[NR] Too Many Sinks - Chapter 725

After hearing what Peter said, it took Rosha a while to process things. So long, that by the time she has a response, Courtney is back out and preparing dinner.

Rosha sighs and looks over at Peter Grey-Tail. “And I’m going to guess just letting him bottleneck isn’t a solution?”

Peter shakes his head, “This early on the bottlenecks come fast, one right after another. Then you hit 100 and suddenly the next bottleneck comes at 200. How will your group handle you being at 130 and Jason at 199?”

Courtney laughs, “Oh, it won’t get that bad and not because I don’t think he could. Rather, he seems focused on maxing his stats. Though that also means less and less adventure. He really needs to find a way to break normal limits because super strength gets to a point where you can’t just lift a large rock and expect to be strained.”

Peter smiles, “And given how you said that, I assume you already know for a fact that it exists?”

Courtney shrugs, “There are rumors. Though it sounds to be the realm of those who are sixth break.”

Peter shrugs, “The number is 1,200. Which you can actually get before level 100, it is just that you tend to need to spread your stats out a little more than that. You only get around a thousand and a half by 99.”

Rosha sighs, “There are so many different suggested ratios for your stats.”

Courtney nods, “There was a time when people tried to mono-stat all the way. It simply caused suffering for them. Even the most muscle headed fool will throw their free points at the other stats on occasion.”

Peter, “It comes with the territory. There are just too many sinks.”

Rosha shakes her head, “You would think when there are only three main stats, it would be easier.”

Peter shrugs, “The main stats are just the easiest as they’re one to one. The numbers can get bad when buying max health or increasing your resources pool. Nevermind any stats you might have unlocked.

“Oh, and I guess I should ask you not to overly share the 1.2k breakpoint thing? It isn’t a secret secret, but we’ve found telling people about it tends to result in idiots pushing for it in a way that ruins their build.”

Rosha raises her eyebrow, “So you told us?”

Peter snorts, “What? Were you going to change your entire build and wish Strength just in case you can manage it? All so you can lift unattended, mostly non-magical mountains?”

Rosha looks away, “Well, no, I’ve been more focused on my Mana pool and of course Agility. Besides, Toughness is important as well. You need a balance or you start to suck. 

“All toughness means is you’re hard to hurt, but you can’t hurt others or move very well. Going all Agility simply makes you like an annoying fly, buzzing around others until someone bothers to smack you down. Then there’s Strength, which means you can do all the damage, if only people would stop dodging and you still fold like a wet paper bag.”

Peter smiles, “Good. Though I guess I should mention all base stats have that breakpoint. Where the mundane begins to fall away. Though I’ll let you discover the secrets of that on your own.

“Anyway, if Jason is going for stars across the board, that is going to be his primary limiting factor. Because I doubt the bottlenecks will do much too slow him and you’ve already admitted he levels fast.”

Rosha sighs, “He’s become a real homebody. So much so, he went and built himself a home just to be more of one.”

Peter smirks, “Yeah, you don’t usually find houses ready for you out in the deep wilds. Anyway, he should be here in about ten minutes. Then I can finally go over what I’m here for.”

Courtney frowns at the dinner she is cooking. “Hmm, the timing is a bit off. We’ll have to wait a little for the food to cook.”

Peter shrugs, “I suspect he might have pushed himself to get done quicker.”

Courtney shakes her head, “No, I was accounting for that.”

Peter, “Well, given what I can sense, the cart is empty so I doubt he left things half done.”

Rosha laughs, “I think you just underestimated how fast he can work. His limit has always been the amount of gravel he can bring with him. No reason for him to rush the path.”

Courtney frowns, “Well, you aren’t wrong. I simply thought I had a better feel for where he is at. Energy doesn’t seem to grow as quickly as Mana or Qi.”

Peter shrugs, “I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary when I passed him.”

Rosha, “Well, we can ask him when he gets here. I’m sure it will be delightfully boring.”

Peter laughs, “That’s how mysteries seem to work out! Fifty-fifty odds you’re uncovering some age-old secret or you find the scroll you painstakingly translated is just a recipe for an above-average loaf of bread.

“You wouldn’t think that would be possible. After all, recipes have a certain look to them! But no, sometimes people like to tell a story instead of a recipe. Other times they hide the recipe because it is their family’s secret and no matter how much you or I might not care about it, they do and so treat it as such.”

After that, the group falls silent as they watch the meal cook and ten minutes pass by unnoticed. Though it doesn’t take ten minutes for Rosha to hear Jason coming. Kind of hard not to when he is dragging his cart through the forest.

There are more than enough roots and rocks to cause quite a clatter wherever he passes through. And then he is in the clearing. Though he doesn’t come over right away. He takes the time to put away his cart and tools before coming over to the campfire and sitting down.

Jason smiles, “Looks like I beat dinner for once!”