Chapter 62: An Even Spread

“Well, we need to adjust some things before testing them. As I said, let’s go to lunch and we will see these two tested later.”

“I would prefer to wait,” Arneala, held her gaze locked on the Chief Mentor. His initial frustration melted into a smile.

“I suppose it won’t hurt,” he acquiesced. “Those that wish to stay may do so. Any who wish to dine please go to the dining hall.”

About a third of the participants went or were encouraged by their mentors to leave. Even Arneala’s mentor whispered something to her. Her calm visage showed a hit of frustration but then was covered by resolve. Her mentor took a step back, slightly bowed her head and stepped back near a group of mentors.

“Well, I suppose we may proceed, but there are a couple things that must be done first. They shouldn’t take long,”

Ele’Azar bent down and spoke to Trint and Pneuma, “Alright, now it is your turn. Both of you walk around to the other side of the circle. Don’t step on, we have a few instructions for you.

They both did as instructed and followed Ele’Azar. They were met by the Chief Mentor.

“Now we haven’t been properly introduced, but you know who I am, and I know who you are, so let us move along,” Chief Mentor Fineran politely but firmly spoke so only the four of them could hear. “Pneuma, we know you are intimately linked to Trint’s stats, and we don’t have a way to unhitch you from them. We do believe that you have the potential to gain your own Soul Anchor. Have you any knowledge of experience with Soul?”

Pneuma glanced over at Trint next to him, “I have the knowledge, but I am a creature of Spirit. I don’t believe I will be able to touch on Soul unless it is through Trint and my connection.”

Fineran nodded along but smiled, “your knowledge, hopefully, is just limited and not infallible. I believe you may be surprised. Don’t simply assume you will only touch on Soul through Trint. If you gain your own Soul Anchor, you will greatly benefit both of you. Especially if Trint makes a good Anchor. There is likely to be a synergy. This test will give us an indication and may surprise you. But first, Trint, we need you to assign your free stat points before taking the test. We can see you have begun to assign them with strategy. We cannot force you to assign them a certain way, but we have a suggestion. Given your unique Stat categories we wish to encourage you to evenly distribute them. That will help us avoid skewing your results. But we have decided to allow you to make the decision. This is just our preference.”

“Why the hot cold treatment? Last night we weren’t allowed more than a couple minutes of sleep at a time after running under restricted conditions? That was a load of…”

“Yes, I know that was challenging, but our analysts and some of our leadership were adamant on stressing you to gain a threshold. I assure you, that you were in no actual danger.”

"We will have to consider that viewpoint. But it will be easier after some sleep. Can we have access to our System menus and stats again?” Trint asked managing to keep his frustration from bleeding out too much. He added a polite request, “Please allow us a little privacy to discuss this”

“That is acceptable,” Fineran said, but quickly corrected his tone to one urgency, “But please decide quickly. I don’t want everyone here waiting for you to work on a build strategy. If you must be clever in your assignment, we can continue tomorrow if you need the time.”

Trint and Pneuma were left with thirty feet of space and when their Mentor and the Chief stopped and turned away to whisper, Trint began his own discussion.

“Stats,” Trint said, and his view finally lit up. P can you hear me again?

Yes, we must have been given Spirit access along with your stats and System. I don’t think any of that can get us out of this situation, but I am eager to see what they can teach us. If I can gain a Soul Anchor, whatever that is…I know that would benefit us. I don’t like our treatment and clearly some of these groups are not friendly, but we should try to make allies and learn what we can.

I agree, Trint nodded as they mentally conversed. What are your thoughts on the stat distribution, I didn’t realize we had so many unassigned points! Looking at his status page was a bit of a shock after everything. He had been so busy then lost access. Now he could see his EXP going up as they spoke, ticking up a percentage since they pulled up the view.

Trinten Atlas Henderson

Class: Sovereign

Profession: None

Stats

Level: 2208

XP: 17%

Unassigned Stat Points: 438 (Body) 438 (Mind) 2208 (Spirit**)

Body Stats

Strength

Agility

Vitality

75 (+146): 221.0

75 (+146): 221.0

75 (+146): 221.0

Mind Stats

Memory

Wisdom

Adaptability

75 (+146): 221.0

75 (+146): 221.0

75 (+146): 221.0

Spirit Stats

Reign

Kingdom

Court

1 (+736): 737.0

1 (+736): 737.0

1 (+736): 737.0

Status

Health - HP

220,800/220,800

Regen

1.7% / sec

Stamina - SP

220,800/220,800

Regen

5% / sec

Mana - MP

220,800/220,800

Regen

1.7% / sec

Sprit - SPP

110,400/Error**

Regen

Error**

I went ahead and input the stats as if you were going to divide them evenly, Pneuma offered.

That’s fine, we’ve been doing that most of my progression anyway, Trint acknowledged.

Yeah, but let's not let them think we are happy about them telling us how to allocate stats. They can only be trusted so far. But for now, I recommend moving forward. They haven’t given us many options, but they also haven’t hurt us any more than a little forced training.

I agree, Trint reluctantly nodded. I’ll go ahead and confirm the stat change, but before I do will that many levels and the change of stats be a problem? Trint considered and his face showed his concern.

It is your fault for sitting on the stats for so long. Whatever happens, it won’t kill you. The point of the System is to guide you towards Ascension and to do that by helping change you on all levels. It might not feel great, but this is inevitable.

Okay, well here goes, Trint grimaced and nodded to Pneuma and then turned to their Mentor and clicked confirm.

White blinding light flooded Trint’s view. Then blackness.

Trint woke, covered in sweat but feeling strong and warm. He was laying on the ground and he felt warm, but a cool breeze let him know his clothes were now wet. He closed his eyes again and wiped the sweat from his face from brow to chin. The wetness was thicker than sweat. He reopened his eyes to see Pneuma sitting next to him on the grass and others standing around. And that’s when he saw his hand was painted red.

“What, hap…” Trint’s voice was so thick and raspy that he started coughing. His health regen had healed anything that had happened, but he turned away from where Pneuma sat on his left and started to hack and cough till he had to spit up what looked like phlegm and bits of lung.

“Trint, you have only been unconscious a few minutes. It seems you dumped all the stats in one go!” Ele’Azar exclaimed.

Pneuma, was there another option? Trint mentally growled at his bond.

There might have been a slower and less invasive way to gradually add the stats. But they said to hurry, and you are fine. It was just a shock to your senses. Stand up and see how you feel. If they don’t lock down your stats or Spirit anytime soon, you should feel great. Pneuma tried to defend his stance on withholding options for his stat increases.

Trint stood and realized, although he was covered in some blood, he felt the residual high and warmth from the flood of stats. Pneuma stood along with Trint and was ready to offer a hand. The next thing Trint noticed was that he was at eye level with Pneuma now.

I must be about seven feet tall now, Trint told Pneuma.

Yeah, you had a little growth spurt there, buddy, his companion smiled his toothy grin. How do you feel thought?

Trint stretched and flexed his body in different ways. I honestly feel better than I can ever imagine. Other than the mess of blood I’m covered in. What did I like sweat blood or something?

Yes, yes, I think you did. Better than pushing out impurities or something, Pneuma confirmed.

“Well, if you are feeling well enough, I suggest a quick shower rather than getting that on the testing sphere,” Chief Mentor said. He waved Ele’Azar to take care of them.

Trint and Pneuma were escorted to a new section of the Castle compound. They were shown a smaller apartment with two bedrooms and attached bathrooms. After a very brief tour in which Trint wasn’t allowed to touch anything, they were told to quickly clean up and meet back in the common area of the apartment in five minutes.

Trint knew he was supposed to hurry but he enjoyed the shower like almost none other in his life. He also took the time to admire the changes in his body. His muscles and definition of them were approaching something like perfection. He could tell that his body was much harder than steel but somehow supple-like skin. The physics of it didn’t make much sense as he felt no heavier than 300 pounds. Still, when he flexed his spirit, he felt his mass increase.

Ah, so I can manipulate my mass, and power with Spirit. Something I should have noticed before but somehow this feels different. Maybe I crossed a threshold or something. I feel my control is exponentially better. Trint’s thoughts were interrupted by Pneuma.

Time to end the shower. Our mentor is threatening to cut your Spirit access if you don’t hurry up.

Okay! I suppose that’s a good enough reason, but I am tempted to trade it for more shower time, Trint joked as he cut the water and finished in the bathroom.

They made their way back to the testing area. The crowd was now smaller but many of them were still there.

“Ah thank you, now should we get this done? Pneuma if you would go first?” Chief Mentor asked.

Pneuma stepped forward and the test proceeded much the same. The main difference being the color shining through started a deep blue and darkened and shifted to a bright purple.

“That can’t be,” someone watching gasped as other murmurs and talk spread throughout the spectators. Arneala’s jaw was hanging open until she became aware of her reaction and quickly composed herself. Still, she was unable to not show some frustrated jealousy.

Stat Average: No Measurement

Mana Rank Average: No Measurement

Spirit Stat Average: Surpasses Test Parameters

Skill Proficiency Error, Error

Soul Potential: 95% Middle Violet

“Well, it seems we have another Violet to welcome,” Ele’Azar beamed as he turned to Trint. “Albeit as a very interesting one. I can’t wait to see what yours show next.

Pneuma almost immediately gained consciousness and walked back to Trint after he was lowered back to the ground.

“Well, how’d I do?” Pneuma asked.

“Below average,” Trint gave a mischievous smile. “Nice try buddy.”

Pneuma looked to Ele’Azar with a bit of concern but saw him shake his head no. “You are now the second living Violet to ever be recorded,” Ele’Azar said. “But we have one more to test, don’t we.” Trint knew what to do at this point and walked to the circle. He stopped before the black stone and removed the sandals he’d been given after his shower. He took his first step on the stone barefoot and felt a warmth from the stone. He arrived at the four feet tall white pillar in the center and had to lean over to place his hands on it.