[Name: Romanov] [Age: 19] [Strength: 8 (2,000 points per point at current stage)] [Agility: 7 (2,000 points per point at current stage)] [Stamina: 12 (5,000 points per point at current stage)] [Intelligence: 8 (20,000 points per point at current stage)] [Charm: 10 (50,000 points per point at current stage)] [Current Points: 115,001]
Shenlan and all that had just been a joke. The system wasn't intelligent, so Noah still had to assign his points manually.
"Stamina costs five thousand points per point now?" He noticed the change and couldn't help muttering to himself, Crossing the stage threshold more than doubled the price in one go. That's a bit of a rip-off.
There was no need to hesitate. He immediately tapped the "+" key a few times for both Strength and Agility, raising each to 12.
At 2,000 points per increase, nine presses cost him a total of 18,000 points.
The cost of increasing Strength and Agility had also risen from 2,000 to 5,000 points per point, just like Stamina.
[Current Points: 97,001]
"Next is Stamina..." Noah's gaze moved down. He planned to test the waters with Stamina first and find out how high it could go before reaching the next stage.
It was the attribute he'd intended to focus on anyway, so even if he overshot, it didn't matter.
[Player spent 5,000 points. Stamina +1] [Player spent 5,000 points. Stamina +1] ...
The information panel continued to fill with messages. At last, after spending a full 30,000 points and raising his Stamina to 18, the cost of each increase abruptly jumped again, rising to 20,000 points.
"Whoa..." Noah's eyelid twitched. He immediately stopped, afraid that if he kept clicking too fast, he'd drain all his points.
"The first three basic attributes all cross a threshold and enter the next stage after every six-point increase," he concluded. "The cost then shoots up, doubling each time. But that's within expectations, so it's acceptable."
Six, twelve, eighteen... By that logic, the next price hike would come when he reached 24.
That was still a ways off. Noah remembered that Momousagi's attribute was about that high at present. If he wanted to catch up, it would probably be difficult before graduation.
After raising his Stamina, Noah still had over 60,000 points. That was enough to raise both Strength and Agility to 18.
But that would leave him with barely a few thousand points. It wouldn't fit with his original plan to save half his points for the shop's item refresh next week.
In the end, he spent only 30,000 points, raising each attribute by three.
And so, Noah's attribute panel now looked like this:
[Name: Romanov] [Age: 19] [Strength: 15] [Agility: 15] [Stamina: 18] [Intelligence: 8] [Charm: 10] [Current Points: 35,001]
"Strong as a monster..."
Noah stared at his brand-new attribute panel for a long while before scratching the back of his head and muttering, "Somehow, it feels like I've suddenly become invincible out of nowhere..."
When it came to skills and combat experience, he might still fall short of the best among his peers.
But judging by his physical stats alone, there was no question he was firmly in monster territory—more than enough to throw his weight around in Recruit Camp.
Still... numbers on a page could only give you so much of a feel for things. The same went for the balance in a bank account.
So, wanting a more complete and in-depth understanding of his body's current condition, Noah kept on his way while squeezing in a series of tests along the deserted path in the night.
First up was speed.
He went all out, sprinting at full speed. The wind roared past his ears, and dust billowed behind him. The sudden, extreme burst of speed gave him such confidence that it even produced a strange illusion—
Tonight, he was the Flash! Running from Central City to Gotham would take only a few seconds.
As he ran, he caught sight of a huge tree by the roadside. It was six or seven people around in girth and more than ten meters tall, with dense foliage.
He skidded to a stop and sent an uppercut straight at the tree's "face."
Thud!
The muffled impact startled the birds roosting in the night.
He hadn't used any martial arts technique or even deliberately wound up, yet the force he unleashed was still enough to bring the giant tree crashing down.
Noah drew back his fist and studied the fallen tree. Before he'd allocated his points, the same punch would at most have made it shake violently for a while.
"My speed and strength have probably both tripled..."
"Sure enough, I'm basically invincible now!"
Feeling the power surging through his body, he was in an especially good mood. Then he noticed a large number of nuts spilling from the top of the fallen tree—hazelnuts and chestnuts, among others—cascading down to the ground.
Three adorable chipmunks darted out from who knew where. Their chubby cheeks puffed out as they angrily chattered at Noah in protest.
One of them even picked up a hazelnut from the ground and hurled it at him in frustration.
"Ah, sorry!"
The invincible Lord Noah fled into the darkness of the night.
Thanks to his increased speed, Noah reached the 329th Branch in less than two hours.
Several people were waiting outside the base's main gate. The person at their head looked vaguely familiar from a distance. Noah guessed it was Colonel Bako, whom he'd met just two days earlier.
He slowed down and stopped running. His face wasn't flushed, he wasn't out of breath, and his breathing remained steady, as if that full two hours of sprinting had never happened.
As the handsome young man approached beneath the moonlight, Colonel Bako—who had been so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open—woke up in an instant.
"You're the one Rear Admiral Shizi mentioned on the phone? The one with a temporary mission who needs to use one of our base's ships?" He gave Noah a suspicious once-over. "Tch, you're so young. What kind of mission could you have... Are you even in the Navy?"
"Navy serial number 10745. I just came from Marine Headquarters."
Noah didn't have a good impression of the man, so he didn't bother with pleasantries. He stated his identity briefly and bluntly. "The mission is classified. You're not high-ranking enough to know about it."
He was usually a very polite person, but that depended on who he was dealing with. Without Momousagi's status to back him up, being too courteous to someone like Bako would only invite disrespect.
Better to put on a bit of an attitude and come across as "cocky."
Bako was as sensible as ever. Though he was displeased by the answer, he didn't dare ask any more questions.
He turned around, pulled a young man forward from behind him, and said to Noah:
"I've already arranged the ship. Just head to the north side of the harbor later. This kid's name is Pengen. He's been assigned to you as your helmsman."
The young man looked about sixteen or seventeen. He had short black hair, a thin, frail build, and unusual features—one might even call him ugly.
He didn't seem used to being introduced on his own like this. When he saw Noah looking at him, he clutched the hem of his clothes with both hands, his expression nervous and uneasy.
Before you continue