[NR] Seeing Stars - Chapter 440 (Patreon)

On the other hand, Agility only grew by two points. To be fair, Lily didn’t exactly do that much dodging in those fights. It basically wasn’t worth it because the shell protects most weak points she might attack so the only way was through the front door. </Previous Chapter>

Jason was a bit frustrated at those two points of Agility that Lily had gained. Both of her other stats were now started and that only left Agility, which may or may not star in two more points. He really wanted to know, but it isn’t like NeoRealm revolves around the two of them so those last two points don’t come quickly.

In fact, it takes until they’re only a week out from the dungeon for Lily to finally get two points of Agility. There just weren’t any agile monsters to challenge Lily until that point and simple practice wasn’t enough anymore to improve.

Good thing they came across a pack of jackal monsters to finally force Lily to really push herself. Jason wasn’t sure how big jackals normally get, though given the monsters only reach about two-thirds up his shin, he felt safe assuming these monsters were smaller than normal. That and they had a second tail. A tail that will be worth more than even the ostrich feathers because while one was normal, the other was wind given fleshy form through their innate magic.

Well, not quite pure magic as there was still normal flesh and blood to make up space. Still, while Jason wasn’t certain what the use would be, he made sure that Lily didn’t touch either tail while fighting them. Which honestly, might be why she gained five points of Agility off of just that one fight.

That or the fact that all six of the jackals had wind magic that was focused entirely on their ability to dodge, with only the oldest in the group being able to also shoot out an air blade. Though even that was weak and more of a distraction.

However, the oddest thing about the fight wasn’t anything to do with the monsters. It was the fact that as the fight went on, and Jason was just barely able to notice the change, Lily got less agile. This was a matter of a point of Agility out of about a hundred so easy to miss, but he had been specifically looking for it.

In fact, at the start of the fight, Jason saw two points at which her Agility likely went up. It was simple things like how tight her turns were and as long as the bonus from stat growth is linear or worse, this is likely one of the last times he will be able to see the difference a single point makes. The trickiest part, however, wasn’t seeing when she gained a point of Agility.

Rather, it was the points at which she lost Agility that were by far the hardest. This was because Lily didn’t simply become less agile. If you take Agility as the body’s raw ability to move flexibly, it was clear she lost that. On the other hand, what she lost in raw flexibility she made up for in gained control.

While her turns weren’t as sharp, they were a lot smoother. It actually took Jason a while to figure out what he was observing at first, but his experience from his last life helped key him in. This was the difference between pure ability and stable control.

At the most extreme, he would compare it as the difference between one of those wacky waving inflatable tube men displays and an elder who has been doing Tai Chi for decades. The tube man is clearly much more flexible, what with the lacks of any internal structure, but the elder slowly moving through the forms uses what flexibility they have with refined control.

In his last life, this sort of mismatched in pure ability and control was most often found when a mortal first started their journey. Right away, they would end up being much stronger as the first steps prepared their bodies to hold the power that comes later on. There was a reason most sects used stone buildings without any decorations for the newly inducted and only half of it was to motivate them to advance quickly for better living accommodations. If a sect had used even something as simple as wooden doors, they would have been replacing each door multiple times a week during the first year or so as people failed to control their strength.

So having teased apart what happened, Jason wasn’t surprised at what he found in Lily’s status.

{Normal Stats

★Strength 50 ( 59[Base] + 0[SP] )

★Toughness 71 ( 74[Base] + 0[SP] )

★Agility 108 ( 102[Base] + 10[SP] )}

Lily had gained five points fighting the small wind jackals, but her total Agility actually fell by three points after it starred. This all came back to the “SP”, the stat points that the System grants on level up. They just simply aren’t your own power.

More than that, though, Jason had noticed one other detail. The speed at which she gained Agility rose as she lost active points of the stat. It makes sense, after all, the less you have the easier it is to improve. However, that meant that not only does the System hide most people’s base statistics, those guys who put all their points in Strength likely are actually weak, being more like someone who used a powered exoskeleton.

Of course, most people aren’t going to care about that. To them, NeoRealm is a game no matter how realistic it is. Sure there is some stuff put in place to prevent players from turning into some kind of immortal serial killer, but it isn’t like irl laws care about what you do in-game with very few exceptions. So why would they care if their power is innate to their character or gifted from the System? To them, both are equally fine.

Though with what Jason knows, this is dangerous. Each point given is another hook the System has in you. In fact, it makes him question those who have exceeded level 499. In theory, you would at that point have escaped the System, and yet the person who taught him war stomp had been delaying their ascension for who knows how long. Yet, players from those big families and corps all ascend as quickly as possible. That points to there being more secrets behind the System and its reach than Jason had first thought.