"My general stats are Strength, Agility, Endurance, Constitution, Perception. All of them around 1. Only Intelligence, Wisdom and Willpower are a bit higher nearing the 1.5 range. I'm guessing 1 is the average base stat."
Noah said looking at his stats. Not hearing any response, he looked up to see his friends staring at him with a confused expression.
"Anything wrong, Guys?"
"No, it's mostly alright except I have Dexterity instead of Agility. Also, Toughness seems to be the alternative to Constitution. Does this mean something?" Ava replied with confusion apparent in her tone.
"It's the same with me. I have similar stats to Ava except for a few obvious differences like Awareness instead of Perception and Power should be for Strength." Shaun added his own inferences.
"Interesting, Let me check on it." Noah said while scrutinizing his Stats. Getting an idea, he thought to see it in different languages. Seeing the characters change into different scripts with his thoughts, he smiled a little at his hypothesis being proven. Fiddling with it a bit more, he tried to change the stats themselves like Strength to Power and it did so effortlessly. Feeling confident in his theory, he turned to his friends to explain it to them.
"I have good news."
"What good news." Shaun was curious to know what could have happened to change his friend's mood so much and so quickly.
On the other hand, Ava gasped while she was fiddling with her Status.
"It seems she also found it." Noah looked at Ava to see her face beaming in excitement.
"Noah, this changes things entirely."
"What does she mean?" Shaun asked Noah.
"It means what we thought was a likely possibility that the world was some kind of simulation has been changed to a minimal one. You see, the status page likely shows you what you associate with the most. Since it was very similar to game character status, it naturally assumed that form for us. I confirmed it just now thinking different terms for each stat and in different languages and it changed accordingly with my thoughts." Noah explained it with a slight smile on his face.
"So, the world is not some kind of game world and we're not NPCs." Shaun asked for further clarification.
"What Noah meant to say that it is now very unlikely now. Though the possibility still remains, we can at least rest assured for now until we get more information." Ava intervened and explained to Shaun.
"In hindsight, thinking this was a video game world from the get-go was a bit stupid. These people have their own language and they are using the Akasha Records, System whatever for who knows how long. They would definitely have entirely different terms for all the stuff on the Status Page." Noah laughed a little thinking how panicked they must have been back then to not even question it at all.
"It really is true." Shaun said after checking that terms on his Status page were really changing with his thoughts.
"Funny how getting out of existential crisis makes the body feel light." Ava said while she took her usual position on the couch.
Noah was feeling the same after the revelation. It was then he saw movement from the corner of his eye.
He saw Shaun take out papers and a pen from the luggage.
"We should write the stuff to make it easier to discuss. We can destroy it if we want later on." Passing the papers, Shaun explained seeing their intrigued faces.
Understanding the use of papers, everyone promptly wrote their status on their pages and passed them on.
[Status]
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Name: Ava Evergrad
Race: Human(F) - LVL 1
Profession: N/A
Status: Healthy - [Blessing: Universal Tongue (Limited)]
Talent: [Prodigy] [Tough Will]
Stats
Strength: 1.1
Agility: 1.2
Vitality: 1.1
Constitution: 1.2
Endurance: 1.2
Perception: 1.1
Intelligence: 1.5
Wisdom: 1.4
Willpower: 1.5
Skills: [Foresight] [Precognition]
[Status]
Name: Shaun Fenton
Race: Human(F) - LVL 1
Profession: N/A
Status: Healthy - [Blessing: Universal Tongue (Limited)]
Talent: [Nimble] [Perceptive]
Stats
Strength: 1.3
Agility: 1.4
Vitality: 1.1
Constitution: 1.3
Endurance: 1.4
Perception: 1.5
Intelligence: 1.2
Wisdom: 1.3
Willpower: 1.3
Skills: N/A
Looking at the other two status sheets, Noah's eyebrows quirked and he couldn't help but tease his friends.
"It seems it is now confirmed I'm smartest in this room."
Both of them rolled their eyes at his narcissistic behavior.
"Sure, Mister, Can we focus on the other things now." Ava wanted nothing more than to put him in his place right now but she knew that arguing with him will do nothing more than to put fuel in this fire.
"The Stats doesn't to be too out of place. Everything is mostly as expected if we go by Noah's deduction of 1 being average base stat. Though I am curious about all the other things. I could get the idea behind Profession and Skills but what are Talents. Does it mean that literally or is it something else?" Shaun asked the other two.
"I'm not sure. It could be either of those two possibilities or maybe even a combination of those two." Noah was also a bit perplexed at that. There was no information for him to make any conclusion. Before he could start searching the Status page for any new information or option, a voice startled him.
"Found it" Ava mumbled excitedly.
"What?" Noah didn't clearly hear what she said.
"What those Talents meant. Since it was reacting to our thoughts, I thought to try and focus on the different parts of the Status page in case it shows more information. When focusing on Individual Talents, It displayed a message with detailed information about that particular Talent. The other stuff also gave a general feeling." Ava explained with pride at having found the little tidbit about the Status first among them.
"General feeling?" Noah didn't know what to make of that.
"You will know when you focus on any Stat." Ava added and got back to fiddling the status page ignoring the two boys.
Noah and Shaun looked at each other in exasperation at her behavior. Then again, this was nothing new. Ava always got a bit in her own world doing anything that interests her. They just shrugged and start checking out their own Status pages.
Noah first focused on the stats since he was curious what Ava meant by general feeling. He focused on the Strength Stat. The first few seconds didn't do anything until suddenly he got what he could only describe as a sensation of the stat and aptly put by Ava, general feeling. He could feel Strength was related to muscular strength and gave a sensation of power.
The other stats were the same. Agility was related to reflexes and reaction speed. Vitality was related to body health and healing. Endurance was related to stamina. Constitution was related to muscle and bone density as well as natural resistance of the body against external factors. Perception was related to Senses. Intelligence was related to learning capacity, memory, and thinking capabilities. Wisdom was related to reasoning and intuition. Finally, Willpower was related to willpower and concentration.
'Really feels like a game, just more complex in nature.' Noah thought as he digested the various sensations and organized the information he gleaned from them.
Focusing on other parts, he started with Name. Getting no reaction even after waiting for a minute, he moved on to Race. He got a reaction this time.
[Human(F) - One of many races inhabiting the multiverse. Humans are one of the most balanced and numerous amongst the many races present in the multiverse, being able to walk a variety of paths. (Unawakened Soul) ]
Base stat growth per LVL: +0.1 in all stats
Seeing a huge load of text compared to the previous vague feeling made him a bit surprised. Looking over, he could see many important pieces of information. The first being that they are not just one or two races but possibly dozens or even more races present in the multiverse. He wasn't surprised since he had a feeling that it was possible after meeting with Vanadis but it felt nice to be confirmed about the fact.
Glossing over the other details, he latched onto the more important information. Stat growth per LVL was obvious and didn't require him to deliberate more on it. It was the Unawakened Soul that he was really curious about. Pondering more about the fact that Souls are real and apparently Unawakened. He suddenly something from before. Focusing his thought on the message he saw just a few hours, a blue screen popped up in his view covering the status page.
[Quest: Phase I {Initiation} - The New World will be treacherous and fraught with dangers. Where a single misstep could bring you into fatal danger. As new Initiates, you are given the precious opportunity to be prepared for the eventuality and flourish in the new environment.]
Main Objective: Pass the Rite of Awakening before the end of Phase I.
Time Left: 90 Cosmic Days
2339:56:37
Rewards: Talent Acquisition
Invitation to Phase II
He looked over the quest window and quickly locked onto the Main Objective.
'Rite of Awakening, I hope I'm not reading too much into this but the terms related to Awakening appearing there on the Race window seems awfully suspicious."