Persona

Kaz stares at the screen, unsure what it meant before finally asking the system.

[A persona is a manifestation of feelings and desires introduced to an inanimate object. Since it is not a living thing, all of the emotions are artificial, and the persona will disappear upon the creator's death. Since you used your own energy to implant a drop of nexus into the weapon, had certain thoughts and feelings, and named the weapon as well, the persona the weapon developed mimics that of the one you knew as Rika. Though it does not share the memories of that person it has an identical personality to that you remembered. Please note that the persona is immature right now and can only communicate emotions currently but the nexus heart, should it undergo further evolution, can be evolved to allow more complex communication, and at a certain degree of evolution can change the shape of the weapon.]

After reading the notification, Kaz's eyes fell down to the weapon. Standing there, Kaz was unsure of what to do, he didn't want this weapon to be a replacement to Rika, but he had inadvertently done so by giving it this persona. He continued to feel the weapon with his energy, to which the weapon responded with a content emotion, as if it were a happy child getting patted on the head by a parent. 

This feeling could do nothing but remind him of Rika, as a tear swelled in his eye Kaz could feel himself ready to break down. He thought he put it all behind him, and his emotions were slowly coming back to him. He had stopped himself from feeling for so long that he forgot what everything but pain felt like. He had grown numb to the world, but now he could feel the emotion flowing back in like blood to a limb that had lost circulation.

Kaz managed to hold back his tears before shaking his head.

'I think just being alone is getting to me. I can address these feelings some other time, right now I need to focus, this isn't here, don't let yourself get confused.'

Kaz took a deep breath calming down, tying that metaphorical limb off again, cutting off the circulation once again. He looked at the weapon.

"Can I see screens for item descriptions?"

[Yes, Items have states, similar to prospecting, focus on the weapon and observe it with your energy before visualizing its capabilities.]

Kaz brought his attention back to the weapon. He used his energy to focus on the structure of it. He continued to examine the weapon and look for a way to activate a menu, but couldn't. Even though he couldn't get a screen to appear, he was able to feel out the strength of the weapon, and was able to see what possible strength it could output. He then observed the blade of it and could tell how strong his other modes would be as well as the strength of his light beam.

[Skill Evolution has taken place: {Prospecting lvl. MAX} has evolved to {Analysis lvl. Max} due to your expansion of observing things other than raw material.]

[{Analysis} allows you to gain more understanding of objects as well as their capabilities, not just materials.]

Kaz could now see a screen for his weapon

Nexus Symbiote Persona Weapon

Weapon Name: Rika

Current Grade: Nexus Heart

Nexus Drops: 1/1000

Weapon Type: Polearm

Current Mode: Spear

Damage: + 90 - 120

Speed: +150

Description:

This weapon was made with a certain individual in mind, giving the weapon the persona of that person. Due to this weapon being able to control and shape energy throughout the blade, the weapon is able to switch to different modes. Once the user condenses another mode it can be saved by the weapon allowing it to change fluidly. To upgrade the weapon, the user must infuse 1000 Nexus drops into the blade before it can go through another evolution. Absorbing more drops raises the lower end of the damage range allowing the user to hit consistent high rolls on damage.

Seeing the high number needed for the evolution had taken Kaz aback for a moment. This made Kaz feel as though the next grade would be a huge increase requiring that much for an evolution. Kaz then finally asked the system about the stat modifiers, since this isn't the first time to see them mentioned.

"Can You add my speed and damage stats to my menu then show me the stat screen without all the skills."

Name: Kaz

Race: Awakened Human

Nexus Glands: Luminal Bud, Luminal Bud

Nexus Drops: 22/200 (+3 stats per drop)

Skill Tokens: 1

Sense Range: 50 meters

(Stats are counts of 10)

Level: 15

Unallocated Stat Points: 15

Experience: 345,650/500,000

Physique level: 104

Health: 2050/2050 ({vitality + physique} x 10)

Vitality: 101

Stamina: 104 (physique level)

Intelligence: 116

Speed: 104 ({physique x 0.5} + {stamina x 0.5})

Damage: 107 ({physique x 0.75} + {intelligence x 0.25})

[Do note that any stats between whole numbers is being rounded to the next whole number.]

Kaz then realized how big of a stat jump the spear provided for him, more than doubling his speed and damage, but the functions for the stats confused Kaz a bit.

"Why is intelligence tied to the damage stat? I can understand the speed a bit, but the damage stat confuses me."

[In battle you need strength and technique, which the intelligence stat helps you better use technique. Also, the physique stat is a culmination of strength and agility, which is why it can be used for speed or damage. Your intelligence stat is also currently higher than your damage stat which is why you don't have a damage range, higher intelligence stats refines your damage range, raising the lower end of it.]

"I see…"

Kaz started to realize in more depth how important the physique stat was because of how many stats were tied to it. Kaz then started to take out many more of his nexus cores, fragments and even clusters, pulling out all of his resources.

'Right here is enough for about 65 more drops of nexus, I need to get stronger quicker, and this is the best way I have right now.'

Kaz then sat next to all the different crystals and began to slowly connect his energy with that of the energy in the crystals and start to siphon and condense the energy into drops. Kaz could feel the power within the crystals being sucked in by his nexus gland, the strength of the suction was very strong and Kaz started to lose control a bit, feeling as though the energy was being jammed into him. He felt his strength skyrocket, almost at a speed that he couldn't handle, his body started to refine his muscle tone, his bones became denser, his hair smoother, almost all imperfections had left his face as he took in the remaining energy and began to condense it. As he condensed it, his power started to magnify. He could feel his strength rise higher and higher, until it finally settled at almost 3 times stronger.

At this point Kaz felt as if he could turn a rock into powder just by squeezing it. Kaz picked up his spear and started to head out of his compound.

'Let's see what I can do with this much strength.'