Chapter 379:Upgrading

Chapter 379: 379:Upgrading

Silver suddenly found the academy buildings very interesting.

Her eyes slightly narrowed.

"Silver."

He looked at her.

"Your affection reading came back."

Ravenna froze, then faint flush appeared across her face. She remembered exactly what his system measured.

"Was it not working?"

"It didn’t stop working exactly. It suspended the standard reading because your emotions were fluctuating too much."

"Ooh, okay, that’s embarrassing. " she hesitated before continuing. "What’s the number?"

He considered whether answering was wise.

Her eyes narrowed.

"Tell me."

"Sixty-eight."

Silence was the only prevalent thing between them. She just blankly stared at him.

Silver watched the flush spread further across her cheeks.

"Sixty-eight?"

"Yes."

"What was it before?"

"Lower."

"Silver."

"Considerably lower."

She looked away.

He almost smiled but then she asked quietly, "And what does sixty-eight mean?"

He didn’t answer immediately.

Ravenna looked back.

"Your system gives meanings to the numbers, doesn’t it?"

"It gives thresholds."

"What threshold is sixty-eight?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at the sky.

Her eyes widened.

"Why are you embarrassed? It’s my affection."

"That’s exactly why this conversation is strange... it’s fucking weird just talking about. Can’t you just let it go this time and forget we ever talked about it, pleeease."

"Silver."

He sighed.

"Fine, you ask for it... ha, this is hard... Anything above sixty is classified as love."

Ravenna stopped breathing for a moment. Silver watched her in heart in his throat.

Her face went completely red.

"Your system actually said that?"

"Yes."

"It used that exact word?"

"Love."

She immediately looked away. He had seen her face Tier Four beasts with less panic.

He smiled.

She caught it.

"Don’t smile like that, you look smug."

"I’m not."

"You are."

"I can’t help it, I’m not the only one inlove right now... I feel like screaming to the whole world."

Ravenna stared at him before sighing loudly.

"This is exactly why I didn’t want you knowing everything I feel."

His smile softened.

"The system doesn’t tell me everything."

"It literally gives you a number."

"A number isn’t everything." He stepped closer. "It doesn’t tell me what you’re thinking. It doesn’t tell me why you feel something. It doesn’t tell me what you want. It just gives me a rough measurement."

She crossed her arms.

"A rough measurement that just announced I love you."

Silver paused before a grin graced his lips. Ravenna immediately realized what she’d said.

Her eyes widened.

His grin became even bigger.

She pointed at him.

"Don’t you dare."

"I didn’t say anything."

"Your face did."

Silver laughed.

Ravenna looked like she wanted to disappear. His expression softened as he reached for her hand again.

"Ravenna."

She reluctantly looked at him.

"I don’t need a system to tell me what happened between us."

Her embarrassment faded slightly.

Silver continued.

"I spent days trying to get back here. You waited here all day because you believed I’d come. You cried when you saw me, nearly broke my ribs when you jumped on me and kissed me in front of an entire academy entrance."

Ravenna muttered, "Your ribs were already injured."

"That’s the part you’re defending?"

She glared.

He smiled.

"I think we’re past needing a number to explain this."

Ravenna became quiet, then she squeezed his hand.

"It’s just embarrassing to say it outloud."

Silver nodded.

"I’ll do the hard part then. I. LOVE. YOU. See I’ll be the one saying that every time so..."

The system interrupted them again.

[Final Relationship Milestone condition confirmed.]

His smile vanished.

"Wait."

She looked at him although she was still blushing but the embarrassment had passed.

"What now?"

He read.

[Milestone: Love Threshold ~ COMPLETED.]

[All Primary Relationship Milestones have been successfully completed.]

His eyes widened.

’All of them.’

He remembered the earlier milestones. Ravenna becoming happier around him, building trust, forming a companionship and increasing their affection.

Their relationship gradually shifting from a transaction into something neither of them had expected. Apparently this had been the last one.

Another notification appeared.

[Final unreleased milestone has been unlocked.]

[Primary System Advancement Condition fulfilled.]

He rubbed his eyes before looking at it again.

Ravenna became concerned again.

"Is it still about the affection?"

"Not exactly."

"What happened?"

Silver read the next line.

[Happiness System has fulfilled Stage One requirements.]

[Preparing Core System Upgrade.]

His eyes widened further.

"That’s unexpected."

She stepped closer.

"What is?"

"The system is upgrading."

Her embarrassment vanished.

"Upgrading how?"

"I don’t know yet."

[Evaluating Host progression.]

[Evaluating Primary Partner progression.]

[Evaluating accumulated relationship milestones.]

[Evaluating combat development.]

[Evaluating unlocked functions.]

[System synchronization beginning.]

He watched notification after notification appear.

[Existing functions will remain available unless temporarily restricted during synchronization.]

[New reward structures will be generated.]

[New Happiness functions will be unlocked.]

[Relationship privileges will be expanded.]

[System Shop will undergo advancement.]

His attention sharpened at that.

"The shop is upgrading too."

Ravenna stared at him.

"All because my affection crossed sixty?"

"It looks like the system had several milestones, and this was the last requirement."

She frowned.

"So it was waiting for me to fall in love with you before it could upgrade."

Silver tried very hard not to smile.

Ravenna noticed.

"Don’t you dare."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You’re thinking it."

"Probably."

She hit his arm lightly.

He immediately winced.

Her face changed.

"Sorry."

"I’m fine."

"I forgot you’re injured."

He smiled.

"Your first hug did considerably more damage."

She looked horrified.

"Did I actually hurt you?"

"A little."

"Why didn’t you tell me?"

"You were crying."

"Silver!"

He laughed.

Ravenna shook her head.

"You’re impossible."

The system continued.

[Core System Upgrade initiated.]

[Estimated completion dependent upon synchronization stability.]

[Detailed upgrade information will become available following completion.]

Silver waited but nothing else appeared.

"That’s it?"

Ravenna looked toward him.

"What?"

"It started the upgrade but isn’t telling me exactly what I’m getting."

"Maybe it needs time."

"Apparently."

She smiled faintly.

"Good."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Good?"

"Yes. Because you need to stop staring at system screens and finish your admission before everything closes."

Silver looked toward the processing desks.

The line had moved considerably. Mallory stood farther ahead, gesturing impatiently for them to catch up.

Silver looked back at Ravenna.

"You realize the system just started its biggest upgrade since I got it."

"And the academy doesn’t care."

"That’s cruel."

"You’re not missing admission because you got distracted by a floating screen."

He considered that.

"That’s a surprisingly convincing argument."

She tugged his hand.

"Then walk."

He followed after her.

After several steps, she spoke again.

"Silver."

"Hm?"

Her voice became quieter.

"About the sixty-eight."

Silver glanced toward her.

Ravenna kept looking forward.

"Don’t tease me about it."

His expression softened.

"I won’t."

"I mean it."

"I know."

She hesitated, then her fingers tightened around his.

"I don’t need your system to tell me either."

He stopped but she immediately pulled his hand.

"We’re not stopping again."

Silver laughed.

"You can’t say something like that and expect me to keep walking normally."

"I just did."

"Ravenna."

She refused to look at him.

Silver smiled but didn’t push. He walked beside her.

Their hands remained intertwined.

Ahead, Mallory shook her head at how slowly they were moving.

Behind Silver’s vision, the final notification remained quietly displayed.

[System Upgrade in Progress.]

He looked at Ravenna.

Sixty-eight.

Love.

He had spent so long treating the system as something that rewarded him for making Ravenna happy that he’d almost missed the simplest truth behind its progression.

Somewhere along the way, Ravenna had stopped being the woman he needed to keep happy for rewards.

She had become the person he’d thrown himself between and a Rank Six queen without thinking about the consequences.

And somewhere along the way, Silver had stopped being merely useful to Ravenna.

He’d become the person she had waited an entire day at the academy gates to see return.

He squeezed her hand.

She looked toward him.

This time he didn’t explain.

He simply smiled.

She smiled back.

Then together, with Mallory waiting ahead and only a handful of candidates remaining between them and the registration desks, they finally walked toward the academy admission that Death Row Valley had almost stolen from them.