Hero's Personal Log 013

Damn, okay. I feel incredible. I only ever did weed a few times, but this is way, way better than any of that shit. Leveling up is great, even if the System is taking its sweet-ass time getting the effects of the level to me. Looks like my Health stat increased, which means I should be able to take a few more hits. Not that anything has been particularly strong in this area--at the very least, nothing seems like it can even put a dent into my HP so far. Still, it wouldn't do to get too cocky right now. I have, what, 530 health now? That's definitely a lot for a backwater starting village like Maplecrest, but it's probably going to get outclassed by a lot as we go further towards the Eternal King's territory.

The System promised "stat increases," but it didn't say which stats could be increased and by how much. I wonder if that's just going to be something I get more info on later? Hopefully it is, or I'm going to be very confused.

I assume the stat increases are for my actual stats, not my skills, but this is a fantasy world. I sure wasn't expecting a slightly buggy, slightly intelligent System. I wasn't expecting a reincarnation at all, obviously, but this was pretty offputting too.

Hmm. What stats can I even increase?

Jerome Smith Class Race Level Godkiller Human 2 Stat Current Maximum Mana 856 1000 Health 502 530 Skills [Magic Missile lv. 3], [Assess lv. 1], [Blazing Spear lv. 2] Titles [Reincarnator] Stat Modifier Total Strength +10 25 Magic +12 27 Insight -5 10 Constitution +8 23 Hero's Personal Log 014

Okay, I've got Strength, Magic, Insight, Constitution, Health, and Mana. The System already automatically increased my Health, which means that it's either a straight addition each time or it's tied to something that's already defined. That's probably out for my other stat increases, then.

I haven't been tracking my mana usage so far, though I probably should have been. I'm a little surprised that I used so many, but to be fair I did use [Assess] a lot and that requires 10 mana minimum. That probably took a bunch of my mana away. Still have 856, but I don't think I regenerated any if at all. Maybe it's like those games where you need to take a rest before your magic regens. Or maybe I need a mana potion of some sort, like an Ether in Pokémon?

Hmm. Mana and Health are in a separate box from the other stats, so I think that I might not be able to affect those with my increases. Still, you'd expect the box to be consistent... maybe the Mana stat gets increases less frequently than Health?

P-System Log

Oh fuck I completely forgot about his MP aaaaaa

Uhhhhhh.... shit.

Okay, calm down Parker. You're the supernaturally powerful disembodied System here, not Jerome. I'm the one who makes the rules.

And very conveniently, Jerome just gave me a great excuse to use!

Okay, so we're going to be running level milestones to upgrade his mana total. What milestones make sense? I mean, obviously, there's multiples of five or ten, but that's kind of boring.

Y'know what? Who says that there can't be two or even more than two levels of milestones? I can do minor boons for one set of milestones and major ones for the other. For the latter, I think multiples of 5 or 10 should be good.

As for the former... I have ideas. Bad ideas, but what's a reincarnation into another world if I can't make some fun stupid decisions?

So, uh... what's two to the power of e, again?

Oh right, Jerome. I need to give him something so he doesn't think I'm a useless piece of shit again.

P-System Message Response: Significant increases to Mana stat will be made at levels ending with the digit 5. Major increases to Mana stat will be made at levels that are multiples of 10. Other increases to Mana stat will occur every levels. Hero's Personal Log 015

Poggers!

Hmm, makes sense, though I'm not sure why the System wouldn't just outright tell me that earlier.

Hold that thought, I'm going to finish up my conversation with the chick and then finish up with my stats later. Given how long it took for it to respond to my inquiry about the Mana stat, I think it's probably safe to say that the System is going to take a while longer.

On that note: System, if you can read me, would you mind trying to figure out what my stats should be?

P-System Log

Side note: dear god(s), he's even more of a gamer than I thought he was.

So much has happened over the course of what? A minute? I'd almost forgot that Jerome actually had something going on earlier.

Aster: You appear to have leveled up.

Jerome: You can tell? Is that a spell or something?

Aster: On the contrary. Most people who level up for the first time react the same. Over time, one grows accustomed to the effect. Many continue pursuing that feeling, dedicating their entire lives to it, but others such as myself simply take levels as they come.

Jerome: Hm. I see.

Ha! Fat chance of that happening. This guy looks like he's a die-hard numbers-go-up fan, and I can't say I'm not the same.

Aster: I wish you the best of luck with your point distribution.

Jerome: Thanks. Anyway, could you show me what you were going to do before we got interrupted?

Aster: You wish not to focus on your stats first?

Jerome: Like you said earlier, my System's different. I have reason to believe it'll be stronger if I give it some time.

Yeah, that's total bullshit.

P-System Log [important! stat distribution!]

Okay, I need to figure out stats now. Like, NOW now. I don't know how long Aster's conversation and cast is going to take, so I'm definitely on a time crunch. At the very least, I've noticed that I think slightly faster than events can happen. An inherent part of my abilities as a System, maybe?

That's not important right now. First things first, I don't know how much the stats affect other parts of Jerome's skills. I can imagine Constitution affects Health, but that's in part because it was my own decision to calculate his HP with Constitution.

Wait, I can experiment with this.

P-System Message

Warning: System processing is not at 100%. Please stand by while the System completes initialization.

Request: indicate one stat that you wish to increase.

Hero's Personal Log 016

Damn, right in the middle of a conversation?

Hold on a sec.

Okay, just told the cute witch to give me a second.

Hmmmm... I don't know what my base stats do yet. Do you?

P-System Message Response: System processing is not at 100%. Hero's Personal Log 017

So no, then. Fine.

What are the stats again? Right, Strength, Magic, Insight, Constitution. I guess Magic, then? That might increase my mana. Hopefully?

P-System Message Request acknowledged. P-System Log

I'm not totally sure if I'm remaining internally consistent with my messages to Jerome, but he hasn't noticed anything off yet so I'm not going to bother breaking a sweat over it.

Magic. That stat feels way too broad to be a single number. I mean, I could see stats like Magic Manipulation, Magic Control, or some other shit like that. But just Magic? Maybe it doesn't do anything, since by D&D standards his stat is pretty damn high and his modifier is pretty good too and he hasn't been anything super special so far. Then again, from what I've seen of others, his mana capacity is through the roof, especially for a first-level (well, second-level now) Integrated. Maybe his high Magic stat has something to do with that?

[Greater Assess] cast! Nameless Dire Wolf Class Race Level Dire Wolf Wolf 3 Stat Current Maximum Mana 10 10 Health 38 38 Skills [Dire Bite lv. 6], Titles [Dire Beast] P-System Log

Oh, shit, that's what they were talking about earlier. Aster just showed him what her [Assess]-type spell does. Less than I can perceive by quite a bit, but way more than what Jerome can do at the moment. Hmm. Maybe I should give him some W Inertia in [Assess].

Focus, Parker! You said you were going to help with Jerome's stats!

W Inertia go! Let's burn, I don't know, five? All I need to do is perceive Jerome's stats--pretty easy, since they originate from my own kinda-mind--and home in on the specific bundle of information tied to the Magic stat. One of the stats has got the feel of the reality-tear, which makes it way different from the others. It's got to be that one, right?

I'm going to stick five W Inertia in there. Let's see if it does anything.

P-System Log

Well, it's been nearly a full three seconds and no notification. Another five, here we go.

Nothing.

Five more?

Nope.

Five more.

Ugh, still nothing.

Double that. That's forty.

Another twenty? Sixty overall, I'm getting in really deep now.

Oh, something changed. That was a lot of W Inertia spent. I'm not going to be able to do this very frequently if I want to maintain my backlog of W Inertia for a long time.

Aaaaaaand... let's bring up the stats!

Jerome Smith (abbreviated) Stat Current Maximum Mana 989 1037 Health 502 530 Stat Modifier Total Strength +10 25 Magic +12 28 Insight -5 10 Constitution +8 23 P-System Log

Interesting. Total mana capacity went up there. I... can probably explain that off as something that's his choice to do, not mine, so he doesn't question why I said the Mana stat can only be expanded during level milestones.

But damn, it increased by quite a bit! 37 whole points, increasing both current and maximum just like Health did.

It took a whole fuckload of W Inertia to get this far now. I'm at...

Current W Inertia: 38249 P-System Log

Holy fuck, I'm like 110 points in the hole and the only way to recoup them is killing more shit. The first [Dire Wolf] gave a lot of W Inertia, but I have no idea if the others will as well. Add onto that the fact that the Magic stat feels even more closed off now, and I think I can go with the theory that increasing stats is going to take a lot of resources.

I'm perceiving the Magic stat again, and god(s) above it's almost like it's a completely different stat from before. Earlier, it felt waaaaay more pliable than it does now. Like it's shut its doors or something. Maybe [W%M;G,P] helped me along this first time? I can't tell, and that kind of scares me.

Is it going to be like this with Health and skills later on? Costs increasing suddenly for no reason?

I sure hope not.

At any rate, I have an answer for Jerome and another experiment to run. Given the cost of increasing the stat by a single measly point--which, while having great effects, is still just one point--I don't think I want to hand these out like candy. Maybe an increase every few levels? Or even two, to be generous. Even at this cost, I'm not at risk of running out anytime soon, but I have to pace myself.

After all, what use am I when I no longer have a carrot to dangle?

P-System Message Magic stat increased by 1. Select one non-volatile stat to increase by 1.