Chapter 7: Aptitude Rating

Days passed by quickly. Being too occupied with his activities, Cedric hardly sensed the flow of time.

Due to his diligence, both the 『Breathing』 and 『Smelling』 skills reached Lv.5. Their efficiency skyrocketed and brought visible changes to Cedric’s physique and his mental well-being. Sadly though, after reaching this level, the progress for both skills slowed down by a lot.

It was an expected outcome, after all. Reaching Lv.5 on both skills within days was already considered mind-blowing progress for anyone who learns it. In addition, both skills already surpassed what his current physique could support, which is why its progress slowed down a lot. If he wanted to increase their level faster, he had to increase his level or better yet, increase his Class Tier.

Cedric’s focus wasn’t just on these skills either. Now that he had proven that he could re-learn the skills to use his basic senses from the perspective of a Superhuman, he made an effort to get them all.

『Multitasking Lv.5』, 『Taste (Lv.3)』, 『Listening (Lv.3)』, 『Touch (Lv,3』…

With the addition of these three, Cedric had successfully re-learned all his basic senses as a Superhuman.

『Multitasking (Lv.5)』 was as straightforward as it sounds. It allows him to multitask to a degree that some would find impossible to do. At Lv.1, it allows him to pay even attention to two things at once. Lv.2 makes it 10 at once. Lv.3 increases that to 100 things. Lv.4 was 1000. And Lv.5 increases it to 10,000 things at once. This skill also further improves the rate at which his mind processes information too.

『Taste』 wasn’t just limited to the enhancement of his taste buds. While it surely made him appreciate meals more than before and allowed him to identify what goes into his stomach in more detail, this isn’t the true might of this skill. The skill brings out an overall improvement to his Digestive System, that’s what’s more important to him. In the later stages of this skill, it will allow him to eat things that normal people wouldn’t consider edible, just fine. Further increasing his chances of survival.

『Touch』 boosted his sensitivity to a whole new level. With this skill, Cedric was even more in tune with his surroundings. His senses were so attuned that he would be alerted to even the slightest shift in the air. The range of this skill reached 200 meters around him at Lv.3, which was a respectable distance. Furthermore, clothes don’t hinder his sense of touch either.

And finally, 『Listening』. Truthfully, this was one of the skills he liked a lot, right after his 『Learning』 and 『Vision』 skills of course.

This skill allows him to hear all kinds of things that most people take for granted. Listening to footsteps was good and all, but Listening to them in a way that allows you to discern who the owner is was clearly better. At this point, Cedric almost remembers the footsteps of everybody in the RMC.

He could discern their state, mood, height, and weight just by listening to the sounds they were emitting. At Lv.3 of this skill, he’s even starting to hear hints of their next move and more importantly their thoughts.

With all of his senses working together at various degrees, almost everybody here was an open book to him. Even the wardens weren’t able to escape his senses. Of course, he’s receiving a less-accurate read on the stronger wardens but that’s natural. Once he reached their level of strength, or even just close to it, he’d be able to read them just as easily.

Earning this level of achievement within mere days just proved how absolutely broken the 『Learning』 skill was. When the skill said that he’d be able to learn things effortlessly, it was not lying. Not even a little bit.

This brings Cedric to one of the thoughts that baffled him. How come not everybody’s abusing it?

Cedric logged in to his socials and browsed through several discussion threads that were specific to Superhuman skills and abilities, yet even after his diligent search, he couldn’t find anything relating to the 『Learning』 skill.

Was it some sort of a closely kept secret? It could also be that people just don’t know about it. Cedric can’t really say for sure. His authority wasn’t high enough to browse other discussion threads so there’s a chance that it’s the former. But it also wasn’t far-fetched to be the latter.

Either way, none of that concerns him now. What matters is his training, and he should just focus on it diligently.

Right now, just by existing, Cedric was constantly gaining experience for his passive skills. Thanks to 『Multitasking』 especially for making it easier for him.

Currently, Cedric was confident enough to beat at least 100 of his previous self without even breaking a sweat. Although he had no way to actually confirm that, he could easily discern the result because of the addition of his new skills.

***

[Profile]

Name: Cedric Stormrider

Age: 21

Race: Human

Class: Tier 1 – Swordsman

Level: 2

Aptitude:

Body: C (NEW!)

Energy: B

Spirit: (S) – Locked. Tier 2 req.

Final rating: C+

Skills:

Actives: Stab, Cleave, Parry, Block, Roll

Passives: Vision (M), Learning (M), Breathing Lv.5, Smell lv.5, Multitasking Lv.5, Taste Lv.3, Touch Lv.3, Listening Lv.3

Mandatory Task:

Hell Dive: Survive the Endless Undead Horde for 3 Hours. Current Record: 12 minutes

Rewards: 100% Demon Soul gain.

Failure: +1 Strike. Current Strike Counter: 1/3

***

‘My Body rating increased again!’ Cedric exclaimed giddily.

Without even a shred of a doubt, if the news of Cedric’s rating improvement spread out, it would stun thousands of people.

It had to be known that the Aptitude Ratings were generally fixed. The ratings are received from the moment one becomes a Superhuman and is granted access to the System.

The ratings are just that, ratings. For most people, what you see is what you get. The Aptitude Ratings were Acala’s judgment of a person’s Innate Aptitude.

Each of the Stats’ ratings represents its growth the more one levels up or advances their Class Tier.

For example; Person A has a Body rating of C, while Person B has a Body rating of A. When both reach Lv.2, Person B would still defeat Person A since Person A’s physique was weaker than Person B’s. In fact, the gap would just become bigger as they raise the scale.

Each Aptitude Stat represents a certain aspect that makes up the entire being of a Superhuman.

Body – Represents the Physical aspect. This includes a person’s strength, speed, flexibility, durability, recovery, regeneration, endurance, and so on.

Energy – Represents Mana, Qi, Spiritual Energy, etc. Including its quantity, quality, rate of regeneration, flow, and so on.

Spirit – Represents the Spiritual Aspect which includes one’s intelligence, reaction to stimuli, range and quality of perception, sensitivity to immaterial aspects and laws of the world, communion with nature, willpower, etc.

Generally, the initial Aptitude Ratings were final. This was mostly because methods for raising there were deemed too difficult or too expensive for most people to afford.

The first and most known method for raising the Aptitude Ratings was through diligent, or frankly maniacal, training. In the forums, there are tons of people posting all sorts of methods that are effective at doing just that but most of them are just clout-chasers. Cedric has tried their methods numerous times and none of them made any difference at all. Some claim that such methods worked for them but honestly? Word of mouth like that is too unreliable.

The other method was to use elixirs. This is the more effective means of raising one’s Aptitude. The only downside is that it is too expensive for the general populace to rely on.

Only those who hailed from prestigious families could afford those elixirs. Moreover, there are also tons of scammers in the business so one has to be extremely careful when buying them.

Cedric seems to have discovered a new way of improving his ratings, which is through learning and leveling up Passive Skills. But even this wasn’t that reliable since not everybody could learn skills just as easily as he could.

It might be possible if they too have the max level of Learning skill, but honestly? Even Cedric himself doesn’t have a foolproof way of allowing others to learn that skill. It’s only because of him inheriting these new eyes of his that this even became possible.

As for sharing this method? Hmph! What a joke! That’s no different from courting death!

Cedric has no plans to publicize such information. Maybe later when he had the sufficient strength to back up his claims and protect his deeper secrets. And even then, that’s a big ‘IF’, and it would most likely depend on his mood.

He has no time to babysit people when he can’t even take care of his problems. He’d only be courting disaster if they were to share the knowledge of his achievements.

Right now, he had other matters to take care of. And since he has already re-learned how to use his senses as a Superhuman, it’s time for some action.

Next on his agenda, was learning how to walk…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep