[NR] Stat Growth - Chapter 646

As the tail of the last System strings vanishes, a silence falls over Jason’s inner world. It was like when you’ve been in a room with a fan so long you no longer notice it only for the fan to shut off. Not that there had been a sound, but the System must have had some sort of signal that played on the strings.

That or Jason had some wires crossed and another feeling had been coming across as a hum. It might even have been a sensation with no human analog. Whatever the case, it threw a stark light across his new system of Energy strings and something hit him. Meridian analogs!

The damn strings had been a form of meridian the entire time! Jason hadn’t noticed this in the same way you wouldn’t see out of a glass eye or feel through a wooden leg. It Was Not HIS.

These strings were and the first thing he felt with them was the removal of the System, but now he could truly witness the nature of a NeoRealm body. There, uh, there really weren’t any sizable differences for most of it. Though his strings make up for it.

If Jason was to compare it to something, it was as if he had woken up IRL, only to find all of his meridians cleared out of nowhere. A jump in innate quality. Yes, built from quantity, but special beyond just one more string. To go from a pile of said string and to a piece of cloth.

Jason flexed and felt powerful. That required a quick check of his stats. A thing he hadn’t done in quite a long while.

{

Basic Info

Name: Jason

Level: 34 - 27.44%

Legal Status: Player

Title: Combat Monk

Normal Stats

• ☆Strength 110 -> 151 ( 147[Base] + 4[Ascendance] )

• ☆Toughness 101 -> 176 ( 172[Base] + 4[Ascendance] )

• ☆Agility 105 -> 168 ( 154[Base] + 4[Ascendance] )

• Control 180 -> 360 ( 360[Base] )

Auxiliary Stats

• Defense 72 -> 87 ( 84[Energy] + 3[Substance] )

• Stamina 151 -> 169 ( 78[Base] + 84[Energy] + 4[Ascendance] + 3[Substance] )

• HP 395 -> 410 ( 323[Base] + 84[Energy] + 3[Substance] )

• Energy 35 -> 42

Tripartite Conceptual Energy

• Civilization 0.210% -> 0.327% 

• Ascendance 0.183% -> 0.401%

• Substance 0.242% -> 0.310%

}

Jason frowned at the numbers. Not because his growth wasn’t decent. If anything, with how little fighting he was getting done, the level and stats were fantastic!

No, rather it was the fact it had been so long since he last checked. Jason felt like he should be facepalming. Always check your status before doing something major so you have something to check against! Because sure, it is showing the old and the new score, but who knows when those stat increases actually happened?

However, two changes stuck out as likely being from this change. The increase to his control and his concepts. Control was easy enough to explain. Since it represented how much control you had over yourself within NeoRealm, it would obviously go up if you kicked out the System and took full control of your body. 

If anything, the fact it was only a doubling might even be low. Jason was honestly surprised it didn’t change to N/A or some such. Then again, it isn’t like he has complete instinctive control of everything. 

As for the concepts? Well, he had just spent who knows how long, forcing out an invader from his own body and setting up proper paths to open up future power. All while adding substance to his void. Just checking all those boxes and gaining insights into them based on doing, rather than learning.

Even if Jason has to admit, at some point he’s going to have to sit down in a library and study. Insights grow best in a fertile field. Though speaking of fields, substance was going to probably be the hardest from a studying perspective.

Civilization was as easy as reading history books, various texts on morality, and manuals on how to sculpt your mind. You know, getting a feel for where you came from and learning new mental tools to examine things with. From there, Ascendance wasn’t too far off. Some of the philosophy books will have information on inner enlightenment. Though for a more physical take, Jason was going to have to look into NeoRealm alchemy and various exercise routines.

Though the exercise stuff was likely going to have to be sourced IRL. While it isn’t like the locals don’t know how to exercise. There isn’t as much of a focus on the science of it when stat points from levels outweigh base stats.

Most of the focus by the locals is on sculpting the body and has more in common with body building. Even if they tend to focus on slimmer builds to help with maneuverability. After all, who cares how jacked you are, if the skinny guy next to you is three times as strong? Better to do just enough that you have decent aesthetics and then focus on leveling.

Except, not only was Jason depending on actually improving his body for his stats, but letting it stagnate would go against his concept. Well, he didn’t “know” know, but in his understanding of what it means to ascend, to ignore such a vital part of one’s self would be counterproductive at best. Even if this was like one of those stories where at some point you leave the physical behind, up until then, the body is one of the cornerstones of the self. Healthy body, healthy mind, and all that.

Jason shakes his head and does a simple stretching routine to get a feel for any physical changes. There shouldn’t be anything in theory. Well, beyond any increase in stats that might have happened. However, he also didn’t trust that there wouldn’t be a change.

Not only did he lack any sort of knowledge of what the System might have done to bodies in general, it is also possible for a person to have their own unique quirks. Quirks that might unbalance the “game” and so be suppressed by the System. Even IRL, where people mostly don’t believe in the mystical, there are people with special physiques, even if those are all of the more mundane sort. In a magical world like NeoRealm? Who knows what might be possible?!

Jason didn’t expect anything for himself. After all, the body was created by the System. He also didn’t know how that worked, so he also figured anything was possible. Did he have a chance of a special physique? What about when he died and respawned?

Of course, if you could “roll” a special body by dying over and over until you do, people would have already figured that out. Unless the System was suppressing things? Jason could only shake his head at the thought and feel satisfied that his body felt looser in a nice, controlled way.