Chapter 2
After explaining to Oh-jin—in detail—where the ‘level 3 princess’ came from, it was time to explore his profile. Kopius was not for certain, but he swore he had gotten weaker even with the jump in levels. Oh-jin had gone off to his lab to find the parchment he had written down Kopus’s information on and Cici was skimming through books that were written in Common.
At present, Kopius was trying to recall song lyrics from his past. Lyrics that took up a large portion of his memory even though he would have preferred to be able to recall things that were a little more important. He had a fount of useless knowledge. Knowledge that was really of no use on Earth and on Metem, even less so. He lamented that his movie quotes and/or reference went unnoticed, a part of Cory’s personality that would get him a few laughs on occasion. Now that he actually had a purpose for this large chunk of memory, he was coming up blank. Cory wasn’t musically inclined in the least bit. He could dance, for the most part, but singing, playing an instrument or even writing a song was a trait he did not possess. His hope was that he could hum something and Cici’s musical prowess would cover the rest.
Half of a verse into Ain’t no sunshine, by Bill Withers and Oh-jin came back into their room, his normal smile and glee coming with him. He carried several pieces of paper in one hand and in the other was what could only be described as a charcuterie board. On the board were a few pieces of meat, a pile of greens and what looked like cheese cubes. Does this guy have a refrigerator somewhere or something, Kopius wondered. After tasting the food, he no longer cared whether or not Oh-jin had a full blown kitchen; it all tasted wonderful.
“You have quite the skill there, Oh-jin,” Cici complimented after eating a few pieces. “You have to tell me your secret, or at least, the ingredients!”
“No secret my boy,” Oh-jin replied pridefully. “Dried meat from a flammerdoddle, seasoned with rock salt, junipeppers and then soaked in fermented berry juice. The cubes are cheese and the greens are a type of cabbage. Together they make for an excellent lunch.”
“My cabbages!” Kopius blurted out and then immediately shook his hands to ward off any questions. The two men gave him a quizzical look but made no attempts to prod.
“It’s fantastic, my friend,” Cici gushed as he ate more. “Next time I am here we will have to exchange recipes!”
There was an enthusiasm in the big man's voice as though the past hour of explaining his predicament was all but forgotten. Food had that effect on some people. They could have all the worries in the world, but when they sit down and have an exceptional meal, especially with good company, the time can pass in relative peace and comfort. While the three men ate, Oh-jin gave Kopius the paper that had his original profile dictated on it.
Having looked at his profile several hundred times since it became visible, Kopius knew immediately that his assumptions were correct: he was weaker, slower and yet smarter—all at the same time. ‘Smarter’ was a bit misleading, his Intelligence had gone from a ‘0’ to a ‘6’. He shook his head like a disappointed father, mentally pulled up his profile and held the paper out for comparison.
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“Son of a bitch,” Kopius grumbled as he looked at the information side-by-side.
image [https://i.imgur.com/4bHCZNw.jpeg]image [https://i.imgur.com/0QgyM0e.jpeg]
There were the numbers, plain to see. Oh-jin, when he had first documented Kopius’s profile, had mentioned something along the lines that the numbers would self-correct. Where Kopius originally had numbers that were roughly those of an older teenager, were now that of a pre-teen. He decided to gloss over the fact that he—a thirty-two year old—had been equivalent to a highschool senior because he had none of the energy or optimism that come with such a young age. It was also a testament to how far he had fallen off from maintaining the most basic of health standards. As Cory, going up a flight of stairs too quickly could practically put him on an oxygen machine for an hour. Kopius, with his new and uncontaminated body, still had endurance issues.
He looked over his profile ad nauseam, as if going over it multiple times would change it somehow. During the course of his investigations he noted that the STR, INT, and DEX were in a bolder typeface than the other bolded words. When he concentrated on any of the three, they would grow slightly larger and would shrink back to original size when ignored. It reminded Kopius of hyperlinks on web pages and articles. He tried to test his theory with several different attempts to ‘click’ the letters but nothing happened.
“Oh-jin,” Kopius said, “Is there more information behind these stats?”
“What do you mean?”
“When I am staring at the STR, or any of these three Attributes, it moves a little. Like it wants me to click it.”
“Click it?”
“Press it, you know,” Kopius paused to think of a better way to say it, “like a button or a switch.” He made poking gestures with his fingers and the combination of it all cleared up any confusion.
“Yes, my boy,” Oh-jin began. “If you focus on the Attribute and will it to expand, you will find a second and third tier of Attributes. Those do not generally activate until level 20 but, like your Intelligence, once you show an affinity for it, it will come to life.”
“I just stare intently and open it like my profile?”
“More or less.”
Kopius returned to his profile and focused on the STR. After a few adjustments to his gaze his profile page turned fuzzy and a smaller window stood out.
image [https://i.imgur.com/Z3h8iQt.png]
He skimmed over the chart, making passing guesses as to what the letters stood for. Confident that the STR was ‘Strength’ he mentally closed the small window and his profile returned to normal. Questions ran afoul of logic in his mind. Kopius still struggled to reconcile with this new world and its video game functions. Every now and then he would get the slightest of inklings and try to log out. It wasn’t easy for him but he was used to that. If life on Earth wasn’t beating him down he would always find a way to do it himself. It was hard to tell if Cory was truly unlucky or if he was just a glutton for punishment. Yet, just like Cory, he had survived. He shook off the intrusive thoughts and opened his other two Attributes.
image [https://i.imgur.com/KNBWp4I.png]
I’m not even going to guess, Kopius thought.
image [https://i.imgur.com/qCwdkZu.png]
“Okay,” Kopius announced with a loud clap of his hands. “Who’s going to explain all this shit to me?”