Chương 33: Could It Be Done? [Part 1/2]

[Part 1/2] The Historian was not a fool. He knew exactly what she was implying with her vagaries and her wraparound questions. She had not given him her current stat distribution, had not mentioned any FS she may have been holding on to, had not even directly admitted that she was the 'someone' with the potential capacity to attempt a full stat push. Still, he understood exactly what she was implying with her questions. For a moment, he simply looked at her.

His expression having softened, though a hint of that predatory sharpness still lingered beneath it all. Implied or not, the Historian was interested.

"If someone had the FS, the time, and access to proper instruction," he repeated slowly.

"Would it be worth doing? The answer is yes, of course. The maximum is the ideal. Is it feasible?" He twisted his beads between the fingers of his hand. His eyes never left her as he shrugged. What was that supposed to mean?

"You know, I don't know much about you," he continued. Scarlet did not react to the seeming non sequitur. The Historian's ears angled slightly forward.

"I am not inclined to consider handing power to talented strangers." Scarlet did not smile outwardly, but she was ruthlessly suppressing her sense of satisfaction. The Historian had either forgotten that he had lowered his shielding, or he had failed to appreciate just how much she could read from him now that he had. Perhaps he believed she was only getting the obvious emotional signatures? He would be wrong. Scarlet could clearly feel the slight sense of guilt at his own statements. Was he cautious? Yes.

But beneath that caution was so much more. He was called the Historian, and based on how he spoke of it, she was handing him a way to potentially make history. He thought it must have been done before. Somewhere. Somewhen. Given enough worlds, enough species, enough absurd circumstances, surely someone had achieved full stat saturation at Tier Zero. But he did not know. For one such as himself that was significant.

Scarlet was injured, exhausted, alone, and sitting across from an entirely foreign, sapient species with the power to kill her before she even thought to protest. She had no leverage in the ordinary sense. However, it seemed avarice for knowledge was a trait she shared with the fox person. That in mind, she pressed on.

"What factors would determine whether it was worth attempting?" she asked. The Historian's tail flicked once in amusement.

"There are many. Time for one, access, biological tolerance, mental stability, initial foundation, available instruction, existing stat distribution, traits, titles and so much more, little human.

"Full stat saturation," he continued, "is the term generally used when an individual raises one of their stats to the maximum value before crossing into the next tier. At Tier 0, that would mean bringing a stat up to twenty-five after raising its potential. Before advancing into Tier 1. The number of people who would even have enough FS leftover after getting the rest of their stats up to a reasonable level." He let out a genuinely amused laugh. He leaned back, beads moving slowly through his fingers.

"Then of course there's the fact that the only practical time to attempt such a thing is Tier 0. Any other tier and you would have to concern yourself with specialization, and suboptimal advancement…" He trailed off on a mumble before coming back to himself.

"There are reasons most do not attempt it. Most simply can't. Even without the issue of how to get necessary FS, translating those into actual stats can be a problem of its own. Many hopefuls will find they simply don't have the resources or the creativity."

"Creativity," Scarlet repeated.

"Creativity. Many of those who reach saturation in a single stat are able to do so because they had an instructor. Do you really think simply lifting weights over and over will push STR past 15? Not only is it highly inefficient in terms of time to stat-growth ratio, it also just wouldn't work forever."

"Diminishing returns," she concluded.

"Exactly." Scarlet let the information settle. Pain, instruction, and opportunity. That was what she would need to reach full stat saturation. Well, that and a few more stats, but she was close. She was sure there must be some way, and if not, she'd make one. That made it worth pursuing. She had a decent pain tolerance, and this was obviously an opportunity. The question was, could she secure instruction?

"Could you; for me?" She asked.

"Pardon?"

"Would you consider doing it for me?" As she asked, Scarlet had to ruthlessly suppress both her pride and her shame when she asked, though she was starting to notice a little bit of fatigue from the constant use of her skills and traits.

"Would I consider guiding a newly integrated individual to complete Tier 0 stat saturation?" He mused, emotions fluctuating too quickly for her to catch them. Eventually he continued.

"It would require a significant commitment. A certain level of concentration and expertise. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Could it be done?" he murmured to himself.

"Yes. I suppose it could. Many faction powerhouses are reported to have had one or more stats at saturation before they tiered up. But full saturation across all core stats at Tier Zero…" He trailed off, beads clicking softly.

"How long would it take?" She asked. He studied her again, and she could feel him calculating.

"Between two and three months," he said finally.

"Perhaps less, depending on your own effort and aptitude." Scarlet nodded as her thoughts spun. Three months in the portal world. She had seven Earth days for the Safe Zone quest. She did not want to waste too many in the portal world. She needed time to return, assess the situation, secure the area, and complete the objectives.

[Objectives: Eliminate hostile threats within designated boundary Secure primary claim of designated area Maintain control of settlement zone for 30 consecutive hours Optional sub-objectives may appear] All those objectives would be easier if she returned stronger. Even better if the Historian could help her understand her traits, her bottlenecks, stat integration, and the strange psionic potential he seemed to know something about. The benefits of learning from the Historian would compound far beyond the quests.

If she could build a solid foundation now, she would be setting herself up for the future. Her only real concern were the potential 'sub-objectives'. It would be mortifying to fail an objective because she ran out of time. Then again, dying because she wasn't strong enough to complete the quests in the first place would be awful too.

"I have two to three months." She said. The Historian's expression did something complicated. He wanted to help her. Not for her, but because of his own ambitions. That information did give her a little bit of leverage. Just as she began calculating how best to use it, a notification appeared. Absentmindedly, she checked it. Level: 6 -> 7 Scarlet might have been suppressing her emotions, but that didn't mean the historian wouldn't notice her staring distractedly into the distance for an extended period. He smiled.

"Considering you're begging for my instruction."

"I wouldn't describe-" He gave her a look.

"Things like this," he said, "you will have to entrust me with."

"Things like this?"

"You are not yet good at discreetly checking your interface." That was not something Scarlet had considered before. She'd never had to. Still, the more immediate matter remained. Scarlet slipped a small stress ball from her pocket. Somehow it had survived the day. She began shifting it between her fingers. It gave her hands something to do.

"I leveled up," she said. The Historian stared.

"How?"

"I am unsure?" He leaned forward.

"Just how new are you to the System?" He asked.

"I know you are under Level 10, but that is not unusual even a year into a new Integration. Surely, by the time you're entering Tier 1 portals you should have found the relevant functions in your Log." What relevant functions? She thought as he walked her through it. How was she supposed to know to look for things she hadn't even known existed or that she needed to investigate before? Scarlet did not say any of that. Instead, she pulled up her log and focused on the idea of identifying why she had leveled.

The answer was not what she expected. StarNet. Over one million formal accounts had been created on StarNet. For a moment, the number simply sat there in her mind, large and absurd. It had not even been twenty-four hours back on Earth since she had put the site up. Not even one full day. She had expected interest, certainly. She had designed it to spread rapidly, hoped and planned for it too. She'd never actually expected to succeed. One million. Somehow that number had translated into a level?

Her expression remained neutral only because she had a choking grip on her emotions. Her heart rate wanted to spike, and she calmed herself. Her breath wanted to hitch, so she took deep deliberate ones. The energy around her wanted to shift, so she pulled it tight.

"What does my world's duration of integration have to do with you helping me with my stats?" she asked instead. The Historian smiled in a particularly condescending manner.

"You do not even have the foundation of information required to understand what information you are missing, little human." His amusement softened into something more curious.

"It can't have been more than a year." He mused. Scarlet gave a small nod.

"Ah. Less than six months?" He continued. Another nod.

"Less than three?" She nodded again. Now he frowned.

"It cannot be under one." Scarlet looked at him. Then nodded. Now it was the Historian's turn to stare. For the first time since she had met him, he looked genuinely taken aback.

"Yet you entered a Tier 1 portal?"

"Yes?" She asked. Confused about the correlation.

"You entered a Tier 1 portal," he repeated, slower this time, "from a world integrated less than one month ago, and you want to attempt full Tier 0 stat saturation."

"Yes," Scarlet nodded. Incredulous, the Historian sat back in his chair.

"Under a month and you're already receiving spontaneous levels?"

"Is that what they're called?"

"I know you must have leveled at least twice on your way to the tower. Please tell me you were at least under Level Five when you entered," he said, then immediately grimaced.

"No, impossible. You would not have survived Sediment Forest without being at least Level Five." The Historian stared at her for a long moment.

"A Level Six in under a month would already be truly absurd progress. Though if there's one place for it to happen, a newly integrated world would make sense," he said. Then his eyes narrowed.

"If you are gaining experience at that rate," he said, all amusement gone now, replaced by something intent and almost severe, "then we do not actually have time to sit here talking theory. Come with me." The Historian stood.