Systematic Survival

8 - Stat Training

Lost in thought, Matt walked through the bookstore, occasionally reading the titles of books on the shelves he passed. Matt opened a random book out of boredom, even though he wasn't much of a reader. However, he found himself getting lost in this science book, which contained diagrams of gravitational fields, theories on black holes, and even a section on quantum physics.

Science was the only class that Matt took seriously in high school, and this book reminded him of why he enjoyed it so much. But as he was reading, a noise suddenly chimed.

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[Training Successful]

+1 Intelligence

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His jaw dropped in surprise as he felt a sudden wave of focus wash over him. His thoughts seemed to become faster and clearer as if a weight had been lifted from his mind. It was a sensation similar to the alertness that follows a cup of coffee.

'I can raise my stats by doing things?'

He almost dropped the book he was holding.

'I guess it makes sense since that's how people raise their real "stats". But this is way too fast!'

Without thinking he picked up another book, this one was history. He sat in the corner of the bookstore reading for a while, but nothing popped up again.

'Was it a fluke? Maybe I just need to read more.'

As he was nose-deep in the history book he heard a loud voice directly in front of him, startling him out of his trance.

"Matt!"

It was his boss.

"I uh, was just taking a break. I finished everything."

"You did? That fast? You usually take forever and I wonder if you even want this job."

Obviously, he couldn't tell her that XP was the reason for his newfound job efficiency.

"I guess I just got faster after working here so long."

She gave him a look again and then headed for the door.

"Help me close up."

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[New Quest]

Close up the shop [Reward: +2xp, ]

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'Ok come on. Only 2 XP?!'

Matt sighed and followed behind her and finished up his work for the day. He turned of the lights in the back and dumped out the trash cans.

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[Quest Complete]

Close up the shop

+2xp [XP 88/100]

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'Why even give me a quest? Well, I guess it's still free XP.'

As he left the bookstore, Matt couldn't help but grin with excitement. The cool air outside only added to his good mood as he made his way home.

Matt jogged down the sidewalk, skipping a step every so often.

'This system is awesome. I can't wait to see what else it can do. It seems like I can gain XP from training. But I didn't get free agility points by running, I only got the quest reward. I wonder what the conditions are for training?'

He looked around and noticed he was almost home. There were people walking past in all directions seemingly with places to be.

But suddenly he stopped in his tracks.