Chapter 24: Stats upgrades

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STATUS

NAME: Shingi Maki

CLASS: None

RACE: Blessed Human

HP: 55/55

SP: 12/12

MP: 32/32

STR: 10

AGI: 11

END: 11

INT: 16

CHA: 4

MANA POOL: Earth and Light Element

SKILLS

Base Rank: VISUALIZATION, MANA MANIPULATION, MANA SENSE, STEALTH, SMITHING, ACCELERATION, MARTIAL ART

Master Rank: PERCEPTION, IMPROVISED THROW WEAPON

SPELLS

Ungraded: FILTH EATER, MINOR ILLUSION, LIGHT

Low Grade: MANA HAND, ROCK THROW

BLESSINGS: Blessing of ??????, Blessing of Dlog

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Shingi checked his status and decided that his Skills were in a good enough state for now, but if he wanted to improve them, he wouldn't be able to with his current stats. On the other hand, his Mana Skills were more manageable because he had a high INT already. In addition, because of his Blessing's passive effect, he could often do things way more straightforward than it should be the case.

Also, he wanted to unlock more skills. In that case, he could use SPECTATOR MODE and 'transfer' some of his skills into his NPC body, but he still had to adjust to his current ones, so he wasn't in a hurry to do that.

So since he wouldn't work on any other skills other than his SMITHING, since he will work on the shop's orders, he worked on something else.

Increasing his Stats.

Hit INT was relatively high for now, so he didn't have to worry about it, but he could always use more mana that came with it, getting increased, but for now, he was okay with how it was. He was sure that if he upgraded his Mana Tree, it would also affect his MP Modifier. That was deciding how much mana each of his INT points gave him. So he had to mainly on his other Stats.

His STR was the same since his curse got fully lifted. Even if he wanted to focus on the path of Magic, that didn't mean that he would leave his body being weak and not get some physical fight. He had his MARTIAL ART skill, which would give him some excellent hand-to-hand combat moves if he was out of mana or his spells didn't work. No matter his skill's Rank, if he doesn't have the STR to back it up, he could damage himself instead. Same for AGI, as some attacks used the user's speed more than his pure strength.

His END was beneficial, especially since he didn't have a second chance like players. Reaching 0 HP had a more significant risk than he was used to. His low SP didn't allow him to use his Physical skills for long. Today, he had to take a few breaks between his crafting sessions and deliveries because his skill had consumed almost all of his SP. Of course, he stopped using them when he had used 80-90% of his SP cause if he had spent it all, it would take more time to restore it, and he wouldn't be able to move for close to an hour.

Then there was the CHA stat, the one he was completely unfamiliar with. He had heard of the stat existing in other games, but he had never heard of it in this one, and none of the developers he knew had ever mentioned it. So although he can't be entirely sure about it, he also seemed to be the only one to have it. At some point, he thought it might be a secret NPC stat or something of his Race, but after checking Annoue's status and seeing that there wasn't CHA written there, he wasn't sure about it.

He decided he would focus on his AGI, which would highly benefit his MARTIAL ART Skill, followed by END, increasing his chances of survival. Then STR, which would also increase his combat abilities but not as much as AGI would. Finally, he would focus more on taking care of his Mana Tree to increase his mana instead of possibly increasing his INT. As for CHA, he would leave it in fate to improve it since he wasn't aware of its effects and had no clue how to increase it.

So he started making his training schedule, and it was pretty simple. He would use his work on the shop to grind his SMITHING skill and increase his stats. That morning, he raised his AGI and END by overusing ACCELERATION and running around at a speed that his body wouldn't usually be able to handle. So he had to do the same to increase them all. But, of course, using the ACCELERATION way again wasn't possible. Once a method worked, it wouldn't work a second time, so he had to try something else.

But since he had so much work and all he had to do was overwork himself in different ways, he had the perfect chance in his hands. And that is what he had done.

Garry seemed to pay less and less attention to the shop or putting more trust in Shingi. Even Shingi couldn't tell which was indeed the case. Garry was getting at the shop sometimes in the middle of the day and most times not all. But even when he was there, he took his usual naps until Shingi waked him up to check his crafts for the day before delivering them. There were a few cases Garry made him make some adjustments to them, but Garry never made them himself.

But if Garry had spent more time in the shop, what was happening would amaze him. Shingi, every day he was thinking of fresh challenges to put his body to the limits. Shingi used the hammers that were too heavy for him, and even Annoue may have difficulty using them, which would help increase his STR. He was working right next to the forge while having its temperature as high as possible to help raise his END, work on multiple crafts and running around them, hammering them, and shaping them to the final product help with his AGI. And when one training didn't have any results for two days straight, he moved to the next one, which was even crazier than the last, as it added to the difficulty.

Of course, he didn't forget about Annoue as he helped her with her Enchantment training, using on her the active effect of his Blessing for an hour each night. He then helped her with ranking up MANA MANIPULATION, which she still lacked proficiency with.

And so a week passed, and even if more orders came during it, he had finally finished them all, and he was on his way back in the shop to get the last ones to deliver.

During that week, his training methods had worked somewhat as his END had increased by four and his AGI had by three. However, his STR had only increased by 1.

It seemed weird that his STR was so hard to raise, but he didn't mind since his AGI was getting high and would somewhat cover his lack of STR in combat. Also, seeing his END increasing that much was a pleasant surprise. Probably it happened since those days that Garry wasn't around, which were most of them, and since no customers were coming in the shop most of the time, he had the forge being at full temperature and even not drinking much water and sometimes skipping breakfast to push his body at its limits.

He noticed two figures outside the shop on his way back, and actually, he was familiar with them.

They were Little Phoenix and Wild Tycoon, the two female players he had met during his SPECTATOR MODE playtime.

He told them to come to this town and look for him, specifically his NPC self, although he didn't say that it was him but just a boy with the same name as the one he was using.

They had asked him why he had the same name as an NPC, but he told them they would know when the time comes, and they seemed to respect that.

Even if he was expecting them a few days later, he had made enough preparations. So he brought out a cloth and put it around his mouth to cover the lower half of his face.

He was pretty similar to a young self of his player character, so for now, he didn't want to explain it; that is why he hid somewhat his face. After doing that, he made his way towards the two girls, who seemed to discuss something outside the shop.

Of course, even if they were talking in low voices, almost whispering, Shingi could hear their talk, which seemed to be if this was the right place and if they should get in or not.

"*cough* *cough* Can I help you with something?" [Shingi]

The two female players turned their heads towards the one who spoke, and seeing that it was a young NPC boy, they looked at each other with wonder in their eyes and then turned back to him.

"Eh.... excuse me, young man. But could you be Shingi?" [Little Phoenix]

Even being shy, Phoenix had been the first to talk and ask what both wondered.

"Hm.... two girls... one with a big axe and angry face, and one with a staff and low voice. Yeah, it seems like you are the two that Master had mentioned." [Shingi]

Once more, the two girls looked at each other. This time Tycoon spoke.

"What do you mean, master?" [Wild Tycoon]

If they could see under the cloth, they would notice a smirk appearing on Shingi's face.

"Well, let's go inside, and I will explain everything." [Shingi]

He then opened the main door of the shop and led them inside. Since they didn't have many seats, they used a box and a bucket as seats as the seat Garry usually took his nap on.

"Let me introduce myself first. I am Shingi Maki, and I am the son of Garry, the local blacksmith. They cursed my mother during her pregnancy. They also cursed me since she was pregnant with me. The curse was the Never-ending sleep. It had affected me for most of my life until recently; a brave adventurer helped gather ingredients for a ritual to break that curse. Of course, that ritual was successful, and the adventurer was someone who, from that point on, had helped me a lot, but not only me as he had helped others. His name is unknown to me, but he told me he found two individuals, and he used my name as his and told them to come here to continue their training. He let me with some of his knowledge to share with you when needed to make your training progress as he also put me in charge of the task to gather others too." [Shingi]

Shingi stopped talking at that point to let them process everything. He would not tell them the entire truth cause even he wouldn't believe it. A Player who was killed in the game and then became an NPC isn't something that one would believe. Even if he showed them the complete truth, he didn't want to reveal this knowledge yet. Even if he trusted them, they could always leak secrets accidentally.

"So you want to tell me he saved you, and now you are to complete our training? Why is he doing what he is doing?" [Wild Tycoon]

Shingi was expecting this kind of reaction and had thought about answers. Still, he felt only one was appropriate.

"He said, and I quote his exact wording, 'It is time to take the tower back. '"[Shingi]