Chapter 191: 191 | Performance Calibration
I looked at my hands.
Same fingers. Same knuckles. Same calluses from two months of construction work. Nothing visible had changed.
Everything had changed.
The warmth I felt wasn’t temperature. It was potential, settling into my bones like sediment.
The System had given me Ecchi Logic. Reality would conspire. Compromising positions. Beautiful women.
The System had given me Sadism. Combat would feel different now. Intimacy would feel different. Most people would find the difference concerning.
The System had given me Demigod. Faster, stronger, harder to kill than almost anyone I’d meet for the rest of my very long life.
Three pulls. Three permanent alterations to what I was.
〘 Gacha sequence complete. Total rewards from Corruption Complete milestone and pulls: 10,432 Scumbag Points, Devotion’s Echo, Heroine Bond Resonance (Sloane Fitzgerald), Ecchi Logic, Sadism, Demigod. The Host’s current stat profile with all bonuses applied is as follows: 〙
The sheet materialized.
〘 LUKAS BELMONT — UPDATED PROFILE 〙
〘 Strength: 100 (80 base × 1.25 Demigod) 〙
〘 Dexterity: 100 (80 base × 1.25 Demigod) 〙
〘 Agility: 100 (80 base × 1.25 Demigod) 〙
〘 Intelligence: 100 (80 base × 1.25 Demigod) 〙
〘 Endurance: 100 (80 base × 1.25 Demigod) 〙
〘 Note: Proximity to Sloane Fitzgerald adds +5% to all stats when within range. 〙
One hundred Strength.
Two days ago that number had been eighty. Before that, sixty. Before that, forty. Every point purchased with Scumbag Points, earned through quests I’d completed and situations I’d navigated and women whose Gauges I’d raised. I’d watched it climb from thirty-eight to eighty over three months, each increment bought deliberately.
Now the Demigod trait had taken that eighty and multiplied it by twenty-five percent. One hundred Strength. Not through training or effort or anything I could claim credit for. Through a single passive trait sitting dormant in my soul since I’d arrived in this body.
Before the bonus, eighty Strength had been impressive for someone who’d tested Unmarked. Competitive with trained combatants. Dangerous in close quarters if I played it smart. Now it was one hundred. The multiplicative structure meant every future point gained would be worth more than a point. Every improvement to my base stats would be amplified by the same twenty-five percent.
If I raised my base Strength to ninety, it would become one hundred twelve after the multiplier. One hundred base would become one hundred twenty-five. The gap between me and the students I’d be training alongside would widen with every point I bought.
The System had given me a permanent advantage that scaled infinitely. A force multiplier applying to every attribute I improved for the rest of my life. Someone else could become stronger or faster through training or Aspect refinement. They would never have this. Their ninety Strength would always be just ninety.
Mine would be one hundred twelve.
〘 The Host’s assessment is correct. Current physical capabilities exceed the expected range for a normal first-year Hero Academy student by a considerable margin. This will create challenges related to power concealment and social integration during initial evaluations. 〙
A pause.
〘 The Host’s registered Aspect, Phantom Touch, is classified as a mid-tier Channeler ability with no documented physical enhancement component. The official record describes it as a telekinetic projection system with moderate force output and limited range. These parameters do not account for triple-digit base attributes or a twenty-five percent multiplicative bonus. 〙
Another pause.
〘 The System notes that the Host will need to make strategic decisions regarding performance calibration during observed training sessions. Excessive physical capability inconsistent with documented Aspect classification may trigger institutional review. 〙
The cover story.
I was supposed to be a mid-tier Channeler with a versatile but unremarkable telekinetic ability. The kind of student who might scrape into the top half of the class through hard work and creative application. Not someone with triple-digit Strength and a recovery rate that would let me train at intensities that would hospitalize normal people.
The lie was becoming harder to maintain.
〘 The System offers a recommendation. The Host should consider the trajectory of his first arc at Halloran Academy with careful attention to the following factors: 〙
〘 1. Power Revelation Strategy — The Host must decide how much of his true capability to reveal and when. Early revelation risks institutional attention and potential investigation. Delayed revelation risks being underestimated to the point of exclusion from opportunities. 〙
〘 2. Heroine Priority Matrix — The Host has established contact with Rina Soleil (12% Gauge), Camille Ortega (contact only, no Gauge), and Felicity Hardy (8% Gauge). Additional heroines exist within the student body. The Host must determine which relationships to prioritize for cultivation. 〙
〘 3. Combat Positioning — The Host’s physical capabilities exceed his registered Aspect profile. He must decide whether to perform below his actual level, risk exposure through genuine performance, or find a middle ground that satisfies neither option fully. 〙
〘 4. Social Architecture — The Host’s bonds with Sloane Fitzgerald and Diane Fitzgerald represent existing infrastructure. His relationships with classmates represent new construction. The Host must determine how these structures interact and support each other. 〙
I stared at the notification.
The System was asking me to plan. To think strategically about how I wanted the next few months to unfold. To make choices that would determine what kind of Hero I appeared to be, what kind of person I appeared to be, what kind of threat I appeared to be.
The easy answer was to hide everything. Perform at exactly the level my registration suggested. Let people underestimate me until underestimation became dangerous, then reveal just enough to survive.
The easy answer had problems.
Halloran Academy was designed to push students to their limits. Training regimens, combat simulations, field practicums all operated on the assumption that students would perform at maximum capacity. If I held back consistently, instructors would notice. Imara Steele would notice. She’d read my file. She’d formed opinions. She intended to test those opinions through methods I wouldn’t enjoy.
Holding back against someone specifically looking for evidence that I was holding back seemed like a recipe for the exact kind of attention I was trying to avoid.
The aggressive answer was to reveal everything. Show up to the first training session and demonstrate exactly what I was capable of. Let the chips fall. Bet on my capabilities being impressive enough to generate respect rather than suspicion.
The aggressive answer had bigger problems.
An Unmarked student who suddenly manifested an Aspect powerful enough to compete with top-tier combatants would generate institutional scrutiny. Medical examinations. Aspect Core analysis. Questions I couldn’t answer without revealing the System, which would generate more questions I couldn’t answer without revealing the transmigration, which would generate more questions I couldn’t answer without everything falling apart.
The middle ground was the obvious choice.
Reveal gradually. Let my performance climb in increments that suggested rapid development rather than concealed capability. Start below my actual level, then improve faster than expected but not impossibly faster. Let people believe I was a late bloomer with unusual potential rather than an imposter with a cheat code.
The middle ground was also the hardest path to walk.
Constant calibration. Constant awareness of what I was showing and what I was hiding. Constant performance management in training and combat and social situations. Every interaction became a calculation about how much of myself to reveal.
I was already tired thinking about it.
