Chapter 10 - Slow Progression Gustav stared at the panel with a look of contemplation. "Being able to add five attributes point to whatever attribute I wish to increase is not bad, but looking at my attributes, five isn’t enough to go around," Gustav stared intently at the attributes panel. ------------------------- {Attributes stats} »Strength: 1 »Perception: 1 »Agility: null »Speed: 1 »Bravery: null »Intelligence: 4 »Charm: null {Attributes point: 5} --------------------------- "Placing everything in one category is the only way there can be a substantial difference, but at the same time, the rest will be lacking," Gustav was having a hard time deciding. After contemplating for a few minutes more, he came to a decision. "Even distribution will be a much better option," Gustav decided. "One stat being way above the other like strength and agility will have an adverse effect... imagine having strength but being slow, how will the strength be used properly?" This was Gustav thought process as he came to the conclusion of even distribution. "Now let’s go with... add one point to strength," Gustav stated. [+1 attribute point has been added to strength] "Add one point to perception," [+1 attribute point has been added to perception] "Add one point to speed," [+1 attribute point has been added to speed] "Intelligence already has four points, so I’m not adding to that yet... hmm, which should I pick between bravery and charm?" Gustav held his chin and pondered. "Let me go with bravery," Gustav decided to pick bravery since he felt charm would only assist in getting girls to fall for him while bravery would help him stand up for himself. What a foolish thought indeed! "Add one point to bravery," Gustav said. [Unable to add points to a non-existent attribute] "What?" Gustav was surprised to see the notification that popped up after trying to add a point to bravery. "Add one point to bravery," Gustav said once again. [Unable to add points to a non-existent attribute] Gustav noticed that he skipped agility and tried adding points to it too. "Add one point to agility." [Unable to add points to a non-existent attribute] Gustav had the urge to curse upon seeing this, but he held himself back. He scrutinized the attributes panel properly and finally came to a realization. --------------------- »Agility: null »Speed: 2 »Bravery: null »Intelligence: 4 »Charm: null --------------------- "This means I can’t add points to agility, bravery, and charm," Gustav started to worry after he came to this realization. "Then... how do I raise it?" Gustav had a confused look. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t find an answer. The system notifications that always popped up to give him answers to questions like this were absent. "Since I can’t add it to them yet, then I guess I’ll just add it to strength and speed," Gustav said with a solemn look, "Add one point to strength," [+1 attribute point has been added to strength] ------------------------- {Attributes stats} »Strength: 3 »Perception: 2 »Agility: null »Speed: 2 »Bravery: null »Intelligence: 4 »Charm: null {Attributes point: 1} -------------------------- "Add one point to speed," Immediately Gustav said that a notification popped up in his line of sight. [Host has achieved agility] [Points can now be added to agility] Gustav had a look of confusion on seeing this. "How did I suddenly achieve ’Agility’?" He wondered. -------------------- {Attributes stats} »Strength: 3 »Perception: 2 »Agility: 1 »Speed: 3 »Bravery: null »Intelligence: 4 »Charm: null {Attributes point: 0} -------------------- "Is it because I added points to speed?" Gustav wondered. Gustav was still new to this, so he knew that overthinking it wasn’t going to help. Even though it was faint, he could feel that he had truly increased in strength. He stood up and turned to face his tub. He placed both hands on the edge, clenched it tightly, and lifted it. "Hnnn," Gustav was able to lift the tub a few centimeters off the ground before dropping it back. "Huff! Huff! Huff!" Gustav stared at his hands in shock as he breathed in and out. "I definitely increased in strength. I couldn’t do that before," He said with an excited look. The bathtub weighed about eighty-five kilograms. Although he couldn’t lift it completely or with ease, he knew he would be able to lift fifty kilograms without stress now. Gustav sat inside his bathtub and smiled. "This is it," He clenched his right fist as he raised it. "This is how I can finally achieve my dreams!" - The next day Gustav went to school with his usual means... trekking. Even when he met his brother and mother about to leave the house, he didn’t even bother asking her to drop him. He even left the house before them. The daily task was the same as the day before, with slight differences. ------------------------- [Quests] »Daily -Today’s task (1/3): .Travel 7km (Status: 0.1/7km) .Climb to a height of 40 meters (Status: 0/40m) .Carry a total of 250 kilograms (Status: 0/250kg) ------------------------- Gustav checked out the increase as he ran to school. He already had today planned and well thought out. Before he got to school, a notification had popped up in his line of sight. [Daily task completed (1/3): Travel 7km ✓] Gustav was faster in running than before, so he got to school before activities for the day had begun. He quickly went to his class block and started climbing up the stairways. He ran to the last stair and ran down again. He kept running up and down the stairs repeatedly for about fifteen minutes until a notification popped up in his line of sight. [Daily task completed (2/3) climb to a height of 40meters ✓] Gustav smiled as he saw the notification and proceeded to climb up the stairways again. He was able to do this without disturbance since no one ever used the stairs. Everyone used the elevators. Gustav got to his class, and as usual, insults and snorts were directed at him from different angles. He walked to the far end of the class and sat in his usual lonely corner. What his classmates didn’t notice was, Gustav didn’t look down like he used to whenever he was coming to school. The day activities began. Gustav listened to most of the classes that taught bloodline-related subjects with newfound enthusiasm. After close to six years of studying at Echelon Academy, this was the first time he felt passionate about being in class. The day ended again, and Gustav went straight home to go lift the sofa again. In a few seconds, he was done and the notification popped up in his line of sight again. [Daily task completed (3/3): carry a total of 250 kilograms✓] [Host has received +5 attributes points] [Host has received 50exp] [Host has leveled up] [+1 attribute points has been added to all of host’s attributes] Gustav had an excited look on his face as he opened the system interface and checked the attributes panel. "Just as I thought... leveling up adds one attribute point to each attribute," Gustav stared at the panel. Extra one point was added to every category except for the charm and bravery. Gustav was excited because he still had extra five attribute points to spare. Gustav evenly distributed the attribute points again. Placing two in strength, one each in agility, speed, and perception. ----------------------------- [Host Attributes] -Name: Gustav Oslov -Level: 2 -Class: ? -Exp: 0/1000 -Hp: 150/150 -Energy: 50/50 {Attributes} »Strength - 6 »Perception - 4 »Agility - 3 »Speed - 5 »Bravery - null »Intelligence - 5 »Charm - null {Attributes point - 0} --------------------------- Gustav noticed that his biceps that had always been tiny bulged slightly. The difference was barely noticeable, but it was there nevertheless. Gustav tried lifting his tub again. He placed both his hand and pulled up. Crych! The tub made a screeching sound as it scratched against the ground while being lifted. Gustav was able to do it with ease this time. He lifted it to his height level before placing it back down. Gustav’s chest heaved up and down as he stared at his hand and smiled slightly. - The next day the daily task had increased in difficulty again. Gustav didn’t mind and kept his current routine in play. As days passed, Gustav kept completing the daily tasks and receiving attribute points. His body was going through a visible transformation in the past few days. His brother Endric noticed the slight difference but didn’t think much of it. Gustav ignored them most of the time and just went straight to school without saying a word about their mom dropping him off. -- Just like that, a week had passed. -Echelon Academy It was break period during school, and students could be seen walking towards the cafeteria close to their block. Gustav was currently on his way to the cafeteria, which was located several blocks away from his class, towards the west. He was checking his current stats as he headed there. Of course, he didn’t have any money, but there was a free food section there which he always visited every day. He never ate from home except during the weekends, where he would eat the scraps from his mother and brother’s meals. His father was away most of the time due to the nature of his work which was energy mining. (Author’s note: This will be explained later on) Gustav was used to eating once a day and sometimes none. Gustav had been thinking about getting a part-time job so he wouldn’t have to keep suffering, but that was proving difficult. He currently checked his status and was happy to see his one-week improvement. ----------------------------- [Host Attributes] -Name: Gustav Oslov -Level: 3 -Class: ? -Exp: 500/2000 -Hp: 150/150 -Energy: 50/50 {Attributes} »Strength - 13 »Perception - 11 »Agility - 10 »Speed - 12 »Bravery - null »Intelligence - 12 »Charm - null {Attributes point - 0} --------------------------- Even though according to the system, he hadn’t achieved bravery or charm yet, he was still satisfied with his current pace of improvement. With his strength right now, he was able to lift his tub using a single hand. Gustav walked into the cafeteria that was two stories tall. The one below was where he always got free food from.