‘Let’s see my race or a new attribute… What would an upgraded race even look like? Would I gain a third eye or something?’

After thinking about it for a few more minutes, I give up and decide to just ask for some advice.

‘A second opinion from people much more knowledgeable than me can’t hurt I suppose.’

So with my mind made up, I walk over to Gael and Uncle Moren.

“Hey I need your guys’ advice about something.” I say casually.

“What’s up kid? You want some secret epic battle advice or something?” Uncle Moren chuckles out.

“No, but I need some info on racial upgrades and new attributes. What would a new stat or a racial upgrade even look like?”

They both stare at me wide-eyed.

“Holy shit kid! What the hell happened in there that you got a racial upgrade and a new attribute?!” Uncle Moren says.

“In where?” Gael says confusedly.

I stare at Uncle Moren in scornfully.

He rubs the back of his head sheepishly.

Sighing, I reply,

“I guess it’s not really that big of a secret but I got a soul shard from my class, and I just used it this past hour.”

“Ohoho, very nice! I was wondering what you were doing over there, I assumed a quick pre-battle nap, but a soul shard makes much more sense. I assume your time inside was well worth it?”

“Very, but anyway I need some advice. And by the way, I didn’t get both, I get to choose one or the other.”

“Hmm, quite the conundrum indeed. There have many a studies done on your exact problem.” Gaely says sagely.

“Really?”

“Oh yes, people have debated for millennia what the best status upgrade is. Most people often put new attributes ahead of racial upgrades, but I am of the opposite mind.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well first, I’ll go into what both options can do for you. The racial upgrade you will be able to choose from most likely have something to do with how you came to acquire the upgrade. So for example. If you got the upgrade by say, walking a tightrope, you may get an organ that increases balance or improves motor coordination, or even gives you longer arms to balance on tightropes better.”

I nod to show my attention. He continues,

“The same can be said with new attributes. If we use the same example, you may get a balance stat, or some sort of coordination stat.”

“So what if I were to say, meditate and briefly become one with the multiverse… hypothetically.” I ask.

“Well in that case, the amount of things a racial upgrade would bring you is really all over the place. Maybe you get a spiritual third eye, maybe you acquire a second core, you might even gain increased consciousness.”

“What the hell would increased consciousness do?”

“Wouldn’t know, but I have met someone who has this same upgrade. He describes it as having a ‘better understanding of the laws and rules that govern our realm.’ What the means is really anybody’s guess.” Gael says somewhat humorously.

“Okay what about a new attribute? What would that look like?”

“Well, I’d say you might get some sort of understanding stat or something similar. Comprehension maybe. It’s hard to say, as information about new stats and racial upgrades is a highly guarded secret.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I see…” I reply in thought, “So what are the benefits of both?”

“Well I’m glad you asked young man! You see, Racial upgrades are often seen as short term power and nothing more than a gimmick, and new attributes and attribute upgrade are often seen as long term upgrades.”

“But…” I say expecting the next words.

Gael smirks and replies,

“But… What a lot of people don’t understand is, no matter how many stat points you invest, nothing is easier and more intuitive to control than your own body. Think about it, do you even need to think to breath? Or walk? Or digest food? No, of course not! Racial upgrades increase your floor and allow a person to have more potential!”

I nod in understanding.

“Stat upgrades, while nice in the long term, rely too much on the system for assistance. A mistake I see a lot of young power hungry folks make is that they don’t need to train or practice because the system does everything for them, but what they don’t understand is that your stats only show what a person is capable of theoretically, not necessarily if they CAN bring out that power. You get me?”

“I think so… but how do I prevent myself from becoming like this? To reliant on the system I mean.” I ask worriedly.

“Training, hard work, and progressing at a steady, even pace. If you level and progress to fast, without taking the time to consolidate your gains, you’ll be no scarier than a paper tiger.”

I ruminate on his words for a few moments before turning to Uncle Moren and asking his opinion.

“You want my opinion? Do whatever you want. A talented kid like you, no matter what the hell you do, you’ll end up fine, I know it.

I nod at this and turn around to think about what the pair told me.

‘While Gael did advocate for racial upgrades more, it doesn’t mean I should take his word as law. Realistically, picking a new attribute would benefit me just as much… I think. Really I have no clue, but to me it sounds like racial upgrades have a wider range of stuff that I could get.’ I think to myself,

‘Plus it’s not like I have to pick something that changes my appearance. I’m sure I’ll get some sort of organ or something too.’

‘Ugh why do they make this so hard! Fine I’ll pick racial upgrade before I change my mind again!’

With my mind made up, I make my decision and choose the racial upgrade.

‘Okay, here we go, let’s see what we get.’ I think nervously.

‘Ok, good start with that one, I can already come up with multiple good uses for that. Detecting hidden wards, leveling up my spirit control mastery, plus I can use it to tell things about my environment. So overall pretty good first option.’

‘Uh, totally not ominous at all… Don’t exactly know what to think about that one. Could definitely be useful though. How many realms are there though?’

‘Wow, okay, this one is awesome. Who doesn’t want to teleport? I can imagine myself in a tense fight and all the sudden, boom teleport and the fight is over. Might be a bit rigid in it’s use though I will say. Also I expect this organ to fall of in usefulness the stronger I get.’

‘Hmm this one is interesting, if a bit complex. I can see how in the long term this one could be the most useful. Especially since I’m limited to having no skills with my class, any tools I can use would be quite useful. The warning at the end is a bit worrying though.’

‘I’m not really liking this one. I mean, not having to eat or sleep is cool and all, but it doesn’t exactly help me in a fight, and while the second part sounds interesting, I’d rather have a more permanent boost. Sometimes I won’t get to prepare for a fight beforehand.’

‘This one is a definite no. I don’t need the warning at the end to tell me something fishy is going on with this one. Multiverse’s agenda? What the hell kind of agenda does the damn multiverse have? Can it even think? Does it know it has an agenda? These are questions I don’t wasn’t to know, or find out, so respectfully no thank you. Anyway, last one, let’s hope it’s good.’

‘Another weird one, again not really a lot of combat applications here. Though I suppose there are a lot of people out in the multiverse that would pay top dollar for an ability like that. Any ancient relic, any corpse, I could even learn the code to any safe if I really wanted to…. But I don’t.’

I look over the options over and over, hoping that my mind will make a decision for me. Sadly that doesn’t happen and instead I’m forced to make the hard choice myself.

‘Okay I’ve decided, I’m picking…’