Well, that went better than expected!

I looked over my handiwork as Caleb studied his book. The interface I had developed was mostly a quick summation of Caleb’s - or any other host’s - abilities and status. Obviously, I had modeled a lot of it after what I’d seen in video games and light novels. It wasn’t easy though, I’d hit a lot of snags during its development.

First was the trouble of ‘stats’ or ‘ability scores’ and stuff like that. How do you accurately quantify someone’s physical and mental abilities? The hell if I knew.

I tried making ‘Attack’ and ‘Defense’ stats based on how much damage a hit from him would do. That was until I realized that how much damage you do depends on where you hit and how you hit it, so you couldn’t have just one ‘Attack’ value.

I ultimately decided on just measuring his growth, rather than some weird abstract value of his strength or dexterity.

Skills were still a work in progress, but they had proved to be an engaging project that kept me busy during the nights. I had my eyes set on a “Farming” skill for the future… although, I have no clue how that would work.

Titles were a late addition to the interface, another way for Caleb’s ‘Achievements’ to boost his growth. I don’t have much planned for them except to be a record of what he has accomplished, but we’ll see what the future holds.

The Status was pretty simple. I had a near-perfect understanding of Caleb’s body and its state at all times. I just take a look to see if anything is not doing what it's supposed to and display that information on the interface.

Finally, the System Points. Or, in other terms, the causal energy that has built up in Caleb.

Ever since Caleb’s revival, he has been the epicenter of a constant flow of energy. I’ve absorbed most of it, but a small part of it gets caught inside Caleb and has been slowly building up over time, like sediment in a river.

Luckily, causal energy is completely inert and Caleb isn’t at any risk no matter how much energy he collects. The amount he collected from simply existing was constant, so I arbitrarily decided it was worth ten points per day.

Once he saved up enough, he could use the points to either increase his Attributes or as a currency in the Shop. Though the Shop would have to wait a bit until I figured out some “products” to sell.

I was more than a little relieved when Caleb chose to improve his ‘Body’ rather than ‘Mind’ or ‘Magic’. It was the Attribute I was most confident in improving and probably the safest choice in the near term.

When he confirmed he wanted to use the “System Points” to upgrade his body, I became able to control the energy inside him and guide it to where it needed to go. I pooled the energy in his heart, and then let it trickle into his bloodstream where it was absorbed into his muscles, organs, and bones.

The change was less than minor with the energy being spread out so thin. It’s hard to put a number on how much his body has improved but, if I had to, I’d say his body is about one percent better than it was.

I watched the energy cycle through Caleb’s cells and body, letting them function beyond what they should be capable of. It was working and stable.

I let out a mental breath and relaxed my guard, relief washing over me. Seeing my success gave me hope for my plans for the ‘Mind’ and ‘Magic’ improvements, but those were a long way off.

I gave one last look over Caleb’s state, before flicking the price on the ‘Body’ Attribute up to 110 Points. Causal energy had diminishing returns, unfortunately. When all the energy is trying to do the same thing, it can interfere with itself, meaning you need more energy to get the same result. So if I want to give Caleb the same ~1% buff, I need to use about ten percent more energy each time.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

This wasn’t a huge problem, for now, just an extra day or two of waiting between power-ups. Even if it became a problem in the future, he would already be decently powerful by that stage anyway.

“Until then, Caleb still has plenty of room to grow!” I thought.

&&&&&&&&&&

“... Never have I been more right.”

I watched Caleb’s arms shake as he struggled to finish the push-up. The village chief, Garen, stood over him looking almost impressed with how weak the boy was.

You’d think growing up in a pre-industrial farming village would inevitably build some muscle, but that wasn’t the case for Caleb. I didn’t know how he’d been raised up until now, but his parents seemed disinclined to make him perform physical labor. I had thought it was because they were letting him recover from his injuries and brushed it off. Obviously, that isn’t the case.

Garen, however, seemed to take this as a challenge.

This morning, after the usual check on the fields and animals, Garen approached them as they were entering the village. He’d explained that he and Elder Huga, whom he called Martha, had decided to trade off Caleb’s teaching each day.

Caleb had followed the chief back to his home, which was by far the largest in the village. It even had an entire second floor, where the rest of the village only had single-story cabins and huts. And, no sooner than they arrived, Garen told Caleb to start running laps around the house.

He had spent the last few hours pushing Caleb to his limits which, even with his Body enhancement, wasn’t very far.

“Alright, we’ll call it here.” Garen proclaimed.

Caleb’s form collapsed and he hit the ground like a brick, panting, sweating, and exhausted.

“I’m surprised you didn’t complain at some point. I know most new trainees in the army whine constantly, but you held it together pretty well.”

“Didn’t… have… the air… to… complain.” Caleb rasped between pants. “I thought… you… were going to teach me… to fight.”

Garen chuckled at that.

“You think you could fight anyone with a weak body like yours? First, we gotta get enough muscle on you so you can keep your form.” He said.

“A big part of fighting someone is having control over your own body. Without that, your punches and kicks won’t land and you won’t be able to dodge the blows from your opponent.”

He thought for a moment before calling out towards the house.

“Cynthia! Get out here! I need your help with a demonstration!”

A few seconds passed and the door to the house opened. Cynthia stepped out wearing a simple tunic and pants rather than a dress like most village girls, and her short blond hair was held back by her bandanna. Her wooden sword bounced on her hip as she jogged over to us.

“What’s up?” She asked, not giving the collapsed Caleb a second look.

Without responding, Garen sent a kick flying at his daughter’s head.

Cynthia ducked forward into a roll under his leg, drawing her sword in a smooth motion and thrusting at his thigh. Before she could strike, Garen caught her arm in the crook of his knee and pulled her into the path of his descending fist.

Instead of trying to pull back, Cynthia pushed further in, barely making it out of the way of the blow. She kicked out at his other foot, trying to send him off balance, but Garen dropped down and pinned her sword arm to the ground.

Before she could even try to struggle out of the pin, Garen’s hand was at her throat. Seeing her situation, Cynthia rolled her eyes and tapped out, letting her dad pull her to her feet.

Garen turned back to Caleb, “Do you see? If you can’t control your body, you won’t last long in a fight. It’s all about control of the situation.”

Caleb had managed to push himself into a sitting position and was shocked at seeing Cynthia, who had so easily dispatched his bully, defeated just as quickly. He dumbly nodded along as Garen continued to explain some fundamentals to help in a fight.

I was only half-listening to the lecture as I focused on my biggest project. I took the memories of Garen’s “demonstration” and dissected it down to the tiniest detail. I noted as much as I could as each move led into the next and how each of them reacted in turn.

I took my breakdown of the fight and filed it into a distinct packet, similar to the one Gaia made for me. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that this was the foundation of Caleb’s future.

Caleb knew absolutely nothing about fighting, that was painfully clear. Unfortunately, neither did I.

This left me at a loss when it became obvious he needed to know how to defend himself. The only thing I could do was tell him to find someone to teach him and cross my nonexistent fingers.

I’ve been on the backpedal since I got here, always one step behind and coming up short. I couldn’t keep going like this.

I had gone through my memories and found every fight I had ever been in and ever seen, breaking them down into pure numbers and angles. Every punch thrown or opening missed was analyzed and stored to serve a greater purpose.

My attention snapped back as I realized Garen had finished his speech and was helping Caleb to his feet. Caleb’s legs were still wobbling, so Garen handed him a walking stick and told him they’d see each other again in a couple of days. The chief and his daughter waved Caleb goodbye as he limped back home.

Once Caleb was far enough down the street and nobody was in sight I pushed a notification into his view.

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You’ve completed the Mission: Fight!

You’ve been rewarded 10 XP!

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You’ve earned the Skill: Combat Sense!

Do you accept it?

[Y / N]

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