[D'sP] Meaning Of A Point In A Stat - Chapter 402

Doyle can’t really say anything to add on to Ally’s point and so they turn back to Jim’s party. They’re getting so close to delving into new depths. Floor 14 is one of the floors involved with when they got pushed back and so while not a bottleneck anymore, they have more respect for the floor than 13. Though it probably helps that 13 just slapped them pretty hard as well.

There was one new twist on Jim’s side. This whole delve “from the start” thing has been an attempt to get them to realize how strong they were now and this floor showed it. Before, they would let the opposite side build up a pile of monsters, occasionally dealing with them.

Now? Well, they finally did something Doyle had expected since he made the floor. It actually made him a bit giddy to see it. The two magic users grabbed the hands of two of the martial sorts each. Jim and the other martial practitioners then tossed the two magic users into the sky before crouching down and taking a magnificent leap up after them.

It might have been hard for them to get all the way to the ceiling, but they don’t have to. As they cross the halfway point, there is a dead spot before gravity reverses and they begin to pick up speed, falling towards the new down. At this point the magic users, Kelly and Kellinger, both cast feather fall on themselves, slowing down to a sedate pace.

All the while; Jim, Jay, Tess, and Jeremy rocket past them. The four flip around and cause quite a ruckus as they slam into the ground. Well, three of them slam into the ground. Jeremy kicks off a mushroom and lands a devastating flying kick to a myconid. Said monster comes apart, its torso pulping from the impact. While the limbs don’t quite go flying like a cartoon, they aren’t really all that together either.

This display repeated itself many times. In fact, many more times than strictly necessary. It is clear the party was simply getting used to the maneuver and the practice proved itself. By the time they finished the floor, it took them only a moment to have the mages flying upwards and the other four following almost instantly after them.

And so satisfied, Jim’s party moves onto the 15th floor. Then they began to wreck face. At least until the kobolds and goats moved past, moving around like normal and caught up to the new paradigm Jim’s party was on. Because obviously if Jim and company can bounce around like that, no reason the monsters wouldn’t be able to.

And bounce around they did. A kobold would be riding down the slope at them only for Jay to fly past them. Then Jay would slam a kick into the ground and reverse course, right into the back of the kobold. They didn’t stand a chance until the goats began to bounce around in a similar manner and the kobolds started whipping around their weapons like they didn’t weigh anything.

At that point, the benefit of having a mount on equal footing with yourself really shone through. The kobolds could maintain their seat as if a part of the goat and, in doing so, didn’t have to worry about how it slammed into stuff with their horns or rampaged around. Instead, they could focus entirely on dealing damage.

It was really impressive and kind of sad that Doyle and Ally both agreed that they were going to have to limit this to only those who revealed similar abilities. Anyone who wasn’t ready for this level of physical ability was going to die, sometimes without even realizing it.

Not that those who made it to this floor wouldn’t be capable of such things. Even on the lower floors, people were swinging around heavy weapons like crazy and running around in metal armor as if doing so was nothing special. However, it clearly took them breaking certain mental checks to reveal the full potential of their stats. After all, when you can free lift with a single hand your own body weight easily, that opens up what you can do physically.

The question remained, how much of this would be revealed to the outside world? Jim was clearly going to share this with Ace and the others, but what about the normal people in town? Even regular people could likely jump their own height and do other ridiculous stunts.

Ally cut through this, ‘It will come out, but not everyone can manage to do so. Your monsters can manage it because they don’t fear death. Jim, Ace, and the others from the inner circle will likely all be able to break this limit. After all, they’ve already broken their Limits. A regular crafter? Even with the same Strength stat, it might not be possible.

‘Either for mental reasons or just as likely, their Strength stat focuses on different things. Being able to jump tall buildings in a single leap takes a different kind of Strength from holding an ingot steady while you smack it with a hammer. This is especially true when stats leave the realm of the mortal and trespass into the mystical.

‘When a person’s Strength can no longer be put down to muscle power. When they can lift entire buildings without just tearing out a chunk of it by accident. At that point, the focus of your stats will almost matter more than how much you have for those on a similar level to you.’

Doyle tilts to the side, ‘Does that mean the inner circle crafters will be behind because their Strength isn’t focused on the things needed for crafting?’

Ally laughs, ‘If they were regular people, that would be true. Instead, they’re the cream of the crop, they’re limit breakers, they’re newly integrated, and who knows what else they’ve got stacked in their favor! Not only will they have more stats in total, but I wouldn’t be surprised if their stats did more with less.

‘Your ability to see your monster’s stat breakdown likely has given you the wrong idea. Not your fault, I should have realized it myself. Then again, it isn’t really the most important detail.

‘What each point of a stat does isn’t some 100 points pool that gets allocated out, even if that is what it looks like to you. That’s because your monsters are all standardized in that aspect. Actually, you might be able to see it? Take a look at the elder kobold again and then right away look at the kobold. Compare the two to each other.’

Doyle nods and takes a quick peek at their Agility stats. At first, he doesn’t notice a difference. However, as he looks closer, something begins to stick out. It isn’t big, but if the kobold was getting that 100, then the added bonus to the elder kobold wasn’t just moving around those points.

It isn’t directly reducible to numbers, at least not for Doyle, but it was as if along with moving points around, the agility stat just gained an extra point, bringing the total to 101. When he tells Ally, she nods.

‘Exactly that!’ Ally smiles, ‘It won’t be big at this level, but by level 1000, it is possible for one person’s stat to be doing twice as much as others.’

Doyle dims, ‘But then what’s the point of calling it Strength? Like, if someone with 100 Strength could in theory win an arm wrestle against someone with 200, what does it mean?’

Ally shakes her head, ‘While that is possible, it won’t be because one is twice as strong, it won’t be from this. This? It’s about extending what your strength can be used for, applied to. As well as just how much of it is applied.

‘There is still the potential for a burst of strength, like how your world has stories of a mother lifting a car off their child and similar. You have the strength, it just isn’t accessible without injury. This is actually the source of the more mundane martial buffs. A man who goes “berserk” to display great strength isn’t getting an actual buff to their Strength stat.

‘They just don’t have the training to properly tap into that strength without hurting themselves. And the amount of your actual Strength, or any other stat, that you can tap into goes down with levels and a higher stat, not up. Though some of it is still just a mental block, as Jim and company just proved. You need to know the strength you have to use it or else your body will hold you back.’

Doyle, ‘Huh, I would have thought stuff like healing magic and what not would mean people would get past such blocks.’

Ally shakes her head, ‘Almost the opposite. They don’t have to carefully test themselves. Just press until you’re hurt, then that is your limit, no need to push further. And why bother pushing? Ace specifically told them to not use buff magic, which actually does grant you a boost to the actual stat and not just a lifting of your mental limit.

‘But if you want to know more, we can talk about it later. They’re about to finish the floor. Though it looks like they’ve also figured out why people don’t just bounce around like that.’

Doyle nods, ‘Yeah, that was a bit of a spill there. Kind of dangerous to jump around when you don’t know the terrain well enough.’

After they both have a good laugh, the two focus on the part as they finish up the floor. Though they did leave the bird trees alone. Which, fair enough. Those are very much optional content, with the only reward being cash. Then the party steps through the gate and enters the 16th floor.

On the floor, Jim looks around. “Freshwater is a relief if we can drink it.”

Kelly frowns, “We will probably need to purify it. Better to use water magic to draw what we need, though.”

Jim shakes his head, “No, I mean will the water vanish after we drink it?”

Kelly shrugs, “It shouldn’t as none of the other food stuff does.”

Jim gestures around them, “There is a big difference between eating small berries compared to the majority of the floor’s material and drinking water from what seems to be most of the floor.”

Kellinger nods, “I get where he is coming from.”

Tess, “No, it should be safe. The important part is imbuing it with our own power. For the loot, our power is pulled out and mixed with the dungeons. For anything we eat, the energy instead is pulled out of the item and mixed with our own.

“In my studies of healing magic, I’ve basically pinned that down as to why staying in a dungeon too long can have certain effects on people. It is basically the difference between donating blood and getting a blood transfusion. Though obviously a lot safer as even a bad transfusion won’t kill you.”

Jim sighs, “More stuff to test in the future. Anyway, no one knows what we’re going to find, so stick together. I’m sure that even if we aren’t meant to enter the water, it isn’t going to be safe down there either.”

Jeremy nods, “I’m picking up some threat from the shallows. Not sure what, the water seems to be interfering at least a little bit.”

Kelly nods, “We’ll need to work on adapting our magic and skills to underwater use. Even if we don’t plan to fight underwater, sometimes you don’t have a choice.”

Jay, “So what is the problem with casting underwater?”

Kelly, “The same problem beings in the void of space have when trying to cast into an atmosphere. Magic, in some ways, acts the opposite of mechanical waves. Not entirely, of course, it’s magic. However, the less matter to distract it, the easier it is transmitted.

“And that doesn’t count elemental interactions, either. A fire spell will be hindered or even completely blocked, while a lightning spell might end up shocking you and everyone around you instead of forming a bolt to your enemy.”

Punt The Goat - Chapter 401

The Arrow Shattered - Chapter 403