"What do you mean?"
The words hung in the air. The system let them sit there for a second longer than necessary.
[You obtained these skills through your own actions inside the ruins.]
He blinked.
"...What?"
[Running. Enduring pain. Staying alert. Pushing past exhaustion. Each action, repeated under extreme conditions, crossed the threshold for skill acquisition.]
Yan Ye sat there silently for a moment. Then his eyebrow started twitching.
"Wait."
He leaned forward.
"If that's the case... why didn't you tell me from the start that I could learn skills like that?"
A short pause.
[You didn't ask.]
A vein popped on his forehead.
"...Are you serious?"
The system did not answer.
He stared at the floating interface like he wanted to punch it. After a few seconds, he slowly exhaled.
"Okay."
He forced a smile.
"Okay, my dear Big Sis."
His voice was unusually calm.
"So tell me something."
His hands clenched tightly.
"How do I obtain more skills?"
The system window flickered. Then the interface updated. He immediately noticed something new.
A tab had appeared.
Main Panel / Quests / Skills / ??? / ??? / ...
His eyes stopped on the row of unknown sections.
"...Still two unknown tabs."
Before, it was three. Now that one of them had revealed itself as Skills, the question only got bigger.
"So there are at least two more hidden sections."
His gaze drifted to the small "..." at the end.
"...Or maybe more."
For a moment he wondered. Was there a limit to this system? Or would new functions keep appearing as he grew?
He shook his head.
Focus on the present.
He tapped the new tab.
[Skills]
The window expanded. Lines of text appeared one by one.
Passive Skills:
Novice Runner Lv1 Running efficiency increases. Reduces stamina consumption while running.
Basic Stamina Lv1 Increases stamina capacity and recovery rate. Recovery improves during continuous activity.
Perception Lv1 Enhances sensory awareness. Improves reaction to movement and environmental changes.
Basic Pain Tolerance Lv1 Reduces the impact of pain on body and mind. Allows functional movement under minor injuries.
Active Skills:
Hero Dive Lv1 Reduces all damage taken during a fall. Upon impact, damage dealt increases depending on fall distance. Description: Foorrrr Deeeemaaaa
For a second, he didn't react.
Then his brain processed the last line.
"FUCK YOU, SYSTEM!"
This time he completely lost control. Zero fear of consequences. He cursed at the floating window until he ran out of breath.
It was ridiculous to yell that while jumping. He'd thought he was alone. He'd thought he was free. He definitely wasn't expecting a spectator. And even less one that would use his own words to make a fool of him.
God forbid men from being happy.
"Big Sis... Don't take a man's smile away. It might be his last."
[...Sure.]
"Y-you little rat."
His fist clenched. His instincts were strongly telling him she was laughing at him.
Calm down, Yan Ye. Calm down. There's no point getting angry. You're an adult. No reason to get angry at a child. You're tired. You have more important things to do. Just let it go.
After a few seconds, he opened his eyes again, visibly less irritated. Ready to get back to serious matters.
Skills. Back to skills.
"Big Sis. How can I get more skills?"
The answer came immediately. A new block of text appeared.
Methods of Skill Acquisition
Repeated Actions Doing certain actions may result in skill acquisition. Don't try stupid things; not everything meets the criteria to be considered a skill.
Enlightenment You're more likely to do a somersault than to understand something in this way, given your luck and comprehension.
Training, manuals, etc... Train hard, study well, and maybe in five years you can learn a skill.
He leaned forward slightly. Completely ignoring the insults. Focusing only on the useful information.
Something felt odd. He frowned.
I've never heard of obtaining skills through repeated actions. Or through enlightenment. From what Big Ye knew, it's possible to learn skills through training, but it takes decades. As if some kind of rule prevents people from self-learning skills easily.
And the system says five years...
Knowing this system, I doubt she'd suddenly say something nice about me. If she says five years, the real number is probably lower.
Another thing. The list didn't mention skill books as a method.
Did the system forget about skill books? Or did she only show the methods I can access through her?
Before he could think further, the system responded.
[I don't forget anything.]
He blinked.
Straightforward as always.
But for some reason, his instincts told him something felt slightly off in that answer. As if there was a lack of confidence in those words.
He filed that away for later.
"How do I level up skills?"
[Use them. Frequently. Understanding helps too. Knowing something is different from understanding it.]
Short. Blunt. No elaboration.
She's done talking.
Fine. He could work with what he had.
He shifted his focus back to the skill list. Time to figure out how he got each one.
Novice Runner. The only explanation was distance. He'd run roughly twelve kilometers in the ruins. If he had to guess, the threshold might be around ten. If that was correct, did that mean each basic physical activity could grant a new skill?
I'll find out later. No point asking Big Sis just to get insulted again.
Basic Stamina. He'd kept going even when his body was completely spent. Pushed past exhaustion multiple times. Repeated action.
Perception. Constantly scanning the desert for threats. Every shadow suspicious. Every grain of sand potentially hiding something with fangs. Hours of hyper-awareness.
Basic Pain Tolerance. The sheer number of times he'd felt pain, and how intense it was. Buried alive. Sand in every orifice. Ribs aching. Throat burning.
Even at level one this skill sounds strong. At max level... would I be able to take a hammer to the balls like those crazy monks?
Not that I want to test it.
And finally. Hero Dive.
He had absolutely no idea how he obtained that one.
Jumping from a high place once shouldn't qualify as repeated action. Enlightenment? Impossible. He didn't even process the fall. It was just screaming and impact.
Was it a gift?
I mean... my journey through the ruins was pretty intense. And that final move must have looked like something out of a legend.
Legendary hero stuff.
But still...
Then he remembered something. A novel he'd read on Earth. In that story, the system livestreamed everything the players did. Billions of aliens and gods watched every move. Every thought.
I don't mind other people having systems. But whether it's thousands, millions, or billions watching...
I already hate the idea of being watched by one person.
Let alone many.
And worse. Being able to read my thoughts.
The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.
"SYSTEM!"
"ANSWER ME!"
"BIG SIS, I SWEAR IF—"
[BE QUIET.]
He shut up.
[There's nothing like a livestream. Nobody's watching you besides me. Nobody has a system like mine.]
Perhaps realizing how serious he was, the system spoke clearly this time. Without jokes. Without sarcasm. Just a flat, direct answer.
He wanted to ask more questions. But it was better to just believe it for now. Even if he kept pressing, there was no way to verify whether it was true. Right on cue, his stomach roared like a dying beast.
Right. Starving.
He closed the system window and found a pleasant surprise. His order had already arrived. The Noble Leaf box sat on the table, delivered while he'd been arguing with an invisible screen.
Click.
"Oh. Still hot."
Four hundred years of technological progress was no joke. He wouldn't be surprised if food could stay hot for years inside sealed packaging.
He ate. But something was off.
Not the food itself. The quality was the same as before. High-end. Nutrient-dense. Objectively excellent.
But it didn't taste the way he expected.
Even starving, even after three hours in a desert with nothing to eat or drink, this meal felt... flat. Like something was missing that had nothing to do with ingredients.
Dinner was better than this.
The thought arrived before he could stop it.
Is it the power of homemade food?
His chopsticks paused.
Or who made it.
He ate the rest in silence. Not slowly, not savoring it. Just eating. Functional. His mind kept drifting.
Hero Dive.
More specifically, its practical applications.
Reduces all damage during a fall. Increases impact damage based on distance.
Honestly, it felt like a skill designed specifically to mess with him. What was he supposed to do with it? Lure enemies to the edge of a cliff? Find tall buildings and jump on monsters?
His eyes drifted toward the balcony.
A dangerous idea appeared.
It disappeared just as quickly.
No. Absolutely not.
He finished eating, put the container back in the box, left it on the table, and walked to the sofa. Then collapsed onto it like his strings had been cut.
The exhaustion finally caught up. Not physical. The system had healed every scratch, every fracture, every bruise. His body was fine.
His mind was not.
Three hours of constant alertness. Three hours of scanning every shadow, every dune, every sound. The human brain wasn't built for that. Not at this level. Not for that long.
It empties you.
He needed to set an alarm. His phone said 4:46 AM. School started at eight. If he set it for seven, that was two hours and fourteen minutes of sleep.
I'm screwed.
He set it anyway. Let out a long breath and leaned his head back against the cushion.
The fabric felt surprisingly comfortable. Maybe he'd spent too many hours in a desert and forgotten what comfort felt like. The temperature was perfect. The apartment was quiet. No sand. No tremors. No vultures circling overhead.
And there was a faint, pleasant smell.
Not the food. Not the cleaning products.
Something softer. Warmer.
"...This sofa smells nice."
He grabbed one of the cushions and pulled it close. Hugged it against his chest without thinking about why.
The comfort and the sweet, lingering scent wrapped around him.
His eyes slowly closed.
Author's Note:
Sorry, I somehow managed to mess up the chapter order and accidentally skipped this one.
Good thing I decided to reread everything before going to sleep. I got to Chapter 7 and thought, "Wait… this makes no sense. Did I skip part of the story?"
For a moment, I was really close to cursing the author.
Then I realized… I am the author.
Anyway, it's fixed now. Thanks for your patience.