A Practical Yet Not Overpowered System

Could it be that I, like the protagonists in those novels, have brought a System with me?

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, Harrot began frantically shouting in his head, "System, System, come out!"

Sure enough, as Harrot mentally called out to the System, a character panel appeared in his mind.

It's real! Harrot was overjoyed. Sure enough, a transmigrator's golden finger is essential.

Harrot found this character panel very familiar. Isn't this the character attribute panel from Mount & Blade?

The character panel displayed Harrot's four core attributes, skill levels, and weapon proficiencies.

Character: Harrot

Level: 1

Health: 51/51

35 (Base Health) + 20 (Strength Bonus) - 2 (Death Curse) - 2 (Near-death unconsciousness 1 time)

Strength: 20, Agility: 4, Intelligence: 9, Charisma: 7

Free Attribute Points: 4

Skills: [Iron Flesh] lv0, [Power Strike] lv0 (Strength)

[Running] lv0, [Weapon Mastery] lv0 (Agility)

[Trainer] lv0, [Inventory Management] lv0 (Intelligence)

[Leadership] lv0, [Trade] lv0 (Charisma)

Free Skill Points: 9

Weapon Proficiency: Affects your effectiveness when using related weapons. Each point of weapon proficiency slightly increases attack damage and attack speed.

One-Handed Weapons: 15

Two-Handed Weapons: 36

Polearms: 33

Throwing Weapons: 11

Archery: 3

Crossbows: 0

Free Weapon Proficiency Points: 40

After Harrot realized this was the Mount & Blade character panel, his initial ecstasy subsided slightly.

Mount & Blade was a game he had been playing before he transmigrated.

Harrot had played this game for nearly 8 years, so he was incredibly familiar with it. It was precisely because of this familiarity that Harrot felt a bit of regret.

Why did I have to be playing this game before I transmigrated? How great would it be if the System that came with me was from a game like Heroes of Might and Magic or Diablo? Harrot thought, a little greedily.

In Mount & Blade, players have three types of points:

The four main attribute points: Strength, Agility, Intelligence, and Charisma. Skills categorized under these four attributes, and various weapon proficiencies.

Each attribute point, in addition to improving the character's physical quality, also provides additional bonuses:

Strength increases max health by 1.

Agility increases weapon proficiency by 10.

Intelligence increases skill points by 1.

Charisma increases troop limit by 1.

At the same time, the level of any skill related to an attribute cannot exceed one-third of that attribute's value.

For example, Harrot has 20 Strength, so his Strength-related skills can be leveled up to lv6. But with only 4 Agility, his Agility-related skills can only be leveled up to lv1.

Players start with 4 free attribute points, free skill points equal to their Intelligence, and free weapon proficiency points equal to 10 times their Agility.

As a game, Mount & Blade is very fun, but as a golden finger, it's a bit underwhelming!

This game isn't set in a fantasy world, and its design tries to be as realistic as possible. This means the combat power ceiling for game characters is very low; even a top-tier knight can be beaten to death by a dozen low-level bandits.

Even with the best equipment, you'll still take damage and get injured if hit by a crossbow bolt from a common soldier. And any low-level soldier, if equipped with a lance, has a chance to instantly kill the player.

Although there's no level cap in the game, it gets harder to level up the higher your level is. The experience required to level up after level 30 is astronomical.

Simply put, this System can only allow a player to become a powerful "ordinary person." Don't even dream of being able to take on a thousand men or slay dragons.

After carefully reviewing the attribute panel, Harrot roughly understood the reason for his body's recovery. Not only that, he also somewhat understood the reason for the previous Harrot's mysterious death.

When he transmigrated, the original Harrot was already dead.

In the original owner's memory, he had been perfectly normal. He hadn't taken any hits in the Gladiatorial Arena; he just felt a sudden dizziness, then died inexplicably.

Looking at the explanation below the maximum health, his health, which should have been 55, had become 51. Two points were deducted due to the Death Curse, and two points due to being near-death.

The Death Curse must have been what killed the original Harrot; he was probably cursed at some point. Near-death coma likely means he suffered a fatal blow from an unknown creature but didn't die.

In Mount & Blade, a player's health hitting zero doesn't result in death, but rather a near-death coma. Moreover, lost health recovers at a rate of 1 point per in-game hour. Generally, it only takes two or three in-game days to go from no health to full.

No wonder he felt completely healed after waking from his coma, and no wonder he survived what should have been a fatal injury. It was all thanks to the System.

However, it was also thanks to the original Harrot's cries that his fading consciousness was reawakened, activating the System.

Just exchanging some maximum HP for a coma instead of death felt incredibly worthwhile to Harrot, now that he'd experienced it.

With just this one effect, Harrot felt that perhaps this System wasn't inferior to Heroes of Might and Magic or Diablo after all.

After all, no matter how strong one is, accidents can happen. An extra life means an extra chance, and he had more than just one.

That said, it wasn't clear how powerful the System's revival function truly was. Harrot estimated that if he suffered fatal injuries like decapitation or bisection, revival would likely be impossible.

The System's appearance gave Harrot a new hope for his biggest challenge: the Gladiatorial Arena!

Although the character strength ceiling in Mount & Blade isn't high, it's still a game. The power granted by the System is supernatural, more than enough to deal with gladiators!

The physical constitution of humans in this world is similar to that of his previous life, perhaps even slightly worse on average due to nutritional deficiencies.

Even the strongest gladiators in the Gladiatorial Arena are only as strong as powerful ordinary people. This is why Harrot could fetch a high price of 50 gold coins without even being tested.

After all, in fights between ordinary people, physical condition is the most crucial factor in determining victory. This is why various combat sports in his previous life were divided by weight class.

Of course, Harrot didn't believe that humans in this world were truly identical to those in his previous life. In such a magical, supernatural world, if humans had no means of support, they wouldn't deserve to survive and reproduce; they would have gone extinct long ago.

Harrot figured this was likely due to the original Harrot's limited knowledge as a commoner from a remote village, who naturally wouldn't have access to high-level information.

In Mount & Blade's attribute settings, adult male humans typically have around 6 points in each of their four main attributes.

Harrot's Strength attribute was 3 to 4 times that of an ordinary person, truly natural divine strength. However, his Agility was only 4 points, which severely impacted his combat effectiveness. What good is immense strength if you can't hit anyone?

His Intelligence being as high as 9 points on the attribute panel was likely due to his soul transmigrating. For a modern person who had received higher education and possessed a decent IQ, this attribute was quite normal.

After a moment of careful thought, Harrot allocated all his attribute points and skill points.

He put all his attribute points into Agility. Raising 4 Agility to 8 alleviated the awkward situation of having great strength but being unable to hit his targets.

There were far fewer skill types than in the game, only eight. Harrot ultimately chose Lv2 Running, Lv2 Weapon Mastery, Lv4 Power Strike, and Lv1 Inventory Management.

Each level of Running increased movement speed by 10%, further compensating for his lack of speed.

Weapon Mastery was a core combat skill, allowing for better use and control of weapons.

Power Strike allowed him to better utilize his advantage, with each point increasing his melee attack strength by 8%.

Inventory Management was a rather peculiar skill; each point added 6 inventory slots. Simply put, it was storage space!

The 6 inventory slots didn't store items by volume, but by type. Items of the same type could stack, similar to the settings in online games.

Two of the inventory slots were empty, and four contained items: Ragged Straw Shoes (+3 Defense), Worn-out Gloves (+2 Defense), Tattered Woolen Sweater (+5 Defense), and the Sword Fighting Manual.

[Sword Fighting Manual]: Requires 7 Intelligence to read. This book records the insights of many master swordsmen. Reading it will increase Weapon Mastery by 1 point.

The three ragged equipment items could be taken into the real world or equipped in the equipment slots.

After putting them all on, Harrot's real-world appearance didn't change at all, but his System character panel gained a +10 Defense buff.

This buff significantly improved Harrot's physical defense. At least, some sharp small stones wouldn't break his skin unless significant force was applied.

Of course, with a bit more force, the defense would immediately break through. After all, they were just three ragged pieces of equipment, like having cultivated one or two layers of the "Golden Bell Shield."

What was confirmed was that System equipment could be taken out and used as real-world clothing, but real-world clothing placed in the inventory couldn't be worn as equipment.

Harrot tried putting the shoes he was wearing into the inventory, but there was no option to equip them.

This made Harrot a little regretful. The System's equipment slots could give him an extra layer of defense compared to others, but unfortunately, he couldn't acquire more in-game equipment.

Just as Harrot was about to secretly take out the Sword Fighting Manual to read, he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

Several guards approached Harrot's cell from a distance. The lead guard, Big Nose, was the one who had been with The Bald Man earlier.

Big Nose had the prison guard unlock the cell door. With his arms crossed, he said, "The boss wants us to take you to the Training Ground. Come with us. You'd best behave yourself; if you try anything funny, we won't be gentle!"

Harrot also wanted to quickly test his newly-allocated stats, so he nodded and followed the guards.

The Training Ground wasn't far from the cell. Harrot reached it within a few minutes of walking.

From a distance, he could see over a dozen gladiators training in the Training Ground, and on the central platform, two gladiators were sparring with wooden weapons.

The guards led Harrot to the entrance of the Training Ground. The guard at the entrance seemed to recognize Big Nose, greeted him, and let them pass.

Before Harrot entered the Training Ground, Big Nose instructed, "Once you're inside, train however you like. If you're itching for a fight, you can spar with someone, but no killing or crippling anyone. We'll pick you up and take you back to your cell when it gets dark!"

"Understood."

Harrot nodded, answering Big Nose honestly, and walked into the Training Ground.