Chương 32: The Maximum Is the Ideal

Scarlet hated teleportation. It was perhaps too hasty a judgment to make, considering she'd only teleported two times thus far, but she felt that, all things considered, two was a big enough sample size. The transition that had sent her into the portal world had been violent enough. This one was different. Less like being snapped between two points and more like being turned to rubber and stretched through the eye of a needle.

The patterns beneath her feet flared brighter, the dull grey room vanished into a wash of light and pressure. Scarlet kept her face impassive as the sensation dragged for anywhere between three seconds and a decade. Her senses were too busy trying to interpret what was going on to pay attention to less relevant things. Well, at least this time was less painful than portal travel. Still painful, just less. When the world settled again, The Historian glanced at her. His emotions were unguarded in their curiosity.

"Ah. I suppose teleportation can be somewhat unpleasant for beings on the lowest tier." He smiled.

"It gets easier the higher you climb." He promised. The fox-person himself appeared perfectly at ease, as though he'd just stepped through an ordinary doorway "Luckily, this was a local teleportation." While Scarlet wasn't sure she and 'luck' were on speaking terms, she was at least relieved her second teleportation was, in fact, not as bad as the first. The Historian had such a casual air of superiority to him Scarlet couldn't find it in herself to be offended.

In his defense, he was a lot more knowledgeable about, well, basically everything than she was, so it was no surprise he considered himself the adult in the room. Scarlet couldn't argue the point. Then they left the teleportation room. Scarlet's other senses had not prepared her eyes for what she was seeing. The space beyond the small teleportation chamber opened into a vast circular atrium that made the outside of the tower seem subdued. It wasn't a room so much as a vertical city hollowed through stone.

The tower was separated into many levels with balconies, circling upward until the upper reaches vanished into a distant brightness that looked like daylight, though Scarlet was not sure. The scene was refined, beautiful, and obviously themed around nature and earth. Dark stone formed the bones of the place. Polished walkways curved around the central open space. Their edges bordered by that same angular script from inside the teleportation room. Perhaps some form of magic writing system?

There were planters carved directly from the floor, small trees with glossy dark leaves, creeping vines clinging to balcony supports, and lamps set into crystal fixtures that radiated a small amount of mana. Around the layers, doors and storefront-like entrances were arranged in sections. On just the first and second floors Scarlet spotted a grocer, a seamstress, barber, apothecary, records keeper, Tower Hall, and more. It was an absolute architectural marvel. It should have been bustling.

It was obvious the tower had been built for use. For commerce, and entertainment, and other necessities. But it was painfully quiet. The people who inhabited it – all fox people wearing similar, if less elaborate robes than The Historian, as far as she could see – all of them were far too contained. They walked quietly, spoke quietly, shopped quietly.

They were so unobtrusive that if Scarlet wasn't watching them move and feeling them with her senses in real time, she genuinely might not have believed they were real individuals. Just automata or something the System created to populate the portal world, though she wasn't entirely ruling out that possibility, yet. Watching her take the tower in, The Historian's tail flicked with amusement. Scarlet knew it was amusement because he had left his Obscuration lowered enough that she could read him.

Not as deeply or as entirely as she would have liked to, but with the most emotional clarity she had ever experienced from another sapient being. Scarlet's expression remained placid. The Historian swept forward with a dignified little gesture that was somehow both invitation and assumption. Of course, Scarlet followed. Her cane tapped quietly along the smoothed stone floors. Her posture was neat and her pace controlled despite the pull in her wounds.

The poultice had made her functional, not whole, and every step reminded her of that. The Historian led her along the curved stone path to a set of doors inset beneath a balcony. The entrance was elegant, though modest compared to the atrium itself. The door opened at his approach, and Scarlet stepped into what looked, at first, like a beautiful office.

"Your office is on the first floor?" Scarlet asked, curiously. The Historian looked around the space with unconcealed distaste, though he settled them both onto the area with couches.

"Oh, no. This is more of a reception area, though admittedly we don't get too many visitors. And by too many visitors I mean any. You are the first non-inhabitant to visit us here since the inception of the tower.

"So, if I'm not mistaken, we were just discussing your world's integration? Depending on how this conversation goes, perhaps you may one day see my actual office."

"That seems reasonable."

"Quite. Despite your initial rudeness, I could no more blame you for a lacking upbringing than I could for your lacking power. You appear to be a quick learner. It's not your fault you're so ill-mannered."

"Ill mannered?"

"Wasn't your first action to pry at me with an investigative Skill? You didn't even introduce yourself." In Scarlet's defence, he hadn't introduced himself either. However, something told her that bringing this up as a defence would only make her sound petulant and whiny. Besides, whether she knew it was rude or not, she had blasted him with her inspect skill before she'd even asked for his name.

"Perhaps mutual introductions are in order." Scarlet folded her hands neatly over the top of her cane.

"Mutual introductions," The Historian drew the two words out and then went silent. It didn't take long for Scarlet to realise that waiting the fox creature out really wasn't an option. He was totally engaged and very happy to just sit there and study her. If her perception, barely past ten, already gave her so much information, she couldn't really fathom just what he was picking up and processing from simple things like the fluctuation of energy around her. Not to mention any sensory Skills he might have.

That meant it was on her to break the silence.

"What might I call you?" Scarlet asked. He smiled.

"You may call me the Historian. Most people do."

"Your name is the Historian?"

"On my world," he said, "it is never a good idea to give your true name to just anyone." The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Noted, Scarlet thought. Aloud, she said, "I suppose I will call you the Historian, then."

"And what should I call you?" She gave him a small, polite smile.

"It would be rude of me not to follow custom. I suppose, if we're simply listing things that we are, you could call me the Novice?" Scarlet stated. The fox creature laughed.

"Touché," he said.

"Didn't you scan me back?" Scarlet asked.

"Did you not see my name?" He made a soft, amused sound.

"The identity is one of those things most heavily guarded in sapient species. Most people who possess a shrouding Skill, whether consciously or unconsciously, have stronger defences around their identities. Whatever is shrouding you is particularly difficult to deal with." That was probably the Psionic Shroud in action. Scarlet filed the information away, making a mental note to write that in one of her notebooks.

"What I did see," the Historian continued, "is that you are perilously close to Level 7, and for some reason have neglected to increase all of your stats to the Tier 0 threshold." Scarlet went very still. The Historian blinked at her. She blinked back.

"Well?" He repeated.

"What do you mean," she asked carefully. His expression shifted.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?"

"That's what I mean." He stared at her for a long second. Then his ears angled back slightly.

"Right. Newly integrated. Of course. Like teaching a kit. How long ago did you say your world integrated?"

"I didn't," Scarlet said.

"Hm," the Historian intoned, pressing what little lip he did have together.

"I shall explain the tiers.

"Level 10 is the Tier 0 threshold. The transition from Level 10 to Level 11 is the first tier boundary. Tier 0 runs from Level 0 to Level 10. Tier 1 from Level 11 to 25. Tier 2 from 26 to 50. Tier 3 from 51 to 100.

"Anything past that? You are unlikely to meet such beings outside of specialized circumstances." His lips quivered, and amusement seeped into the energy around him that she was reading. A sort of halo around a being or object she was calling an aura.

"Yes, it would take specialized circumstances," he took a sip of his tea.

"Circumstances like this one." Scarlet's mind moved very quickly, ignoring his smugness to latch onto the pertinent information. Tier 1 was only four levels away. Beings above Tier 3 were above Level 100. the way the Historian spoke of it, that was very important. Perhaps very powerful? And the person in front of her was one of these uber-powerful figures? Beyond Tier 3. She had no way to even quantify that level of power. She had seen his information. Not much of it, and not cleanly, but enough.

Much of what she had seen had been crossed out or otherwise obscured. The Historian was watching her put the pieces together. Not long had passed, but if at Tier 0 her perception could stretch out a moment in time, she couldn't imagine what it was like for someone past Level 100.

"So," she said.

"The apparent stat ceilings beginning at 10 are connected to the first tier threshold?" The Historian's expression brightened.

"Yes. Exactly. Back home, I was always telling Father, the masses are merely ignorant. Give them a chance at education, and they too can learn. And see?" he gestured with both of his hands at her, genuinely delighted.

"Living proof. Your willingness to make up for your deficiencies are exactly the qualities I look for in acquaintances."

"Thank you." She replied, her voice muted not just because she was throttling her emotions. Though she could feel in his aura that he was being sincere with his compliment, it made her conflicted. Though not conflicted enough to stop farming for information.

"So, the Free Stats increase this capacity beyond the baseline threshold? So, for Tier 0 that's 10, and for Tier 1 that's 25?"

"Correct."

"So does that capacity above the baseline threshold carry forward when you Tier up, or do you lose that extra?"

"What an astute question." The Historian nodded.

"It does carry forward. If your Perception potential was raised from 10 to 14 before you advanced to Tier 1, then the new baseline would not erase that investment. Tier 1 would raise the base potential to 25, and your prior excess would carry forward to become 29." The Historian went on to explain how most System civilisations think of levels and tiers as though Levels were quantitative while Tiers were qualitative.

Levels gave the opportunity to push more, harder, better, faster, stronger, to borrow the phrasing from a song she hadn't played in years. Tiers changed the person foundationally. They became a more developed version of their species. In some ways, a superior one.

"So, if someone advances with underwhelming stats? Say they only reached 5 in everything before getting to Tier 1" she asked. She watched the fox-person grimace.

"They would still be brought to the baseline of the new tier," the Historian said.

"You cannot be Tier 1 and possess a body, mind, or soul beneath the Tier 1 minimum. The transition itself corrects that. However, correction is not improvement. A being pushed up to the floor is not the same as one who stood above it before crossing. The higher, the better." That was the kind of distinction Scarlet needed. The kind of advantage. To be so definitively above the rest that she's won before the finish line is even in sight. Could the Historian help her achieve it?

"So, tiering before your stats are high is..."

"Ill advised if you want to reliably get past Tier 2," he said. That was good to know. The kind of information that could fetch a premium in this new world. The kind that could give her, and her chosen few a decisive and permanent edge. Or doom them to planetwide annexation at the end of the 12 years. Yeah, this specific fact was not one she should hide. Not if she didn't want to cripple her species. That didn't mean she couldn't leverage it, though. A few ideas came to mind.

"Is delaying tier advancement to build foundation very difficult?"

"Extremely. The higher your level rises, the more the System expects you to have integrated what you have already been given. The higher your tier, the more resistant your body and soul become to crude foundational change." Scarlet's gaze drifted briefly before returning.

"How high do people usually raise their base stats before Tier 1?"

"For most, raising primary stats to around fourteen is considered respectable at Tier 0. The exact average varies by species, lineage, resources, training culture, and other such variables. Some factions consider anything below fifteen shameful. Others believe it's fortunate to reach twelve." Fourteen. Most of her capacities were already above that or close enough to be within striking distance. Her Perception had started above human baseline. StarNet chatter had confirmed as much.

She knew she was an anomaly, but this reframed 'anomaly'.

"Fourteen," she said.

"I see. And what is ideal?" Now the Historian was grinning.

"Well, the ideal would of course be Twenty-Five." Ah. The maximum is the ideal. That, unfortunately, made sense.

"Of course the number of FS required to reach such a foundation, would be absurd for anyone. The commitment and toll on a Tier 1 body is worse. Capacity alone is not enough; it's the stress required to raise even the most innocuous seeming stat. Especially Mana."

"Not Willpower?" Scarlet allowed herself to ask.

"Oh, any Tier 0 who raises MAN to 25 has most certainly raised WIL that high or higher." He laughed at a joke Scarlet barely understood.

"Is it possible?" she asked.

"Could a person theoretically raise all stats to 25 before they tier up?" The Historian rubbed thoughtfully along the beads in his hand.

"Theoretically, yes. I'm sure, somewhere, someone born under a divine star, with remarkable providence, ridiculous luck, absurd opportunity, time, patience, and privilege has probably managed it. I've seen records of individuals raising single stats from five to twenty-five within a few weeks, but those were brutal weeks, and such methods are easiest at very low levels." Weeks were apparently ten days, something in the translation let her know. More importantly, it could, theoretically, be done.

Scarlet let her mind run. The tower was time dilated. The was a creature apparently over Tier 3, who called himself the 'Historian' while living in a magical academic tower inside a portal world. He understood tiers, stats, psionics, obscuration, and things she did not yet even have names for. Scarlet could budget for three days in the outside world. Here, that would be months. If her brother had received her message, he would reach the town by then. If he had not, then she would know that too.

Either way, she would return with more knowledge, more control, the strongest foundation it was reasonable to expect from a newly integrated world. The longer she could stay in this place, the better.

"What if someone could?" she asked.

"If someone had the FS, the time, and access to proper instruction. Would it be worth doing?" For a moment, the Historian went completely still. It was only a moment, but it was a long enough one for Scarlet to catch. His attention sharpened on Scarlet. All the theatrical warmth narrowed into a predator's gaze. He suddenly appeared much more dangerous.

"Now," he said softly, "that is a far more interesting question."