The App 11 (Patreon)

The App

Chapter 11

-VB-

Greg stared at his hands.

After he heard the most recent announcement from Mel about new Tournament rewards and how a winner could choose what reward they wanted (if they had enough points for it), he grinded his ass off on all sorts of Tournaments. He never outright took first place, but he got a lot of fourth, third, and even second places.

He gained enough points, a new system of being able to choose alternative reward, and … got them.

Stat Boosts.

He earned himself three of them, and just minutes ago, had dumped them all into his Strength.

He just crushed a brick in his hands. Yeah, he got a lot of cuts from crushing a brick in his hands because of the shrapnels and whatnot, but he crushed a brick in his hands like it was a ball of paper.

He giggled. And then he chuckled.

Laughter broke out.

He was a real parahuman now!

-VB-

On January, 2010, Mel made a big announcement.

Even before this announcement, many politicians and private citizens raised concerns about the impact that Ask Mel and associated apps and community had on the world.

Those concerns have elevated since then, especially since the announcement and implementation of a new reward.

Already, there was a shift in the wider world, because that most recent and now most common rewards for second to fifth places given out in The Tournament of Titans was a “stat boost.” It was a term unfamiliar to many who did not play video games, but one that could change how people “worked.”

Stat Boost was a single “point” that could be assigned to any single aspect of a person. Generally, most people followed the RPG terms for how they applied their Stat Boost: Strength, Endurance, Agility, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom.

And depending on how young, weak, or - no offense - dumb you were, a single Stat Boost could mean gaining the effort of a year.

Reportedly, a ten year old, non-parahuman Nicaraguan child living in France won third place in a contest of reaction speed and was given three stat points. He invested all of those points into his intelligence. He later, at his parents’ insistence, took a test to receive high school diploma and passed the test.

In a recorded case, a Protectorate Hero - a Brute with minor Striker - won eleven Stat Boosts in his “elo” of Tournaments, invested them all in his Agility, and earned himself a Mover 2 rating.

Why go to school when one could win five Tournaments and become as learned as a high school graduate? You don’t even have to be first place for all of those! A first place winner specifically for the purpose of gaining Stat Boosts could gain upwards to five Stat Boosts in a single Tournament! Ten points was enough to earn a person a 1 on most parahuman categories!

If you wanted to be a parahuman, then here was your chance!

GO AND CHANGE THE WORLD!

What used to be tens of thousands of Tournaments a day became hundreds of thousands over a week, and then jumped to millions of Tournaments a day.

For all intents and purposes, the world moved to Mel’s whims. Everyone, from the richest of business tycoons and Triumvirates to the homeless and degenerates, stopped to listen to Mel. When Mel made a change, people moved like a wave towards it. When Mel made another change, people moved like another wave towards it.

She was the hand that fed them, and the control over the world fell into her hands.

Oh, governments still held nominal control over the world, but did they really when even their heroes paid more attention to Mel than them?

And then … and then someone asked the question. Someone who made themself famous online by buying an Investigative subscription from Ask Mel asked a simple question with dreadful implications.

Mel, how far can Stat Boosts go?

The world waited for his answer.

TheodoreQuincyWashington (Investigative Subscription)
Posted on March 10, 2010:
Q: Mel, how far can Stat Boosts go? What is the absolute maximum?
A: While there is a point where the returns start to sharply diminish, there is no hard limit.

It was such a simple phrase, but it flipped the table that was the world order.

Parahumans?

They were no longer the top dog.

It was whomever could acquire as many points as possible. It was about who could win the Tournament of Tians as many times as possible.

… Well, it wasn’t completely no longer about parahumans, because the strongest parahumans - Alexandria, Legend, Armsmaster, the Sleeper, Moord Nag, and more - still dominated the Tournament of Titans. Parahumans held all of the top ranks for a reason.

But their time was running out.