Chapter 99: Character Reward Card
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24
[Character reward card "Hoshi Amami"—in my eyes, you’re the light itself.]
[This card will have an everlasting passive effect. This card cannot be used or disappear.]
[All basic stats increased by a bonus of 2 points. (Connection rating has surpassed 100; another 1 point bonus awarded to all basic stats.)]
[Encouragement effect improved by 20% for all characters with optimistic or bright personalities. (Extra 10% awarded for connection rating.)]
[Suppression effect improved by 20% against all characters with negative or dark personalities. (Extra 10% awarded for connection rating.)]
[Additional ability 1: Light which dissipates darkness from the brink of despair.]
[After using this ability, energy and mental spirit will be restored to the maximum value. In the following two minutes (extra 1 minute awarded for connection rating), nothing you do will consume your energy or mental spirit. Limited to one use per day. "In the deepest depths of despair, one ray of light heralds hope!"]
[Additional ability 2: Lightning Strike (fighting skill activation necessary.)]
[Fighting suppression-type skill: A strike at lightning speed (Consumption of energy and mental spirit decreased by 35% due to connection rating). Energy and mental spirit will be consumed. "The power of lightning is contained within my fist!"]
[Additional ability 3: Writing with the power of light (writing skill activation necessary.)]
[Writing passive skill: Increases ability to write about optimistic or bright characters by 50%. The written product’s ability to draw in readers will be increased. Mental spirit level will be consumed (35% extra writing ability and 10% reduced mental spirit consumption due to connection rating). "Take a good look; this is light in physical form!"]
[Additional ability 4: ??? (Prerequisite conditions not met. Currently inactive.)]
[Additional ability 5: ??? (Prerequisite conditions not met. Currently inactive.)]
...
Seiji’s eyes widened in surprise as he read over the character reward card.
What... where did this piece of godly equipment come from!?
After he finally regained his senses, this was the first thought that popped into his mind. This reward card was akin to obtaining a mega-powerful piece of equipment in an MMORPG game.
This character reward card couldn’t be used or lost… wasn’t that just like an item bound to his account?
And it had so many effects, and all of them seemed rather powerful! Judging by the number of effects listed, it totally seemed like a piece of orange-grade legendary equipment!
And the card even contained quotations about the effects. It all seemed so pretentious...
Even without the quotations, the card names and effects already seemed like a full onslaught of middle school syndrome... no, pretentiousness.
‘Alright, calm down a little.’
Seiji really wanted to make more comments about the quotations, but he felt helpless about it, so he decided to leave it for the moment.
Taking another look at the effects, +3 to all stats for the first one... According to his system, the +3 was a bonus which didn’t count towards his base stats.
This meant that if his base stats had a maximum cap of 100, and Seiji raised something like [academics] or [physical ability] to the cap of 100, this +3 effect would still take place, so he could increase his stats beyond the limit!
Seiji had already discovered that the higher his base stats went, the more difficult it was to raise them.
His [academics] and [physical ability] stats had increased rapidly in the beginning, but it was now incredibly difficult to raise them any higher. It felt like he was approaching a bottleneck.
Seiji was certain that a bottleneck really existed.
After all, this was realistic. The more you increased your stats, the more difficult it would be to further increase them.
Otherwise, if he could continue to raise them limitlessly... [physical ability] alone would turn him into One Punch Man without even needing three years’ time to train.
That was why the bonus +3 to all stats was so valuable! As Seiji's stats reached closer to his stat cap, the value of this passive ability would increase proportionally.
Next, the two bonus effects which encouraged bright characters and suppressed dark characters.
Seiji’s understanding of this effect was that it would be easier for him to cause fear or worry in people with dark, negative personalities. And, inversely, it would be easier for him to encourage and boost the morale of bright, optimistic personalities.
Although it was difficult to envision the effects, it still sounded useful.
Not only that, there were a total of... 5 added extra abilities!
This was truly a piece of legendary equipment!
*Cough cough...* He was getting off topic again.
Of the 5 abilities, only 3 were displayed as active.
The other 2 were inactive, and their information window was filled with question marks. The prerequisite he needed to fulfill was probably related to with activating other skill areas.
As for the 3 abilities he already had...
[Light that dissipates despair from the brink] was equal to yet another full recovery plus three minutes of a superhero state... whoops, three minutes of using abilities with no cost!
If he combined this ability together with [Bullet Time], or the other additional ability, [Lightning Strike], it seemed like an excellent combination!
Seiji tried imagining what would happen if he used [Light that dissipates despair from the brink], [Bullet Time], and [Lightning Strike] in tandem on a really strong opponent... Whoa, it seemed like his attack rating would go through the roof! It carried the wonderful feeling of using an ultimate ability!!
Yep, this definitely worked; it definitely seemed possible!
Seiji couldn’t restrain himself from breaking into a smile.
Even though he’d only met low-stat opponents... whoops, people weaker than him, he still didn’t forget that this world had a hidden side to it. Spirit-branded Retainers... Yin Yang Masters... and so on.
No matter what, becoming stronger was never a bad thing.
[Light that dissipates despair from the brink] was doubtlessly a godly ability.
As for [Lightning Strike], the other ability, apart from being able to work in tandem with the first ability, it was a suppressive ability, not an ultimate ability. Hitting someone with it wouldn’t kill them... probably.
This meant that he could use it on normal people without worrying about the aftermath too much. The drawback was that while the attack was fast, its power was lacking, and it would take many hits to defeat a truly strong opponent. The strongest advantage of speed lied in aiming at the opponent's weak spots.
Yep, it seemed like a normal fighting ability. Of course, when used in combination with [light that dissipates despair from the brink] and [Bullet Time], it turned godly.
The final ability, [writing with the power of light], was the only one usable in daily life as it was a passive buff to his writing skill.
Seiji decided to test out the buff's strength immediately.
He grabbed a pen lying nearby and opened his notebook.
Then, he began to imagine.
A girl wearing a holy crown was clothed in white ceremonial clothing. She stood alone, surrounded by pure white flowers, displaying a beautiful, pearl-white smile...
*Swish...* His pen instantly began moving.
While writing, a subtle feeling of heat coursed through Seiji's fingers. He concentrated, allowing the warm feeling to spread throughout his entire hand.
[Writing with the power of light] activated!
After a short pause, words instantly began flowing out from his pen, describing the character and scene that Seiji wanted.
*Swish swish swish...* Finished.
It took only a few minutes to finish writing.
Seiji’s eyes instantly lit up as he read his own writing.
Amazing!
The words on his notebook described a holy girl smiling livelily in a flower garden.
Although the word count wasn’t high, it was easy enough for readers to imagine that beautiful and saintly scene and feel as if this girl was wonderful, pure, and holy.
Seiji read it for quite a while. Then, he tried to write the exact same scene without making use of his passive ability.
After comparing the two finished products, he noticed a significant difference!
While his writing when he didn't use his newly acquired ability wasn't bad, it still seemed lacking in comparison to when he used the ability. It was basically like the difference between a newcomer to writing and a veteran author.
Seiji finally had a measure of how useful his ability was.
"It’s quite strong, but not easy to use..." He rubbed his chin in contemplation.
After all, if he wrote a light novel, his ability would make the bright, sunny characters stand out, which caused the other characters to pale in comparison and thus affect the entire story’s balance between its characters.
This limited its usage, which was why he said it wasn’t easy to use.
But the ability was a strong one, and writing a light novel with a bright and sunny main character was something he could consider.
Seiji suddenly had another idea: he could simply make all the main characters into the bright and sunny type!
A group of bright and sunny characters... like a group of holy knights?
This seemed like a good idea!
Seiji was unable to stop his imagination from running wild.
Holy knights... a school... a youth who aimed to become the strongest knight... the holy girl in the flower garden... classical... cliffhanger... sudden downturn...
‘Even though writing a classical story that the general audience would like is fine, in the end I still want to write something relaxed and more interesting to me!
‘The female main character is a clumsy and dense girl who wants to become the strongest knight, and the male main character... let’s make him into a highly skilled otaku who wanted to become a priest acolyte but accidentally became a student at the holy knight academy!
‘The story’s temporary working name shall be "There’s Definitely Something Wrong with My Holy Knight Career Path!"’