Said and done, a gamer's mind is already working at peak efficiency.
The solution I came up with was... double reinforcement.
That is, I will use [Reinforcement] once, then I will continue to use [Reinforcement] again.
Having got the idea, I immediately started to implement it.
Just not very good results.
Before, I thought that the publisher Marlize Online had overdone [Reinforcement], a [Unique Skill] that couldn't even be upgraded.
But at this moment, I realized I had underestimated the wickedness of this [Unique Skill].
I basically can't use [Reinforcement] twice, at least not the way I want to.
Once I entered the [Reinforcement] activation state, I tried activating [Reinforcement] again, but all I got back was that the previous [Reinforcement] had turned off, making way for a new [Reinforcement].
It's like pouring oil into water, the two are not compatible at all.
After a while of frustration, I finally figured it out.
If it could be stacked like this, [Reinforcement] would have long since become invincible.
"[Reinforcement]..."
I muttered, ideas appearing and then being discarded in my mind.
[Reinforcement] is a [Unique Skill] that allows the overall strength of one thing to be strengthened.
Wait, I seem to have thought of something.
Yes, I have an idea.
Crazy, wild, but it's an idea.
"Surely... it can't happen, right?"
I smiled wryly, feeling that the idea was very unrealistic. But the more I tried to reject it, the more the idea took root in my mind.
"Well, it doesn't hurt to try."
I said to myself, then rubbed my hands excitedly.
[Reinforcement].
[Unique Skill] activated, strengthening my entire body.
Then I looked towards my hand, gulped, then activated [Reinforcement] once more.
"Failure?"
A thought crossed my mind.
But, in my astonished gaze, the power transmitted to my arm increased once again.
Success?
Did I make it?
Stunned for a moment, I burst out.
Next I continued to experiment, using [Reinforcement] on the whole body then one leg, or using [Reinforcement] on the whole body then the head.
It all works!
This seems very confusing, because apparently I had previously tried to stack two [Reinforcement]s on top of each other and failed. But now I could do it.
Actually, this has to do with the fact that I changed my perspective.
[Reinforcement] only strengthens one thing, but what that "one thing" is is the question.
With the first activation of [Reinforcement], the "one thing" that is strengthened is "my body".
And with the second activation of [Reinforcement], the "one thing" that was strengthened was "my arm".
It sounds absurd and like a kind of conceptual confusion, because even though "my body" and "my arm" are two different things, my arm is still a part of my body. But semantically and conceptually, the arm and the body are still two distinct subjects.
Whatever you say, I don't think this idea can come true.
Waving my strengthened arm, I felt that compared to the arm that only received a single reinforcement, this arm was quite a bit stronger.
"This is the way for me to become stronger."
I muttered, clenching my fists.
If my arm can be considered a separate subject from my body, then can my fingers and hand be too?
If that's the case…
I can hardly even imagine.
Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down, restraining myself from such far-fetched fantasies.
No matter how far the future may be, right now I'm still just a weakling who can only use [Reinforcement] twice.
It is still a long way to reach that future.
Right now, my goal is to survive first, survive the first wave of World Eater invasion.
Suddenly, a knock on the door and a call from outside made me jump.
It turned out to be the mayor's servant, who invited me to his private residence.
Thinking back, it was only natural that the city hall was a workplace, letting me stay here was just a forced situation before.
Now it seems the mayor confirmed what I said earlier, so he invited me instead of kicking me out like a fraud.
I don't think the mayor will hurt me either. Anyway, if he wanted to do that, it would be too simple.
So, I accepted this invitation.
But just as I was about to step out the door, the quest screen popped up again.
Is a white quest.
"Stay in the mayor's house."
"Reward, cure hidden injuries."
"Accept/Decline."
Cure hidden injuries?
I was a little surprised, but I'm quite pleased with this reward.
Although my current body doesn't appear to have any bleeding wounds from the outside, in reality this body has accumulated injuries.
After all, this body was previously just a beggar child, and living conditions weren't good at all.
In the old world, because of my living habits, I could barely tilt my neck back, and my back was always in vague pain. And the problems in this new body could only increase.
So, I "Accept".
And since I accepted this quest, I thought about its objective.
"Stay in the mayor's house", does this mean join the mayor's side?
Just as I was deep in thought, the servant whom I had forgotten until now knocked on the door even harder, his voice also becoming more emphatic.
"Are you there?"
"Oh, I'll be right out!"
I patted my head, then hurriedly opened the door. It was my bad habit, I often got lost in thought. Before, I was almost alone so it was fine, but now it is different.
Then I was taken by carriage to a large and luxurious manor, put into a large bathtub and changed clothes, of course I refused the service of others and did it myself. After going through all those steps, I was brought to the mayor's dining table.
At this moment, I looked less miserable than before, but my gaunt face and pale temperament still couldn't be hidden by that expensive outfit.
"Oh, Arthur is here, come sit down."