Chapter 343: Beyond the Limits
I settled back in my chair, recognizing that Alexis deserved a complete explanation if she was going to help me understand these changes. Her scientific mind wouldn’t be satisfied with half-truths or vague descriptions, and honestly, I could use her analytical perspective on what had happened.
"It started with me completing an Event Quest," I began. "The meeting gave every leader there a set of objectives and after getting my 34 votes, I successfully completed the Quest.’"
"Event quest?" she interrupted, leaning forward. "Well I guess that’s normal, you were in a historic moment. It would be weirder if an Event Quest didn’t happen."
"That’s what I thought too. But what shocked me more were the insane upgrades and rewards I got from it." I paused, organizing my thoughts. "The first reward was something called a Portfolio Upgrade Token."
Her eyebrows shot up. "A token? Like a physical item?"
"Not physical, but it appeared in my System inventory as a usable item. I could apply it to any portfolio, it would then level up all skills under that portfolio."
Alexis was quiet for a moment, processing this information. "That’s... that’s not how skill development works. Skills improve through practice, through experience. You can’t just... upgrade them arbitrarily."
"I know. But the System has given me different types of tokens over the past two years. Skill Level-Up tokens, tokens that let me choose my next job, tokens that let me gain any skill under a certain domain. They’re rewards for other Event Quests." I could see her struggling to reconcile this with her understanding of how the System functioned. "It’s all because the Jobmaster title operates by different rules than standard System access."
"Different rules," she repeated slowly. "Reynard, do you realize how unprecedented this is? Not even any of the NovaCore subjects have ever been reported of receiving tokens or arbitrary upgrades. The System responds to their actions, yes, it can give them unique abilities, but it doesn’t just... give them gifts."
"That’s what made the fundamental skill upgrades so surprising," I continued. "Copy, Absorb, and Destroy aren’t like normal skills. They don’t have levels or ranks. They’re more like inherent capabilities of the Jobmaster title. I never thought they could be upgraded at all."
She nodded, making notes on a tablet she’d pulled from her bag. "That makes sense. They function more like your Full Profession Sync ability, fundamental aspects of how your System access works rather than learnable skills."
"Exactly. But the event quest completion somehow enhanced them anyway. Copy became Enhanced Copy, working at half the observed level instead of always starting at level one. Absorb became Enhanced Absorb, acquiring skills at full level instead of reduced effectiveness. And Destroy now adds two levels to any acquired skill."