Damon's Ascension-Chapter 44: First Allocation

Surprisingly, the first thing that Damon noticed was the remark from the AR instance that was not normal. Based on his research and knowledge about Essence, especially the localized version for new species, there should not be anything like this on the settlement screen.

Well, if Damon suspected that the Universe Will was paying direct attention to him, this was it basically confirming it. While it might not be truly direct, he was sure that it had at least appointed an Intion to monitor him because they also managed all Essence instances.

Damon silently moved onto the rewards, which were quite rich and plentiful. 500 units of Worldly Essence was far higher than the usual payout of between 10-50 units, probably multiplied by ten times due to his EX completion rating.

Unfortunately, the basic character panel did not have anything like a level counter nor an experience bar, because the amount of Worldly Essence each person needed to ’level up’ varied. This was based on receptivity or worldly essence, or as the fictional immortals of fiction would say, your ’talent’.

It was entirely possible for two people within the same species to use different amounts for each level up, which grew exponentially based on each level climbed.

Of course, with such a system in place, there had been extensive data collected universe-wide to judge ’talent’ in this regard. The current estimated requirement for a new species going to level 1 that would qualify for the baseline of ’average talent’ was 100 units of Worldly Essence.

Damon did not waste time, immediately communicating with his character panel to implement his accumulated worldly essence. Immediately, he felt an external force enter his body through his pores, this force being extremely cool in temperature and smooth in texture as it circulated his body, causing him to feel extreme comfort.

In about a second or two, he felt his entire body was full of this strange force - which should be worldly essence - and something seemed to shatter within him as the force disappeared, his body feeling somewhat sublimated as if he had eaten a full meal.

Damon sighed and glanced at his character panel.

[Name: Damon Arnan || Race: Homo Sapien (Pure) || Faction: None]

[POW: 1 || MOB: 1 || FOR: 1 || MEN: 1 || PRO: 1] (Free Points: 1)

[Abilities: Probability Manipulation (EX), Avatar (EX), Devour (EX).]

He had gained a point he could allocate freely. Unfortunately, due to how this was reality and not a game, there were limitations surrounding the level system that had to do with the laws of the universe.

The first was that one couldn’t level up multiple times in a row in an instant. There was a small cooldown period your body needed to adapt to the infusion of worldly essence to expand your capability, and this cooldown varied per person.

As Damon had felt, freshly leveling up was like eating until you were full, so you naturally had to wait for your stomach to process all the ’food’ before you could eat again.

The second was that you couldn’t level up until you allocated your points. There was no such thing as point stacking or saving for a rainy day because these were real forces being put to play on biological organisms that technically went against the rules of the universe.

So knowing this, Damon was faced with the initial dilemma every person in the universe faced when they first leveled up.

Where to allocate?

Arguments could be made for every stat. Power would allow Damon to face foes with more confidence and damage capabilities. Mobility would make him more evasive and able to reach his destinations faster. Mentality would increase his cognitive ability and acuity. Fortitude would make him tankier and increase his survival rate, and Providence would make him luckier but also more attuned to the Universe Will.

Each stat had its pros and cons, which was where the difficulty lay. It essentially came down to the preference, situation, abilities, and fighting style of the various individuals allocating their points at that moment.

It also depended on your race specialties. Humanity had F-grade Power, Mobility, and Fortitude. This meant that 1 point in Fortitude for humankind was worth about 10 points in Fortitude for a race that had EX-grade fortitude.

Since humanity had SSS-grade Mentality and EX Providence, these were the most optimal stats for allocation.

While on the ship researching the laws of the IUAS and just before his father spoke to him, the stat he most wanted to increase was his Mentality. When he first learned about stats from Selie, he wished to increase his Providence the most because he thought the Universe Will was on their side, a benevolent protector.

Both opinions changed after all he had been through, and his impatience had been tempered especially by talking to his father. There was a 20-year period to go, and this was only the first day, where his resolution had already earned him this much without even using his abilities yet.

Damon thought of what he actually needed the most in conjunction with his abilities and realized that there was only one answer: Mobility.

Power was not important right now because the increase in each stat added would increase his base power on its initial value additively. If you could lift 50kg at 1 Power, you would only be able to add 50kg of strength with each addition to your Power stat.

Stats with higher racial ratings received bonuses on each addition compared to others, which was the main incentive for investing in them. However, Damon didn’t need to think faster, nor did he necessarily need to have the Universe Will more invested in his business.

Rather, he needed to be quicker in order to make use of his Devour ability to close in on targets and drain them before they could react. Probability Manipulation did not really care about which stat, and Providence did not boost it in any tangible way as, once again, Providence was not luck in the traditional sense.

Avatar basically made his Fortitude stat negligible and also lowered the value of his Power stat, which was why he ignored both. In fact, you could be certain that the Damon standing here was actually his avatar, and his main body was completely elsewhere!

With that in mind, Damon invested in Mobility and felt a tangible change in his body as all his ligaments, tendons, and joints shifted, stretching out and becoming more resilient as well as responsive. Damon especially felt much lighter, as if gravity’s effect had become significantly weaker on him, allowing him to move much quicker than before.

But that was not all.

Another key aspect of Essence was the rewarding of skills.

Now you must ask yourself, what was the point of having stats if there was no specialized way to utilize them? Like martial arts, it was engineered for the purpose of making use of the human form to focus power into lethality.

On top of that, how were unawakened fellows supposed to spelunk in the Chaos Realm without anything to help? Abilities were not crucial for survival, but they made a difference. However, due to the agreement reached by the IUAS and the Universe Will, the IUAS silently controlled the method of awakening.

The bypass the Universe Will made was to grant skills as a reward from Essence instances, allowing its further workers to have some special methods to better utilize their increased stats to acquire Chaos Essence.

Skills were also graded based on their maximum output, potential, and current stage. Skills could not be ’leveled up’ as they were bestowed and worked in tandem with some universal rules in order to function.

You also couldn’t train skills on your own in reality or even in an Essence instance, you could only get them from the settlement screen. Otherwise, fewer people would bother to actually complete instances and would do what Felicia hinted, currying favor with owners of, or stealing rare items, then quitting the instance the next moment with the item in hand.

The skill Damon had been given was based on his actions within the instance itself.

[Negotiation - Mentality Based Skill]

[Rank: C || Stage: C]

[Effect: This skill allows the user to be significantly more persuasive in seeking advantages when negotiating for any issue. This skill works on all creatures, sapient or otherwise.] freewёbnoνel.com

Naturally, the skill had to be able to work on the bizarre creatures of the Chaos Realm or it would be useless. Its utility was not small, as the human race already had high Mentality, meaning that Damon could even bargain for his safety against a deity or deific being in the Chaos Realm should he find himself in a tough spot.

Finally, there was the item reward, which was considered a form of excavation.

[Energy Flintlock - Energy Weapon.]

[Rank: D]

[Details: This is a flintlock from Earth’s ancient history that has been specifically modified by greater powers, no longer needing physical ammunition but can conjure bullets based on the amount of energy provided by the wielder, taken from their own stamina.]