“Stand tall, my friend”

~Masayoshi Soken

POV - Tad

I looked around while Nige spluttered at me. It was surprisingly dark. What on earth happened to the evening? It had just disappeared on me.

I smacked myself on the forehead in frustration. This jolly Gallifreudian perk was a menace. I had subconsciously activated it while I was surfing the Shop. But rather than expanding the opportunity I had stupidly done the exact opposite and slowed my subjective time as I concentrated on buying decisions and inadvertently squandered the rest of the day. This was bad. Imagine if I did that in combat. Concentration and focus Tad. It didn’t bear thinking about. I needed to get a better understanding of how it worked and what triggered it and make sure I was in control. And leverage it as much as possible. I needed to keep moving.

“Sorry Nige. I couldn’t resist pulling your chain.” I apologised. “That was totally immature,” I paused, “and in all likelihood, totally going to happen again.”

Nige spun a couple of times Then with an evil crackle.

Okay, okay already. “You know that’s not a literal thing aye?” I was slightly worried. Nige spun off in delight. Point to him.

“I promised to catch up with Dom. Will the Library still be open? Or is it too late?”

“Alright then, let’s head over there now. I can register and get my Library Card or whatnot and hopefully meet up with Dom.”

“Uhh… like getting out books? Borrowing them?”

This was totally weird. I couldn’t get my head around whatever System mechanics were in play. Surely they had copies. This seemed a completely illogical arrangement. Why on earth was it so limited?

“Oh! That’s right, I remember wondering about this previously. If we’re not on Earth, then where are we?”

Nige was concerned.

“No, I know that!. But where is the Trial? Where have I been shanghaied to?”

“So I’m not on a planet any more? I’m confused.”

My head hurt.

I was having trouble comprehending the scope of everything so I focused in on my next step. I had said I would meet up with Dom. It was way later than I expected, but that's what I had committed to so that’s what I would do despite suddenly having had enough the day.

Gritting my teeth I straightened up, standing tall, stretching my back. “Enough existentialism, let's get going.”

“So why can’t I take out books? Surely there are copies?”

I didn’t bother correcting Nige. Humanese. Ha. I supposed that it encapsulated all the various languages of the world. I greedily wondered whether I would now be able to read them all, or more probably, I would be restricted to the same small subset of literature of my parent tongue. “So the Library is a bit like an instanced Dungeon then? That’s pretty cool. What do you mean graded by Tier?”

Fabulous, restricted knowledge. Of course there would be. Control the knowledge, control the masses. Oppressive, dictatorial System, playing with us like puppets. But then again if the sun and stars were like marbles, I was less than nothing. It was a sobering concept.

And Dom was asleep.

It would be such a shame to wake him. With no small hesitation I refrained myself. I had only just met the guy after all.

Maybe I’ll do some research first. First of all, was there any info on what happened to my parents and little sister. I kicked myself, I so should have asked Cass if there were any of my relatives in the banking system I could make contact with. Mum and Dad could have had more kids and so might have my sister. I could hook up with their descendants. I submitted a query at the front kiosk. And then secondly, research why I haven't levelled up. Gotta be some books here on levelling.

…

And there were screeds of them. I was swamped for choice. And they were contradictory. In fact in many cases completely mutually exclusive. This was ridiculous. Red-dik-u-lus I say!

How on earth would I determine which text to follow. It was impossible. Perhaps each species is different? And it wasn’t at all straightforward determining who had written what. I would have to work it out for myself. I pulled up my Character sheet and triggered my Timelord Perk. The correct way this time.

I had hit the Stat Cap for SPI. It was currently at 13.75 and the Stat Cap for Level 1 was nine. Yet my STA was way higher and it hadn’t hit the Cap yet. That was weird. I tried to focus in on Stamina.

>STA:

40

Base Stats

8

Bonus Stats

12

Cumulative Stats

20

Gear Stats

0

Applied Modifiers

20

Exempt Stats

32

Level Stat Cap

9

Cool I could get equipment which boosted my Stats. Duh, I knew that already. Get with the programme Tad, I chided myself. I pulled up Spirit to compare.

>SPI:

13.75

Base Stats

9*

Bonus Stats

2

Cumulative Stats

11

Gear Stats

0

Applied Modifiers

2.75

Exempt Stats

4.75

Level Stat Cap

9

Aha! Apparently I had hit the cap for both Stamina and Spirit in Level 0. Now I was Level 1, that cap had been lifted and I could allocate one of my free Stat points to STA and then grind out some more Bonus Stats. I checked my Sheet. I had nine unassigned Stat points. What was the best way to allocate them? I really wanted to boost my mind Stats and unlock magic. But was this the best option? This was something meaty to meditate on. I triggered my [Advanced Meditation] skill along with my [Introspection] skill. Two at once. This was good.

I had already earned a SPI stat point when I levelled up my [Logic] skill. This had pushed me up to the cap. Dol. I should see if I can activate this as well. Three concurrent Skills for the win. I triggered [Concentration] to complete the quadrifecta. This was awesome.

Each time I improved my level, the Stat cap increased. It was currently nine for an individual attribute and at Level 2 it jumped to 11. But the entire level was also capped and I remember Nige telling me it was impossible to get every Stat maxed because the threshold for the following level limited the total number of Stats possible.

I knew Level 2 unlocked at 55 Stat points and Level 3 at 65. I assessed my current build. 14 Base Stats in Body, 12 in Mind and 24 in Soul. A total of 50 Stats with nearly half in Soul. Discounting my Bonus and modifier Stats from my Class and rewards I was a wimp. A souly sensitive wimp. Barely even over the minimum threshold for Level 1. If I include my unassigned Stats I have a total of 59. That leaves a maximum of five additional Base Stat points I can gain before I have to level up.

But why was I hesitating on Levelling up? I wanted to get stronger and levelling was the way to do this. I felt my mind change gear as my [Logic] and [Introspection] skills meshed. I instinctively knew that as I increased in level the effort required to reach the next level would increase. It would never again be as easy as it was right now. I also realised that with each increase in level the jump in the Stat cap would be greater and the opportunity to gain Bonus Stats, stats outside the level cap would become harder and harder. In fact it may well become nigh on impossible without totally min-maxing. This was rather ironic given the System’s imposition of the Stat cap to start with.

This was good. I was getting to grips with my new situation. But I needed to make some decisions. I needed to distribute these free points. My focus returned to my Soul Stats. To KAR. Karma. I had 103.1E. 103.1 Essence. I was unsure what Essence was for or how it was used though.

On the other hand I understood HP at a visceral level.

It was instinctive. This quantified my vitality, my Constitution. My lifeforce reduced down to a number. It was exceedingly precious to me. Despite my abnormally low Strength and Agility Stats my absurd Stamina Stat balanced me out. A strong Level 1 participant would have nine Stats maximum in each of the three body Stats. If I understood the calculation correctly this would equate to just 81HP. I actually had 50% more vitality despite being a third of the normal strength and speed. I was super fragile though. Being outmassed, or out-stat’d so to speak, by a factor of three, by another Level 1 participant or monster was a recipe for disaster. It was critical that I got my speed and strength up as fast as possible.

Turning my attention to my dismal MP I didn’t have the same level of understanding. It was obviously Mana Points or possibly Magic Points. I was so far short of being able to learn magic it was laughable. Or cryable. Yeah, totally at the crying end of the scale. Even if I spent all my free points on Mind Stats the most MP I could achieve would be 54. Just over half of what my goal was, and only with IMA at the cap. I reluctantly decided that I would not concentrate on Mind right away despite my desire for magic Skills. This left Body or Soul. I turned my meditations to consider Soul.

I had been totally oblivious to my Soul prior to uplift. I mean, I guess I had one. It was the part of me that made me, me, right? Body, soul and spirit. But now it was Body, Mind and Soul. And my Soul was made up of my Charisma, Spirit and Honour Stats. I had a basic understanding of what Honour and Charisma entailed. But what about Spirit? What did my intuition tell me about SPI?

Well, it was central to my Soul Stats. It hadn’t escaped me that the critical Stat in each of the three categories was the central one and also the most important one for determining my health or magic or essence points. I willed myself deeper into my meditations. My Spirit was my core. The bedrock of my Soul. It was my intuition, my insight, my attitudes about myself and relating to the world around me. It seemed I had somehow cracked this Stat open even while unconscious during the Tutorial. This was astounding. I couldn't begin to explain this.

So I concentrated on what I had gleaned of myself. My Spirit was my perception, not only of myself but also how I saw the various layers of world, or more correctly, the System. Perception. This was a crucial insight. The more clearly I saw the System, the more clearly I could leverage it. And the more clearly I saw myself the better I would understand myself. It would become a self sustaining cycle of growth. Clarity leading to ever more clarity. I needed to cultivate this. Yes, this is where I would spend the first of my free points.

I allocated one point to Charisma and two points to Honour to reach the Stat Cap in both of them, reducing my free points to six.

A cascade of [Dings] caused me to surface out from my meditations.

> >

Boom-Ya! That’s what I’m talking about! Whose da man?

I did a little dance.

Tad's Character Sheet

NAME

Known As:

Totally Awesome Dude

Tad

Blank

>SPECIES:

>TIER:

Human

G

>XP:

>EXP:

8300

803/830

>LVL:

1

>MINION:

>MINION: [Expand]

>CON:

120HP

STR: STA: AGI:

[Hide]

3 40 3

[Variance]

+0 +0 +0

>WIS:

27.5MP

MEM: IMA: INT:

[Hide]

4 5 7

[Variance]

+1 +0 +3

>KAR:

262.5E

CHA: SPI: HON:

[Hide]

10* 26.25* 10*

[Variance]

+2 +12.5 +4

>LUC:

0.1

+0.05 on Loot/Drop rolls

Unassigned

Total:

6

114.35

-3 +19.50

>SKILLS:

(Unlocked) [Hide]

Delve

Mine

Prospect

Deception

(Active) [Hide]

Rage

Dodge

Advanced Meditation

Observation

Inspect

>>Basic Cultivation<<

(Proficiency) [Hide All]

[Novice]

[Novice]

>>[Apprentice]<<

[Novice]

[Novice]

[Novice]

>PATHS:

Nasal Prospector Class

>PERKS:

Gallifreudian Slip

>TITLES:

Pertinacious

>AWARDS:

Atelophobia Award (Pending acceptance)

Precocious Award (Pending acceptance)