In the depths of his base, Zeth sat on the ground, mulling over his options for which Stat to pick for Otherworldly Excellence.

In total, there were seven different Stats. That meant seven options:

[STATS

Strength: 3

Endurance: 24

Dexterity: 0

Awareness: 6

Poise: 12

Influence: 0

Shaping: 42]

Endurance, Awareness, Poise, and Shaping were the four Stats he got naturally with each Level-up, while Strength, Dexterity, and Influence were left alone. So, his first instinct was to throw out those first four and try to figure out which of the three left lacking would be best to raise. It’d narrow down his choices by more than half, which would certainly make his decision easier.

But then, that didn’t really feel like a smart idea. While none of those three Stats currently increased with each of Zeth’s Level-ups, it was completely possible for them to increase with each Level in the future. Not only could Blood Magus Evolve into a new version at Level twenty-five that may have given a different spread of Stats that focused on one of them, but he could also get a second Class after that which would have its own set of Stats to increase. So, while his Strength was currently stuck at three, there was a possibility it’d end up growing later, just like the rest of them.

It seemed like there was no way to ignore any of them as possibilities. Which meant he’d have to go over the unique benefits and downsides of each one.

So then, what would choosing Strength offer him? Obviously, adding to his physical power would help him out in a melee fight, which was a situation he’d been finding himself in rather frequently as of late. And, considering how his main method of attack involved physically reaching out and grabbing someone to set them on fire, improving his ability to win contests of strength seemed like it would be useful. Plus, while he wasn’t sure it would continue to always be this way, it was worth considering that Zeth currently didn’t increase his Strength from Leveling up, so the extra Stats would really be felt in that department.

Endurance, on the other hand, offered less in terms of helping him win fights, and more in the realm of surviving them. He currently received three Endurance per Level-up, and was relatively confident that whatever Classes he ended up with in the future, they’d almost certainly end up giving him at least a couple, but more was always appreciated. It was probably the most universally useful Stat—who wouldn’t want to be able to shrug off sword swings and fireballs as though they were nothing? Endurance was definitely up there in his list of priorities for what to raise. But then, he did already have Self-Destruction, which currently quadrupled his healing rate, and if he began going out of his way to Rank the Skill up, it’d only get even better. So perhaps Endurance was slightly redundant, then.

Then there came Dexterity—the first Stat he had zero of. Unfortunately, having no points in a Stat made it a little difficult to gauge how much it would help him to increase, but he’d heard plenty from other people about what every Stat would provide in terms of direct effects. He’d be quicker, more nimble, and more aware of his body. Things like tripping and falling would become a thing of the past with even the base fifty points in the Stat that maxing out Otherworldly Excellence's Rank would give him.

On top of that, he had something else to consider with Dexterity; one of the Skills he currently had unlocked—Speedy Rites—would improve in effect as he gained more of it. Specifically, the Skill would decrease the time taken to draw ritual circles by five percent per Rank, and then another two and a half percent per twenty-five Dexterity he had. If he was being honest, that felt just as significant as any of the physical effects of the Stat. The time taken to draw his circles was one of the big things holding him back, especially when it came to Leveling up, with how his Empowerment Ritual would grow in time required by two additional hours every time he conducted it. This was a way to counteract that growth, earning points in a Stat that would reduce the time with each Level, too. It certainly was a strong point to consider.

Awareness was a mental Stat, as opposed to the three physical Stats above it, which sharpened one’s sight, hearing, and all other senses. It even improved things like multitasking and the speed of thought. This was one that Zeth technically got with each Level, but only a single point. And, once again, he felt that the largest part of this Stat to consider was that Compact Rites, which decreased the minimum diameter of his ritual circles, improved as he obtained more of the Stat.

Minimum diameter would be an extremely good requirement to reduce—less because it made his Empowerment Ritual easier, and more because it helped him use Hellfire Rituals in combat. The smaller those could be, the easier they’d be to keep somewhere hidden. Currently, at around four and a half inches in diameter, they were just barely too large to be convenient; he could see that with his earlier confrontation with Erza, Rosalie, and Alfon. He had no way to access the rituals in his pockets. But if they were a little smaller, his options on where to keep them would expand greatly. He already had plans on where to put them if he could just shave off another half inch.

After that was Poise—the mental equivalent to Endurance. It improved self control and emotional regulation, allowing you to more easily put yourself into a ‘mind over matter’ state and ignore discomfort. However, its most important aspect was that it was commonly used to defend against System-related mental attacks. The demons were relatively unique in that their own fear effect tested a victim’s Influence, but Zeth remembered the monsters from the Realm of Horrors down in that cave—those had checked his Poise to see if they’d inflict their pain attack on him. And, for most other Classes that dealt with attacking the mind, they’d check the same Stat. While this seemed useful to have more of, it was probably lower on Zeth’s list of priorities for now. He already got a couple points with each Level to ensure he never fell behind, and none of his current enemies were attacking his Poise Stat, so for now, if his priority was safety, it would be best to go for Endurance.

Then there was the aforementioned Influence. The primary function of this Stat was to enhance a person’s social abilities. Zeth didn’t have any yet so he wasn’t entirely sure how it worked, but from what he’d heard, it effectively enhanced a person’s perception to extremely minute detail when it specifically came to analyzing other people. So they’d be able to pick up on subtle body language cues, tiny changes in facial expression, and fluctuations in vocal tone to sense how a person was feeling and respond to it.

Apparently, it was an extremely popular Stat among nobles and businessmen, as having a high enough Influence could effectively turn a person into a human lie detector, calling bluffs and predicting backstabs. Of course, as Poise was a Stat that improved emotional control, and Influence was a Stat that detected bodily changes caused by emotion, there was a natural tug-of-war where raising Poise would negate someone else’s Influence, and raising Influence could overpower someone else’s Poise, so everyone had a way to defend against would-be mind readers.

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Regardless, Zeth didn’t anticipate using Influence for its inherent effects very much. Truly being able to detect lies didn’t come until a person’s Influence was unimaginably high—at lower totals, it mostly helped you get a subconscious awareness for how a person was feeling. Instead, he was considering this Stat because it was what would help him resist the mental effects of being around demons, and because it was used to improve Secure Rites.

From what he’d heard when speaking with his summoned demons these past few days, it seemed like you’d need an extremely high Influence Stat in order to fully resist their auras of fear, but every point in the Stat would remove a slight bit of its effect. And then with Secure Rites, every twenty-five Influence would reduce his rituals’ upkeep times by two-point-five percent, just like the other two. Zeth was already feeling how his current upkeep times were acting as a bottleneck when it came to his defenses using Hellfire Ritual, so cutting that number down would raise his defensive capabilities just as much. Seemed extremely useful.

And finally there was Shaping; Zeth couldn’t tell whether it was at the very top of his list of priorities to raise, or at the very bottom. Obviously, as a magic-based Class, he used Shaping in order to do just about anything. However, as a magic-based Class, he already got seven Shaping every time he Leveled up. Adding five more to that would obviously be helpful, but proportionally speaking, it wouldn’t even double his gain, where choosing something like Endurance would almost triple it, going from three per Level to eight, and choosing something he received absolutely nothing of would be a proportionally infinite change. But still—increasing his Shaping was something Zeth absolutely knew would always be helpful.

So those were his seven options. And he had to narrow it down to just one.

To knock out some of the easier ones, Zeth didn’t think Poise would end up being the best choice here. He was sure there would eventually come a time when he wanted more of that Stat, but that time wasn’t now, and he didn’t think those situations would end up being common enough to warrant using his most powerful Skill yet on. Similarly, he ended up deciding Strength was out for the same reasons. There would be times where he’d want more Strength, but when all Hellfire Ritual needed was for him to simply touch his enemies, not to apply any force with that hit, adding to his Strength didn’t feel like it would be the best use of this Skill.

After some careful consideration, he ended up deciding against Shaping, too. He already got so much of it that adding to that number was simply not as powerful as his other options. And while he’d always benefit from having some more in the Stat, he didn’t frequently feel like he found himself in situations where he didn’t have enough.

That left him with four options—these would be tougher picks. Endurance was extremely useful for obvious reasons, especially when his main method of attack involved igniting a raging inferno right next to him, and then Dexterity, Awareness, and Influence all improved the three Rites Skills he had available to purchase. He had a feeling he’d end up acquiring all three of those Skills soon, but if he picked one of their respective Stats, they’d go from being useful to downright fantastic.

Trying to be harsher with his cuts, Zeth ended up figuring that Awareness would probably need to be the next to go. He already got a little bit of it from each Level, which didn’t help its case, but more importantly, Zeth wasn’t sure how much he’d need to continue reducing circle diameter after already getting the benefit from Compact Rites. The Skill on its own would be enough to bring his Hellfire Rituals to a perfectly workable size, with how it reduced the requirement by five percent per Rank without ever needing him to touch his Stats, and none of his other rituals were currently too necessary to reduce the diameter of.

Dexterity and Influence, though, affected requirements that Zeth absolutely did want to continue reducing as much as he possibly could. So the same argument couldn’t be made for them. And Endurance…

Zeth pursed his lips. Perhaps Endurance would have to be next. Once again, it was a Stat he already got through Leveling up, so simply improving that already-existing rate of increase wouldn’t be nearly as much of a difference in potential as providing Zeth with a completely new Stat to start raising. And, while survivability absolutely was something he’d need to watch out for, he already had Self-Destruction to help him recover, and he still had Heat Resistance waiting to be purchased, which would at least help with his issues regarding blowback from Hellfire Ritual. And if there were any other weaknesses he ended up needing to shore up, there were always other Universal Skills he could go and unlock to help. But improving his rituals? That was something no Universal Skill would be able to help with.

So then, Dexterity or Influence—reduce drawing time or reduce upkeep time. Dexterity was also useful in his fighting; unlike Strength, which would have limited usefulness when it came to hitting someone with a hellfire circle, Dexterity could easily allow Zeth to maneuver around someone’s body and hit them from behind, or dodge a blow and retaliate with one of his own. Thinking back to his fights against the fleshtaker and mannitor, both would have gone significantly better if he’d been a little more dextrous. They’d involved quite a lot of ducking and dodging, trying to avoid being hit while keeping an eye out for any openings he could exploit. Dexterity would assist quite a lot with that, and reduce the time needed to draw his rituals.

But then, Influence had its own unique benefit. While the slight social boost the Stat gave would be nice, the real assisting quality would be that it helped him resist demonic fear. Not just against his own summons, but also against enemy ones. While Zeth was getting more and more capable of thinking properly and acting in spite of that fear, it was supremely annoying to deal with. Not to mention, it’d probably help in case he ever went up against the enemy Blood Mage’s summons.

So these were the final two it came down to. Zeth did his best to mull over the decision carefully. Dexterity represented faster rituals; that was useful with Hellfire Ritual and Demonic Covenant, but really, it mostly assisted with Empowerment Ritual. Not only was that one several times more lengthy than any of his other rituals at a current time of almost eleven hours, but it would continue to grow longer and longer as he grew in power. If he didn’t find a way to stifle that growth in requirement, he could soon find himself spending over twenty-four hours working on a single Level-up ritual. Not ideal.

But then, reducing his upkeep time with Influence would end up giving him extra time to work on that Empowerment Ritual in the first place—and it would help ensure he could keep more rituals prepared in case of emergency. Not to mention saving him from the discomfort of being around demons.

But ultimately…Zeth considered each point in each Stat’s favor. When it came down to it, the natural effects of Dexterity simply beat out the convenience of Influence helping him with the fear. He had already gotten to the point that, while he wasn’t mentally unaffected, Zeth could at least function while around demons, and he didn’t even plan to utilize demon labor in the near future, anyway. And if an opposing demon got close enough for him to be in their aura? He’d probably have little way to defend himself, anyway. Whereas Dexterity would actively assist him in combat, in daily life, and in keeping from being caught by those opposing demons in the first place.

And when comparing the two Rites Skills, reducing the time taken to draw his circles simply seemed more important. Reducing the fifteen-minute upkeep time of Hellfire Ritual by two-point-five percent would barely do anything, even when multiplying it by upwards of ten or even twenty ritual circles to keep up with, whereas reducing the time to draw an eleven-hour Empowerment Ritual by the same percentage would be a sizeable decrease every time it happened—not to mention the fact that, as Empowerment Ritual grew in requirement, the discount would also grow.

So then, it seemed like he’d settled on Dexterity. Time to make the choice.

After a bit more time thinking it over and ensuring he’d made the right decision, as well as glancing through the books he’d bought to double-check if they said anything that could inform him on this decision, Zeth breathed in and opened his Status.

[You have purchased Blood Magus Skill: Otherworldly Excellence.

-17 Skill Points. You have 0 Skill Points.]

[You have chosen Stat: Dexterity.]

He let out his breath. It was done. He finally had it.

He stared at the floor of the room he was in. Empty. Perfect to draw a ritual circle on. It’d be a shame to purchase a brand-new Skill without testing it out, right?

Yeah. He was way too pumped to just go to sleep.

It was time to finally Level up again.