One Last System

"What?!" the pathfinder jumped up the second I let out my shout. His movements were quick and precise. In less than a second, he was bending his knees, holding the handle of the sword on his belt, and scanning the surroundings with a focused look. 

"Ah," I muttered, slightly panicked by what I did. 

How the fuck I was supposed to explain what alerted me like that? 

"I... I'm sorry." I couldn't come up with anything on the go. Just apologizing would give me a tiny bit more time to think. "I... I just realized something bad," I added, trying to be as ambiguous as possible. 

"..." the man threw me a furious look. He then took closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As he released the air back out, his body slowly relaxed, his posture straightened. "If you are that jumpy about your memories, I can't see you lasting as a contractor for long," he commented before sitting down by the fireplace. 

'That was close,' I thought, my heart beating at a mad pace. But with the situation averted, I could finally look back towards my status. 

Because there were quite a lot of changes to it!

PROGRESS STATUS WINDOW

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- Body status: Mortal

- Growth status: Mana Assimilation/Body Reinforcement

- Body status modifier: 

- Endurance:3/500

- Willpower: 3/500

***

Mana Asimiliation (235/10 000)

{

Flesh assimilation (191/5 000)

Mind assimilation (44/4 000)

Soul assimilation (0/1 000)

}

***

With so many changes to my system, I had no other choice but to go one by one with them. And just the first part that I picked was massive enough to make me utter the shout that I did a moment earlier. 

First off, for the first time in my life, I saw my system differentiate between what appeared to be the true name of my current stage and how the locals of this world called it. It was only a guess, but I couldn't see any other explanation for the double name for my growth status. 

Then came the change to my willpower and endurance, both in terms of their full potential and their current status. 

'So resting for so long made me lose all the progress?' I thought, unsure what else to take from it. 

The changes to the content of my progression gauges were something that I expected. I didn't need to check my system to realize that I broke through the mana condensation stage. After all, I could perceive the core inside me. What's more, I even used it to cultivate!

Up to this point, the changes to my status were something that I, more or less, expected. Reaching a higher stage of cultivation, changing how the progress works, it all fell within the scope of my expectations. 

But there was one more window, the quest one, that made me utter those words of surprise before. 

Objective status window:

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Completed: [Hidden Mission] Advance to the next stage!

Completed: Fill in the gauge of your status! (1)

Completed: Fill in the gauge of your status! (2)

{By condensing one's mana greatly enough, the host now needs to work on turning it into a solid entity, one that will enhance his ability to wield mana even further. Only by obtaining a solid core will the host be able to refine his mana into a manifestable form!}

Completed: Fill in the gauge of your status! (3)

{With the mana core now established, the host needs to work on manifesting his mana. As the rational next step of his development, a host needs to learn how and grow his ability to move his own, refined mana around}

Completed: Fill in the gauge of your status! (4)

{Now that the host learned and improved his ability to wield mana, the host needs to expand the influence of his own core throughout his body. Only by incorporating the inner flow of mana into the core itself will he be able to further enhance his control over it}

Completed: Fill in the gauge of your status! (5)

{After breaking through to the mana extension stage, the host needs to find a proper way to propel the mana from his core into every last bit of his flesh so that using his mana will become as natural as using his energy}

X: Rewards: 25 meridians unlocked

X Bonus Rewards: 15 meridians unlocked

Active: Fill the gauge of your status! (6)

{After completing the Mana extension stage, the host needs to properly assimilate his mana into all three sides of his being. While the primitive culture consider it as the doorstep stage of becoming a mana-enriched being, more advanced cultures recognize it as just the last of the beginning stages, allowing one to properly operate on the mana energy}

***

I was dumbfounded by reading through the content of the quests that I somehow fulfilled.

Did I break through to the seventh stage of cultivation all in one go? Was it really possible?

But no matter how unbelievable this appeared to be, I couldn't find any other plausible explanation. Yet, as hard as it was for me to believe, I couldn't help but immerse myself in the lecture of the quests that I somehow completed. 

Manifesting mana? Pushing its flow into the influence of the core? A reward of unlocking meridians? 

'Reading through it only makes me grateful for not having to go through all this stuff manually!' I exclaimed in my thoughts, wiping sweat from my forehead. 

Still, even though I was in the seventh stage of cultivation already, the gap between the pathfinder and me was massive. So massive that I could tell that I was still in the phase of the baby steps, trying to crawl around in a world where others were sprinting. 

Yet, as if this wasn't enough, there was still one part of the system that made my blood run cold in my veins. Because for the first time, my system appeared as something that could actually fail. 

Bonus Window

***

Pristine Body: By purifying his body beyond the standard and almost to the possible pinnacle, the host ensured a smoother path for him to grow! [+0.49 modifier to growth]

Forced Growth: By abruptly assimilating massive amounts of energy, the host's progress came in an unnatural manner. As such, rather than from slowly pushing his body further and further, his current power came from a forceful push. Host cultivation has now an unstable foundation. [-0.3 modifier to growth][+3 inner chaos]

Chaos[3]: The tiny part of the host's system is missing. The host is to expect certain bugs and errors.

***