Nine days passed in a flash.
From surprise to shock, then to suspicion, and finally to silence.
That was Stella's journey over the last nine days.
Watching Hunter open a safe that ranked in the top twenty of consumer security products in just forty seconds...
Stella didn't know what words could describe her current feelings.
Even with years of training and intimate knowledge of that specific safe's structure, it would still take her a minute and a half to crack it.
And that was with professional tools.
Yet, this Asian boy standing in front of her? Nine days ago, he could barely open a standard padlock with a pick set.
Now, relying purely on touch and intuition, he had opened this high-end safe in less than half the time it took her.
And he was the student she had taught over the last few days.
Stella had witnessed it with her own eyes. Under her guidance, he went from clumsy to competent, then to proficient.
And finally, he surpassed her speed entirely.
For a moment, Stella deeply doubted the words her father, the legendary safecracker John Bridger, had once told her.
"Stella, you may hate my life as a thief."
"But my skills are the result of a lifetime of study."
"You have talent far surpassing mine. If you don't study hard and surpass me in this field, you're wasting the gift God gave you."
"As long as you apply yourself, you will become the world's greatest safecracker."
"Dad..."
Stella whispered in her heart. "I think I just met someone with even more talent than me."
She couldn't help but recall what Hunter had said the night he saved her ten days ago.
"A long time ago, I discovered I had a knack for learning."
"Anything I'm interested in, I can master quickly."
"Since becoming a thief, I've tried to use that ability to become better at my craft."
"I'm willing to learn from anyone with real skill."
"Miss Bridger... I want you to teach me."
Replaying those words in her mind, Stella was speechless.
"That's not just a 'knack for learning'!"
"That learning ability is godlike!"
Hunter put down his tools. The excitement in his heart was beyond words.
For the past nine days, he had practically lived at the Bridger farm.
Even when he went out to buy supplies every few days, he was never gone for more than three hours.
During this time, Hunter slept only the bare minimum—four hours a night.
The rest of the time, he was either learning techniques from Stella or practicing on his own, digesting the massive influx of systematic knowledge provided by the skill upgrades.
Thanks to this intense dedication, Hunter had achieved the impossible in nine days.
He had leveled his [Lockpicking] skill from Lv 2 all the way to Lv 5.
This skill, one of the first two he acquired upon transmigrating, had finally beaten his [Driving] skill to the Lv 5 milestone.
Lv 5 was incredible.
The moment the skill hit Lv 5, a flood of information rushed into his brain.
It was so overwhelming that he had to spend an entire day just processing it, and he still wasn't done digesting everything.
This information covered every technique and piece of knowledge related to lockpicking.
Like previous upgrades, but on a massive scale, Lv 5 granted him detailed data on countless locking mechanisms humanity had invented.
Structures, materials, weaknesses, bypass methods... everything.
In other words, any lock that existed in the world today...
Even those guarding the world's top banks, vaults, and secure facilities...
To Hunter, they held no secrets.
Given enough time, he could open them all.
The only variable was his proficiency and hands-on experience, which would determine the speed.
And now, he was absolutely confident.
He could open the two Worthington 1000 safes he stole from Steve ten days ago. He could do it damage-free, and in under five minutes.
Looking at Stella—who was staring at him with a mix of shock, disbelief, confusion, and perhaps a tinge of jealousy—Hunter smiled inwardly.
He knew his cheat-like learning speed, fueled by the Proficiency System, had stunned her.
Hunter was now certain: aside from raw experience where Stella still held an edge...
With his physical attributes (double a normal human's dexterity and sensitivity) and the vast knowledge base of [Lockpicking Lv 5], he was superior.
If they raced to open a simple lock, Hunter would be faster.
Only with complex, multi-stage bank vaults would Stella's experience give her a slight efficiency edge.
But give him a little time to gain that experience, and he was confident he would surpass her completely.
And that wouldn't take long.
Moreover, Lv 5 wasn't necessarily his limit.
Stella, limited by human physiology and learning capacity, was likely at her peak.
Hunter had no such ceiling.
Thinking of this, his mood soared.
"Lv 5 might represent the absolute limit for elite humans."
"But I don't have limits."
"Befriending Stella was the right move."
"If I had tried to grind Lockpicking to Lv 5 on my own, who knows how long it would have taken."
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