c3: First Points Reward!
Seeing this letter was almost like seeing the person herself standing in front of him.
Looking at the familiar handwriting, the image of that stubborn and meticulous girl immediately appeared in his mind. Although they were the same age, she often acted like an older sister, always taking charge and standing up for him whenever something happened.
Noxia could not help but chuckle softly.
While sipping the refreshing herbal tea provided by the Marine Headquarters restaurant, he opened the letter under Rosinante's envious and curious gaze and slowly read through it from beginning to end.
The first few paragraphs were exactly as he had expected.
They were filled with complaints about why he had not written back for such a long time.
A string of exaggerated exclamation marks seemed to jump out of the paper itself, as if the sulking girl were standing in front of him and angrily knocking on his head.
Only halfway through the letter did the girl's anger finally begin to subside. The tone of her writing gradually softened, the exclamation marks disappeared, and the content began to show concern about Noxia's current situation.
For example, she asked whether the senior recruits at Marine Headquarters had been bullying him during training under Instructor Zephyr. She also asked whether the food at the Marineford cafeteria was enough for him and whether he liked it.
She even asked whether he had grown taller since leaving the East Blue, because when he departed for Marineford he had only been slightly taller than one point eight meters.
"You guessed right..."
Noxia scratched his head slightly.
Over the past few months of intense training at Marine Headquarters, his body had indeed grown several more centimeters. With the constant high intensity physical training of the elite recruit camp, his height and physique were still continuing to develop.
At this rate, by the end of the year he might really exceed two meters in height, something not uncommon among the powerful warriors of the sea.
When he met Bellmere again in the future, even if she stood on her toes she might only reach the middle of his chest.
He wondered if she would be shocked by how much he had changed.
Noxia continued reading downward.
When he reached the final paragraph, the exclamation marks suddenly returned.
[Everything I wanted to say is already written above! Hehe, are you already moved to tears and missing me terribly?]
[Finally, silly Noxia! You once promised me that we would get married after your twentieth birthday. There is less than one year left now. You should already be preparing, right? When are you planning to return to the East Blue and marry me?]
Pfft!
Noxia instantly spat out a mouthful of tea.
Unfortunately the tea sprayed directly toward Shiryu who was sitting across from him.
However Shiryu seemed completely oblivious to the murderous glare he was receiving. He was staring blankly at the letter in Noxia's hand, his expression filled with shock.
Marry after his twentieth birthday?
When did he ever say something like that?
Noxia felt completely dumbfounded.
He and Bellmere were indeed childhood sweethearts who had grown up together on the island near the Sixteenth Branch base of the East Blue. Their relationship had always been extremely close.
But they had never officially confessed to each other.
How had things suddenly jumped all the way from childhood friendship straight to marriage?
Wait.
A distant memory buried deep within his mind was suddenly stirred.
Noxia suddenly remembered something from long ago.
When he was six or seven years old, Bellmere had once climbed an orange tree in his family's orchard to help him pick fruit. Unfortunately she slipped and fell from the tree, landing on the ground and crying loudly from the pain.
At that time he had panicked and tried every possible way to comfort her.
He had said all sorts of ridiculous promises just to stop her crying.
And among those childish words...
It seemed that he had indeed promised that he would marry her when they both turned twenty.
Hiss.
Noxia immediately sucked in a sharp breath.
Was she actually taking those childhood words seriously?
Back then he had bragged about countless ridiculous things under that orange tree while trying to comfort her.
Why was this the only promise she remembered so clearly?
Noxia rubbed his temples helplessly, suddenly feeling a headache forming.
He still retained the mindset from his previous life where people usually did not even think about marriage until at least twenty five years old.
Compared to that, his current teenage self was still far too young for something as serious as marriage.
Besides, he had only activated the Love Cell Cultivation System today. His original hope was that this strange system would actually prove reliable and help him break through the physical limits that had been holding him back, allowing him to continue pursuing his dream of becoming a powerful Marine warrior stationed at Headquarters.
If he suddenly became a married man without even realizing how it happened, then what would be the point of talking about dating or conquering anyone through the system?
"Wait a minute…"
Noxia suddenly remembered something and his expression changed slightly.
Since Bellmere had written things so directly and confidently in the letter, what exactly was their current relationship status?
Did it already meet the system's rules for a romantic relationship?
With that thought in mind, he subconsciously reopened the system attribute panel and scanned the information bar located in the upper right corner.
Sure enough, in the area that had previously been blank, a new prompt had appeared.
[Bellmere has completed the initial strategy and an ambiguous relationship has been established.]
[Player receives the first reward: 4000 points.]
[A romantic relationship has not yet been established. Please continue your efforts and complete the final strategy as soon as possible in order to obtain the second reward.]
There really was a reward.
Looking at his remaining points, which had now increased to 5501, Noxia felt both surprised and delighted. For a moment it felt as if he had suddenly gone from being completely broke to becoming rich overnight.
Of course, this amount of points was nowhere near enough to make him truly wealthy within the system shop, but it was already sufficient for him to purchase the two relatively cheap random items available this week.
After buying them he would even have enough points left to exchange for at least one basic attribute point, meaning he no longer had to struggle with the difficult decision he had been considering earlier.
"Only an ambiguous relationship..."
Noxia held the pink letter in his hand and thought quietly to himself.
In truth, establishing a formal romantic relationship with Bellmere would not be difficult at all. Their emotional foundation had existed since childhood. If he simply called her through a Den Den Mushi and spoke honestly, everything might naturally develop from there.
But he simply could not bring himself to do that.
In fact, during the coming period of time, Noxia had already decided that he would only respond to her through letters and absolutely avoid contacting Bellmere through a Den Den Mushi.
Otherwise the conversation would inevitably be dragged straight back into the terrifying topic of marriage.
Feelings were something that needed to be treated extremely carefully.
Whether in his previous life or in this world of pirates and Marines, Noxia had always believed that he was an upright and principled person, even if others might consider him somewhat stubborn or foolish.
Before even thinking about marriage, deliberately establishing a romantic relationship just for the sake of earning system points would be nothing more than the behavior of a scumbag.
That was something he absolutely refused to do.
In short, instead of worrying about the distant future, it would be far better to make good use of the points he currently had.
Just thinking about the various items he could exchange for within the system shop caused a surge of excitement to rise uncontrollably inside his chest.
Intermediate Paper Drawing, attribute points, here I come.
Noxia folded the letter carefully, quickly finished the remaining food on his tray, and let out a satisfied burp.
After saying goodbye to his two friends, he stood up and began walking back toward the training grounds of the elite recruit camp.
Although the scheduled training for today had already ended, Noxia's reputation as a training maniac was extremely well known throughout the entire camp.
Rosinante and Shiryu had long since grown accustomed to seeing him return to train alone at night.
However, today felt slightly different.
The two of them stared at Noxia's departing figure with somewhat strange expressions before slowly turning toward each other and exchanging a glance.
"You noticed it too, right, Shiryu?"
"Yeah."
Shiryu nodded slowly.
"That guy seems unusually motivated today..."
The reason was actually quite obvious.
It was all thanks to the pink letter that Vice Admiral Garp had delivered earlier.
"That's great."
Rosinante sighed with envy.
"If I had a girl I loved who cared about me like that, I would not mind training extra hours every day. I might even be willing to collapse from exhaustion in the middle of the training ground during the night."
"Hmm..."
For once, Shiryu did not immediately respond with his usual sarcastic remark.
On a warm early summer night in the year 1501 of the Sea Circle Calendar, a strong sour atmosphere quietly filled one corner of the Marine Headquarters restaurant at Marineford.
...
Your vote, comment and honest review will be appreciated