— — — — — —
[You received 100 points.]
With the points in hand, Veyron immediately switched to the Gacha screen and claimed his guaranteed reward.
[Gacha screen message: Group member 'Ordinary Person' performed 1 draw and received "Potential: Gene Lock" x1]
"Gene Lock?!"
Veyron, who hadn't expected much from this kind of relief prize, was absolutely stunned.
You serious?!
This is what you call a special guaranteed reward?
He clicked to claim it and confirmed—it really was the Gene Lock.
He quickly checked the other members' rewards from their guaranteed draws:
Merlin got a flintlock pistol with infinite ammo,
Fujiwara Chika got a green ring,
Hancock received a pair of Sharingan eyes,
Fubuki got a Stand: The Stand (Star Platinum),
Gwen got a charm: Weaver Song,
Selena got a full Gantz_Auits battle suit...
Honestly, those are all solid. They definitely live up to the "guaranteed" title.
Especially that flintlock with infinite ammo—no clue how that works though—and Fubuki's Stand, which might even have time-stop potential. Both of those are huge wins.
But compared to his Gene Lock? Yeah, not even close.
His Gene Lock had 5 levels for now.
Tier 1: Breaks physical limits, boosts combat instinct.
Tier 2: Full control over the body.
Tier 3: Starts strengthening the mind, will, and soul.
Tier 4: Full sync of body and soul, energy self-circulation, awakening the Light of the Heart...
Tier 5: unknown
[You acquired a new Trait — Gene Lock (Gold)]
As soon as the system gave its feedback, Veyron checked his mind's interface.
"Gold... So it's a Talent Trait?"
Seeing the panel clearly, he paused. But thinking about it, yeah—Gene Lock fits more as a talent than just a skill.
He brought up the full Trait System panel:
→[Comprehension (Red)]
•You can understand all spoken words, and your words can be understood by all beings.
→[Gene Lock (Gold)]
•You have grasped the rule: Gene Lock.
→[Basic Swordsmanship Skill]
•Lv.27
•EXP (224,128/270,000)
•Basic sword skills focused on slashing, with elements of thrusts, parries, etc.
•Lv.10 Buff: +1 Slash Power
•Lv.20 Buff: +2 Slash Power
— — —
This simple, almost crude-looking interface came with Veyron during his free-fall into this world—it had turned into this Trait System.
The system isn't smart. It just gives alerts when you gain traits or skills. Also when traits evolve—like leveling up.
That's it. Nothing fancy.
There are two types of Traits:
Talent Traits: Ranked white < green < blue < purple < orange < gold < red.
White is the weakest, red is the strongest.
Before Gene Lock (Gold), Veyron only had one Talent Trait—[Comprehension (Red)], which he got while trying to talk with Houraisan Kaguya. It lets him understand all languages and be understood by all beings.
Because of this trait, Veyron never had any trouble talking to the locals in the New World — even though he'd never spoken their language before.
Ability or Skill Traits: These are more like game skills. They level up with use. Every 10 levels gives a bonus (Buff).
Take [Basic Swordsmanship], for example. At Lv.10 and Lv.20, he gained +1 and +2 Slash Power respectively.
That total +3 Slash Power lets him chop down bamboo barehanded.
Give him a proper blade, and he can split bricks and rocks.
As for how he got the [Basic Swordsmanship] Trait—it just... popped up while he was chopping bamboo during the building of Eientei.
After that, Veyron figured he might be able to get [Basic Swordsmanship], [Basic Martial Arts], and similar traits the same way.
I mean, who doesn't want more passive skills?
Unfortunately, no luck. After a lot of attempts, he gave up and decided to just grind the sword skill he did have.
Anyway.
He took a moment to admire that gleaming gold addition to his Trait panel.
And of course, he didn't forget the help he got. He popped back into the chat group to thank Merlin and promised he'd pay her back the 100 points as soon as he could.
---
[Lady Avalon: No worries, really. Pay me back when you are ready.]
[Lady Avalon: I've still got plenty of points to spare.]
[Lady Avalon: (screenshot.jpg)]
[Catwoman: W-Wait, how many?!]
[Ghost Spider: Whoa... 90,000+ points?]
[Earth's Cancer: Would've been weirder if Merlin didn't have that many.]
[Earth's Cancer: I joined the group about three years ago as the second member. I've signed in every single day. My luck's average—usually 2 points per sign-in—and I've only saved up a bit over 2,000. So those of you who joined after me definitely have less than that. Group upgrade needs 100,000 points...]
[Catwoman: Why can't I escape the fate of being flexed on by rich people... (facepalm.jpg)]
[Hellish Blizzard: Look at it this way—before Chika joined, Merlin had probably been in this group alone for over a century.]
[Hellish Blizzard: If she didn't even sign in every day, then it's been even longer.]
[Snake Empress: !!!!]
[Ghost Spider: ...No wonder they call her the legendary Archmage.]
[Lady Avalon: Uh....]