The ring of the bell signified the end of the class. Damien gave out a sigh of relief as he left to grab lunch. History was always his worst subject. Why was U.S History so... Boring? Why didn't he pick Ancient Rome, or Chinese Dynasty instead? Sadly it was too late for regrets.

He put away his grievances as he unwrapped his chicken sandwich. Say what you will about Westlake University's standard of education, their food was the bomb. As he ate his meal his mind went back to what had been bothering him throughout the class. Deciding he couldn't hold it in anymore, Damien pulled out his phone.

"Hey, X, how many other Dicers are there?"

Oh? Why are you asking?

"Just curious, I mean I know for a fact that I'm not the only one in town." And considering how he even got his dice, X wasn't too strict on who became a Dicer. Actually, if he managed to get his by dumb luck, there's no telling how many other people had their hands on one. Highschoolers weren't the best at keeping secrets after all.

That's a secret~

:P

Many people would like to keep such info hidden,

and I'm sure you do as well.

"I see, fair enough. Could you at least tell me if this "game" is co-op or PVP?" if a game is multiplayer, there'd obviously be content for such functions. A large scale raid, a difficult boss, some challenge that is difficult or impossible to overcome, and of course the ever popular PVP competitions. He didn't think for a single second that someone who seems to enjoy being a game master wouldn't make use of such concepts.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's for you to decide.

Although, I will say that there'll be a fun Event soon for you to look forward too.

While I'm still setting the stage, try to get stronger, alright?

There'll be lots and lots of dice up for grabs~

"Sounds fun, I hope the rewards won't disappoint."

Well, that settled it. Battles seemed to be a common mechanic in this game. Question was, were they fighting humans or monsters? He couldn't wait to find out, but before that he needed to prepare himself.

First was the fundamentals of any game, his "build" or rather how he was going to spend his stats. He decided to write it all down on paper to help him plan it out.

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 14

Agility: 15

Endurance: 10

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Stamina: 9

Intelligence: 11

Luck: 7

Charisma: 11

He wasn't quite sure how Charisma and Luck worked, and questioning X on it only got him vague answers. However everything besides stamina was pretty straight forward. Strength was muscular power, Dexterity was how well he could control his body movement, Agility was on speed and flexibility, Endurance was how tough his body was, Stamina was how long he could maintain physical activities. And Intelligence was how fast he could think, how well he could memorize, and how reasoning ability.

He'd like to avoid that one if at all possible, the idea of some foreign, possibly eldritch entity having access to his mind was decidedly creepy. Just like the Ship of Theseus, how much could he change himself until he was no longer himself?

He had decided where to firmly draw the line.

So, by default Intelligence was out. He couldn't depend on Luck as it was too risky and unreliable. Charisma would be great if he could make allies, but he wasn't sure how useful it'd be in the upcoming event, plus he didn't know enough about other Dicers to risk making contact. Maybe it would be useful powering his "spells" if the concept of Skills existed like in most RPGs or D&D, but for now he better focus on soloing ability. So, right off the bat that eliminated almost half of his options.

Should be even out his weaknesses and add to strength and endurance? Or maybe shore upon his strengths with an "assassin" build? Hit hard and fast? Then again, chances are the event would take some time and he should be ready to face multiple opponents, or a battle royal even. Running out of steam would make him a sitting duck in a tiger's cave.

He agonized over his options for so long that the bell rang before he could make up his mind. With a sigh, he tossed away his trash and headed to Math class. Maybe he'll figure something out later.

New Quest!

Beat the teacher to the classroom!

Rewards: Dicex7

His eyebrows raised at the high reward before he hissed out a curse. His class was on the other side of the campus, and the professor, Ms. Mcguffin, would usually get enter ten minutes after the bell. He promptly booked it out of the cafeteria, muttering numerous apologies for bowling over every student in his way.

This was going to be a close one.

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

He practically crashed into the door frame as he tried to stop himself from crashing. Damien huffed greedily as he leaned onto the wall, his lungs burned for oxygen. He'd made it! He quickly seated himself and did his best to look as innocent and studious as possible.

The reason as to why soon became clear, as Ms. Mcgruffins walked inside, a noticeable limp to her stride and the pile of books and worksheets hugged to her bosom in disarray.

He might or might not have accidentally caused her to fall over in his rush. It was an accident, honest!

Thankfully she hadn't managed to see his face.

"Good morning, class! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend." Still, despite her frazzled appearance, she didn't let it dampen her cheery mood as she greeted her class. Dumping her pile onto her desk she quickly picked out a volunteer to hand out some worksheet for everybody to do. Although this was a "Math" class, the teacher liked to have the students do worksheets involving science or business.

"It helps them relate to the subject and find everyday real-world applications to them!"

A tactic that has proven most effective, considering her class had the highest average throughout the grade.

He had just finished the second page, when something caught his eye. Maybe 7 Luck wasn't so bad after all...? It was a simple enough math problem of finding out the kinetic energy of some moving objects or changes in velocity. However, his eyes zoomed into the equation at the bottom right of the page.

F=MA

Yes, that had decided it for him. Why bother with Endurance when you can just avoid getting hit at all..?

The more he thought about it the more it appealed to him. Strength would allow him to hit hard, but its versatility was severely lacking. A rough plan was forming in his mind, he would only need to confirm some things with X and test a few ideas, but it was looking more solid by the minute.

He couldn't wait for classes to be over.