The sect members had quickly spread throughout the base of the mountain. After just a few minutes, Xai noticed he was alone. In the distance, he could faintly hear the footfalls of some of the closer members.
Unlike many of the others, Xai didn't break off into a run immediately. There was roughly 5 hours until nightfall. If he walked the whole way up the mountain- without resting- it would only take him about 3 hours to reach it. Leaving him a 2-hour window to take his time.
In the calm silence of the forest, Xai opened his status again, this time taking a longer look at it.
~~~~
[Name: Xai Faung]
[Level: 1 (F)]
[Vitality: 12]
[Endurance: 10]
[Strength: 8]
[Dexterity: 14]
[Intelligence: 12]
[Willpower: 5]
[Perception: 10]
[Charm: 18]
~~~~
Most of it wasn't too surprising. From the little he knew of the system, commoners without any form of combat training generally had stats averaging at 5. While most trained warriors who have not begun cultivating Ki were around an average of 10. From there, the averages ranged wildly from person to person depending on their level, and refinement of Ki.
His vitality, dexterity, and intelligence were understandably high. He'd been told many times before that he was quick to learn many of the weapons and martial arts the Silver Mist Sect taught. His strength and willpower were lacking, but that was mainly due to the fact he never bothered training them. His strength was only higher than the average man's simply due to him needing to exercise constantly for his training.
However, one question did linger in his mind. "Why is my 'charm' so high?" He mumbled. Not just that, but also the fact that a stat named 'charm' even existed.
While he didn't know the reason for the system's existence, only warriors had it to his knowledge. Or anyone who served in a sect, or the military. Then again, many of the sects, such as the Dancing Lion sect and Silent Palm sect, focused far more on various forms of infiltration. He supposed 'charm' could help to some extent or another.
Then another thought struck him. 'Charm' could also mean something like leadership or presence. More-or-less just how well people would listen to him.
Even if his theory was correct, he still had no idea how it was his highest stat.
He was broke from his thoughts by a low growl to his side.
Xai set a hand on his sword and turned to see a grey leopard stalking towards him. The warrior tensed up for a moment as he read the words floating above the beast's head.
[Level: 12 (F)]
Xai drew his sword and readied himself. He'd fought leopards before. They were difficult to be sure, but taking down a lesser beast of the mountain had been one of their first tasks after basic training within the Silver Mist sect.
But for some reason, Xai couldn't stop the small shot of nerves across his body at the leopard being at such a higher level than him. He tried to steady himself and take a breath. "It's just a leopard." He whispered to himself, dropping his stance lower ever so slightly. "You've fought them when you were far weaker."
Xai made the first move, shooting towards the leopard as he unsheathed his blade. The beast roared and leaped to the side, away from the swinging blade. Xai didn't let up on his assault, dashing forward again and landing a slice on the leopard's face. The beast snarled and dove at him. Xai rolled forward, under the leopard, before spinning around slashing the beast across its side just as it landed.
The leopard snarled again but didn't attack immediately. Opting to stalk around Xai from a safe distance thinking of its next plan of attack. However, Xai didn't give the beast time to breathe as he rushed forward again.
The leopard swiped at him, but Xai rolled to the side before stabbing the beast in the side. He followed the attack quickly by swinging his blade downward in an arc at the top of the beast's neck.
The blade stuck halfway through the leopard's neck. The beast tried to turn and snarl at the sect member but nothing but clots of blood spilled from its mouth before it inevitably fell over and became limp.
Suddenly, several translucent slips of paper began appearing in Xai's vision.
~~~~
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
~~~~
Xai waved away the several slips of paper as another appeared.
~~~~
[You have 8 unspent stat points]
~~~~
There it was. A level up: the primary way people who have gained the system grew in power. He'd already had a faint understanding of how it worked, simply due to asking some of the more experienced disciples of his sect. While the number of stat points gained per level varied depending on the rank of the user- F being the lowest, only granting one- each level gave a number of stat points to increase whatever stat they desired. Upon reaching level 100 within a rank. You were permitted to rank up. Decreasing most of your stats to their base value, but keeping their effectiveness. For example, if you reached level 100 within a rank with 50 vitality, after your rank up it would get reduced back to 10, but keep the same effect as it had been at 50 in the previous rank.
Stolen story; please report.
What did surprise him however was the ease at which he'd killed the leopard. Despite the fact it was several levels above him, it didn't seem any different from when he'd fought leopards before. Perhaps the system just allocated an appropriate level to whatever beasts he encountered. But even so, it was clear that he could handle beasts far beyond his level, at least to a point.
Xai opened his status again to decide what to allocate his stat points towards.
~~~~
[Name: Xai Faung]
[Level: 9 (F)]
[8 Stat points available]
[Vitality: 12]
[Endurance: 10]
[Strength: 8]
[Dexterity: 14]
[Intelligence: 12]
[Willpower: 5]
[Perception: 10]
[Charm: 18]
~~~~
His immediate reaction was to put the points into his lower stats, such as strength and willpower, but paused. He'd never really been challenged mentally before. While he doubted he'd never encounter it, he knew only those rather skilled in the manipulation of Ki could perform any form of mental attack.
Xai decided to put two points into each of his physical stats: vitality, endurance, strength, and dexterity.
It didn't take long for another leopard to appear further up the mountain; another level 12. It was dispatched rather easily, granting Xai 2 more levels, and 2 more stat points. One went into vitality; another into endurance.
But along with the extra levels and stats, another translucent scroll unrolled itself before him.
~~~~
[Level 10 reached]
[You have 1 skill reward of rank 'F']
[You meet the requirements for 2 skills]
[Select one of the following skills to acquire]
- [Swordsmanship (F)]
- [Intuition (F)]
~~~~
"Oh... ten levels then." He muttered to himself. He was aware users of the system gained skills occasionally as they leveled, but he never bothered to ask when. He'd had a theory it was once the user reached a level threshold, it seemed he was right.
As for the two skills he could choose from swordsmanship seemed somewhat useless. Granted, he didn't know how getting a skill of something he was already relatively skilled at would change it. He expected his skill with a sword would get better, but at the current moment, it had never been an issue. He'd spent years training with all forms of weapons before now. That was probably the reason he was viable to gain this skill to begin with.
Then there was 'Intuition'. That was a mystery. Partly because he wasn't even aware of what the word meant. He wasn't dumb, but he was no scholar. He knew the word... well existed, he'd just never quite seen it used before- or at least explained to him.
As those thoughts crossed his mind, another roll of parchment unraveled itself before him.
~~~~
[Intuition (F)]
[Description: Intuition; the ability to acquire knowledge, without recourse to conscious reasoning. You will occasionally learn a small- and often vague- bit of information about something, often to aid in a fight or get through a problem. The frequency and vagueness of this skill is affected slightly by your 'Intelligence' as well as this skill's rank]
~~~~
"That seems... useful," Xai said to absolutely no one.
Xai chose to gain 'Intuition' rather than swordsmanship for now. Plus, even if he made the wrong choice now, he could always choose swordsmanship once he reached level 20... probably.
Xai continued walking to the mountain's summit. Just over an hour had passed since the juniors of the Silver Mist sect began their ascent up the mountain. Xai looked up one the canopy of the trees to the sun hanging in the sky. He wondered how the others were doing.
***
~~~~
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
***
[You have 12 unspent stat points]
***
[Level 10 reached]
[You have 1 skill reward of rank 'F']
[You meet the requirements for 3 skills]
[Select one of the following skills to acquire]
- [Strong Man (F)]
- [Durable (F)]
- [Adrenaline Rush (F)]
~~~~
"Shit. It's finally dead."
Liang fell face up onto the grass. His two large sabers rolled out of his hands and fell at his sides.
A few feet away lay the corpse of a massive boar. One of its tusks was broken off, and its brown fur was stained with fresh blood. One of its eyes had been split open by a large gash across its face. The beast had been a monstrous level 25.
A year ago during training within this very mountain, the juniors had been told the giant boars of the mountain were best avoided. But that had been a year ago.
Despite having paid the price of a bruised arm and possibly a broken rib somewhere, Liang had managed to fell the beast after a full 5 minutes of fighting it. But his pain had been rewarded.
He opened his status to allocate the surge of stat points he'd gotten.
~~~~
[Name: Liang Warshi]
[Level: 13 (F)]
[12 stat points available]
[Vitality: 16]
[Endurance: 14]
[Strength: 20]
[Dexterity: 8]
[Intelligence: 5]
[Willpower: 10]
[Perception: 8]
[Charm: 5]
~~~~
Without so much as a second glance, he dumped all of the points he had into strength, bringing it up to a staggering 32.
Liang chuckled as he felt a slight jolt of energy course through his muscles.
He turned his head to the skills list.
He didn't think about this too much either. He chose 'Strong Man' without so much as looking at the others. If the name was anything to go by then it made him stronger. Maybe by the time he could take on another boar with his bare hands. He'd have to try that next time he saw one.
"Welp, that's enough rest." He told himself as he got up from the grass, ignoring the groan of his muscles in protest.
Before he continued his ascent he wanted to check something. He walked over to the nearest large rock before bringing his fist back and smashing it down with all his might.
Crunch
"Gahhh!" Liang shouted as he waved his hand. He looked at it, then the rock. "At least my hand isn't broken. Then again, neither is the rock." He sighed. "Guess I'll have to get Ki after all."
***
Toya didn't bother with most of the beasts on the mountain. She'd killed a particularly bloodthirsty monkey on her way up the mountain- throwing it from a cliff by wrapping it in chains- gaining her 5 levels. The points of which she'd yet to decide what to do with.
She'd stuck to the cliffs for most of her ascent. While it was mostly avoided since if one fell, especially someone without Ki to protect them, they'd most certainly die from the fall, or at the very least, be unable to climb any higher due to their injuries. But Toya had spent most of her childhood climbing cliffs and particularly massive rocks.
Now she sat at the edge of one such cliff staring off down the mountain and toward the city of Dantang in the distance.
She was about halfway up the mountain already and still had several hours until the deadline needed to be within the sect hall. She lay down on her back and opened her status menu. She might as well allocate her stats while she waited.
~~~~
[Name: Toya Katrina]
[Level: 6 (F)]
[5 stat points available]
[Vitality: 10]
[Endurance: 12]
[Strength: 7]
[Dexterity: 17]
[Intelligence: 13]
[Willpower: 10]
[Perception: 12]
[Charm: 8]
~~~~
She could always just spread it among her low stats, even everything out before committing to something. Especially considering the fact it was a bit vague on what some of the stats did. Things like endurance, strength, and intelligence were pretty obvious. But dexterity could mean anything from flexibility to reaction time or both. Willpower seemed straightforward; it was mental strength. But did that only count for mental attacks? Or did it help her resist more mundane mental effects, like stress? Charm most of all was vague. Her first thought was her literal looks, but that hardly seemed like a useful stat. Then she expected her way with words. While that may be more accurate, it just didn't feel right, given the System was crafted for the warriors of the realm. According to the old myths at least.
"I'm just going to play it safe." She muttered, dumping a single point into vitality, endurance, strength, dexterity, and intelligence. It was a shame she didn't have a few spare stat points to increase everything by one, but she'd deal with that later.
For now, it was just time to enjoy the view.
