Chapter 28: Perks
After the events of last night involving sandman ended and I got home, exhaustion hit me like a truck as I just collapsed on my bed and wanted nothing more than to just sleep.
I contemplated taking a quick peek at the dungeons since they are something I had been looking forward to ever since getting a system, they are a classic part of the gamer system after all, but in the end, I decided that going in dead tired wasn't the smartest choice.
In addition to that, the system had told me it would be getting an update the next time I wake up, so I was banking on that being helpful for me once I go in exploring the dungeon.
With all that in mind, I hopped in bed, pulled the covers over my head, and dozed off, filled with anticipation for tomorrow.
Oh, and of course, I didn't forget to call Gwen before falling asleep. I have a hunch I would have somehow regretted it if I had forgotten about her.
I had an excellent sleep that lasted well into the next day. At some point, my pesky alarm clock tried to interrupt that blissful time, but I sure showed it who was in charge here, and currently, the pathetic thing was lying on the floor in pieces after being thrown against a wall.
May also tried to wake me up soon after, but I just told her I was feeling a bit under the weather, and she left me alone, which means I have the entire day free from school, the perfect time to go into the dungeons!
Before charging in, though, I looked at the system log and found the message I was looking for.
[The system has been updated to version 0.3, click here to see the changelog.]
[Welcome to version 0.3 of the system! The major new feature of this update is perks! Along with that, there have been many balancing changes and bug fixes to make things more entertaining!]
As soon as I opened the changelog and the update came into effect, I suddenly felt myself get stronger, much stronger. It was quite a strange feeling, and looking at my body, not much had changed, but I felt like I could lift a car with one hand right now.
I wasn't sure exactly why that was, but it obviously had something to do with the update, so I decided to take a look at all the changes to find the cause.
[Perks - Perks are passive bonuses granted to the host through various actions like reaching a significant threshold in a stat, leveling up their class, or doing certain actions.]
[Experience display - Numbers can get huge, so instead of using those, the status panel now instead uses percentages to keep track of how close the host is to leveling up.]
[Health recovery nerf - The health recovery rate has been slowed down by 60 times. If the host previously recovered 100 health per minute, then now it will be 100 health per hour.]
[Cash rebalance - Lower leveled enemies now drop much less money than before, while higher level enemies will make you drown in it. Be careful not to destroy the economy!]
And that's everything on the list. Quite a bit smaller than update 0.2, which had an extensive list of new features, but I guess I can't expect every update to be that big.
The only 'new' feature was perks, with the others mainly being the rebalancing of existing functions of the system.
Experience being shown in percentages really doesn't affect me much, but the health recovery sure does. Previously a quick rest lasting a few minutes would be enough to get me back into top shape, but now it would take hours!
I will have to find another way to recover my health since waiting for it to recover naturally during my patrols sounds boring. Maybe I will pick up a class with healing magic later or learn some alchemy to make potions.
The cash rebalance isn't immediately worrying since I've built up quite a bank in the past few weeks, so it won't be a huge problem even if enemies drop less money. The warning at the end is both worrying and exciting, though. Will high-level enemies really drop that much money?
Looking through the log, I find that after activating the new update, I got a bunch of perks to go along with it and the first one is probably the reason I am feeling so much stronger right now.
[For reaching level 25 in the Spider-man class, you have gained the perk Super Strength]
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[Super Strength]
Each point of Strength is worth more to you than a normal human.
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The description doesn't tell me how much more each point of strength is worth, but I've long since grown used to that. From just the initial feeling, though, I would say I'm at least two or even three times stronger than before.
I also got perks for reaching 100 in strength, vitality, endurance, dexterity, intelligence, and wisdom. Here are the descriptions for them.
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[First Strike]
The first attack in a battle does double damage.
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[Healing Blood]
Your blood has the properties of a potion. The higher your Vitality is, the stronger the blood's healing powers will be. Your own blood doesn't work on yourself.
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[Iron Skin]
Makes your skin as tough as iron.
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[Weapon Proficiency]
Increases speed of mastery over all kinds of weapons by 100%.
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[Accelerated Growth]
Increases experience gained from defeating enemies by 50%.
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[Swift Reader]
Allows the user to read three times faster than normal.
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They are all outstanding, and I don't think I need to explain why. Anything that gives flat boosts like extra damage or more experience is always welcome.
It's a little disappointing that my blood won't work as a potion if I drink it myself, but at least it can be used to save someone else if I need to, though I have no clue how effective it is with my current vitality.
The Iron Skin perk was interesting as well since while touching my skin, it felt completely normal. I quickly run down to the kitchen and grab a knife to try and cut myself with, and while it does draw blood, it also damages the knife a bit, and I have to put in much more strength than the average human could muster.
This won't protect me from bullets but should at least grant me some protection from melee weapons.
With the update concluded, I closed all the system windows and went back to my room so I could finally enter the dungeon.
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Notes: Kind of an info dump chapter, so sry about that. Hopefully, I will have another chapter coming out tomorrow.
I spent a few days planning ahead for like the next 40 or so chapters of this story, and then just as I was about to start writing, I had the brilliant idea to play some Civilization 6, and well, you know…
One more turn…
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