight [Pawn][Growth] | [Use 200 Experience Points to Upgrade] | | Observation [Pawn][Growth] | [Use 200 Experience Points to Upgrade] | | Left Eye of Learning [Knight]| | Right Eye of Secrets [Knight] |

  "Secrets?" the boy thought, curious about what he had just unlocked.

  Clig on the em, a sed s appeared with a simple description.

  | Right Eye of Secrets [Knight] | While your left eye will teach you about the world, this eye will show you the opportunities behind the world.

  "What the hell is this?!" he excimed internally, surprised and not fully uanding how the new Boon worked.

  However, he noticed something strange. A list of pending notifications was in the er of his s, but that wasn't precisely what caught his attention.

  What fused him was that some golden lights were around the notification—something that had never appeared before.

  ‘Could it be the effect of the eye?’ Oliver thought. ‘Alright. Let's see.’

  He clicked in the area where the golden glows danced. A series of old notifications in his message box started to appear automatically.

  | eique learned | New system unlocked - Traits | rait unlocked | rait unlocked | rait unlocked

  Oliver noticed that the first notification was from the time he was imprisoned.

  ‘So I'm still evolving; I just don't receive notifications of what I've got?’ he questioned.

  | You unlock the evolution, but it will only take effect upon tact with a Z Crystal - Athena expined, appearing in a side window.

  ‘So the eique was learned using the [Left Eye of Learning], but I o use the Z Crystal to absorb it?’ Oliver asked.

  | Exactly. You use part of your Energy to use the ability, but your e to the crystal allows you to internalize it - Athena firmed.

  Oliver was about to cli the first notificatiohe ship experienced slight turbulehe boy took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, and refocused on the system before him.

  | eique learned

  | [Language] Orkish | Progress: 10.59% | You heard 5,433 minutes of Orkish. | You are now able to uand the fuals of the nguage.

  ‘What?!’ Oliver's eyes widened. ‘So I learn anything? I thought teiques were only for bat.’

  | Hey! It's the Left Eye of Learning, not the Left Eye of bat - Athena said jokingly.

  ‘Yeah, makes sense,’ Oliver nodded.

  The boy was curious to test what he had just learned but didn't want to have to look for a random video of an Ork.

  ‘I'll do this ter,’ he thought as he looked at the other notifications that still needed his attention.

  | New system unlocked - Traits

  | Traits | This menu was unlocked when you reached level [Knight] | Your achievements will help you adapt and survive against your oppos.| plete the ditions and unlock Traits.

  Oliver read the brief description before seeing a huge list with thousands of traits he could unlock.

  | ■■■■■ | Use ten fishes to defeat an Ork

  | ■■■■■ | Pilot a ship for 100 hours

  | ■■■■■ | Pilot a mecha for 1,000 hours

  The name of each trait seemed locked until he met the correct dition to unlock it. However, he had received three other notifications. Each of them appeared to be an unlocked trait.

  | Radioactive Skin | Survive radioactive poisoning ?? | Your resistao radiation has increased [+50%]

  | Masochist | Receive 1,000 Lashings ?? | Your resistao pain has increased [+50%]

  | Titanic | Survive an enter with a Titan ?? | No effect. You were lucky.

  ‘Hey! Seriously, surviving a Tita have any effect?!’ the boy said to Athena.

  | You just survived; you didn't even deal any damage to the Titan. So don't pin—it serves more as a medal - Athena replied.

  ‘Damn it,’ he thought internally.

  Oliver closed the notifications, pensive. Despite not receiving anything for surviving a Titan, he couldn't deny that he had evolved siderably with this st progression.

  The boy looked out the small window beside him. The stars shoensely against the dark veil of space, and h, in the distance, was beginning to emerge like a bluish jewel.

  The soft voice of the onboard system announced, "Dear passengers, we will begin our atmospheric re-entry shortly. Please ensure you are properly seated."

  As soon as the annou ended, Oliver khat the trip to the spaceport would be quick. He could theeleportation to Mars aurn to Katherine's house, making this the most peaceful part of his journey.

  Although less than two days had passed sihey separated, the boy felt tired, as if he had traveled aire week. His shoulders and neck ached from being tense on the ship.

  ‘I'd rather get nauseous from telep than spe hours on a ship between one base and another,’ he thought, sighing.

  Upourning to Arcadia, Oliver o take one of the subways that rah Mars to reach the tral building, which served as both the official goverower and the residence of the Yorks.

  The boy took a deep breath, relieved to be back.

  Entering the building was easy; his registration had already been made when he was taken to the infirmary, marking him as an ally of the York family and, therefranting him access to the family's private levels—except for the throne room and the Heir's floor.

  Oliver headed to the sixty-third floor. Katherine had expihat it was the floor the York family used daily. Upon opening the doors, he once again noticed the cssic décor he had seen on the meeting room floor. Additionally, the tones of red and bck were repeated—predominant colors in almost all official buildings of the Yorks or the gover of Mars.

  The boy was calmly walking through the silent corridors when he suddenly felt a tremor run through the building, followed by the muffled sound of an explosion. Dust and pieces of stohrown along the corridor. Worried about the possibility of an attack, Oliver ran in the dire from which the sound came.

  Upon arriving at the room where the explosion had occurred, he entered an ued se. There were the two girls, both wearing their armors. Katherine wielded her bloodied sword, and Isabel had her gloves.

  "Cough, cough," Isabel coughed, trying to clear the dust from her face.

  Katheriiced Oliver's presend fshed a challenging smile.

  "Hey there! Ready to train?"

  GCLopes