"Now that you have selected your abilities and skills, it is time to distribute your attribute points," the voice announced. "You have 980 points to allocate among your statistics."
Interesting. Mike wondered about the progression rules for earning stat points. It can't be 9.8 per level, can it?
âHow many points do people get per level? How does that work?â
âThat information is revealed to participants as they advance. We understand that you are in a unique situation in that regard, but we cannot give you that informationâ.
Why wasnât he surprised?
âLet us carry on with point allocationâ.
Another interface materialized, this one showing six primary attributes. Mike studied it carefully, his mind already calculating possibilities. "980 points... that's a lot to work with."
"Indeed. Each stat begins at 1. Your choices are permanent."
Of course they were. Mike examined the stat list:
PRIMARY STATS:
* Might
* Precision
* Vitality
* Perception
* Reason
* Will
These unusual stat names had caught his attention during ability selection, but now he could study them properly. Without tooltips or descriptions, he'd have to work backward from his abilities to understand their purpose.
"Okay, let's think about this systematically," Mike said, pacing the grey room. His new muscular form felt strange but powerful. "First, what do my abilities actually scale with?"
He pulled up his ability list again, cross-referencing the scaling factors. The pattern became clear as he tallied each stat's importance:
Pattern Analysis needed Perception and Reason. Recursive Strike wanted Precision and Might. Thread Manipulation scaled with Will and Precision. Mirror Weave needed Reason and Perception again. Pattern Shield used Will and Focus (which scaled from Will). Biorhythm Restoration wanted Reason and Will. Reality Stitch scaled with Reason and Will. Pattern Bomb used Reason and Might. Adaptive Patterns needed Perception and Vitality. Temporal Patterns required Reason and Focus. While he noticed focus was not a primary stat since it wasnât on the list, he figured itâs quite important. Still, he didnât know what determined it. Probably some combination of Will, Reason and Precision, extrapolating just from the names.
"So Reason and Will are my bread and butter," Mike muttered, but hesitated. "But it's not just about ability scaling. This isn't a spreadsheet simulator.
"Vitality probably affects my health pool. Low health means I'm a glass cannon, and glass cannons die fast in solo play."
He thought back to every RPG he'd ever played. The temptation was always to min-max, dumping everything into damage stats. But this wasn't a game where he could reload a save file. Death meant death.
"Wait," Mike said. "The alien said I'd spawn at the starting location with everyone else. But I'm level 100, they're level 1. What if enemies scale to party level? Or worse, to the highest level present?"
The voice remained silent, which was answer enough.
"I'm going to be fighting level 100 monsters from the start," Mike groaned. "I need to be properly balanced, not a glass cannon."
He started planning his distribution:
So, even though vitality doesnât really enhance most of my abilities, I would have to survive. A dead DPS does zero damage, and in this case, I canât even revive. So, a 100? 200 to be on the safe side? This isnât going to be optimized for sure.
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Then I have reason and will, both seem to be contributing about the same. Iâm sure Iâll regret this later, but Iâll give each 200 points. Then at second place I have Perception and precision. So, each one half the points of tier 1 stats? Which means a 100?
Then I only have might. It doesnât contribute much to abilities, but Iâm sure Iâll be in situations where i need to basically hit stuff. So, 80?
He ended up with a rough distribution that looked like this:
* Vitality: 200
* Might: 80
* Precision: 100
* Perception: 100
* Reason: 200
* Will: 200
That was 880 points. 100 left.
Hmm, what to do, what to do?
Letâs say for bragging rights I want to have all stats at a 100 minimum, so letâs put another 20 into might. With the 80 points left Iâll divide them between my two strongest, Reason and Will. Hopefully, that would give me a reasonable profile.
Final distribution:
* Might: 100
* Precision: 100
* Vitality: 200
* Perception: 100
* Reason: 240
* Will: 240
"That's a build that won't die to the first area effect," Mike said with satisfaction. "High mental stats for , I think, ability power, solid health pool, decent precision for hitting and dodging. Low Might, but Recursive Strike scales with found weaknesses more than raw power. Hopefully my guesses about secondary states are reasonable"
"Confirm allocation?" the voice asked.
Mike Hesitated for a second. Once he confirmed there was no going back. Still, he had to move forward.
"Confirm," Mike said finally.
As the points integrated, Mike's body underwent subtle but profound changes. His muscles compressed and condensed, Might packing power into every fiber without adding bulk. He watched his hands transform, Precision turning his fingers into instruments capable of surgical accuracy. His heartbeat slowed and strengthened, Vitality flooding his cells with vitality that felt almost immortal. He also felt more relaxed and composed. More focused.
"Setup is complete. Prepare to be transported to the starting zone."
The grey room began to dissolve. Mike felt reality shift around him.
When the world solidified again, he stood in what looked like a massive plaza made of impossibly smooth obsidian. In the distance, he could see other figures materializing. Humans, all in the same grey pajamas, all looking confused and terrified.
The voice he already recognized so well was coming from all directions: "Welcome to the starting zone. Tutorial will commence shortly."
Mike glanced at his fellow humans, then at the ominous structures looming beyond the plaza. They lacked any feature he could associate with any type of building. This didnât look like a town, not from Earthâs past or any future he could imagine.
Everyone, including him did not move a muscle. He tried to walk, or move his hand, but he found that he was held in place by something that felt like rubber. Not very hard, but still strong enough to hold him in place.
He could hear a sound whispering in his ears: âMike, your fellow humans currently hear an introduction to the tutorial process they will go through to start their journey in the competition. Since you are level 100, you will hear the explanations. The current information would be redundant for you. As soon as it is relevant again, we will include you again.â
Mike didnât know whether to trust the voice. He would have liked to be the judge of what information was relevant for him and what wasnât. He would have liked to be in charge of his destiny. But there he was.
He decided to make a good use of the time and tried figuring out if he could find out about his stats. Does he have some sort of character sheet?
He tried to reflect on himself to see if something pops up. And indeed, after a few seconds, a sort of screen popped up. There he could see several headings, some of which were totally obscure. There were these weird bands floating over them. No, not bands, but something that obscures them. He could really find no analogy for them, as if they refused to be conceived. But several headings were readable. He had a heading for his abilities, skills and stats. He tried concentrating on each heading and found out he could expand each section. When he expanded the abilities section he could see the abilities names, their descriptions, and some fields which were unreadable, much like the headings in what he started to think of as the home screen for his character sheet. He closed the abilities and opened the stats window and indeed saw his stats as he set them. But he could also see a bunch of secondary stats. Some were hidden, but some were visible.
Secondary Stats:
* Health = 2600
* Stamina = 2450
* Mana = 4850
Followed by a bunch of other entries that were weirdly obscured.
Interesting, he thought to himself. These look very high, but hard to judge. How does a health of 2350 compare to the level of damage he may have to take? Heâll need to figure this out sooner or later.