Ashton was excited for today...
He hasn't slept at all but he's still energetic, well at this point in his life, especially with his current cultivation rank, losing a night of sleep isn't a big deal at all. Plus, there is a legitimate reason for him to look forward to this moment.
[System Overhaul ends in: 2 mins...]
After a month of being offline, the System's overhaul was about to be done. Ashton had no idea of what this had in store for him but he was still looking forward to it.
To make sure that he wouldn't get disturbed, he told his friends that he'd be busy today, locking himself inside the labs to prepare for something. They didn't pry and acknowledged it so none of them should be coming today to bother him.
Well, if there's an emergency, that might change but for now, this shall do.
The two-minute wait was long...well, it felt long for him at least. He just kind of sat in his chair, anxiously fidgeting while staring at the countdown timer.
Eventually, though, the countdown ended. The message window disappeared and he saw a bar loading up in front of him. He waited for that as well. Once that was finished, he heard that familiar pinging sound in his head and several floating messages filled his vision.
[Welcome to the Idle System v2.0!]
[Since your wish, is to become Humanity's Strongest Backer, the System Overhaul went along with the Host's ambitions. Please explore the System's New Functions during your own time.]
[Idle System v2.0 Functions]
Profile
Inventory
Simulation Zone
Mission Board
Party (New!)
Beneficiaries (New!)
Benefactor's Returns (New!)
"...the Grinding Slots and the Sign-in Opportunities are gone?" Ashton frowned. He was alarmed by this and wanted to ask the system why this function got removed but he held off.
Instead, he first asked for explanations about the System's new functions.
The 'Profile' function was relatively the same, it just displays his current information. It looks like this...
[Profile]
Name: Ashton West
Age: 19
Race: Human
Bloodline: Human/Fey(95%)
Cultivation Rank: Lv.5 Warlock (5th Refinement)
Virtues: Mana, Purity, Life, Death, Water.
Specialization:
Main: White Mage
Sub: Gunslinger
Aptitude:
Mageroot: Auspicious Rainbow Cloud
Magical Artifact: Unsealed Book of Infinity (Legendary)
Providence: Fey Emperor's Blessings (Grade: EX)
Spells Learned: 129
Skills Learned: 4
"...those four skills, ah! The Basic Staff Proficiency, Basic Scythe Arts, Footwork, and the 13th Army Fighting Manual! It's those four."
"And my actual Providence's rank is now revealed. EX rank? That should be high right? The highest rank I know is the Legendary Hero Rank, so what does the EX rank represents?"
[It's a Unique Rank, Host. Only a few people are entitled to Providence such as yours.]
"...that, didn't really answer my question."
[...]
"Fine, I'll figure it out on my own." Ashton grumbled as he checked the other functions.
The 'Inventory' still remains the same. It's a bag with infinite space in it, he still can't put living things inside but that's fine.
The 'Simulation Zone' got an improvement. Now, aside from him being able to pull his consciousness inside, he can also pull others in.
Letting others use this though has a requirement, a medium per se, which came in the form of a VR Helmet. Ashton received 5 helmets for now and those could automatically allow the user to access the Simulation Zone.
"...there's presets installed already. Oh, these places are the ones that I've been through before, huh, that's interesting."
"There's also a list of the Celestials and Hypogeans that I fought and slain in here as well. How inclusive. Hmm..."
Ideas were starting to flood Ashton's mind but he decided to park those thoughts for now. He had other matters to attend to, he can always come back to those anyways.
The next function is the 'Mission Board'. It relatively remains the same. Only now, he could also create missions for his future subordinates.
The 'Party' function. Now, the System was kind enough to explain what it does to him this time around.
Basically, he can invite people to join his party. Before they join though, they must first sign an NDA file to keep the existence of the System a closely guarded secret.
To ensure that the NDA will be implemented, every Party Member will bear an insignia etched on their tongue. Receiving it wouldn't hurt. In fact, none of them would even notice it, but if they tried to reveal information that they shouldn't be revealing, they will feel it.
First offense and their tongues will feel like it's on fire. A second offense and the System will forcefully take over their bodies, they'd be incapacitated for at least three whole days.
The third offense is the final one. The system will not only seize their bodies, but it will also take everything that has been given to the party member and will erase their memories of everything they knew about the System before kicking them out.
Although it sounds cruel, it's not asking for something impossible. All the party member needs to do is not say anything to unrelated people. If members want to discuss it with themselves, that's fine.
Eavesdropping also wouldn't work since all unrelated parties will hear gibberish from the Party Members. So again, it's not really that hard.
The reason behind the strictness is that the Party Members will have access to some of the System's Functions, albeit to a lesser degree. Like, for example, the Inventory.
Party Members will have a limited Party Inventory Space of 50 Slots. That's already a lot.
They will also have a Party Chat, the difference between this and the normal one is that the Party Chat can work on the outside world.
Party members can also register for missions that Ashton posts on the Mission Board. They also release a distress signal that will alert Ashton of danger.
With all of these being added to the mix, the NDA makes sense and the punishment for its violation can be justified. Again, it's not that hard to keep this a secret. It's for the greater good anyway.
Now, for the 'Beneficiaries' and 'Benefactor's Return' functions. This is the one that resonates with his ultimate goal.
Basically, Ashton can become a 'Sponsor' for someone (i.e. his friends, people that asks for his help, or someone he's interested in) or something (i.e. businesses, markets, commissions, and so on.)
When they signed the NDA, they'll be registered as 'Beneficiary' of Ashton. Their information will be available for him and he can then affect their future depending on what he plans for them.
The more resources he invested and the more he 'takes care' of them, the bigger his returns will be. The 'Benefactor's Return' function will give him rewards depending on his investments.
The rewards, as the System says, are random. Ashton would just have to receive them after making investments.
"...ah, so that's why those old functions are gone." Ashton mused to himself, "With the Benefactor's Return, I can receive rewards such as Spell/Skill Points, which allows me to upgrade Spells or Skills. I can receive money, Spirit Stones, and pretty much every resource I can think of so long as I invest."
A smile bloomed on Ashton's face.
"Now, this is more like it." He looked at the System's Prompt and saw that there is already someone listed as his Beneficiary.
And to his surprise, it was actually Jerry!
'...I guess it works that way, huh?'
He then viewed Jerry's information...
Beneficiary: BB Jerry
Role: Butler Bot
Upgrades Available: Body, Core, Tools
Growth Potential:
A) EX Butler Bot
B) Task Manager
C) Formless AI
Remarks: An adorable and reliable little helper. He's just happy to be where his Master is.
Ashton couldn't help but be more curious. He checked the upgrades and the growth paths. In the end, he's surprised.
'Jerry has had some upgrades in the past. The first is with the chip that System gave to me. I used that to allow him to speak vocally instead of speaking through a screen.'
'When disaster struck, he was destroyed but I managed to recover his core and restore him with his memories intact. During that, I also upgraded his body to become stronger.'
'In front of these System aided upgrades though, the ones I did look like child's play.'
'If I upgrade his body to the max, not even Sorcerers could put a dent in him. If I upgraded his core, he'll never have to charge again and could even produce his own energy resource, and if I upgraded his tools? He can probably work as fast as a whole damn factory all by himself.'
'If I make him an EX Butler Bot, I'm basically giving him tools to fight alongside me. If I make him a Task Manager, he'll be linked to the System and can monitor things for me. Make him a Formless AI and I could probably monitor Fantasia as a whole!'
The choices he got were overwhelming, he didn't know that his little helper has so much potential! All of it is being wasted by having him look after books and such!
With a fiery gaze, Ashton looked at the materials he needed to change Jerry's growth path and swore that he was going to show everyone how awesome Jerry truly is!
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