It takes Jason a good portion of the next day to finally come to a decision. His stats are wrong. Technically, before level 100 what he currently has would be fine. Everyone will have just core stats to provide a good base for the future. After level 100 however, they start to unlock special stats depending on what they’ve done.

A wizard focused on rapid fire spells would get stats focused on faster cast times while one focused on a specific element would gain a stat representing their connection to that element and allowing them to do more with it for less. Even melee fighters who don’t use any of the powers will gain stats like rage or enhanced crit chance. The thing is, there are records of people getting stats like that earlier. No explanation, of course, but Jason has a theory.

Level 100 is when you get a core if you haven’t managed to get one yet. Auxiliary stats suddenly appearing for most people when they gain a core? Sure, it could be a present for breaking the bottleneck but then people wouldn’t get those stats before then. With that in mind, Jason certain those specialty stats come from a person’s core.

The problem is, he hasn’t gained any despite having had his core since almost the beginning. With Jason’s fighting style even if you ignore the Energy part he should easily qualify for something related to hitting weak points. He could understand not getting them right away. It should take some time for the System to analyze a person’s fighting style as well as giving them some time in case some other style comes up they prefer.

Now though, it is well past the point of learning his methods. So there must be something holding the System back. And what do you know? Jason had just discovered that his cultivation has been divided by his approach and the System’s expectation. But that doesn’t mean he can’t fix it. He even has an idea of where to start.

See, every one of the specialty stats is built on top of something else. Take a fighter’s rage as an example. While a player can add points to it, the stat is also based on their toughness and, ironically, their control. With Jason, however, he isn’t developing something based on a pre-existing stat. Rather, he is creating something whole cloth and the System likely doesn’t have a clue what to do with it.

The fix should be easy enough in theory. Jason just has to discover the source of his body’s prime stats and transfer that to his void. He even has examples of this because his bones already do this since he can sense them as a part of his inner space.

To make it easier, he doesn’t even have to search his whole body. Just the surface layer because that is what is left of his original System provided body. But to do so will require more than his normal meditation. He needs to be moving to observe the changes and that will require the use of a moving mediation. Basically going through martial forms and letting his body move so his mind can unfocus.

The problem is that such a technique requires enough space in a place he won’t be interrupted. With a sigh, Jason leaves his room to find Gregor whipping himself up some lunch.

Gregor looks up and gestures at the food, “Want me to pull out some more for you?”

Jason shakes his head, “Not right now. I’m onto something and need to find an open place that will let me move around a bit.”

Gregor shrugs, “Fair enough. I guess you need somewhere a little more safe? Because last time I checked the fields outside the city are plenty big enough and if you need a bigger space than that I have some questions.”

Jason laughs, “No, I don’t need somewhere too big. I just need a decent size flat area that I can zone out with a moving meditation.”

Gregor nods, “Not the easiest thing to find. Most areas with enough space are going to be a bit too distracting. Peter should be back soon and he might know a place. The open areas I know of are spaces for testing ranged attacks.”

Jason sighs, “Yeah, wouldn’t exactly be conducive to meditating if I have to be mindful of dodging spells and arrows.”

Gregor gestures at the food again, “How about some lunch to pass the time?”

Jason rolls his eyes, “Fine, you can fix me up with something quick to eat.”

Gregor smiles and shakes his head before pulling out some more ingredients.

By the time Peter shows up, Jason is almost done with a bowl of noodles. Finishing quickly Jason asks if he knows a place.

Peter shrugs, “That’s a bit of a complicated question. The walls aren’t for show and while the city isn’t as bad as some of the truly ancient places we do try to make the best use of the space we have. Even the nobility aren’t just wasting the space with their display of riches. Though a lot of that is based around personal defense. You’ve been in the guild’s training rooms, right?”

Jason nods and Peter sighs, “Since you didn’t go there that isn’t enough space. Or at least the cheap rooms aren’t. I’m sure if you wanted to spend over a gold an hour you could rent out one of the bigger rooms but for what you want that would be wasteful. Honestly, your best bet would be one of the sparring yards just outside the city where the guards train.”

“They’re right next to the wall, so safer than not. Especially since a good number of farm fields are nearby. While those areas don’t have the best soil, the constant training keeps away many of the pests. You aren’t going to find stray animals nibbling on the crops with so many people pounding around in armor at all hours of the day and night.”

“Though that might be a problem. They do end up with at least a few groups training almost every hour. Understandable though. If you want your guards to be able to fight at night, then you train them at night.”