CH33: Allocating Attribute Points

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'Open Status'

{Status.}

[Leo Xander.]

Race: Prime Human

Title: World Challenger

Alias: Cub of Lionheart, Agent Zero...

Age: 18

Life Path (Primary): Assassin.

Tier: Tier II (Hired Killer)

Promotion Exp: 210/15000

---

[Attributes-]

(Physical)

Physique: 35

Dexterity: 30

Mind: 30

[Notice: Average Limit for Homo sapiens is 10 in all parameters.]

Attribute Points: 53

I opened my Status Page again to take a look at my Attributes before I began allocating the points.

The three major attributes stood out.

Physique... Dexterity... Mind.

The Physique stats was a direct indicator of my body's fitness. It governed attributes like Physical strength, defence, endurance, stamina, immunity (resistance to disease, poisons and ailments), bone strength and muscle build.

Dexterity was the indicator of my body's coordination and movement. It governed attributes like speed, agility, sensitivity (i.e. reaction time and reflexes).

Mind was an indicator on my mental and psychic states. It influenced things like my mental strength, comprehension, memory thinking faculties and willpower.

Basically, the Physique improved the state of my body; Dexterity improved movement of my body while Mind managed the relationship between the two.

As I had mentioned, using Attribute Points weren't as simple as just allocating the points to whichever of the three attributes I wanted.

A bit of planning had to go into it.

For one, and I think it's something that goes without saying that, I can't take back an AP once I've assigned it to any of the three attributes.

This is because a change happens in my body immediately the AP is allocated. And said change is obviously irreversible... unless I'm willing to potentially permanently harm my body that is.

This change brings us to the second restriction.

I only had one chance to assign APs to each of the attributes per day.

This meant I only had one chance to increase my Physique, Dexterity and Mind points. It didn't matter if I was adding 1 AP or 100 APs to my chosen attribute, I had to do it within that one chance for each of them.

(PS: I didn't have to add to all the three attributes in the day. I could choose to add to just one of them.)

This was because the process of applying the changes brought by assigning the APs was strenuous on the body. My body needs time to adapt to and recover from the fast changes. Hence the restriction.

Of course this is my guess based on a scientific examination.

I could be wrong and it could be a restriction Loki placed there for fun.

This brings me to the process itself.

Assigning APs alters the limits of my body. I guess APs cause a growth or mutation in the cells of my Brain, Nervous system and the rest of my body (corresponding to Mind, Dexterity and Physique respectively).

However, the energy for this growth or mutation process doesn't appear out of thin air. It is derived directly from my body itself.

In other words, whenever I use an AP, I feel an intense round of hunger due to the energy in my body being depleted at an incredible rate to facilitate the growth indicated by assigning the points.

Through torturous trial and error, I noticed that the intensity bangs of hunger differs. It is the most when I increase my Physique points while it is mildest when I increase my Mind points.

(i.e. increases from Mind to Dexterity to Physique)

However, I get a different reaction from my body which keeps me company.

I guess it makes sense that the more the APs I add at a time, the more intense the reaction my body shows to the process.

I've learnt that it's best for my mental health and overall body functioning if I stick to using 1 AP per day.

Sure the process is slow, however, slow and steady is the best when it comes to growth or mutation in the body.

Rapid growth is never a good thing. Finding the time to allow the body to acclimatise to the changes is as important as the change itself.

Plus, the pain and other reactions is far manageable when I use only one AP.

Another thing I should mention. This is not a restriction as much as it is an observation and precaution on my part.

I noticed it is never a good idea to let the difference between the three attributes to be more than five points.

I follow an explosive burst doctrine which has a high demand for the coordination of the three attributes. If the difference between them exceeds five, I fall into an attribute-dependant style.

For example, if my Physique stats is higher than the rest by more than 5 points, my fighting style becomes a strength-oriented style. Dexterity would become a Speed-style while I don't have an idea of what kind of style I'd have if Mind was the dominant party.

I guess my body movements (Dexterity) and body resilience (Physique) won't be able to keep up with whatever I conjure in my mind.

That's essentially a death sentence in active combat.

I informed Zora and the gang that I would be retreating for about half a month.

I sighed as I got ready to undergo a fifteen-day torture period.

I went through my prep list.

I had fifteen servings of ten different meals in the Stasis Box. That's ten meals per day for the next fifteen days. Similarly, I had prepared and locked away fifteen baths of herbal Beast blood.

I looked outside and saw the amber glow of evening so I decided to rest early for the big event ahead.

I had a light snack before going to bed early.

The next morning, the AP allocation regimen began.

I had a hearty course of five of the ten daily allocated meals.

After the meal, I opened one of the fifteen barrels of beast blood and poured its contents into a bathtub.

Then, I opened my User Interface and allocated 1AP to the Physique stats.

[Confirm: 1 AP to Physique]

[Y/N]

I clicked on yes.

[Please prepare. The allocation process will begin soon.]

I got into the bathtub and prepared for the process to begin.

The moment I found a comfortable position in the tub, I felt a dull pain spread throughout my body. I felt weak as the energy in my body was drained rapidly. Fortunately, the process of increased metabolism meant the food in my stomach was digested quickly to make up the deficit.

The pure mana entering my pores from the bath also helped ease the pain of the process as it provided an alternate source of energy, all the while still strengthening my body as well.

The dull pain and weakness continued for about an hour before the process was finally over.

The green liquid in the bath had lost a healthy shade of green, indicating a significant amount of the bath's efficacy had been absorb. However, there was still a good amount left to use.

I scored my absorption rate to be low. But this was by design.

It was due to the AP allocation process happening simultaneously in my body that it didn't absorb all the efficacy of the bath.

My plan worked perfectly as I was more interested in the pain easing effect of the bath as opposed to the body-tempering effect.

I stood up from the bath and wipe down my body before shifting to the bed for a well deserved three hours nap.

It was close to noon when I woke up. I felt invigorated and full of energy.

This time around, I had another course which had three meals out of the remaining five from the day's allocation.. After which I returned to the bath where I opened my User Interface and allocated 1AP to the Dexterity stats.

[Confirm: 1 AP to Dexterity]

[Y/N]

I clicked on yes.

[Please prepare. The allocation process will begin soon.]

This time, instead of a dull pain and weakness, I felt a sharp pain through every inch of my body.

It felt akin to being stabbed by needles in all the pores of my body. All the nerves in my body heated up as they underwent their AP baptism.

Since the focus was only on the nerve cells, the demand for energy was lower than during the Physique allocation. Hence, metabolism and demand for energy was relatively lower.

Plus, the pure mana from the bath had an easier time easing the pain from the process.

However, that said, the pain was still superior to the pain from the Physique process.

This time, I only had to endure for half an hour before the process was completed.

I barely got out of the bath and wipe down my body. I only just managed to crawl my way to the bed before falling asleep.

It was already evening by the time I woke up.

My body felt refreshed and I found my movements easier to make.

The positive changes to my body gave me the willpower to continue the torture.

I ate the last two allocated meals of the day before once again returning to the bath. There was only a pale green liquid left, meaning very little of the bath's efficacy was left. However, it would have to do.

I got into the bath and opened my User Interface. I allocated 1AP to the Mind stats.

[Confirm: 1 AP to Mind]

[Y/N]

I clicked on yes.

[Please prepare. The allocation process will begin soon.]

I close my eyes immediately as I waited for the process to commence.

I knew this would be the most demanding for my pain tolerance.

What I felt next was a cocktail of different forms of pain that I can't describe them all.

First, I felt a burning sensation in my head like my brain was on fire. Then, I felt like someone was pricking my brain with a needle. In addition to those, I felt like someone decided to turn my brain into a drum as I felt regular repeating thumps of pain in my head.

There were other types of pain but these were the three I felt most vividly.

I bit down on a cloth I prepared beforehand as I thrashed around in the bath while waiting for the process to run its course.

I only suffered for ten minutes but it felt like an eternity.

I didn't even bother to get out of the bath. I fell asleep right there in the now-clear liquid till the next day.

The next fifteen days were monotonous.

I repeated the same torturous process until the fifteen days were up.

'Open Status'

{Status.}

[Leo Xander.]

Race: Prime Human

Title: World Challenger

Alias: Cub of Lionheart, Agent Zero...

Age: 18

Life Path (Primary): Assassin.

Tier: Tier II (Hired Killer)

Promotion Exp: 210/15000

---

[Attributes-]

(Physical)

Physique: 35 ➡️ 50

Dexterity: 30 ➡️ 45

Mind: 30 ➡️ 45

Attribute Points: 53 ➡️ 8

After the period of hard work, I had allocated 15 AP each to all my stats which left me with 8 points.

I had used up my prepared stash of food. Plus, I decided to keep the remaining points for later. Perhaps future events might make me need to improve an attribute for a particular purpose.

It definitely had nothing to do with the fact that I was at the end of my rope after fifteen days of torture.

I decided to sleep for one extra day to fully recover from my accumulated mental fatigue.

Things were quiet for the next month.

I resumed my usual physical training in order to acclimatise myself to my newfound strength.

By my estimates, I should be around a Knight-rank at this point.

Of course, I wasn't sure.

Also, the leather from the hides and the fabric from the hairs were ready within this period. I just needed to find a competent tailor to bring the fashion designs I had in mind to life.

I was musing about confirming the level of my combat strength and matter of how to get a competent tailor when I received a message on my organisation Comms crystal.

It was a message from DarkBlade.

[Message: Meet me at the Charwell Mall in three days.]

(To be continued...)

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