Chapter 10: Stat Points
Chapter 10: Stat Points
Jerry collapsed onto the garage floor with his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to catch his breath.
Despite his exhaustion, there was a faint smile that tugged at his lips.
"Guess I'm tougher than I thought," he muttered before dragging himself back inside.
---
The sunlight streaming through his bedroom window stirred Jerry from his sleep.
He groaned and rolled over to shield his eyes from the sunlight, but the system had other plans.
[Generating Daily Quest]
The text blinked persistently in Jerry's vision, which forced him to sit up and rub the sleep from his eyes.
He squinted at the updated tasks, his sore muscles already protesting at the thought of another workout.
---
[Daily Quest]
Run 1.5 km.
Perform 25 push-ups.
Lift 60 pounds.
Completion Reward: +10 EXP and 1 Stat Point.
----
"Great," he muttered and swung his legs off the bed, "because last night wasn't hard enough."
But as he stretched, a small flicker of excitement stirred in his chest. It wasn't much, but every completed task meant progress, which made him wonder what would happen at level 10 and what could be done with the extra stat points.
Jerry slowly sat up; he could feel all his muscles were aching. His arms and legs felt like soft and weak spaghetti. He swung his feet to the floor and rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up properly.
Every single thing that happened last night was still fresh in his mind; he could still feel his arms sore from the push-ups.
"Wait!! Aren't werewolves supposed to be able to heal? Jerry mumbled with a confused voice, "Oh!!! That's right! The system did say I'm a lunar wolf, not a werewolf.
Jerry could still vividly remember the sense of satisfaction he felt when he had finally completed the quest last night.
Jerry's body might've been screaming for rest, but he could feel his curiosity take over.
So far the system has given him five unused stat points as a reward, and they remained untouched while just sitting there in his stat window.
He hadn't really thought about what they could do because he was too focused on surviving the shadow assassin and the completely relentless tasks of the system.
"Alright," he said in a soft and groggy voice, "Let's see what these points can actually do." Jerry decided to call up the system interface.
---
[Host Stats]
Strength: 10
Speed: 10
Intelligence: 15
Bravery: 5
Stat Points Available: 5
---
Jerry stared at the system interface for a brief moment, trying to make a decision on where to add his extra stats.
After a few moments of hesitation, he focused on Strength and decided to add two points to it, which made the system flicker in response.
---
[Strength: 10 → 12]
---
As soon as the points were added, Jerry felt a strange warmth spread through his entire body.
The feeling wasn't intense; it felt more like a quiet hum just beneath his skin.
He flexed his fingers experimentally, but nothing felt drastically different.
He took a glance around the room, searching for something he could use to test his strength.
His eyes landed on the wooden chair near his desk. It wasn't much, but it would have to do.
Jerry walked over and gripped the backrest of the wooden chair; he lifted the chair cleanly off the floor.
The chair was absurdly light, like it was hollow. He tilted the chair from side to side while half-mindedly expecting it to fall apart in his hands.
"Huh," he muttered, "That's… something."
The chair wasn't heavy enough to see the difference in his strength. He needed something heavier and something real. Jerry glanced toward the door and made his way downstairs.
---
The garage was cool and quiet with the faint smell of oil and metal hanging in the air.
Jerry's dad's old barbell sat in the corner; it was the same barbell he had used last night.
He crouched down while gripping the cold metal bar.
Jerry remembered that last night, even with fewer plates, it had been quite a struggle to lift this thing.
But now when Jerry tightened his grip and pulled, he was surprisingly able to lift the barbell off the ground with ease.
He straightened up and held the barbell steady at his chest height with a grin spread across his face.
"Okay, that's definitely an improvement," he said with a voice tinged with excitement.
After setting the barbell down, Jerry decided to add more weight plates to test his limits.
He felt the strain grow with each additional plate he added, but he kept going.
By the time he reached his max, his arms were trembling slightly under the weight, but the fact that he could even lift it at all was incredible.
Letting the barbell drop to the floor with a loud clang, Jerry stepped back and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He could feel the rush of adrenaline through his veins, making his earlier exhaustion forgotten.
He then decided to do a few pushups and complete today's daily quest.
"Alright," he said while catching his breath, "Let's see what Speed can do."
He focused on the stat and added two more points.
---
[Speed: 10 → 12]
---
After adding the two points to speed, he could feel a sudden warmth feeling flow into his body again, but this time it felt different; it was lighter, like an electric charge building up beneath his skin.
Jerry stepped outside the garage, and the cool morning air brushed against his face. The street was very quiet, and there weren't any people around since his house was close to the woods, and he hardly had neighbors.
The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds coming from birds chirping in the distance.
Jerry faced the street and started running with a slow jog while testing the feelings in his legs.
As he started to speed up, he could now feel the ground passing beneath him faster than usual; Jerry picked up the pace and broke into a sprint, which made the wind whip past his face, and the world around him blurred slightly as he raced down the block.
"This is amazing!" he shouted, his voice being carried away by the wind.
He was fast but not as fast as a car.