He shifted in the chair, adjusting his posture so he was sitting upright but relaxed, his hands resting loosely on the armrests. He let his gaze drift to a point on the far wall, unfocused and distant. Then, deliberately, he stopped thinking.

It was harder than it sounded. His mind wanted to wander, to turn over the histories he had just read, to worry about the upcoming summit, to plan his next move. But he forced himself to let those thoughts go, to empty his head and just... be. No analysis. No internal monologue.

Just… just… just….stillness.

Absolute stillness!

Two whole minutes passed.

And then, like a delayed firework finally igniting, his system responded.

[Congratulations, host, on letting the information settle!]

[You have gained knowledge points.]

[You have upgraded an ability!]

Tatehan's eyes snapped open, his heart rate spiking as the notifications flooded his vision. He sat forward, his hands gripping the armrests as he pulled up his status screen again.

[HOST STATUS]

Name: Tatehan

Level: 11

Species: Human (Enhanced)

Knowledge: 185/200 [+15]

Repair Points: 57/100

[ABILITIES]

• Gravity Manipulation - Level 12

• Regeneration (Partial) - Level 8

• Enhanced Durability - Level 3

• Heightened Perception - Level 5

• Phase Shift - Level 2 [NEW!]

• Force Multiplication - Level 1

[INVENTORY:]

[Shadow Goblin Cores: 54 total]

[Tri-Edge Shadow Chakram]

[Serrated Heavy Chakram]

[Backpack]

[Armor]

[Novels]

[Shadow-Forged Blade]

[Kinetic Absorption Armor]

[Devastator Hand Cannon]

[Core from the Destroyed Fortress]

Fifteen points. He had gained fifteen new knowledge points just by sitting still and letting his brain do whatever the hell settling meant.

Tatehan stared at the number, his mind racing like a truck on high speed.

This was not just a minor bump. This was significant. His Knowledge stat was now at 185 out of 200, dangerously close to maxing out before it upgraded again.

What happened when it hit the cap?

At first when he was at the wastelands at the spaceship, his knowledge max was 100 but now it was 200. That meant it could eventually upgrade to pass that 'MAX', all he had to do was reach it.

Now, more importantly, what did those fifteen points actually mean for him?

He closed his eyes, trying to focus inward, to feel if anything had changed. At first, there was nothing. Just the usual hum of his thoughts, the background noise of awareness. But then, slowly, he began to notice subtle differences.

His thoughts felt... sharper. Not faster, exactly, but more precise. When he recalled the information he had read about Loenitt, the details came to him with crystalline clarity. He could visualize the city's stone structures, the way the walls rose in organic curves, the deep rust-red veins running through the Loenitt Stone. He remembered the exact wording of passages he had only skimmed, the dates and names slotting into place in his mind like pieces of a puzzle clicking together.

It was not just memory…, I mean he could do this before. He could imagine how cities looked like and go into intense imagination episodes with it. Knowing the veins through the stones and all that.

But now, it was at comprehension level. The connections between different pieces of information felt more immediate and more obvious. When he thought about Reon Outpost's metallokinetic founders and Iron Haven's reliance on iron extraction, his mind automatically drew parallels, identified potential synergies and conflicts that might arise during the summit. Political dynamics, resource competition, cultural friction—all of it mapped itself out in his head without him having to consciously work through it.

This was what the knowledge points did. They did not just give him more information; they made him better at processing the information he already had. They increased his cognitive efficiency, his ability to analyze, synthesize, and draw conclusions from complex data.

In practical terms, it meant he could think faster, understand deeper, and make better decisions under pressure. He could do this before but now he could do it much better and as he kept upgrading his knowledge points, it would be much better.

And although he might be smarter, it wouldn't be like he was Einstein or something (at least not at his current level).

Tatehan opened his eyes, a slow grin spreading across his face. "Okay," he said aloud, his voice filled with satisfaction. "That's actually pretty cool."

(He was again talking to himself)

The knowledge points were not the only thing that had changed. His gaze flicked back to the ability list, locking onto the updated entry.

Phase Shift - Level 2 [NEW!]

His Phase Shift ability had leveled up.

Tatehan felt a surge of excitement. Phase Shift was one of his newer abilities, one he had unlocked recently but had not had much opportunity to test in battle apart from the mech monster incident.

At Level 1, it allowed him to briefly shift his body out of phase with physical matter, essentially making him intangible for a one point five seconds.

It was useful for dodging attacks, slipping through barriers, maybe even escaping restraints if he got creative.

But at Level 2? He had no idea what had changed. And while the system gave him quite a detailed breakdown of the phase shift ability upgrade:

[Upgrades Available at Higher Levels:]

Level 5: Increase duration to 5 seconds

Level 10: Reduce cooldown to 90 seconds

Level 15: Phase multiple body parts simultaneously

Level 20: Full-body phase for 1 second.

It didn't give him how useful it would be at Level two.

There was only one way to find out.

Tatehan stood up from the chair, glancing around the empty library to make sure he was still alone, an act that ended up being useless because the door was just a few centimeters from being shut.

It was completely shut before though and was only this way (slightly shut) because he had opened it with the intention to leave before he got the system notification across.

Satisfied that no one was going to walk in and see him doing something potentially stupid, he focused inward, reaching for the ability the same way he reached for Gravity Manipulation or his other powers.

Phase Shift.

He tried on his left hand.

The sensation was immediate and disorienting. His left hand flickered, the edges of its form blurring as if he were being viewed through static. To that left hand, the chair behind it, the table in front of it, the walls of the library—all of it seemed to lose solidity, becoming translucent and ghostly. The hand felt weightless, untethered, like he was hovering between two states of existence.

And then, just as quickly (2.1 seconds), it snapped back. He was solid again.

But something was different. The duration had was longer, now 2.1 seconds.

Tatehan grinned, his heart still pounding from the adrenaline. "Hell yeah."

[Congratulations Host, you have leveled up!]

[HOST STATUS]

Name: Tatehan

Level: 12 [NEW!]

Species: Human (Enhanced)

Knowledge: 186/200 [+1]

Repair Points: 57/100

[ABILITIES]

• Gravity Manipulation - Level 12

• Regeneration (Partial) - Level 8

• Enhanced Durability - Level 3

• Heightened Perception - Level 5

• Phase Shift - Level 2 [NEW!]

• Force Multiplication - Level 1

[INVENTORY:]

[Shadow Goblin Cores: 0 total]

[Tri-Edge Shadow Chakram]

[Serrated Heavy Chakram]

[Backpack]

[Armor]

[Novels]

[Shadow-Forged Blade]

[Kinetic Absorption Armor]

[Devastator Hand Cannon]

[Core from the Destroyed Fortress]

'I leveled up, nice' Tatehan thought.

With that he left the library.

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