[NR] Unskilled Labor - Chapter 714

Whatever the case might have been, Jason’s plan of hitting up the settlement for quests seemed to work. Over the next couple months, they end up visiting many times, with Helina always having something for Jason to handle. All the while Rosha and Courtney are sent by Siegfried to clear out monster nests and patrol trouble spots.

Jason’s tasks? Well, they are more rote labor. Not that Helina didn’t have more exciting tasks available. Rather, Jason is avoiding tasks with a high experience payout, which, by necessity weeded those types of tasks out. Instead, he moved boxes in a warehouse, helped prep raw materials for crafters, and basically any task that didn’t have a skill requirement.

Though that last requirement actually went deeper. Jason didn’t just prepare raw ingredients for use. Oh no, that would have been too skilled, depending on the ingredient and preparation needed.

He wasn’t sorting herbs. That would require a skilled eye to pick out the good and the bad. No, he is breaking up ore into smaller chunks. Real drudge work.

Jason didn’t mind as his stats are more than enough to make quick work of it all. Then he went and strained himself so as to make even shorter work of it, while training his stats. Moving a box? Whatever. Moving a stack of boxes or a box full of metal? A task that actually took effort without gaining experience.

Which Jason honestly thought is quite stupid. After all, while swinging a sword at a goblin is certainly more obviously deadly? Lifting a heavy box wasn’t necessarily any easier or safer. A heavy box falling on you can kill you just as dead as a goblins rusty dagger.

Besides, it isn’t danger that gives experience, though it did seem to act as a multiplier. As the production side of things proved, skill use of any sort is enough. Yet he had yet to hear of a skill for moving boxes.

Oh sure, there are skills based around organizing the boxes, but that was a management skill and not about actually moving them. Jason can only shrug and move on. Not like he can make the System change things. Well, not easily.

There were “ancient” records of the System being petitioned by the natives before NeoRealm was open to players. Not always answered of course, but sometimes things would change. Which Jason easily saw as the System patching problems and something that might in theory still be possible.

But whatever the case may be, for the moment it assisted him meet his goals. Over the months of doing this, his stats had truly grown! Well, Toughness and Agility both di done alright, but Strength is the showstopper!

Toughness was now at 227 and Agility at 205, but Strength? That managed to get up to 265! Jason could now easily lift two and a half times his weight. Now, Jason isn’t exactly the heaviest, but that was still impressive. Especially since it meant that his stat total placed him well above a regular player.

Given normal stat gains, a person at level 49 will have gotten 395 stat points to distribute. Jason isn’t even level 49, yet his stats totaled to 697! And they aren’t starred yet. It isn’t quite to where they were at the last bottleneck though.

When starred that first time, he had a little more than two and a quarter stat points what the normal player would have. Jason wanted more, though. He wanted to see if his stats can be pushed even further this time. Because Jason knew, this was only scratching the surface.

Jason had thought of this before, known from the start. Other players? Those considered geniuses and top players? They managed things similar to his cultivation technique, in the sense of being able to manipulate how gained experience was used. Except they would increase the stat gain per level.

Which, since he had heard about? Well, since he had heard about it before knowing Rosha? That meant there are those out there who will have gone further. After all, it is like military tech. What they let the public know is never the really good stuff. Unless, of course, you’re talking about what you learn on forums for war games. Those leak like a sieve.

On the other side, Rosha is advancing in another manner. Oh sure, within NeoRealm she is gaining levels, but outside of NeoRealm? Her actual cultivation is also advancing.

It took Rosha a while, mostly because both Jason and Courtney had insisted she take her time to make sure the powers she chose are perfect for her. But Rosha finally opened up her dantian and ended up internalizing five powers. Which since she and Courtney moved into the exclusion zone around Jason’s apartment, none are of a corruptive nature.

Though Rosha wasn’t able to nail down what they represented. Jason managed that as he had experience with interpreting such things before. Instead, Rosha would have to figure it out on her own. Good thing knowing such things isn’t required for a few stages yet. What she could tell is that they are all energetic and upbeat. Which is quite different compared to Courtney.

Courtney also managed to open her dantian, though quite a bit earlier than Rosha. Though this was more because she started earlier. Couldn’t let Rosha do something she hadn’t done herself. However, as compared to Rosha, Courtney ended up matching with only a single power which was calm and sedated.

Though observations by Courtney indicated that it could afford to as it almost seemed to plan out how it would move to get where it wanted to be just in time. Not in a way that would indicate predicting or seeing the future. This was more in line with a professional chess player plotting out what pieces to move. To predict not the future, but read what others would do through knowledge.

Jason could only shrug when the two asked him about this. After all, he himself had three. Was more or less better? His answer was simple, “Whatever feels best to you is the best.” Though admittedly, Jason didn’t have much experience with cultivating multiple powers.