Now, one might be wondering—how the hell did Victor complete a quest to raise both his intelligence and charisma to 10, when it was clearly stated earlier that he hadn't leveled up again, and definitely hadn't gained any more free stat points?
Well... the answer was simple.
He used the ones he already had.
It wasn't planned. He just woke up that morning, stretched, stared at his status screen, then went, "Ah, fuck it. It can only be good, right?"
And honestly? He wasn't wrong.
It completed a quest, gave him a new ability, and helped him test how those Free Stat Points (FSP) worked in practice. He'd been curious for a while anyway.
So, he spent one point on Charisma... then another. And then Boom.
Quest complete.
And with it, something new had appeared in his abilities tab:
> Analysis — An active ability that allows the user to focus on a subject—be it person, object, or even concepts of reality. With each use, layers are peeled away, and truth is revealed. As it deepens, so too does its reach… To glimpse the genesis of all things. One truth at a time.
Victor had stared at the description for a full minute.
"...Okay, that's pretty mysterious, but I kinda get it."
The phrasing was vague, sure. But it practically screamed potential.
So of course, the only logical next step... was to test it.
He scanned the cell with his eyes, stopping on the perfect test subject.
Caelum.
Sitting quietly across from him, doing his usual meditation.
At least Victor would like to think he was.
So he took a deep breath, activated the ability, and focused.
> Scanning… Target identified: Human (Awakened – Tier 1)
---
Name: Caelum Virell
Race: Human
Tier: 1 (Early Stage)
HP: 150
MP: 200
—
Strength: 18
Endurance: 20
Agility: 22
Vitality: 15
Intelligence: 13
Charisma: 11
Mana: 20
Luck: 8
——
Skills:?
Abilities:?
Affinities: Earth, Darkness
———
Overall Combat Power: 23
---
Victor's eyes widened. That was... a lot.
It didn't just show the usual stats. It had added a whole new value—Overall Combat Power. And based on a quick mental calculation, he realized it was basically an average of all the other stats.
Simple. Efficient. And incredibly useful.
Before he could dig deeper—
Caelum's eyes opened.
He stared at Victor. Hard.
Victor blinked, doing his best impression of clueless innocence.
Caelum didn't look convinced. "Did you... do something just now?"
Victor tilted his head slightly. "Huh?"
"I felt something weird for a second. If felt like... you became something else, and you were scrutinizing me."
Victor scratched his cheek and gave a half-smile. "Maybe you're just over-meditating?"
Caelum stared for a second longer... then snorted and looked away.
"Whatever. It's probably nothing."
But deep down, he wasn't convinced.
What he had felt wasn't mana. It was something... else.
Something old. Something that peeled at the edges of his mind like it was trying to look into his very soul. He felt helpless before it, but at the same time it felt muted. It felt like it was being restrained like a god peeking through a keyhole.
It couldn't be Victor though. That was ridiculous. If it really was Victor... then he'd be some kind of monster.
'He's just a normal human at the end of the day'. Caelum chuckled to himself and pushed the thought away.
Meanwhile, victor was sweating internally.
'Shit. That was way too close.'
He let out a sigh and sat back. 'So he can feel it. It's either because he's stronger than me, or because he doesn't trust me. Or maybe that's just how the ability works. Either way... I need to be more careful.' He couldn't be sure, he'd need to run more tests to confirm.
Still, he couldn't stop thinking about the stats he saw. That average combat power metric? It was gold.
'I can use this on anyone. Know their strengths. Their weaknesses. Plan around it.'
He was practically giddy.
He wanted to test it again. On more people. On objects. On concepts even. Could he analyze beasts? Fire? Or mana itself?
____
{A Bit Later...}
Dinner came and went like usual.
But this time, Victor had been... active.
He'd already tried Analysis on various subjects. A few of the other boys. A couple of guards. Even his soup.
From that, he came to several conclusions:
First, none of them had noticed.
Not a single reaction. It seemed detection depended not only on how strong someone was—but also on the gap between their Charisma stat and his own.
There were Tier 1 guards he had scanned, but unlike Caelum, they hadn't noticed his probing. He noticed that low charisma was a common trait amongst almost everyone he scanned. It seemed the difference in charisma affected how well the ability worked on an individual. He wasn't sure, but something told him that was the case. So the ability wasn't purely power-based. It had nuance. Also it put into perspective how his intelligence and charisma stats weren't normal for his level at all. So far with the exception of caelum, he hadn't scanned anyone that had higher values in those two stats than him. In fact most of their stats relative to their level were unimpressive compared to him and Caelum.
And he wasn't done leveling. What of when he became Tier 1 himself? How much more stronger would he get.
He had to stop himself from grinning like a fool at the thought.
Anyways, back to his thoughts on analysis.
His second observation was that inanimate objects worked fine.
He'd used it on his bowl of soup and gotten an interesting description:
"Boiled bone broth infused with low-grade mana traces. Nutritional value: marginally restorative.
Taste rating: 4.3/10."
That one made him chuckle.
Just then came the familiar clang of boots and the bark of a voice he'd come to recognize instantly.
"Line up, rats!" Jeffrey's voice boomed in the hall. Victor could pick up a hint of amusement in his tone.
He tried to test his new account on the man. But the second he even thought of it, his screamed at him to not even entertain the idea.
He didn't want to try his luck.
Jeffrey stood at the entrance of the hall, arms crossed, cloak swaying slightly as he scanned them like a pack of half-trained dogs.
"You'll all be entering your first combat matches in five days," he announced. "It's going to be life or death battles."
Everyone froze. Some blinking like they hadn't heard right. And then murmurs erupted. Some of the younger boys started shaking in horror . Others looked like they were about to cry.
"And if you're thinking of running, you better pray the beasts kill you quick," Jeffrey added with a smirk.
Victor didn't flinch.
Neither did Caelum.
The two of them just turned as they were led back to their cells, quiet. With stoic expressions.
They had known this day would come.
But what they were thinking... was something only they knew.
---