‘Let’s see how amazing this crutch can be.’

The quests were only there to quantify the contributions he made to his own faction, but while making contributions was important, wasn’t the ability of cashing in these same contributions more important?

So he opened the second function he had gained by reaching grade 1.

Faction Contribution Shop: MIC Serenis University

Faction Authority: Student

Faction Contribution Points: 0

Knowledge: Basic Energy Cultivation (200 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Super Biology (300 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Geography (1 400 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Sociology (1 500 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Physics (1 700 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Mathematics (1 800 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Economy (2 100 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Literature (2 600 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Biology (3 200 FCP)

Knowledge: Basic Illegal Sourcing (4 300 FCP)

…

Knowledge: Intermediate Sourcing (14 600 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Computer Watch (16 600 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Geopolitics (18 600 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Investigation (22 200 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Mass Media (27 500 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Journalism (31 200 FCP)

Knowledge: Intermediate Social Communication (35 700 FCP)

A massive list was displayed before him.

The list incorporated hundreds of different items, all starting with the word “knowledge”, and through unknown ways, he was able to capture everything this faction contribution shop contained in his “sight”.

When he saw all these pieces of knowledge, Aven couldn’t help himself and stood up from his chair before plunging, nearly crashing, right straight into his pillow head-first.

“Ahhh!” Despite being muffled by cotton and fabric, his cry of happiness couldn’t be blocked.

What he had gained by becoming a grade 1 super was not just game-changing, it was purely and simply revolutionary. Compared to his grade 0 conditions, the playboard had been completely flipped, and nearly all his future plans had to be reimagined and replanned.

But even such a fact went way in over his head as the thrill of knowing he had the potential to be the biggest genius the world had ever known thanks to his innate ability dominated all his thoughts.

After 10 minutes of silent celebrations, he calmed himself down and decided to immediately start decrypting his 2 new innate ability functions with the knowledge he had naturally gotten when those 2 functions were activated.

‘I’ll start with the price. It’s the easiest to experiment on.’

Looking through the very big list of basic knowledge, he decided that “Basic Biology” would be his experiment target.

Already, he had a basic understanding of the hows and whys of this knowledge shop, and if he could manually change the price… Then it would confirm much of it.

‘I think the price is only so high because I forgot most of what I learned before. It shouldn’t take long for me to remember enough for the price to change if it’s based on me and not on the other university students.’

Deciding to start studying high-school level biology, he verified his energy was still too unstable to risk cycling it for now, and once he did, he searched online for the most popular biology vulgarization videos and started watching them.

Organ names and their functions, how mitosis happened and the names of the different stages, how DNA worked and how it was incorporated into a cell and copied, how bacterias and viruses attacked the organism…

Going through a very large panel of basic biological knowledge any aspiring reporters would still remember or could read by happenstance, Aven filled his brain with fresh new pieces of information while reawakening the rest.

All along, after each video, he brought his faction shop up to see if the price had changed. But it was only after 3 hours of accelerated learning that finally, his price hypothesis was confirmed.

Knowledge: Basic Biology (3 100 FCP)

‘So it really depends on me… Then it probably means everything else is probably true too. Nonetheless, I’ll still test everything I can, no way I’m missing out on applying my understanding and confirming it when I have the chance.’

Pursuing this train of thought, he took his notepad and started writing on a blank page all his understanding of his new grade 1 innate ability.

By writing it down, his brain was able to organize it better, and after organizing his knowledge better, it created new connections that the pure segmented knowledge he had received hadn’t allowed him to make.

And by extending his understanding to what it meant for his future, a lot more connections were made and put on paper.

The implications behind this knowledge shop were so massive that Aven found himself thinking about which factions would allow him to climb their hierarchy at a mind-blowing speed as long as he showed himself up to their assigned tasks.

‘The Conglomerate is out, too many economical interests are involved. The Vow Church would question my faith, so it’s also out. Mercenary groups are again put on the table, but as Eland’s Military also makes the cut, they’re out again…’

Limiting himself to what he knew he needed, he soon started his online research again, but this time with different objectives.

What he needed was a faction that allowed him to soar depending only on his capabilities, a faction where elitism wasn’t out of the question, and also a faction where he could further his education in the tech energy system.

‘I can’t go to a super academy… My learning speed will be too fast for me to comfortably spread my wings. But I also can’t go on a pure engineering course anymore… Or perhaps?’

Pondering on so many new variables that he was sure he still hadn’t put down all of them, Aven soon realized that despite having received a crash course on supers, now he was missing information on how to be a perfect orthodox tech super.

“Sigh… I wonder what time it-” He momentarily looked at the time before he became agape, “-is… What?! How can time pass so quickly!”

Focusing inwardly, he observed that his energy had fully calmed and settled down. Where before his energy had taken the form of a passively revolving cycle, it had now taken the appearance of a cloud filling his whole body with no parts denser than the others.

‘Energy cultivation is simple, right?’

Willing his energy to start cycling with this fundamental principle he learned during the crash course in mind, the cloudy energy really started moving while making him feel like he was being burned all over. It was much more intense than any other energy cycling session he had ever done before.

But soon after the burning feeling became annoying…

‘Oh? Ah? Hu?’

The hotness instantly disappeared, even the mild discomfort he hadn’t even known he had vanished with it, and it was all transformed into a vague sense of… Energy density. A precise sense of how dense his energy was compared to his maximum.

‘My energy sense is up… Finally.’

The book given by Sigurd mentioned the eventual change that every super would go through after they remained long enough in grade 0 or reached grade 1, so he wasn’t caught off guard.

His body had simply learned to stop mixing up his energy feedback with his different physical senses such as heat or touch. It was as if Aven had gained a new sense specially designed to feel the energy contained inside him.

‘I wonder if this change registered in my status?’

Aven Amias

Faction: MIC Serenis University

Energy Grade: 1

Energy Cultivation: 10/100

Energy Affinity: Tech

Physical Talents: None

Energy Talents: Basic Tech Energy Affinity, Basic Energy Sense

Spiritual Talents: Inquisitive Spirit

Universal Talents: Unawakened Fairy Ancestry

‘Oh! It does!’

Wanting to see what his innate ability had to say about this new energy talent, he focused on it and brought up its details.

Basic Energy Sense: Following continuous exposure to energy, your body has adapted to it and can now interpret the more complex nuances of the energy present inside you. Minimally increases your sensitivity to energy.

‘Well, I don’t think it's exceptional, but I’ll take it. I can’t be a chooser just yet. And talking about energy manipulation… Now I should be able to do relevant tech system energy infusions if I understood grade 1 properly.’

Not trying to cycle his energy anymore, he looked around his bedroom for things to try an energy infusion with. However… There was nothing in his room that would show clear signs when it was infused.

‘Can’t ask for everything to be perfect, right? I’ll settle for an infusion with no visible effects then, not like I ha-’

Something dawned on him. There existed not far from him a machine that would show clear signs of being enhanced by an energy infusion.

‘-ve a microwave. Perfect.’

Exiting his bedroom after stopping his music, he headed straight for the living room where his mom and dad were already back and were watching the TV.

Taking a cup from a shelf, he put water into it and put it for 30 seconds inside a full-powered microwave while he searched the kitchen for a food thermometer.

He couldn’t find it even after searching for it for the full 30 seconds though, so he asked his mom, “Where’s the thermometer mom?”

“Last drawer of the towel shelf, somewhere inside,” came the answer, his mom knew her own kitchen like the back of her hand.

“Okay,” Aven answered simply and finally found the thermometer he wanted.

Picking up a towel on the way, he used it to pick up the cup of water from the microwave and measured its temperature.

“Whatcha doin’ Aven?” Feeling an interesting event with his dad sense most probably, Sen had stopped watching TV and came to look at what he was doing.

“Testing what my grade 1 tech energy infusion can do. I reached grade 1 so I should be able to do something with the energy system my affinity belongs to,” offhandedly replying, he picked another similar cup to the one he had just used and filled it with just as much water. Approximately.

Putting the cup of water inside, Aven closed his eyes to focus on his energy as he put one hand on the microwave.

Almost instinctively, he took control of a small part of his energy cloud and roughly manipulated it to enter the microwave he was touching.

His manipulation was unpracticed and rough, the energy emission was intermittent, and he also didn’t have any precise idea on how to make his infusion more efficient, but for some reason, he still succeeded.

‘When it’s so natural, why would anyone ignore their affinity?’

Guided by nothing but minimal information on how to theoretically do a basic energy infusion and his natural tech affinity, his energy started seeping into the microwave.

He didn’t know how a microwave worked precisely, he only knew that it used electricity to produce microwaves, and those subsequently heated the water molecules contained inside the case.

But only this much knowledge seemed to be enough for his energy to find purchase and not be rejected by the machine.

Once he judged he had infused enough energy inside the microwave, he turned it on at the same maximum level of power for the same 30 seconds duration.

‘It’s working…’

With his hand in contact with the microwave now at work, Aven felt the energy contained inside being consumed, it became less and less dense as time passed. 30 seconds later, it had been reduced by at least a tenth.

‘Not a bad efficiency~ I think?’

Getting the cup of water out, he tested its temperature.

“As you can see, it gained a few more degrees. It means I’m now officially a killing machine. Give me a gun and I can do things you can’t imagine,” he jokingly commented for his father who was standing just next to him.

“You’re pretty arrogant for a week-old super not even knowing what he’s getting into, but okay,” Sen answered as if he was his friend, not at all like the typical father.

“I’m going back to try and know what I’m getting myself into then, see you,” saying this, he emptied the two cups and stored back everything as they had all only been used to interact with water, then left to return to his room.

He did feel hungry on the way nonetheless, so he turned back and started emptying the fridge for things to eat, and heated them up with the microwave still infused with energy that was slowly dissipating away.

‘Is that comic? No way, there’s not even the potential for a prank.’

Having random thoughts as he truly made his way to his room this time, he put his plate, knife, and fork on his desk after pushing his notepad away, and then started watching some entertainment.

Once his meal break was over, he brought everything back and put them inside the dishwasher before returning to his room and deciding to make one energy cycle. Just to get an idea of how long it was now that he reached grade 1.

And so Aven stood immobile for the next 100 minutes, more than an hour and a half. Only after this much time did his energy stop cycling, symbolizing it had entered its downtime period.

‘Well, I think I should start searching for more information on grade 1 cultivation now that I’m in it and can more easily identify myself in them.’

Pushing this matter on top of his research list, he closed all the tabs unrelated to his new research subject and started seeking.

As grade 1 wasn’t considered a high grade, same as grade 2 in some measures, he easily found cultivation charts and stats that helped him understand that from now on, his cultivation speed would be related to 3 things:

First, his dedication and cultivation schedule optimization.

Second, his talent.

Third, his use of cultivation resources.

‘Seems that only my dedication will take me to grade 2 then.’

Of those 3 factors, his status told him everything he needed to know about his talent, and his monetary situation didn’t allow him to buy even grade 1 cultivation resources. So in the end, he was left with only his dedication.

“Hehehe, not that I expected something else. My innate ability is already amply sufficient,” laughing at his realist mindset, he looked more deeply at the grade 1 energy cultivation charts as he began internally creating a new schedule.

‘So… The downtime period still seems to be double my cycling time, meaning a full cycle is now 5 hours, and gaining a single energy cultivation point still requires the same 10 cycles… Looks like I’ll have a lot of free time soon.’

Finishing his research on the subject, he really hoped that his fairy ancestry lived up to its name, even if it was unawakened.

‘I’ll take me 2 days just to get my first energy cultivation point in grade 1 if my talent is average and I set an alarm to wake me up… If it really comes to this though, then I’ll probably stop cultivating to focus on farming FCP for my faction.’

Anticipating his possible lack of talent, he eventually closed this research subject after creating a battery of alarms that would create a new energy cultivation routine for him.

As a full-cycle was now 5 hours long and it would only continue increasing as his cultivation increased further, he had now accepted and conceded that he could wake up in the middle of his sweet sleep to do a cycle.

‘Now that I have reached grade 1, I think It’s time for me to seriously start considering my options…’

With this topic closed, Aven self-motivated himself and returned to searching for ways to optimize his future while keeping adding more and more unimaginable scenarios to the table, while of course never forgetting that his innate ability was his one and only supreme hidden card.

…

“Can you detail your innate ability?” The interviewer wearing Eland’s symbolic white military uniform, not the traditional camo one, asked him a pretty sensitive question after skipping through the identity checking and background confirmation parts.

Already knowing that this was simply part of the process, Aven started answering to the best of his ability while keeping an eye out on the person charged with identifying if he was saying the truth or not on the side.

“I can appraise people to see their faction and name, I can identify factions to see indexes I still don’t understand thoroughly, I can appraise myself to see my cultivation advancement and my talents, and I gain some boosts to my learning speed when I do specific tasks.”

“What do I identify as for your innate ability?” Straight to the point, the bald as a thumb interviewer continued his interrogation.

Leonard Lamles

Faction: Nation of Eland Military

Aven appraised the man directly and reported what he was seeing, “Leonard Lamles, Nation Of Eland Military.”

“What’s my faction and its indexes?” He inquired.

Nation of Eland Military

Power Index: 38 744

Influence Index: 26 987

Economy Index: 14 821

Technology Index: 31 568

Description: An extremely complex faction part of a much bigger whole. Its fundamental directive is to protect the Nation of Eland against its enemies.

He reported what he had under his eyes again, not batting an eye at the mind-blowing numbers and the minimalist description.

“Are the tasks you need to do susceptible or likely to endanger, harm, or damage in any ways you can possibly imagine?” Maybe unimpressed, maybe impressed, Leonard moved on to the next question in an instant.

“My tasks are probably somewhat customized depending on what faction I belong to. Until now however, I got a sample of 6 tasks for reference, and none of them told me to do something harmful or damaging. Though one didn't explicitly state how far I could go to make sure a problem was resolved,” the answer flowed out of his mouth automatically.

“What sorts of boosts will you get if you complete your tasks?” After giving a glance at the 3rd party in this room and receiving no signs, he pursued the interview.

“Untested as of yet, and the boosts will probably depend greatly on how successful I was at my task,” both obfuscating and unveiling some parts, Aven gave enough to not be lying, but not enough for it to be a complete reveal.

“In what working environment do you think you’ll thrive?” Putting the paper file to the side, the military man now seemed to have gone into full improvisation mode as he probed not for an objective answer, but for a relative one.

“An elitist working environment, not necessarily one where I’ll be left to myself and have complete autonomy, but one where I can optimize my learning and applications cycle, as well as one where I can climb the hierarchy as long as I show my capabilities,” as if he had prepared for that answer, Aven answered concisely following what he knew to be the military spirit.

Showing a slight smirk at that answer, the interviewer carried on, “Do you intend to be a production tech super, a mixed one, or an assault one?”

Stopped in his track by the unfamiliarity of the terms used, it still only took him a few seconds to recompose himself and give an answer, “I don’t yet know all the subtleties behind those terms, but if it’s between sometimes being deployed as a super and secluding myself in a production center, then I think the mixed tech super option is more of what I want to become.”

Finally turning his head to the 3rd party in an open manner, Leonard had a casual tone as he commented on the interview with the candidate still sitting before him, “What do you think First Lieutenant Kasna? Anything doesn’t add up? You didn’t show any signs.”

“Nothing like a lie Major Lamles, and his appraisal innate ability would be called for by not a small amount of intervention units,” the third party charged with verifying the interviewee wasn’t lying through his teeth confirmed that everything was in order while throwing in a recommendation that made the recipient happy.

“We’re of the same mind then,” crossing his arm, he turned his head and looked Aven in the eyes, “You made the best choice by coming here. Your innate ability will be a prized one once you reach the standard level expected from a military tech super.”

“Thank you, sir,” not holding back on what he thought, he thanked him for the free ego boost.

“Let’s talk about your employment contract then, I think you’ll be satisfied with them,” saying that, Leonard took an already prepared pile of documents and put it down in front of him with a grin, “Want the short version or the long version?”