Chapter 81

Stat High

"Well, the basic idea, is I want to make myself really hard to hit. And I'm sure there are Stats that can help with that but I sort of came up with something else, too..."

I brought out the disruptor. I was expecting maybe some gasps or something but there was silence.

"What... Is it?" Stephen finally asked.

"It's a disruptor, usually used on ships."

"Oh, not that thing!" Kenzo shielded his eyes.

I laughed. "I can control it, I won't blast you again."

I equipped my suit, the helmet, and the disruptor. I cranked up the glow to the mid setting.

Then, finally, I got my ooh's and ahh's. I moved side to side, getting further reactions.

"You're just a blur of light," Dowser said.

I killed the power. "That's what I want to be. Just two problems. For one, it's heavy as all fuck. Really slows me down. And, second, I would like my energy to match the pink so no one knows it's even there when I use it to protect my body but... I can't for the life of me get my energy to change colors."

Everyone got weirdly quiet.

"What?"

"Darcy..." Stephen said. "...did you ever try looking through your menu?"

"For what?"

Netta and Dowser were almost holding their breath to stop from laughing.

"What is it!?"

"Give me your menu," Stephen said, he was holding it together better than the others but still set to break at any moment.

I projected it and swung it over to him. He started clicking away, going to a section of it dedicated to... Magic. And there, the very first option was: Change Energy Color.

I slapped my forehead and then snatched the menu back from him, as everyone but Kenzo lost it. "It was in the fucking options all this time?? But what we do, it technically isn't magic so... I never thought to look at... Fuck!"

I clicked the option and, sure enough, a color wheel popped up, giving me full control to make it whatever color I wanted. Stubbornly, I still refused to believe it. There's no way it could be this easy. I matched the color to the pink of my suit lights and disruptor, and called upon my power. It was now pink, the shade I'd been after for so long.

Everyone was coming down from laughing so I turned my fury at Netta and Dowser. "How did you two know??"

"I use a bit of magic, you've seen that already. It's one of the first things you do when you start," Netta said.

But she looked up at Dowser for his answer, all of us sort of puzzled how someone who clearly lived for the physical areas of the Interverse knew even a lick of magic.

He just shrugged. "Everyone knows that."

My shoulders sunk and I stared at the ground.

Kenzo patted me on the back. "There, there, Darcy. It's an easy mistake. I see why you wouldn't think to check the Magic section. I think we should all calm down now." He eyed everyone in the room and the laughing at my expense settled down.

"Sorry, Darce. It's no biggie," Stephen said and then, graciously, he changed the subject. "So that's one problem solved. Now for the other."

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I looked up again. "So you think it will work? I'm not just being dumb? This can help me survive better?"

Kenzo cut in. "Definitely. It handles a lot of your weaknesses in one fell swoop. I think what we need now is the actual boost in Stats. And I believe you all have also started to address that as well, yes?"

I nodded and clicked around in my menu and then showed the room the amount of extra Stat points I'd been hoarding.

A whopping +55.

Dowser whistled. "That's gonna give ya quite the boost, Darcy."

"Is it enough though?" I asked, scared of the answer.

Kenzo stared at the number, scratching his chin. "It could be. If we use it properly."

"I can't boost my powers with it, can I?"

"No, sadly," Kenzo said. "But you have done almost nothing but raise your mental prowess. I think it's a good time to harness the more physical realm of things."

The room exploded into arguing of just how to go about doing that.

"All Strength," Dowser said. "Definitely drop it all in Strength."

"Don't be dumb, how can she possibly match that fuckers Strength even if it is suppressed?" Netta said.

"She needs to put a lot in Speed." Stephen's suggestion. "They can't hit what they can't catch."

"And she can't kill without the Strength to do it," Dowser replied, not backing down an inch.

On and on the debate raged. I listened to their input and stared at the point allotment menu. They were right that I needed more Speed... But Dowser also had a point that I needed the Strength, but not to deal damage. I needed it to lift the damn disruptor. And then I came up with another idea: Reflexes. If my reaction time went up I would be even harder to hit and better at protecting myself with my energy when I was.

And my damage output, it would all be from my mental magic and my weaponry. No further Stats needed there. Which meant...

I mashed away on the allotments, trying to get it as perfect as I could. Speed was the most important. As well as Reflexes. Strength picked up the rear. I made the adjustments, and three my menu back up in the center of the room.

"Guys, what about this?"

[ Speed: +20

Reflexes: +20

Strength: +15 ]

The room stopped as they examined it.

"You're putting the least amount into Strength!?" Dowser just shook his head.

But everyone else didn't raise any objections.

"I think this should do it," Kenzo said, confirming things for me. "But is there anything else you can think of that you need beyond Strength? You won't need 15 extra to lift the disruptor."

"You want to put even LESS points into Strength!?" Dowser looked like he wanted to kick me across the room.

I tried not to laugh at him and otherwise ignored him, wracking my brain to what else would be helpful.

"I can't think of anything," I finally said. "I figure all my damage output will be from my powers and weapons. But the extra Strength will at least help me out in other ways. I've never really been one to boost my physical Stats, so, I think it's about time."

Dowser looked at me with a touch more respect.

"You gonna finalize it?" Stephen asked.

I took a deep breath. Tried to think of any other answers to my dilemma, some other way of using the points to their fullest potential... But this was it.

I accepted.

[ Points distributed!

Speed: +20 | 25 -> 45

Reflexes: +20 | 9 -> 29

Strength: +15 | 19 -> 34 ]

My body swelled with power, like I'd just injected some sort of super drug. It was so much energy that I bounded from the chair and sort of jumped, fully expecting to fly up to the roof and explode on through.

"Whoo!" I exclaimed, falling back into my chair instead.

"I've never used that many points at once," Netta said. "I can't imagine how crazy that must have felt."

"Do you think you can take on a Giant now?" Stephen asked with a grin.

"Bring him the fuck on."

#

The high of the Stat gains lasted a surprisingly long time. We kept chatting back and forth in that circle for a while longer and the whole time I just walked around in the middle of the circle, completely unable to sit still. Dowser found it especially funny.

"Come on, with this high, I bet you could match strength with me, let's wrestle!" He kept saying, trying his hardest to get me to fight him.

But I just side stepped around him.

"Darcy, try on the disruptor," Stephen said.

I snapped my finger. "Good idea." I spoke the words so fast I don't think he even understood me.

I put on all of my equipment again, adding the disruptor last.

"How does it feel?" Netta asked.

"I don't know if it's the Stat high or what but... It's as light as a feather," I said, hopping back and forth from foot to foot, the disruptor no longer impeding my movements hardly at all.

Kenzo got up from his chair. "Let's put it to the test, then."

He clapped and the interior of the room glowed. There was a sensation of movement and then we were all deposited into the training room. The three others took a tumble without the chairs and couch to hold them up.

"Could have warned us about that," Netta grumbled, picking herself up off the ground.

Dowser was on his feet in a second. "Is this a training room!?" He asked.

Kenzo nodded.

Dowser clapped wildly and then cracked his knuckles. "Wanna see what you can do, Darce?"

In normal circumstances I may have backed down by a challenge from someone as big and imposing as Dowser but... I'd taken on ghosts and currently had a Stat High so turning him down was the furthest thing from my mind. In fact, I even got a bit cocky with it.

"I'm gonna need all three of you to come at me," I said, going further into the room, giving everyone space.

Stephen raised an eyebrow. "All three of us?"

"You sure about that?" Netta asked, but her spear was already in her hand.

"Bring it," I said with a wild grin.