COMMAND ERROR!

<For Khan Eyes Only>

Earth's mana levels are currently too low. SP operations are on hold. Manual training methods have been prioritized and still work.

The Sentinel System is currently increasing Earth's mana levels.

Time until Earth's mana levels reach the threshold for the Sentinel System to become fully functional: 6 months, 13 days.

That wasn't just bad, it was also terrible. Bad because his SP were all but useless, and terrible because he didn't want to know what "becoming fully functional" meant.

Yet, it gave him... peace.

Humankind wasn't ready to fight against mana-enhanced monsters, but the mana-less races of the Demonic Horde were weak enough that they could be dealt with using firearms. Earth was relatively safe for 6 months, but how the hell increasing Earth's mana levels would help protect it was beyond his understanding. For all he knew, keeping the world relatively mana-free would help keep it safe. Maybe the Sentinel Tower was still under demonic influence and the hidden protocols didn't even realize the danger of what it was doing. Or maybe it just knew something he didn't.

Of course, some humans might already be under demonic influence, but from what he knew of Jackson and his goons, that wasn't very different from what humankind already did to itself on a daily basis.

Another thing he liked to see was how being a Khan Honorary Citizen gave him access to exclusive information. He would be totally in the dark if he didn't got those messages. And he would make full use of the information it had given him.

He had 6 months to prepare for the system getting fully function. Jackson suddenly wasn't such a minor issue anymore. The demons were coming, but for now, he had to survive his own local tyrant.

Luke resumed running and checking his messages.

Skill received: Universal Linguist

Type: Cognitive

Rank: Uncommon

Level: 15 / 15

You can understand and use the languages of other races connected to the Sentinel System.

It was normal for merchants and Tower Climbers to have that skill. Most people didn't learn it though, so it was kept at the uncommon rank despite being relatively widespread.

There were ten skill ranks total, and they could be related to either the overall quality of a skill, its rarity, or both. The quality was the most important, but if enough people knew something, its rank dropped. The common rank was the worst, followed by uncommon, rare, runic, arcane, epic, legendary, mythic, transcendental, and perfect.

Common skills had a max level of 10, uncommon, 15, rare, 20, and so on.

It was interesting to note that in Luke's memories, the description of the skill said "other races in the tower." It seemed the changed messages the warning had talked about was already in place.

The skill left him wondering; theoretically, the human race was connected to the system through him even if no one else had access to the system yet—which he didn't know for sure. But if that was the case, could he understand German without having ever studied it? Or would he have to wait for a German guy to connect? Did the tower consider German people a different race from his?

That was easy to check.

"Hallo, ich bin Luke," he said in German. "Oi, eu sou o Luke," he then said in Portuguese. And finally, he tried Japanese. "Kon'nichiwa, watashi wa Luke-desu."

That was cool as fuck. All that knowledge had been placed into his mind during the fight, and he hadn't even noticed it.

How did the system even learn languages anyway?

The tower, or rather the system, dealt with the mind the least possible. The Universal Linguist and the Awareness skills were two of the relatively few cognitive skills he knew of. Skills like mind reading, mind controlling, tactics or strategy simply didn't exist, which was both a blessing and a shame.

He moved to the next icon.

Milestone reached: Max a Skill

You've reached the maximum level of a skill for the first time.

Reward: +10 SP

Khan bonus: +1 SP

That was a pretty common milestone to reach, especially when it could be done with any common skill.

Unfortunately, the Max a Skill milestone had no associated achievement...

Achievement unlocked: Max a Skill

You're the first human on Earth to master a skill!

Reward: +100 SP

Khan bonus: +10 SP

Luke had no recollection of that achievement. Did it mean that whoever had sent him the memories was ignorant of it too, that his memories had holes like that, or did the changes to the system also affect its functioning, making it more generous?

If it was the latter, what else was different in the system?

At least this change was good for him, and less demonic influence should mean more good things coming, but who knows? He would wait and see.

Also, it was pretty obvious now that his Khan bonus for milestones and achievements was either 10% the base reward or a set value. He was hoping for the former, but it was good either way.

Skill learned: Unarmed Combat

Type: Physical

Rank: Common

Level: 10 / 10

You can fight without weapons.

⠀

Skill learned: Armed Combat

Type: Physical

Rank: Common

Level: 10 / 10

You can fight wielding weapons.

When his memories resynced with him, Luke had become a master of many weaponless martial arts and other fighting styles. Yet, the tower only gave him two skills. Most common and uncommon skills were generic like that. There were so many people who learned at least some fighting style in the tower for self protection that, unless one of them was really special, they all became just the Unarmed Combat or Armed Combat skills in the common rank.

It was a bit silly to get the Armed Combat skill for swinging a trash bin and holding a knife, but well.

Leveling skills could be done in two ways, manually, by understanding and using it better, or by spending sentinel points. The latter directly injected knowledge into the person's mind, and different ranks and levels came with different costs. The resync and title had given him total mastery over the skills he had learned, so he wouldn't have to worry about it anytime soon.

Milestone reached: First Physical Skill

You've learned your first physical skill.

Reward: +10 SP

Khan bonus: +1 SP

⠀

Achievement unlocked: First Physical Skill

You're the first human on Earth to learn a physical skill!

Reward: +100 SP

Khan bonus: +10 SP

The milestone and achievement were expected, and their reward was useless for now.

And that was it. To sum it all, he had become a polyglot elite fighter, gained a bunch of useless SP, and learned of Earth's impending doom. Definitely not just another Tuesday.

Now, he only had to find out whether his grandfather was okay before deciding what to do with his life.