The next day came. Rean got up to turn the television off. He had just realized he slept with it on.
"Why didn't you turn it off?" Rean asked.
"Well, I thought you were watching it—with a snore," Tylan teased.
"Not funny," Rean said as he grabbed the remote. He was about to push the button before he heard a reporter mention the Black Cranes' recent raid.
"Hey, Rean, turn the volume up," Tylan said.
"You don't have to tell me," he replied.
"In other news, it's been reported by an anonymous source that a group of new hunters got worked to the bone just yesterday. Sources claim it was the Black Cranes' new recruits. They had been sent on two raids back to back, with no recoup time, which is strange.
Some are asking if the association isn't checkmating the actions of its guilds.
Others have questioned the kids' safety.
This news led to a drop in the Black Cranes' stock price on the national market. Nothing significant, but notable.
Speaking of stocks, we can review the stock options for the top guilds for those interested in that sort of thing."
Rean cut the reporter off and finally pushed the button.
He and the team were on TV, but not as they would have liked. They were being publicly chastised on national television.
"What would this mean for Captain Shom?" Rean questioned out loud.
"Hey, don't worry," Tylan said. "Shom can handle anything they throw at him."
"No, it's not that," Rean said. He wanted to continue, but Tylan reassured him.
"This is Shom. He'll be fine. You've got no time to be worrying.
Anyways, I'm off. I heard you got today off. Use it wisely," Tylan said before heading out.
"Ok, what to do? What to do?" Rean looked around. He washed the dishes. He moved on to doing general cleaning.
In his room, he found a diary he had from a couple of years ago.
"Wow, what is this old thing doing lying around here?" He took glances through it. It was filled with his hunter aspirations.
'It's crazy that I'm actually doing what I set out to do.'
In that moment, Rean snapped. He immediately closed the diary. He then commented, "Come."
His system interface appeared.
'Pull up total earned points.'
[-540]
"Woah, that's a bunch."
'Pull up current stats.'
[Strength - 30
Mana - 10
Speed - 55
Evolution rate - 1]
"Now time to put these 540 points to work."
'Taking in what I learnt, I don't just need speed to be my best self. Mana is essential to keep up with the spells.'
"45 points to speed."
[Speed - 55 → 100]
"100 points to mana."
[Mana - 10 → 110]
'Damn, I forgot my mana was previously 10 points. I should have 90. Does that mean I just wasted 10 points?'
Rean thought, then looked at the panel and noticed the mana read 110.
"Huh, how is that possible? Shouldn't 100 be the standard? What's going on?"
A panel popped up.
[User isn't conventional. User = vessel.]
Rean remembered what was going on. He was a vessel. He wasn't a normal hunter.
'If things don't run the normal way, is there even any point in using rationale?'
'I might as well invest all my points in speed. Or maybe even just mana.'
'Hmmm. Let me think.'
'If my system works this way, then how would others work?'
'They'd probably have to get the three stats to maximum. I doubt this evolution rate is present.'
'But this would make things too easy for them to evolve. There's some ratio of points, and it's not direct.'
'Since I'm not sure, I should probably split my remaining points reasonably between strength and speed.'
Rean was deep in thought, but then he decided to disregard all logic.
'I set out on a path just last time. I will move in haste and outdo everyone. Being a balanced hunter is nice and all, but it won't allow me to do my best.'
Rean looked at the remaining points: 395.
"395 points to speed," he said with conviction.
[Speed - 100 → 495]
A panel popped up.
[Bonus points awarded.]
[Speed - 500]
"Woah, my speed got an extra 5-point bump."
'It probably wasn't smart not working on my strength at all. But now I can rack up the most amount of kills possible. I should be the fastest on the team now, maybe behind Shom. Maybe.'
Rean glanced through his stats. He noticed something very peculiar.
His evolution rate was now at 6.
"Woah, where did that come from?"
A panel popped up.
[Speed upgrades no longer permitted.]
"Hmm, does this mean I have upgraded my speed to the max? How does that translate to S-ranks or even A-ranks?"
Rean was a bit confused. Why did it use permitted? That meant he wasn't done maxing out his speed. It probably just meant the system wanted him to evolve his other stats in tandem.
Rean glanced to the side. He noticed a big post over all his new stats.
A voice notification came in.
[All vessel systems have been updated. A counter vessel ranking system has been introduced by a player.]
"What does all this mean?"
Rean was kind of lost.
'Counter vessel system? A player added this? Does that mean another vessel? Wait, so a lone vessel can perform an act of this magnitude?'
'This vessel stuff just keeps getting interesting.'
He looked up. A new bar appeared.
[Vessel Bearing - D Rank]
"Huh. What's this?"
'Does this mean I'm only a D-rank hunter or something? That couldn't be. I mean, Michael is a freaking A-rank. He's better than me, but you mean by that much?'
A panel popped up.
[Vessel bearing does not equal conventional hunter ranks.]
"Ok, so what does my D-rank translate to?"
Another panel popped up.
[Estimated combat capability: B Rank]
"Here are your stats."
[Strength - 30
Speed - 500
Mana - 100
Evolution rate - 6]
A new panel popped up.
[Do you want to join the vessel strengthening ritual ongoing?]
Rean casually said, "Sure."
The system disappeared.
He got teleported somewhere.
**************
"Woahhh, how did I get here? Is this some kind of simulation? It looks just like the source sanctuary."
"Wait... is that...?"