Alex, flanked by Tereza and Menchi—each clinging to one of his arms—feels just a little ridiculous. Jewel sits comfortably on top of his head, like the crown of a very confused king.

    Despite their clinginess, Alex picks up the pace, quickly descending the tower and making his way toward the heart of the Main Realm, which resembles a massive, bustling city.

    From time to time, Alex glances away in shame as passing players toss him snide comments.

    “Damn, aren’t you a lucky guy?”

    “Hey sweety, you look rich. Can I join your harem? For 10,000 FC I’ll make all your dreams come true.”

    “Damn arrogant fuck. I’m jealous!”

    “Yo, is that Menchi from Hunter x Hunte? That guy’s lucky—how come I haven’t seen him around before?”

    “Look at that weirdo! He’s got a huge spider on his head!” Sёar?h the novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Jewel turns sharply and glares at the last guy, who immediately shrinks back in terror and scurries off.

    Eventually, Alex arrives at the center of the Realm—but instead of finding the marketplace, he stumbles across a massive building labeled the Skill Hub.

    “Getting stronger is what we need. Let’s head in!” he decides.

    The group enters. The interior closely resembles the older Skill Hub, but on a much grander scale. Dozens of workers are stationed throughout, and several open chambers are scattered around.

    “Gotta spend some stats first. I got 7 from the last mission,” Alex says, settling down at an empty table beside a row of unused training chambers.

    He immediately allocates 5 of his available stat points, pushing all his base stats to 17, causing a brief euphoric wave to wash over him.

    “Menchi, can you take care of Jewel for a bit? This is going to take a while.”

    “Go for it! Me and Jewel will play some games and get to know each other better,” she replies with a grin.

    Good luck, Soulmate!

    Alex exchanges a knowing glance with Tereza. They nod, and both head toward the training chambers.

    Alex begins with Nen Prodigy lvl 4, upgrading it to lvl 5, spending a whopping 2 Soul Crystals (small) and 8,000 FC.

    Next, Alex upgrades the basic skills to lvl 5, spending another 14,000 FC

    Basic Close Combat Prowess lvl 5, Basic Footwork lvl 5, Basic Endurance lvl 5, Basic Long-Range Combat Prowess lvl 5, Basic Eloquence lvl 5, Basic Concentration lvl 5, Basic Meditation lvl 5, Basic Mana Control lvl 5

    Finally, Alex focuses on his three Remaining Skills: Black Magic lvl 4, Alexandrian Royal Swordsmanship lvl 4, and Imbuement Archery lvl 4

    First of all, he upgrades Black Magic to lvl 5, spending 7,000 FC

    With joy Alex sees his newly unlocked spells, which he is not only able to cast, but also use for his Sword Magic!

    Fira/Blizzara/Thundara

    Effect: Advanced fire/frost/thunder spell; can be cast as a single target or as AoE

    Cost: 30 MP

    Option 1: Fire/Frost/Thunder Damage:75

    Option 2: AoE Fire/Frost/Thunder Damage:50 (affecting multiple targets in an area)

    Note: May apply Burn/Ignition/Slow/Freeze/Stun/Paralysis

    Note: AoE casting reduces base damage by one-third, making it weaker against individual targets but effective for groups.

    Alex continues with his Gold-ranked skill Alexandrian Royal Swordsmanship, spending 1 Soul Crystal and 3,500 FC.

    Alexandrian Royal Swordsmanship (Level 0 Base):

    ,

    with an additional 1% per level.

    Alex, ecstatic about his new abilities, finally upgrades Imbuement Archery to lvl 5, which does not radically change the ability, but just raises the effectiveness. The upgrade costs him another 7,000 FC.

    Altogether, Alex spent 31,500 FC and 3 small Soul Crystals.

    To Alex’s shock, he also notices that he can only upgrade his skills to lvl 6 when he’s level 8, and the cost dramatically changes.

    “1337 what is this?! Please explain!” Alex questions his system, clearly confused.

    [Skills are capped at lvl 10. To further upgrade skills, every skill, including the base skills without any Soul Crystal cost, now requires an additional Soul Crystal, while skills already costing Soul Crystals need to use the higher graded Soul Crystals.]

    As Alex exits his skill-upgrading chamber, he spots Tereza and Menchi already waiting for him.

    He smiles and walks over, and the three begin to chat.

    “Upgrading skills to level 6 is going to be really tough,” Tereza says. “I guess our power will only increase slowly from now on. But hey, I got a few great spells, so I’m not complaining!”

    “I think that’s fair,” Alex nods. “Anyway, I’ll tell you the details of my upgrades later. You never know who’s listening… There could be monster players with 50 or more SNS around, eavesdropping. We should be careful.”

    Before the group leaves the Skill Hub, Alex pauses.

    “Wait here for a bit,” he tells them. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

    He heads back into one of the empty chambers—this time to ensure complete privacy, away from any potential spying eyes or ears.

    [Pluto’s Ceremonial Blessing]