Chapter 81: First Romantic Date with Lyra
[Day 29: You didn't dwell on thoughts of Lyra, knowing the date was scheduled for tomorrow. There was no point in wasting time thinking about it now. Instead, you continued working to improve the array.]
[As time went on, you felt the limitations of the materials you were using. They weren't of high enough quality to allow significant upgrades, but you still made progress. By the end of the day, the array reached a 33% boost in mana and aura concentration in the training room. Meanwhile, your F+ aura and mana cores were nearing saturation.]
[Day 30: By early afternoon, the array's boost had increased to 35%. However, you felt that you had hit a limit—further improvement would require either higher-quality materials or more advanced knowledge of arrays. At the same time, your cores had reached their maximum capacity, signaling it was time to rank up to E-.]
[Knowing that your time was limited with your date with Lyra scheduled for the late afternoon, and with further array progress unlikely in the short term, you decided to focus on breaking through.]
[You sat in the training room and began the process with your aura core. Slowly, the core condensed further, its size shrinking until it held only 200 units, two-fifths of its original capacity. At this point, the breakthrough was complete. Reaching E- meant your "base" capacity was now 200 units, and further progression would require increasing it to 1,000 units before advancing again.]
[Afterward, you turned your attention to the mana core. The process was similar, and one hour later, the breakthrough was complete.]
[At that moment, you officially became an E- ranker. The potency of your aura and mana increased dramatically, rising by 170%—nearly tripling instantly. This was the reward of a major breakthrough, offering immense gains in exchange for the greater difficulty involved. While such breakthroughs could stall those with low talent, they provided double the benefits of a normal advancement.]
[Satisfied but physically and mentally drained from the double breakthrough, you exited the training room and took a warm shower, allowing yourself to relax after the exhausting ordeal.]
[Afterward, you settled on the couch and remembered the Feedback System you had recently purchased. Curiosity prompted you to use it to review your progress over the last month.]
As Mikael finished reading the last message, a cold sweat ran down his back. 'The fact that the Records can know all of this and present it to me as "feedback" is terrifying. It means that not only is everything I do being "observed," but my thoughts—and even the thoughts of others—are somehow known. This is unsettling.'
He took a moment to calm himself. 'Honestly, it shouldn't surprise me. The Records respond when I speak in my mind, but seeing it laid out like this gives it a more tangible, eerie presence. Who would be comfortable knowing their mind is being read at all times?'