Chapter 13: Stat Upgrade Chapter 13: Stat Upgrade Leo thought for a while and concluded that his body was severely lacking in physical aspects — so much that he could feel he wasn’t even performing at the level he had back in the military. So even though he felt the urgent need to increase his Intelligence stat to boost his mana capacity, his top priority was to get his body back to full efficiency. Without hesitation, he put one point into Strength. A surge ran through him instantly — muscles tensed, veins bulged slightly. "This... this feels exactly the same as when I was in the military," Leo murmured, clenching his fists. Then a grin spread across his face. "Doesn’t that mean I was twice as strong as a normal human back on Earth? Heh... this somehow makes me feel nice." He was right. Now that his Strength stat was 2.3, he was more than twice as strong as a normal person. Here, stats were linear — two points meant twice as strong, three points meant thrice, and so on. But it wasn’t the same for everyone. Soul Ranks played a crucial role in how much strength one could use — a kind of limiter bound to soul quality. For instance, a 1-star Beast Master’s strength would cap at ten stat points, no matter the soul quality. Yet reaching that cap was vastly harder for a Common Soul than for a Legendary one. A Legendary soul could easily reach six attribute points — its Soul Rank value — within days if conditions were right, but a Common Soul would grind for years to reach its limit. In Leo’s case, he was different. His System and Talents let him grow faster, unlock his stats’ max potential from the start, and share stats with his beasts, something others couldn’t do unless they possessed special talents or reached the Soul Fusion stage with a beast. "Now for the rest..." he muttered, thinking it through. "Let’s put one in Stamina and two in Agility. Being faster than your opponent is always good — for confrontations as well as tucking tails." --- Stats: Vitality: 1.2 Strength: 1.3 → 2.3 Agility: 1.2 → 3.2 Stamina: 0.5/1.2 → 1.5/2.2 Intelligence: 1.2 Mana: 11/96 Unallocated Stat Points: 4 → 0 --- "Good! Now let’s see." He bolted forward. The sudden burst of speed took even him by surprise. In just ten seconds, he had covered nearly 170 meters. "That’s around... 60 kmph?!" His eyes widened. "Holy shit, that was awesome!" He was back in place within seconds, panting lightly. "Phew..." he exhaled, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "I need to increase my stamina a bit more..." Stamina: 0.9/2.2 --- He then began collecting loot — goblin cores one by one — but paused when something shiny caught his eye. "Is this a damn mana crystal?" Leo’s eyes lit up. "Lucky me!" Mana crystals were condensed forms of mana, found deep underground or sometimes inside beasts. Common among higher-level beasts, rare among lower ones like goblins. They were expensive — useful for restoring mana, experiments, or research. Even rarer were soul crystals, found only in one out of a hundred beasts, capable of directly increasing Intelligence. "Better sell it," he muttered, tossing the crystal into his pouch. "Extra penny doesn’t hurt." He stored the goblin cores and severed the three-foot goblin’s head, slipping it into another pouch before heading back. But his return was interrupted. A hulking silhouette caught his eye, an orc. A humanoid creature with an ugly, pig-like face. The orc was bruised, bleeding from several spots, dragging a dead boar by its leg. "Looks like it hunted that thing and got hurt in the process..." Leo whispered, crouching behind some bushes. A sly smile crept up his face. "Perfect opportunity." But when he checked its status, his smile vanished. [Orc (Peak 1★) – Mortal Bloodline] Leo’s heart sank. "Peak 1-star..." he muttered, lowering his voice. "Dangerous, but rewarding. I can practically feel the free XP from how injured he looks..." Then his eyes flicked to the bloodied cleaver dripping red. "But I need to be extremely careful," he thought grimly. "He could kill me in a single motion." He glanced at his mana. Mana: 15/96 "Why does it regenerate so slowly!" he hissed. No choice. He took out the mana crystal and gulped it down. Mana: 15/96 → 35/96 → 65/96 → 96/96 "Whoa... Even if it was low grade, it’s still enough to completely fill me up." He summoned Shyra, crouching to her level and explaining something. "Now you know what to do," he whispered. Shyra gave a small nod before activating her skill and melting into the shadows, her violet eyes fading between the trees. Her mana was just enough to activate her skill once more. Leo activated Stealth, knife in hand, and crept toward the orc. The creature trudged along, snorting and grunting, dragging its prey — until it suddenly froze. Its instincts screamed. The orc dropped the boar with a heavy thud and turned sharply, scanning the woods. Then it spun with startling speed and slashed its cleaver in a wide horizontal arc. But what it saw left it stunned — a small black creature appeared out of nowhere, springing backward just in time to dodge. Then, a chill crawled up its spine. "Gotcha!" Leo’s voice came from behind. The orc twisted, eyes wide — just in time to see Leo emerging from the shadows just like that creature, knife raised, and ready to strike. The orc tried to raise its weapon to defend but it was too late. The blade sliced through both its eyes, blinding it in an instant. The orc roared in agony, swinging wildly in every direction. But Leo had already stepped back, watching as the creature flailed blindly, desperate to strike. Previously, Leo had instructed Shyra to sneak up on the orc, and at the end, slightly reveal her presence while jumping backwards to avoid its attack. And in that moment, Leo who would already at its back because of his speed, would blind him since he wasn’t sure his knife would pierce its skull. The orc, dragging the boar corpse which made noise, didn’t notice that he was being approached from two different direction! Leo then noticed something strange, some tissue had started to regerate near its eyes. "Its healing!" He hissed before again activation his stealth. The effect of mana crystal hadn’t ran out and had regerated some of his mana!