Trials of the Multiverse

[New Chain Quest!]

[The Second Loop]

[Description: Having returned to the first day, your connections to others has been erased. You have chosen to once again establish them.

Tasks To Complete:

Fetch a Doctor for the maids(0/1)

Help Lily shopping(0/1)

Take Anna to the amusement park(0/1)

On Success: Level up(3)]

Although the quest's unwelcoming tone greeted me, I dismissed it with indifference. The tasks it laid out were things I intended to do regardless of any quest.

After tending to Anna and the maids, things unfolded much like the first loop.

The only noteworthy alterations involved surprising my sword instructor. Anticipating a newbie, he met someone already at a decent level—thanks to the death experience I'd been through and my substantial sword experience. My current talent with the sword, now at level 4, also manifested a notable shift. 

The numerical value might not scream significance, yet the change felt profound. What once seemed challenging became manageable, and the impossible now stood within reach.

My approach to swordplay changed, making the initial me from the first loop, almost clueless by comparison.

Granted, there's still a vast sea of knowledge ahead of me, and my Combat Prowess serves as a clear reminder of the road yet to be traveled. But a step forward is still a step forward.

Concerning my other quests, my pace had accelerated beyond the norm in the past few days. I intentionally invested more time in both of them as I had even forsaken sleep a little for the sake of finishing them faster, until finally...

The final page of the last book turned, marking the completion of yet another quest, as the familiar cascade of windows unfolded.

[The Path of Knowledge - Quest Complete]

[You have leveled up] x10

[You have acquired the [Wisdom] Talent]

[You have acquired the [Intuition] Talent]

[You have acquired the [Photographic Memory] Skill]

[You have acquired 3 [Skill Ticket]]

[You have acquired 5 [Question Ticket]]

[The Medium-level Body Purification will now commence]

Feeling hesitant about the medium-level body purification, I opted to complete my last book in the seclusion of my room. It turned out to be a prudent choice.

The sensation wasn't exactly pain, more like being prodded by needles in various parts of my body. A dark substance oozed from the invisible punctures.

While the concept felt a bit cliché, it seemed that body purification equated to expelling impurities from my body.

Does that mean I'll be able to cultivate now or something?

Contemplating the utility of this process, another notification materialized.

[Your Body has been purified. Your reaction speed has increased. Your body fat has been cut by 1%. Your muscles have grown]

Not bad for a bit of cleansing! The desire to test these newfound effects immediately bubbled within me, yet the repulsive odor emanating from the expelled impurities was too strong.

Better to clean this mess first...

---

After a long shower, I conducted a thorough test of my revamped body, and the results were nothing short of incredible.

My overall physique had undergone significant improvements, and most notably, my reaction speed had seen a dramatic spike.

It made me reflect on the time when my body's limitations were momentarily lifted. During that interval, I could manipulate time in a way, not to match Yor's speed but to hold my own against her—an achievement that felt nothing short of extraordinary.

The concept of 'stretching time' made me ponder its connection with reaction speed.

After all, quicker reactions make others appear slower from your perspective. This led me to consider a potential deep-seated correlation between shedding body limits and purifying impurities.

It was all just a speculation,though.

Leveraging my Movement Talent, I refined my understanding of positioning and effective swordplay. It might sound obvious, but proper footwork is fundamental when wielding a weapon. The amalgamation of both talents proved to be a substantial boost to my combat prowess.

Which was still at Weakest...

It is what it is. I am not salty about it.

As for Wisdom and Intuition, it was too early to pass judgment. I felt no discernible change in my intelligence, so it was prudent to reserve my evaluation of these aspects.

With these assessments concluded, I turned my attention to the neglected prompts that I initially sidestepped to avoid overwhelming myself with too many things at once. 

[Your mind has been elevated past a certain threshold. The cost to level up the [Karate] Martial Art has been reduced to 15]

I pondered for a while and, finally, a subtle inconsistency caught my attention.

As my mind was 'elevated' with the acquisition of various talents and skills, the cost of learning Karate seemed to decrease.

This caused me to question – are skill points primarily designed to shape the acquired knowledge to fit my mind, rather than implanting the actual advancement in Karate?

If I could understand the precise conditions governing skill points, it might empower me to fine-tune skills with Skill Tickets, minimizing the margin of error in their cost further.

Unable to extract further insights from this line of thought, I decided to press on and continue exploring the prompts.

[You have reached level 50. The Skill Shop will have new recommended Skills]

[You will be issued a Class Quest]

[True Swordsman]

[Description: Your sword has acknowledged you as its master, granting you the title of a Swordsman. While True Swordsmen relish the opportunity to face opponents stronger than themselves, your circumstances demand a different approach. Your focus must be on surpassing your own limits.

Tasks:

Raise your Combat Prowess to Low(0/1)

Defeat an enemy of Combat Prowess Medium(0/1)

Difficulty Rating: Hard++

Conditions:

You have to challenge the enemy to an official and honorable duel.

For the duration of this quest, you can ask the System to check the Combat Prowess of any enemy free of charge, but if the enemy has a Combat Prowess stronger than Medium, the System will not be able to estimate it.

Time Limit: 60 Days

Tip: Your companion wants your success

On Failure: You will lose your class

On Success: Depends on Rating]

I will check the Skill Shop later.

Class quest, huh? Interesting.

I glanced at my sword, a multitude of questions swirling in my mind. Frankly, I had been certain that the term 'companion' in reference to the sword was purely metaphorical. Yet, examining the events thus far and considering this quest, I entertained the notion that there might genuinely be a spirit within my sword.

Well, if that's the case, it might work in my favor.

Regarding the quest rewards being contingent on the rating, it implies that merely scraping by in defeating the enemy won't suffice this time. While I remained oblivious to the workings behind Combat Prowess calculation, this quest offered an opportunity to delve into it.

I can just keep asking the System to rate the Combat Prowess of several people until I found all the subcategories.

But, before I could proceed, a crucial question lingered.

"Use a Question Ticket, Can you lie about a person's Combat Prowess?"

[Answer: No]

Meh, I don't buy it.

"If you were to lie about a person's Combat Prowess to manipulate the difficulty, how am I supposed to defend myself?"

[Answer: It's impossible. The System adheres to strict rules, as you've discerned. If such manipulations were attempted, you would be granted a fair advantage to revert to the promised difficulty]

...I will accept that answer, for now.

I don't trust the System, but it's facts that the System is trying to be fair. I doubt it could really stretch things that much and get away with it, but I won't drop my suspicions so easily.