Soul

* Focus

* Spirit

* Will

Body

* Strength

* Vitality

* Agility

Mind

* Intelligence

* Mana

* Control

Luck

Dix figured all of the Soul stats would be his dump stats for this setup. It also helped that, according to the description, Luck counted as a stat, but you couldn’t actually put points into it. The description also explained how the attributes functioned, which was a little outside the norm from what he had seen while looking through all of the other statistical systems. The attributes, other than Luck, were grouped into sets of four. The main attributes, Soul, Body, and Mind, were the defensive attributes for that category. As for the other three, they were explained in a top down fashion. The top most attribute was the power, or force multiplier, for attacks of that nature. Second was the pool of resources. The third and final attribute was the stat that controlled the application of said power.

Take the Body category for example. Body was the attribute that determined how tough the user’s physical existence was. It made their skin, bones, muscles, and tendons more resistant to damage of all kinds. A higher Body would make it more difficult to get hurt through physical combat, or falling off a cliff, or straining the body through exercise or hard work. Vitality was also slightly related to this same concept. Being the pool of physical resources, it determined not only the available stamina, but also the health. The other pool attributes seemed to only handle a single resource, as opposed to vitality’s two.

Similarly to how Body and Vitality worked together, Strength and Agility did as well. Strength determined how hard someone could hit, while Agility made sure that hit landed where it was intended to. In a similar fashion, these two stats worked the same way with a myriad of other actions. Strength was the attribute that truly affected how fast someone could run, but Agility allowed someone to not only turn, but also to move their legs correctly to keep up with their own speed. Without enough Agility, Strength would be largely useless. Finding the right balance with this statistical system would be the key to using it correctly.

As his mind turned over and over on how to balance his stats in the most effective way if he chose this particular system, he realized that he had spent so much time thinking on it, that he had already accepted it would be the one he chose. Just to make sure, he quickly ran the numbers on stat points. The first set had ten different attributes, meaning it would receive five stat points each level. With only six actual attributes he planned to use in that set, even less with a focused distribution, he was looking at a six to five ratio. The second set had a total of thirteen attributes, meaning a rotating gain of six and seven points. With eight attributes useful to him, it gave him a ratio of sixteen to thirteen. While the first set was definitely the more efficient option, he didn’t think that necessarily made it better. Additionally there was the added concern that the extra stats would have an adverse effect on him, physically or mentally. Thinking about the secret he may have found, Dix went back to studying his chosen statistical system.

There were a few things about his chosen set that differed from all of the others he had seen. And he didn’t just mean the vastly different way it was designed. Perhaps the one that was intriguing him the most, was also the least noticeable. Around the border of the box etched around the text area were a series of dots, dashes, and slashes. Sized so small as to be almost unnoticeable, they were in a repeating pattern, starting from the top left corner, and sized to finish the last pattern in the same place. While the start and finish locations were easy to define, he was unsure as to which direction he was to attempt to read the message. Had this not been a magical world full of gods, monsters, and status screens he might have believed that there was no hidden message, but that was how this world was. It also helped that he had flipped through roughly one hundred different plaques, and this was the only one with anything like that on it.

..-/.-/.--.--.--/ .--/.-- ...--...--...--/…-/ .-.-.-/.-/ .-...-.-\.-/

With his love for a mystery, it was quite likely that he had subconsciously picked this one out of the list for the express reason that he had spotted these markings and wanted to investigate. The fact that the statistical system was actually very useful helped as well. For the moment he had no idea what it meant, nor how to solve it. Seeing how it was structured, though, gave him a good idea of where to start. But first things first.

Flipping the other two sets he had locked in on the device out of lock left him only his current choice. He was still amused by the name of the set, Cultivation Stats. In a world where leveling through murder of monsters was the standard, to find a set of attributes designed around the idea of growth through hard work, study, and repetition was a little surprising. Despite it being a rather strange idea for the setting, the way it handled the attributes and what they actually affected and interacted with was surprisingly well done. Dix was comfortable with his choice, despite the odd name.

With another glance at the incomprehensible, and still only theoretical, code inscribed on the plaque, Dix decided to get things moving again. Interesting mystery and good company or not, he still really wanted to get to Mantra. Leaning down, he gave Beauty another kiss on the top of her head before whispering into her ear again, “I’ve found the stat set I want to use, should I use the formation over there?”

Expecting to have to wait a bit for Beauty to respond, he was quite surprised when she immediately latched on tighter to him and chirped out an answer, “No! You’re staying right here with me until Crossroads sends the others down. They have to approve your choice, and power the formation.”

Chuckling, Dix nuzzled her gleaming white hair. “Don’t worry, Sweetheart, I didn’t want to go anywhere anyways.” She just burrowed in closer in response. Dix was surprised she managed that, he thought the only way they could get physically closer was fucking. With a mental shrug, he went back to his puzzle. If he had spare time to kill, might as well make it productive. Unless the answer to the riddle was a major negative, he was still taking the Cultivation Stats.

The first thing he did with the puzzle was break it into the sections it seemed to contain in his mind. He used the spaces in between the sections as the dividers. The slashes seemed to indicate junctions and ends, so he left those in place. As the writing in the description went from left to right, then flowed downwards, he decided to apply the same logic to the code.

..-/.-/.--.--.--/

.--/.--

...--...--...--/…-/

.-.-.-/.-/

.-....-.-\..-/

There were similarities between the attributes and the puzzle. There seemed to be a repetition of one and three, similar to the separation of the attributes into categories. One for the name of the category, and three for the attributes contained within. If the attributes that were the category names were represented by a single dash, and the attributes within were two, that would seem to work for some of the puzzle. The problem was that most of the relationships didn’t seem to make sense if that was the case. The first puzzle section seemed to indicate there was another attribute above the category name level involved, while the second was just some sort of one to one relationship. The third seemed to reverse the order attributes should normally be listed in. The fourth was the only one that made even a small amount of sense, if you assumed that the first three dashes were Soul, Body, and Mind, and the fourth dash, after the slash, was Luck. The fifth and final section appeared to use the same alignment as the fourth, but added a different slash, some more dots, and a heap of confusion. Deciding for the moment to completely ignore the fifth section, as it introduced too many new things, he decided to just work with the other four and use the fifth for a theory check.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Dix figured he would start work with the only one that made any sense for the moment, the fourth one. He needed some sort of handle on what the dots represented. Rotating it around in his mind, applying different mathematical operations to the slash and other symbols, assigning numerical values and equivalencies, even substituting it into other pieces of the puzzle didn’t get him much in the way of results. The only one that made any sort of sense was the equivalencies. Applying the thought that the left and right of the slash mark in the fourth set of the puzzle were equal values in some way. It wasn’t like he could prove it was right, and it didn’t help anywhere else, but it felt right to him. It also made Dix realize that the puzzle wasn’t about math. It wasn’t an equation. It also might not be solvable from just the information he had. He had made a theoretical start, and for now he would just let his subconscious work through it. It would either solve the riddle or not.

While he wasn’t one hundred percent positive of his deductions or the possible power hidden behind the code etched into the sides of the plaque, Dix was sure enough to choose the Cultivation Stats regardless. The device in his hand had another option listed for the locked in statistical systems that was labeled output. Figuring it might be what he needed, he selected it. With an almost imperceptible hum, that Dix only noticed because he was holding the device, a silver plaque slid out of the bottom like a credit card receipt made of metal.

With a decision made and the plaque in hand, he turned his mind to the three most important things he needed to consider now. Tilting his head to look down on Beauty, he stroked her lovely white hair, knowing it would cause her to close her eyes and snuggle deeper into his chest. While she was distracted he tucked the device containing the plaques of the statistical systems into his jacket, keeping the single plaque he had printed from the device in his pocket. At this point it was almost a habit for him, having done the same thing with Crossroads tablet. He might not get away with it, but there was no harm in trying. Hopefully.

With the device tucked away, he slid his finger under Beauty’s chin and lifted until her eyes met his. With a wicked smile on his face he asked her, “How long do we have until we need to implant the stats?”

Her eyes flew open at the realization of what he was asking. Heart beating wildly, Beauty struggled to get an answer out, “W-We ha-have a-a-a while.” Seeing Dix’s wicked grin grow didn’t calm her down at all.

He knew the grin on his face was worrying her, but he could also feel how excited she was. Even if it was like taking candy from a baby, he was still looking forward to his time with Beauty. There was no plan, nor time, for sex at this moment, but, “Want to make out?” She was stunned, but the tiny nodding of her head was all the invitation he really needed.

-----------------

Some time later, with messy hair and somewhat mussed clothes, Beauty pressed the plaque into Dix’s chest as he stood on top of the mana formation that had been at the base of the wall, holding his shirt up. Taking the time to convince her to power up the formation herself had been very much worth it. She still had that lovely blush to her cheeks, but her eyes were half closed and sparkling with joy. Everytime she looked at Dix’s face she would bite her bottom lip while her eyelids fluttered. As for the man himself, he was sporting a painful hardon and a need to get the hell out of here. If he stayed too much longer with Beauty he would be in danger of giving up his wicked ways, something he had sworn to never do. Maybe Crossroads had been right, she might have turned him into her toy afterall. He was actually hoping that integrating the statistical system would be as painful as changing his species so as to distract him, but keeping his clothes on for the ritual was a bad sign.

When the plaque dissolved the silver flowed like water briefly covering most of his torso before it appeared to dissipate. Dix was aware however that it hadn’t evaporated. Instead it had slid through his pores and into his body. The sensation was odd, but not painful. It reminded him, like the valve implantation, of getting a shot. Not the needle, but the feeling of your arm being overly full that comes just after. That feeling spread through his torso first, and then to his entire body. Eventually, his whole body seemed to tighten, and that overfull feeling was squeezed and distilled. Much like when he had drunk the galaxy, several different portions broke off to go their separate directions. Each and every section of his body absorbed a portion of that power, but the core of it wrapped around his mana heart. The sensations of the rest of his body were a bit of a cross between the after effects of a good workout where your muscles feel stretched and well worked, with the energy burst of a massive sugar rush. To Dix it felt like potential.

Flexing and turning his hand to accommodate himself to the changes, Dix looked at Beauty again. She was chewing on her lip again, practically begging him to drag her back to the couch. He barely managed to resist his urges and speak. “Well, that feels strange, but I’ll get used to it. Only one more thing to do right? What’s next?”

Beauty instantly changed from innocent seduction, to adorable pout. Once more Dix felt the almost irresistible pull towards her. By now he realized that perhaps the only chance he had of staying sane and spending time with her would be to gain a ton of levels. As well as Mental Resistance. If he could get strong enough he may have a chance, although not a good one. He smirked to himself, looking forward to the ridiculous challenge. It was likely that she would literally snap him in half the first time she had an orgasm during sex. Gods, she would probably accidentally just tear off my…. Nope, not thinking about that. He shuddered. He didn’t enjoy the thought, but it kept him distanced from Beauty’s pout.

When she realized he wasn’t giving in, she gave him the answer he needed. She didn’t stop pouting though. “The others will be here soon. They will finalize the last few things before you head to Mantra.” She sounded sad, but Dix was still wary of giving in to this particular goddess. Yes, she was sweet and innocent, but she was also unbelievably powerful, just like all the goddesses would be. The fact that she was sweet and innocent was actually the only reason he had done anything at all with her, it made the interaction safe. Mostly. She was the definition of sweet temptation. A woman like Chance, with the powers of a goddess, was a deadly invitation. He didn’t want to even imagine how terrifying a divine, predatory seductress would be.

Despite his worries about Beauty, he was still curious about who these “others” were. So he asked. “Others?”

Beauty looked like she was about to respond until her eyes slid off his to the side. Before he could turn around, two hands clamped onto his shoulders to hold him in place, and a voice purred into his ear, “Yes, others. Us.” When the hands released, Dix staggered forward a step, and turned. He made a rapid assessment, then locked his sight onto the only safe person to look at, Crossroads.

The back wall of the room was completely gone. This time it appeared that someone had teleported part of a room to join this one, instead of just moving the people. He was actually mostly happy about that small change, but it was still disconcerting. He really hoped that powers like that weren’t common amongst normal people on Mantra.

With Crossroads, who was once again drinking in his recliner like he’d been in that position for hours, were three women. One, he had met recently, Chance. The one who had grabbed him and whispered in his ear looked like Jessica Rabbit on slut steroids, if there was such a thing. She also immediately brought his thoughts back to his recent concerns. The woman was more predatory than a thirty five year old woman that had just divorced her gay high school sweetheart, hadn’t been laid in fifteen years, broke her vibrator three months back, and was nine tequilas deep. What would normally be a cry for help in the form of a weekend of absolute debauchery that would make frat boys and sailors blush, in this case looked more like an ambulatory garbage disposal begging to give you a blow job. She looked primed to chew him up and spit him out, before coming back for seconds. And he'd love every second of it.

The third woman was the most interesting, in that she wasn’t. Visually she looked as stunning as the other three goddesses he had now seen, but it was an aspect of her aura that confused him the most. Despite looking like the milf of the girl next door, her aura was ordinary. Beautiful, powerful, brilliant, immortal, all of these words and more would be used to describe her. But, despite all those things, she also gave him the feeling of normality. It was a series of contrasts. Deciding he didn’t feel the need for the extra confusion for now, Dix just focused on Crossroads.

In a flash he realized how to approach this situation. With a shit eating smirk on his face he asked the man, “These your girlfriends?” Before Crossroads could do more than snort in response, he looked to Chance and said, “I expected better from you at least, but I don’t know the others, I guess they could stoop that low.” Then he turned back around and went to sit on the couch. It took everything he had to keep the smile from his face. If they want to come with overwhelming power, then just don’t be overwhelmed. As Dix was feeling attacked, his passive combat skills had activated, including the one that had consumed his Battle Sense. With it, he could almost feel the shock radiating from the women. Crossroads, of course, was struggling to smother his laughter with booze. As Dix sat, he held up a hand as though cupping a drink, met Crossroads eyes, and nodded towards his hand. Shortly after, a tasty beverage appeared there, and he took a drink, emotions once more fully under control.