"Claud, I see it."
-Willpower: 21/44-
"Lure."
Paige pulls a rope, raising a sheep high up, causing the giant dragonfly in the distance to approach attracted by the smell. We're hidden wrapped in animal guts to prevent it from detecting our scents.
As it hovers near, Sophie cuts a rope causing trees, foliage and rope to collapse around the insect. It took us two entire weeks to set this trap up, following instructions from a trapping manual. People in the West have a different way of tackling monsters. Instead of throwing people with high stats at the problem, they developed ways for weaker people to fight. Personally, I love it. Traps eliminate a lot of risk in dealing with monsters.
A dragonfly's expert control over its 4 wings enables flight in any direction it desires. For a 6-foot-long dragonfly, speed maxes out at 200 feet per second. Chasing something like that is impossible. So, we trapped it. Even if it can pick up 200-pound sheep, it's not moving multiple trees.
This particular dragonfly has been boldly hunting livestock ever since it's been raining miasma. Has it been emboldened by the reduced presence of humans? Has the miasma in the rain affected its brain and behavior? Whatever the reason, we've been tasked by the Monster Research Community to help them capture it. Movement has been severely hampered with all the obstacles around it, but there's a chance it might still escape. Keeping it alive is a priority, keeping it intact is not. Destroying the wings shouldn't matter that much.
It tries chewing through the rope with its sharp mandibles, but the ropes are specially coated with slime.
I slice at the joints of its wings and legs.
Despite being severed, the limbs kept twitching in an effort to escape.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Draped in filth, in this late Autumn weather, we'd been waiting the entire evening for it to show up. I'm just happy that the boring part is over.
Now that I'm observing it properly... Are dragonflies supposed to look like this? It's more 'armored' than I expected.
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"I'm going to tie it up now!"
As Paige approaches the dragonfly, the scales on its tail shifts.
"Paige, wait-"
Numerous shards? Scales? It all passed by in a blur as Claud pulled Paige out of the attack's path.
"Claud!"
It pierced his mana barrier! It was for an instant, but some miasma could have seeped through.
Claud ignoring his injury, quickly ties up the dragonfly and tosses it into the wagon. I have to clean his injury...
I knew something was up when the Monster Research Community offered such a large reward to capture species they'd already studied. Several monsters have evolved after being infected by the miasma. No, I'm only making excuses for my own mistakes. I should have been faster to react, I have a movement skill.
I hastily poured disinfectant on his arm, spilling a lot of the bottle. Please don't be poisonous... His gauntlet broke, are there pieces of metal in the wound? Do I pull these shards out? What if it causes more blood loss?
-Claud's Willpower: 19/44-
"Calm down, Sophie. That disinfectant is expensive."
"It's just an item, we can replace it. Your arm... we might not be able to..."
Claud sighs.
-Claud's Willpower: 18/44-
"True, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. What I'm saying is, the ground doesn't need more disinfectant than me."
Oww!
-Claud's Willpower: 17/44-
"See? My arm's still strong enough to pinch your face."
"This is serious! Stop making jokes."
Why is he making light of his injury?
"I-I'm sorry, Sir Claud, Ms. Sophie. If only I didn't go closer to the monster."
Paige... If only I didn't
-Claud's Willpower: 16/44-
"It's alright. Don't drop your guard next time, Paige. Monsters will struggle to their last breath."
"Let's quickly go home. If we get caught in the rain now, it would be bad."
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Claud moved to pull the wagon's ropes.
"Stop. What do you think you're doing? Your arm is hurt, sit with Paige."
As I try pulling, the wheels barely move a smidge. I can't ask him for help now.
I try pulling harder and the wheels get stuck in the mud. It's so embarrassing, I could cry. I acted so tough.
-Claud's Willpower: 15/44-
"Do you need some help with that?"
I know, even though I'm not facing him. Claud's smirking. I can hear it in his voice.
"Okay..."
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"Spectacular work. The dragonfly is perfectly intact except for its wings. This will prove invaluable for our research. Thank you."
And with that quest completion, we meet our quota. The money should last the remainder of our journey and a little more.
"And as special thanks to you reading youth, here's an unpublished book by our organization. I'm sure smart young people such as you will take an interest in it."
Sophie passed it to me. I held it gingerly.
Investigation into Stats. Oh, this is precious.
"Claud, we really should bring you to a priest. My Heal isn't a high enough level."
No.
I vigorously shake my head.
No priests.
Priests charge an entire 10 gold coins for one recovery spell. We have healing at home. Recite a couple lines from the propaganda book as a chant for the Heal spell and done.
I open up the new unpublished book by the Monster Research Community.
Investigation into Stats.
Monsters have stats similarly to humans, experiments with status orbs have proven so. But not all stats are the same.
20 Dexterity for humans and 20 Dexterity for monsters are completely different. A dragonfly with 20 Dexterity would still out speed humans with 40 Dexterity.
Thus, the conclusion is that stats are judged by the individual's species.
Approaching 20, the subject could be said to have reached the theoretical peak of their species. What is allowed by the observable physics of their body. Somehow, certain individuals surpass the limits of their species.
By 40, they transcend the capabilities of their race. Past that point, between 40-100, there is only a minor performance difference. Stats have diminishing returns. That is a conclusion we are considering after experimenting on captured monsters. War journals seem to support our research.
A person with 40 Vitality can tank a bullet easily but not a cannon blast. A general with 100 Vitality also could not survive a shot from a cannon.
It might not mean that those extra stats are worthless. It could be that the effects are something that we are unable to observe.
As an example, we'll breakdown the Vitality stat. From 0-20, basic fitness is improved. 20-30, regeneration is improved. 30-40, super durability is acquired.
40-100, unknown. Human individuals with Vitality higher than 40 have not disclosed anything and conclusions cannot be drawn. Perhaps they are more resistant to changes in temperature and weather, maybe illnesses don't affect them. There is a myriad of things to be tested.
Summary, stats are a measurement of a being's ability to adapt. All stats grow after a person exerts effort surpassing their previous limits. That is the one condition required for stat growth: exertion.
I had thought of it myself. The reason Sophie's stats weren't growing the past month was because she wasn't being challenged enough. All the hunting quests were too easy.
Monsters adhere to a similar principle, adapting to their environment constantly. Moving out of their habitats, growing new features, abilities, skills.
There are other pages in the book with diagrams breaking down the other stats. Interesting. Maybe I'll get an idea if I keep reading.
The only exception to the stats breakdown is the Luck stat. There is no reasonable way of measuring its effect.
After 1000's of samples of coinflips between different researchers with varying luck, the result was inconsistent. People with higher luck didn't seem to win any more than their lower luck opponents. Interesting... So, what is Luck exactly?
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Claud's engrossed in his new book, reading while we're still in the guild hall. After pulling out the shards and wrapping his arm, he seems fine. He's so nonchalant about getting hurt. I don't like it. There's nothing I can do but stare out the window, at the dark sky raining miasma. Only a month and people have already accepted this as the new norm.
I still can't. Sleeping and getting up at the right times has been difficult. Even during the day, it's as dark as evening. The periodic rain makes me feel sleepy too.
Mustn't yawn in public. That'd be rude.
I tug Claud's sleeve. He awakened out of his reading stupor and began making preparations for us to return to the inn.
-Claud's Willpower: 15/44-
"Right, let's divide the reward. Paige, here's your third."
"Ah. I'm alright. You don't have to. I only got in the-"
"You helped us set the trap. It's okay."
It must be hard to support his family, Paige must get his share. Claud has the same idea too, I'm sure.
"I can't. I got someone hurt."
"You couldn't have known the dragonfly was going to do that. None of us expected it."
"..."
-Claud's Willpower: 14/44-
"I'm not that hurt. It's okay, Paige."
"You need the money to take care of Anny and your parents, right? Take it."
"... Alright. Thank you, Claud, Sophie. Umm. I'll be off now. Will you two really be leaving Karreira tomorrow?"
"Yes, we hope to reach the next town before Winter. Otherwise, it'd be too cold to journey."
"Okay. Goodbye, thank you for your help up till now."
Paige walked off, sounding a little sad that we were leaving.
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Heheh... I splurged a little of our money on it. 50 gold coins. Maybe I was being ripped off, who knows. It doesn't matter, we have tons of money now. It is only right that we give back to the economy by spending.
The smoke from the old lamp always bothered me but staying up reading at night is no longer a problem with this brand-new magic fueled lamp.
I open the book.
This book has taught me a lot of interesting things about how stats work. I can't take most of it at face value but keeping it in mind will certainly help.
Strength seems to scale the best regardless of how high it goes. A person with higher Strength will always outperform in a few categories of lifting when comparing with a lower Strength stat. Strength is the simplest stat to improve. Perform greater feats of Strength in larger quantities, gain more Strength. A weightlifting regimen might help...
Dexterity is a little more complicated. A person with higher Dexterity is not always faster when running. Dexterity encompasses a wide range of things, reaction time, raw speed, smoothness of motion, stealth. People have gained Dexterity and Intelligence from playing instruments. Two in one. That's a surprise. Maybe I could teach her the violin.
Vitality is probably the hardest to improve. Because it involves durability and fitness. Her Vitality is the hardest stat to raise despite the amount of exercise she's been getting. Monsters' Vitality rose after being struck multiple times... That has some implications. I'm sealing this knowledge away.
Her Intelligence is always increasing. I don't have to do anything about that. As long as we keep reading, it'll be fine.
"Turn off the light, Claud... I wanna sleep..."
She pulled the blanket over her head as if emphasizing how brightly this lamp lit up the room.
Fine. Wouldn't be good to have our sleep schedules messed up even if the world is only evening or night now.