Meanwhile, the download finished and Yi Qiang who, from his perspective, had just entered the pod but a second ago, found himself in a modern training room. Unlike most training rooms, this sparsely-decorated cabin was very cleanly organized, with four parts, all in different corners. After surveying the room, Yi Qiang suddenly leaped into a fighting stance as he was startled by a screen appearing in front of his face. After confirming it was not a threat, Yi Qiang read the words on its translucent surface.

Welcome to Ascend!

Before you begin your character creation, you will have your base physical stats assigned. Keep in mind, you have as much time as you want here and will not feel the need to eat, drink, or relieve yourself, nor will you want to sleep, but the lack of realism stops there - you will, at most, only be able to grow to peak human condition here, and that in itself will take just as much time as it would in the real world, except for one thing: the Droplet. If you touch the imprint on the northern wall, you will be instantly rejuvenated and at maximum capacity, with all the changes to your body after being exactly what you would have experienced by resting naturally.

If you want to check your current stats, simply say "Status". This will bring up a screen like this one in front of you, displaying all of your current stats. To view a detailed description of each, tap the names of one of the statistics. Dismiss by repeating "Status".

When you finish assigning your base physical stats, simply say "Ascend". This will allow you to move on to the next stage of character creation.

You've been given the tools! Now it's up to you to work them!

Looking at his "tools" evoked a smile - Yi Qiang could reach the stat cap in record time even if this room was empty. And with these tools, there was no doubt in his mind that he would start in the game as powerful as possible.

Unlike the average player, who Yi Qiang was sure would shy away from extended periods of exercise(the discomfort and pain wasn't worth the boon to them, after all), Yi Qiang had experienced the agony of training his body to the human limits several times, and had been exposed to ruthless combat since childhood. Just as previously 'cold' water would seem warm after being accustomed to an even more frigid ocean, Yi Qiang felt no discomfort from training his body to the limits - it was instead more like a reminder to his mind, that had long since grown accustomed to living life with constant pain, that he was alive and yet not experiencing an agony even worse than the pain of growth. And as complicated as this may seem, the effects were simple - despite the perfect realism, Yi Qiang could treat his body as a tool. And this was an advantage that would allow him to finish incredibly quickly.

To begin, Yi Qiang wanted to assess his starting point, so he followed the instructions of the original screen. "Status," he quietly said, this time only slightly surprised by the spontaneous appearance of the translucent screen. He was adapting quickly, he supposed.

Physical Stats

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Agility: 10

Vitality: 10

Constitution: 10

Yi Qiang also tapped on every one of the stats, wanting to see exactly what they did(he planned on maximizing all of their values, but it would be useful information anyways).

Strength

Increases physical capacity. Higher Strength results in higher damage with physical attacks, higher carrying capacity, and higher lifting capacity.

Increased by undergoing muscular strain.

Dexterity

Increases bodily control. Higher Dexterity results in increased maneuverability, reaction time, accuracy with ranged weapons, balance, and coordination.

Increased by the use of reflexes and coordination.

Agility

Increases quickness. Higher Agility results in increased running speed, dodging capability, attack speed, and general haste.

Increased by attempting to surpass maximum speed of movement.

Vitality

Increases endurance. Higher Vitality results in increased Health and Stamina, which represent the current capacity to take damage and current capacity to continue physical damage respectively.

Increases by depleting either Health or Stamina.

Constitution

Increases regenerative ability. Higher Constitution results in increased Health regeneration and Stamina regeneration.

Increased by recovering either Health or Stamina.

The stats were rather simple, but Yi Qiang knew there were more than that, because of Mr. Yang who, in his explanation, said that there were eight stats. Yi Qiang counted only five, which meant that there were three more he hadn't seen yet.

Anyways, assuming that 10 was the average, Yi Qiang guessed that the physical peak for his stats was at around 50 or 60, but that could vary based on the data this section of the game was based on.

With nothing left to do, Yi Qiang got right to training.

As someone who had been trained by masters since young, and who had been forced to internalize knowledge about physiology, Yi Qiang knew exercise very well. This meant he could train in rapid time.

To begin, Yi Qiang wanted to maximize his Vitality and Constitution. This would allow him to train longer and spend less time recovering, though it seemed that would also be drastically reduced by the Droplet.

Like he would go about training endurance in real life, Yi Qiang began with some simple ladders of pushups. It was very annoying to him that he had to struggle to do even one pushup, but he hoped that would soon change.

Ladders were an exercise tool that were very simple in application: it was simply starting with one set of exercising, resting for however long doing that took, then doing two sets, resting for however long doing that took, three sets, rest, until doing another set would induce muscle failure, then going back down slowly, and resting again. They were meant to build endurance and the results showed, he hoped, as Yi Qiang looked at his status an hour later, having thoroughly wreaked havoc on every muscle group in his body, to the point where he felt pain even walking over to the Droplet. Like in real life, the benefits were only applied after a full recovery(he hoped that would not be a feature in the game, but that was unlikely), so he could only see just what this whole process had in store for him after he felt that sweet, rejuvenating feeling coursing throughout his body. "Status."

Physical Stats

Strength: 15

Dexterity: 12

Agility: 10

Vitality: 20

Constitution: 23

Indeed, you improve best at the beginning. Unfortunately, at this rate, this'll take a while...

Finally, when Yi Qiang had lost track of time, he found that nothing he could do, no exercise, no matter how augmented, could even place the slightest strain on his muscle. He had reached the cap.

This was a welcome relief since even the seasoned Yi Qiang was getting weary, and the training was becoming a minor annoyance. But that was behind him, now, since he was done!

"Ascend."

Are you sure you want to move on to the next step of character creation?

Y/N

The moment Yi Qiang confirmed his decision, he was smoothly transported to yet another room, but this time, it was smaller, and just as bare, only containing a bookshelf and a table with a chair.

Now that you have assigned your base physical stats, you must next assign your base mental stats. Like the last stage, you have as much time as you want in here, and your physical needs have been similarly altered. The mechanics of this assignment are simple. There are 30 books in the bookshelf, of varying length, form, and subject matter. You must read these books, internalizing them. Once you are satisfied with your knowledge of the books, say "Ascend" and move on to the next step of this stage.

This step, the final one, requires you to take three tests. These will be presented in screen format, and each test will analyze a value for a different stat. One test assesses your memory of the content of the books. One test assesses your internalization of the content of the books. One test assesses your understanding of the content of the books.

After finishing this, your base stats will be completely assigned, and you can move on to the next stage of character creation.

Study hard, player!

Qian Feng frowned. He was knowledgeable about all information of his profession, including strategy, physiology, and martial arts, and some odd other things, but he was by no definition a scholar.

He wasn't a meathead, either, but the fact of the matter was that he would enjoy this stage a far cry less than the previous one. But there was no point in delaying.

Yi Qiang was going to achieve max stats here too. Based on what the screen said, he would have to make sure he memorized the content perfectly, internalized it, and understood it. The first part was simple to make sure he had done: all Yi Qiang wanted to be able to do was perfectly recite the knowledge in all of the books, and which book each fragment of information came from. That would be tedious, but manageable. The second was significantly more complex - Yi Qiang was quite sure he'd find it more difficult to make sure he had internalized the information of the books. The best he could do was see if he could explain and review the knowledge without thinking. The third was, without a doubt, the most annoying. Yi Qiang did not look forward to perfectly understanding what was on the books, especially without a partner - understanding was best deepened through discourse and argument, not by dully reviewing the info.

With his plan set in mind, Yi Qiang grabbed the first book on the top shelf, sat down at the desk, and opened it up.

Upon reading the first paragraph, he smiled.

Test results calculated. Status updated.

"Status."

Base Stats

Strength: 60

Dexterity: 60

Agility: 60

Vitality: 70

Constitution: 50

Intelligence: 60

Wisdom: 60

Spirit: 60

Intelligence is the measure of Mana capacity. Higher Intelligence results in increased maximum Mana.

Intelligence is increased by depleting Mana.

Wisdom is the measure of Mana regeneration. Higher Wisdom results in faster Mana regeneration.

Wisdom is increased by regenerating Mana.

Spirit is the measure of spell effectiveness. Higher Spirit results in more damaging magic and more potent healing.

Spirit is increased by casting spells.

Yi Qiang smiled again. The test had been easy, and he was quite sure that his current stats were the maximum. And no surprise. After all, he was lucky - all those books had been on strategy. He barely needed to look over all of them to confirm there was no new knowledge(that was unlikely, but he wanted to make sure) before moving on to the tests. If there was one thing he was sure of in knowledge, it was anything having to do with combat.

"Ascend."

Are you sure you want to move on to the next step of character creation?

Y/N

He pressed yes and, for the first time since entering this game, was excited for what was to come.