Prologue 4

[ Health: 5 ]

[ Stamina: 5 ]

[ Energy: 5 ]

[ Power: 5 ]

[ Skill: 5 ]

[ Intellect: 5 ]

[ Fortitude: 5 ]

[ Wisdom: 5 ]

[ Resistance: 5 ]

[ Charisma: 5 ]

[ Perception: 5 ]

[ Control: 5 ]

[ Regeneration: 5 ]

[ Recovery: 5 ]

[ Clarity: 5 ]

“Five in everything, huh? I guess these are the base stats everybody starts with?” I asked, rubbing my chin in thought.

[ Yes. Every test subject starts with these stats. ]

“Nice to see everything's fair. If we went with my physical abilities back on Earth, I’d have a really hard time killing people myself.” I fought with my brain, rarely did I use physical means if I could help it. Too messy and hard to control in my opinion. A well formed scheme was superior in every way.

[ Killing? ]

“Yeah? I assume I’d have to kill other people, right? Isn't that what this thing is all about?” If it wasn't, then I’d be quite surprised. Isn't survival of the fittest often the theme of these types of things?

[ No. While you can kill, it is not the main goal of the Grand Experiment. ]

“It's not?” There go my expectations…actually that's not bad. If killing’s not the main goal, then I don't have to worry about being killed myself. “Fuck yeah!”

[ What an odd reaction. ]

“Hm? What's wrong?” What was strange about my reaction?

[ Based on my speculations, you’re the type who would have no qualms with killing another human. ]

“Hey, Orb Lady, it's true that I don't mind killing people, but that doesn't mean I’m a murderous beast.” Hmph! Why did people always misunderstand me? I’m actually quite peaceful if left unprovoked. Just because I ruined a quite few guys’ lives doesn't meant I actually enjoy it, okay!?

[ I see. I was wrong then. ]

“Don't get so down.” Could orbs of light get down? She sure sounded down. “Its already amazing that there’s somebody that can tolerate and predict me to an extent. Don't sell yourself or your accomplishments short.”

[ Thank you. Predicting your wretchedness has truly been a test of my capabilities. ]

“…Don't know what to say to that.” How rude! Can't she read the mood? This is why I hate robotic personality types: they’re always too stiff for the more complicated aspects of social manipulation to work. Be comforted to bits by my previous sentence dammit! “Anyway, moving onto another topic, are there any punishments if I kill?”

[ Fights between test subjects have an sixty percent damage reduction on both parties to deter such actions. ]

“Aside from that? Anything else?” There had to be more. Please God don’t tell me that these guys are naive enough to—

[ No. Aside from the initial deterrent, there are no other punishments for killing another test subject. ]

“Really? Nothing?” The fuck is up with that!? Did the Entity even know humans!? Making killing harder wasn't gonna do shit! If people really wanted to kill, they would do so regardless of the difficulty. That's fact I could testify wholeheartedly for. If anything, the only thing that would come out of it would be prolonging the victims’ death and suffering. If the Entity wanted to help sadists get their jollies off, then it was certainly heading in the right direction. Good thing that—wait. These fucks might just be that idiotic. “Orb Lady, what about—“

[ Before you finish, yes, you do receive a portion of the killed’s valuables. ]

“Fuck.” As stupid as I feared. Either that or this ‘no killing’ was utter bullshit and that so called ‘deterrent’ was nothing more than for show. The truth of that didn't matter at the moment but it would certainly give me a better idea of this whole affair’s endgame. Sigh. And here I thought that I could go without bloodshed for once in my life. Goddamnit. “Let’s put this talk about of my impending doom on hold for a moment. How about it? You think you can say a bit more about what those stats mean?”

[ No. Like you were told back in the transitory realm, you are only entitled to knowing the descriptions of three stats at your clearance level. ]

Still the same response as before. Not sure what I was expecting from Orb Lady. Compared to Fake Orb Lady she was much less expressive, closer in tone to a robot than a human. That made reading her an absolute bitch of an effort. However, it was a strangely quite fun. It had been a long time since I’d last needed to put effort into a getting what I wanted from a conversation.

Given that I could use my intuition and gaming experience to infer the effect of some of the stats, the three that I chose to have described to me were Charisma, Control, and Intellect. Charisma and Intellect were basically the bread and butter of my life on Earth, so I was curious to see how they would translate to this Grand Experiment, while Control was one I absolutely had no clue of what it could be.

According to Orb Lady, Charisma was responsible for how convincing I was, how much reputation I earned, and what summons I could acquire. I had no idea what the first two meant, but I was positively giddy over the idea that I could have something else do my fighting for me. That was the reason I loved playing Pokemon and Digimon, after all. Breeding the perfect specimen and sending it to beat the crap out of other creatures? The satisfaction was practically orgasmic. I could have fun and avoid getting my hands dirty. Could anything be more perfect?

Intellect functioned a lot like how intelligence did in video games. It was responsible for how much damage I dealt with Energy based abilities. In addition, it also dictated what skills I could learn. I wasn't sure how that worked since I didn't have any skills, but I couldn't wait to try my hand a slinging magic.

Finally you have Control, easily the vaguest sounding one of the three but actually the most practical. Control governed how much Stamina or Energy I spent on my skills. The more points in Control, the lower my ability cost. This definitely was going to be one of the areas I’d invest heavily in.

“Fine, Orb Lady, you win.” While the simplicity and lack of depth of the descriptions made me feel cheated and a bit irked, the excitement I felt at what was coming up next overshadowed them. Plus, with Orb Lady’s personality—or lack thereof—she was absolutely not going to say anymore, no matter how much I begged or pleaded. And even if I did succeed, the memory wipe device the Entity had in place would make all my effort worthless so there was really no point in being stubborn. “Let’s wrap this all up and get this show on the road!”

[ Okay. ]

“Great!” I’d been blue-balled long enough. “So am I going to go through another portal or something? ‘Cause I’d really want something to munch on if that's the case. You would not believe how—“

[ You just need to do one more thing. ]

“Goddamnit! You're doing this intentionally now, aren't you!?”

[…No. ]

“…Bitch. Get on with it!”

[ Health: 5 ]

[ Stamina: 5 ]

[ Energy: 5 ]

[ Power: 5 ]

[ Skill: 5 ]

[ Intellect: 5 ]

[ Fortitude: 5 ]

[ Wisdom: 5 ]

[ Resistance: 5 ]

[ Charisma: 5 ]

[ Perception: 5 ]

[ Control: 5 ]

[ Regeneration: 5 ]

[ Recovery: 5 ]

[ Clarity: 5 ]

“Yes? Those are my stats. You just showed them to me a moment ago. I have a short memory, but I’m not a fucking goldfish.”

[ Those are simply your base stats. Given your life on Earth, the following bonus stats have been applied. ]

[ Intellect: 5 + 1 = 6 ]

[ Wisdom: 5 + 2 = 7 ]

[ Charisma: 5 + 5 = 10 ]

[ Perception: 5 + 3 = 8 ]

[ Control: 5+ 1 = 6 ]

[ Clarity: 5 + 1 = 6 ]

“Whoah. Damn, that's sweet. I’m quite the talented fuck, aren't I?” I was very pleased with myself. That's a total of thirteen bonus points! That means I would have a higher starting point in these stats compared to another person. In other words… “Ad-fucking-vantage.”

[ Actually, if it wasn't for the base stats being set to five, you would receive a lower than average evaluation for nearly all physically dependent stats. ]

“…You just love to rain on my parade don't you, Orb Lady.”

[ I am incapable of making it rain. ]

“…”

[ You can re-allot your points if you wish at a certain rate of conversion. Beginning transportation in ten, nine, eight— ]

What did she just say!?!! “Wait, wait, wait! Hold on a moment!”

[ Yes? ]

“What did you say about re-allotment?”

[ You can re-allot your points if you wish at a certain rate of conversion. ]

“And why did you immediately try to send me off without waiting for my answer?”

[ Because the option is almost always ignored. ]

“May I ask why?” The ability to transfer points to more useful stats was something which should be jumped on without hesitation.

[ The conversion rate is not one to one. Most find it a scam or a waste of their natural advantages. ]

“Well I’m not most people, in case you didn't already know. Care to give me the conversion for Power, Endurance and Health?”

[ Power is four to one. Endurance is three to one. And Health is two to one. ]

I could see their point. With those rates, they’d lose their large advantage for a much smaller one. Also, psychologically speaking, most people would have a certain aversion to liquidating their perceived talents. Thankfully I’m not most people.

“Please hold off on the transportation. I’d like to re-allot my stats.”

[ Certainly. ]

I dropped down on my ass and sat cross legged on the ground. Wisdom was grouped together with Resistance and Endurance. I could infer that it was most likely a defensive stat. I’d probably have invest in it in the future. It would be stupid to convert it to another one.

Aside from Wisdom there were no other stats I felt to be worth keeping at the moment. I had no clue what Clarity and Perception did. Control was currently useless given my lack of skills. And Charisma, while my strongest aspect, wouldn't help my survivability. That was the key to it all. Survivability. Keeping my stats as is might be better for me in the long-term, but if I didn't survive until then it’d be worthless.

“Leave Wisdom alone. Free up everything else.”

[ Acknowledged. ]

A white light shot out of Orb Lady and surrounded me for a few seconds before disappearing. A wave of weakness attacked my body, causing my vision to fade in and out for a moment. Following it was an odd sense of emptiness as if I had lost something that was a part of me. I quickly shrugged that feeling off and refocused myself. So what if it felt like I lost something? Back on Earth I lost my car keys all the time. Did I ever cry over those? Nope.

[ You now have eleven free attribute points. Please select which stats you wish to increase. ]

“Increase Endurance by two and Health by two.” Power was too costly and I didn't see how it would directly keep me alive. It was a better idea to focus on Endurance and Health. The two universally known as the ‘I wanna live longer’ stats. “As for the one remaining point, which stats have a one to one conversion?”

[ Any stats which you received bonus points in have a one to one conversion. ]

“Great. Put it into…Wisdom, I guess.” Next to health strengthening my defenses was my number one priority.

[ Done. ]

[ Health: 7 ]

[ Stamina: 5 ]

[ Energy: 5 ]

[ Power: 5 ]

[ Skill: 5 ]

[ Intellect: 5 ]

[ Fortitude: 7 ]

[ Wisdom: 8 ]

[ Resistance: 5 ]

[ Charisma: 9 ]

[ Perception: 5 ]

[ Control: 5 ]

[ Regeneration: 5 ]

[ Recovery: 5 ]

[ Clarity: 5 ]

“That looks pretty—huh? Yo, Orb Lady, what's up with Charisma?”

[ The maximum points you can have prior to your first mission is capped at ten even if the actual estimation is much higher. Since you reduced your Charisma by five, your stats received a correction and the remaining bonus points were added. ]

Wow. So my actual Charisma was fourteen? “I really am more impressive than I thought!”

[ Those bonus points would have been given to you at the end of your first mission anyway. Besides, is not that uncommon for a test subject to have bonus stats given that an exceptional soul is required to be accepted into a transitory realm. ]

“Well, I’m still awesome!” And nothing would change that. “Now, take two points from Charisma and give me one more Health point.”

[ Done. ]

[ Health: 8 ]

[ Stamina: 5 ]

[ Energy: 5 ]

[ Power: 5 ]

[ Skill: 5 ]

[ Intellect: 5 ]

[ Fortitude: 7 ]

[ Wisdom: 8 ]

[ Resistance: 5 ]

[ Charisma: 7 ]

[ Perception: 5 ]

[ Control: 5 ]

[ Regeneration: 5 ]

[ Recovery: 5 ]

[ Clarity: 5 ]

“Nice. You can go ahead and send me on my way already. I’m done.”

[ Pardon me, but I expected you to dispense your Charisma into Wisdom, Fortitude or Health. Could you please explain to me the reasoning behind your actions? ]

“…No.”

Wouldn't I be slapping my own face if I admitted to regretting trading away my best characteristics after making such a big deal of not caring? Heck, the regret I was feeling already brought me inches away from making the illogical decision to reset everything and boosts my best stats instead. For all my bluster I was still a sentimental human. I would have to fix that someday.

[ Understood. It's not like I wanted to know it that much… ]

“Orb Lady, are you pouting?”

[ Transporting in ten, nine, eight, seven— ]

“Oh my god, you totally are!”

[ …One. ]

“Hey! You skipp—fffffuuuuuucccckkkkk!!!”