Jason shakes his head. The feeling of something being missing is hitting quite hard, but while he doesn't remember why, he knows it was for a good reason. That and to not look back. The previous area was only useful in getting through quickly and only because it forced him to overextend himself again.

Ever since forgetting, Jason had been going at a slow walk because over the last month or so, he had been forced to run way too many times for way too long. Worse, this time he only got an additional two Toughness. Sure, it was better than nothing, but there was certainly a decent amount of drop off happening at this point. Maybe next time he would only get one point or even no points.

Besides, he wasn't looking for toughness. It depends on how things shake out, but it almost feels like by the time he breaks the level 24 bottleneck, he will have stockpiled enough toughness to star it all over again. Then again, the total points a normal person has access to by the next bottleneck at 49 almost quadruples.

Jason sighs as this reminds him of a bunch of useless info he has stuffed away in his head. After all, it isn't like they throw kids into NeoRealm without any clue about what is going on. So while a relatively minor part of school, they do teach you the basics such as stat point gain by level. Of course, the given values are the "normal" amount of points and it can vary. That and the three core stats aren't the only ones you can put points towards.

Still, the knowledge isn't completely useless to Jason. It allows him to keep track of where an average player will be. Plus, it isn't like the stat points gained is some complex formula or a list of numbers to memorize. Up till level nine, you get one point. Then at level ten you get seven a level and that amount goes up by two plus the number of bottlenecks you've passed after every bottleneck. Not the easiest, but certainly not the hardest.

The big thing is that the number is stupid simple to keep track of with things like a spreadsheet or even just writing it down. From there though, the spreadsheet increases in usefulness as you can get the total points earned. For instance, from zero to 24 a normal player will have had 107 points to spend. From 25 to 49, they will gain another 288 points for a total of 395.

Besides the increase from gaining only one point a level to seven points a level, this increase is the largest. That means the chance of having Toughness starred with overflow is incredibly low. After all, For a level range where the most extra points a player could get is 107, Jason's Toughness starred at 60. A person would need to put over half their points into toughness to match him.

At this point, Jason had been thinking about various random facts and comparing himself to the "average player" for a while now and he feels somewhat better. Except the urge to turn back and look in the direction he came from is present at the back of his mind. He knows he is well past the point that he could see the area of the forest, but the urge persists even through forgetting. A disturbing thought and so he falls back into considering how he is doing. Though this time he pulls up his complete status.

{

Basic Info

Name: Jason

Level: 16 - 7.21%

Legal Status: Player

Title: Core Genius

Normal Stats

Strength

89 ( 88[Base] + 1[Ascendance] )

★Toughness

60+1 ( 91[Base] + 1[Ascendance] )

★Agility

83+1 ( 100[Base] + 1[Ascendance] )

Control

171 ( 171[Base] )

Auxiliary Stats

Defense

61 ( 60[Energy] + 1[Substance] )

Stamina

124 ( 63[Base] + 60[Energy] + 1[Substance] )

HP

351 ( 290[Base] + 60[Energy] + 1[Substance] )

Energy

30

Tripartite Conceptual Energy

Civilization

0.210%

Ascendance

0.183%

Substance

0.19%

Organizations

Adventurers Guild - Basic Member - Rank D

Odd Ones Out - Team Member - Leader

Bonuses

Knowledge Bonuses:

+2% success rate when using an Energy Herb as an ingredient or growing one

Ability to identify the maturity of a Herb with relevant Identify Skills

+3% malleability to inner self

+5% damage bonus against cats

+5% damage bonus against swarms

Swing bonus of 1% for every .1% in [Civilization]

+2% success rate when guiding Gloom Weed roots

+2% success rate when using a World Herb as an ingredient or growing one

Discovery Bonuses:

+2% success rate when using an Energy Herb or growing one

Able to get a feeling for the maturity of a Herb without a skill

Control of Experience intake

Increased chance to learn power manipulation skills

+2% success rate when using a World Herb or growing one

Bottleneck Bonuses:

Roaming Loam - The material you grow plants in will absorb nature based energies from the land as you travel

Titles:

Willful Survivor - Increased ability to affect the System through your Will

Core Genius - Provides feedback on how suitable your current location is for your cultivation technique and hints on how to improve it

Body Cultivator of Pure Energy - Formed from the titles "Pure Being", "Body Cultivator", and "Energy Controller"

Energy Cycle Genius - Gives warning when Energy draw could destabilize the cycle

Combat Monk - Increase gains from mediation while fighting

Energy Specialist - Increased ability to manipulate one's own Energy

Immortal's Prodigy - Your senses are more attuned to the difference between mortal and primordial powers

Stealthy Assassin - Increased chance of a killshot against enemies that is unaware of you and not on alert

Endless Runner - Stamina has increased effect when running on System recognized roads

Skills

Energetic Body Reinforcement

Accepting only purity of body and mind you have given up past concepts of self for the uncertainty of truth.

Apprentice Level 8 - 88.21%

Rarity: Truth

Type: Passive, Cultivation

Effects:

Filtering Cycle - Gain only 10% of absorbed energies but they are extremely pure

Purity of energy - Because of the purity of your energy higher levels have a lower scaling on what is needed to level up and the energy does more

Self Contained - Growth comes from within, forsaking outside bonuses in exchange for personal control. Stat bonuses from Equipment negated up to total Energy times 2.

Self Sustained - Your Energy can sustain you

Energized Flesh - Can hit incorporeal things for 60% of normal damage with body

Material Body (Wood) - With time your body can become like living metal or hard like a diamond

Untainted Core - No longer is your body that of a normal mortal as your heart has stopped but you haven't. Your body doesn't attempt to mimic internals so status effects like broken bones heal twice as fast because you don't have any

Sub-Skill Acquisition (Unique) - Allows one to gain sub-skills

Freeform Energy Movement [Apprentice+] - Allows use of Energy to move

Energetic Poison and Venom Resistance

One of the rare active skill based resistances. While still able to passively provide benefits, this skill really shines when directly used. Beyond that, the skill has been changed to treat all venom and poison the same. So while the nuance has been lost and percentages harder to increase, this variant has become more suited for its current user.

Apprentice Level 1 - 0.00%

Rarity: Variant

Type: Passive/Active, Energy, Adaptive

Effects:

Willful Purge - Able to send charges of Energy through the body to break down poison and venom in the body

Mundane Poison & Venom Resistances -

Trash rank - Immunity

Low Normal rank - 11%

Normal rank - 7%

Body Blast

What started as just a variant of Blast Punch meant for Energy Users has evolved into something much less restricted. The biggest feature of this new skill is the ability to any part of the body as a weapon to project the blast from. Not much else is known about the skill yet as the creator is still shaping it.

Apprentice Level 3 - 62.61%

Rarity: Variant Beginner

Type: Energy Attack

Effects:

Frugal - This attack only uses energy on a successful hit

Pure Force - Not affected by most types of resistance

Armor Piercing - As the attack partially forms inside the enemy some damage will ignore armor. At the current level this distance is short and so will not pierce equipment or exceptionally thick natural armor.

Herb Farming

You have shown yourself to be proficient at this classic skill. Don't look down on it as these lands contain many mysterious plants with uncountable effects. Though you seem to have already taken a step towards understanding this.

Apprentice Level 8 - 30.25%

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Passive, Production

Effects:

Sub-Skill Acquisition (Farming) - Allows one to gain the sub-skills related to farming

Harvest [Apprentice+]

Analysis (Plant) [Apprentice+]

Distillation [Initiate]

Analysis (Farming) [Initiate]

Land Sense - Grants a sense for the condition of any area you could grow your plants

Growth Assist - Plants under your constant care grow up to 10% faster

Specialty (Herb) - Having gained the skill through exclusively growing one type of plant, all effects of the Farming skill and Bonuses are doubled for it

Harvesting Common Sense - With the knowledge of all basic harvesting methods you will be prompted with the best way to harvest plant that you know of and slightly increase the success rate of harvesting

War Stomp

A classic powered kick attack. Despite the tendency for it to be used with Qi the skill can be powered with any type of resource pool. The different power sources will cause different effects to happen and so the possibilities of this skill are technically unlimited.

Initiate Level 9 - 63.12%

Rarity: Common

Type: Primal Energy Attack

Effects:

Primal Simplicity - Through uncountable iterations the creator of this skill has reduced it to the most simple form which allows for an impressive speed of use

Inheritance - This version of the skill was personally learned from the creator and there is a possibility of others being able to recognize this, however the skill is easier to advance because of the more in depth teaching you recieved

Potential - The creator of this skill does not believe in perfection and so it will grow with the user, more so than other skills

Otherworldly - The first of the main runes of this skill is based off of knowledge and shapes from outside of NeoRealm which makes deciphering the skill harder with System skills

Banked Spiral - The second of the main runes of this skill is a simple spiral and this simplicity allows it to direct the power more efficiently than others would expect and the skill needs less power as a result

Core Sensibility - The third and final of the main runes of this skill is the users own core rune which provides a very personal touch and means the attack will never harm the user no matter the size or power of it

Free Form - Because of an in depth knowledge of formless martial arts the skill can now be freely used instead of just with a stomp attack

Clad - For double the expenditure and an upkeep cost this skill can become a continuous effect

Variable Attack -

Never Ending Threads - When the skill is used with Energy the attack will shatter into thousands of threads which will continue to shred the target until an opposing power wears it down

Runic Bloom - When the skill is used with Stamina a flower bud rune will bloom outward causing the razor sharp petals to slice through the target and when finished the bloom will rapidly wilt and any wounds in contact with it will become harder to heal

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Wealth

Money

1752 Gold

31 Silver

274 Copper

Property

N/A

Businesses

N/A

Pets and Companions

Non-Combat Pets [0/2]

[Open]

[Open]

Combat Pets [0/1]

[Open]

Companions

Lily - Female Rabbit Free - Level 16

Equipment

Living Amber Skeletal System

Description:

This masterpiece of magical items is the opposite of the undead. While undead are the living that are killed and turned into magical items, this is a magical item turned into a living piece of a creature. An intricately carved full skeleton made entirely of Magical Amber. It was then hollowed out leaving just the barest of a lattice work. When magically implanted into the host, the bone marrow was grafted into these cavities. Because of difficulties and dangers that appear when trying to enchant a living creature they have instead been imbued with magic.

Effects:

Sap like Blood - The blood produced by the marrow is more viscous and sticky when it leaves the body. Slower bleed rate and more likely to stop bleeding

Crafted Bones - Because of the material and structure, the bones are tougher and can take an impact easier

One and the Same

- Despite being a magical item they will not show up as a separate item and only appear under the possessors character screen. Any attempt at removal will face the same difficulties as removing a person's actual bones.

Soulbound

- Not even death will part you from this item

Bonuses:

+5 [base] toughness

+5 [base] hp

'BlueIron Rust' Electrolysis Ritual Circle

Description:

An impossible ritual that crystallized directly in the lungs of the Traveller Jason. Through BlueIron's innate electrical nature this formation can break down water into its components and capture the resulting breathable elements. This will allow for sustained underwater activities as long as Energy flows through it. As a side benefit the ritual will also expel any unwanted matter from the lungs at an additional Energy cost whenever desired. Best used when leaving the water to expel any remaining water.

Effects:

Sustained Water Breathing - Separates water into breathable gas as long as Energy is directed through the ritual circle

Gunk Expelling - Clear the lungs of unwanted matter (including water when not submerged) at an Energy cost

Efficient Breathing - Even when not being powered the ritual will passively collect air better providing better stamina recovery

Soulbound

- Not even death will part you from this item

Bonuses:

+3 [base] Stamina

Complete Weaponless Rabbit Leather Martial Arts Beginners Set

Set Items:

Beginners

Rabbit Leather Helm

Beginners

Rabbit Leather Jerkin

Beginners

Rabbit Leather Arm Guards [Not Currently Worn]

Beginners

Rabbit Leather Belt [Not Currently Worn]

Beginners

Rabbit Leather Grieves [Not Currently Worn]

Beginners

Rabbit Leather Boots [Not Currently Worn]

Description:

An Exquisitely crafted set of gear made entirely out of the cheapest quality of Rabbit Leather. Only through years of research and many crafters blood, sweat, and tears was this level of quality reached while keeping such a low price. All the pieces of this set have been specially created to be swapped between several configurations and thus there is no step by step set bonuses for it. A pair of boots, greaves, and a bastard sword are just as valid of a complete set as wearing something in every equipment slot. As for how it looks. Best way to put it is they tried.

Effects:

(Boots) Bunny Hop - Provides a 1% non-stacking bonus to jump height

Bonuses:

+30 Defense

+10

Agility

+10

Strength

+10

Toughness

Set Bonuses:

+12 Defense

+4

Agility

+4

Strength

+4

Toughness

Pants of the Royal Gardner

Description:

Day after day a king's personal gardener whose name has been lost to time would have to traverse vast distances so as to make sure their king's many rare plants stayed healthy. As you might guess this wasn't the easiest thing and as they grew older they feared losing their position and so embezzled large sums of money to find a solution. These pants are the last project though that royal gardener never had a chance to wear them as their king didn't take too highly of the embezzlement. Though their successor made good use of them and having learned from their predecessor made sure to embezzle only lightly so as to have a retirement fund.

Grade: Exquisite Normal

Effects:

A boost to movement based on the highest grade of plant cared for within the last week and the rank of the highest leveled farming skill.

Immaculate

Climate Adaption

Bonuses:

+5 Agility

+2 Toughness

Forged Iron Wing Crane Feather Arm Guards

Description:

A pair of arm guards made with iron reclaimed from the feathers of an iron wing crane. While the iron is as sturdy as any other, this was overall considered a failed experiment, as using the feathers directly is more beneficial as the forging process used broke the delicate air magic inherent to the feathers. Attempts to fix the broken magic were made but the resulting effects, while interesting, were in the end a failure as well. The only unexplained oddity was that the surface of the iron retained a feather pattern no matter what work was done to it.

Grade: Low Normal Lv20

Effects:

Lesser Wind Guard - Using the arm guards to block ranged attacks has a minor increase to the chance that the attack will be deflected

Lesser Lightened Load - The arm guards weight 5% less than a similar amount of regular iron

Feather Patterned Guide - Any power cycled through the arm guards for the purpose of a movement skill will see an increase in effect

Lesser Inner Vitality - When damaged small amounts of power cycled through the arm guards will be able to fix minor problems

Power Conductor - All power input into the arm guards will automatically flow right back out.

Bonuses:

+3 Agility

+1 Toughness

+15 Defense

Belt of the Prepared Traveler

Description:

A very common belt pattern that has been used with basically every type of leather you could imagine and some you can't. This specific one has used leather from a quartz tusk boar.

Grade: Normal Lv20

Effects:

Pockets Forever - Through careful folding and construction, the entire belts structure can be used as a pocket and broken up into almost any number of smaller pockets. This can include an increase in size up to 3x normal via folding out special sections. The effect is enchantment assisted so the pockets never get tangled up when being adjusted.

Lesser Weight Offset - Anything placed fully within a pocket will weigh 5% less for up to 50 Kilograms of weight

Lesser Space Expansion - Space enchantments on the belt provide 5% more space in the pockets

Lesser Compression - Space enchantments on the belt shrink any item fully placed within by 5%

Lesser Preservation - Non-living objects fully within a pocket will age 5% slower

Internal Integrity - The insides of the pockets are twice as sturdy

Internal Piercing Resistance - The insides of the pockets are twice as hard to pierce

Bonuses:

+1 Stamina

Deep Earth Scaled Moccasins

Description:

A pair of moccasins crafted from the hide of a deep earth two-armed snake. Despite the snake's size being many meters wide and potentially hundreds long, the scales, especially on the belly, are all extremely small to the point that their young appear to not have scales at all except on the closest of inspections. These moccasins have been made specifically from leather harvested from the area around the heart, which along with the normal toughness includes a crystalline structure that the snake's Energy would naturally toughen. This natural tendency has been strengthened by careful carving of various rituals allowing for the toughness to not get in the way of flexibility as well as some minor automatic repair functionality.

Grade: High Normal lv53

Effects:

Auto-Repair - As long as one of the repair runes stays unbroken, the moccasins will be able to return to full working order with time and Energy

Flexibly Tough - Increased defense against piercing with minimal loss to defense against cutting and blunt trauma

Form Fitting - With time and Energy these moccasins will shape themselves to perfectly fit the wearer to within 10% plus or minus the original dimensions

Energy Conductive - Energy based skill used through the moccasins are slightly boosted

Ritual of Toughness - Energy based defenses are improved by 10% around the feet

Natural Minor Geokinesis - Any unworked stone and dirt that is stepped on will shape itself around the foot as long as Energy is flowing through the moccasin and then reform when you step away

Bonuses:

+10 Agility

+3 Toughness

+30 Defense

'Sealed Silver' Tool Set

Description:

A set of tools for harvesting resources such as plants and monster parts. The tools are plated in Sealed Silver. This metal when used to cut something prevents the flow of power though the slightest resistance will remove this effect. Perfect for harvesting as it stops the leaking of any natural energies.

Small Critter Protection Harness

Description:

An odd harness made by an odder ork. Built into the shoulder is a protective cage meant to shelter small animals. When in use the cage is shifted away from the current dimension to provide an extra level of safety. While the harness itself looks average, the material used is leather from an elder glutton wolf, a distant relative of Fenrir by way of Skoll and Hati. The creator has focused all magics woven into this device on the safety of the animal and so provides no bonuses to the wearer. Because of this you can wear the harness over or under other magical gear with no fear of unexpected interactions.

Throwing Daggers x5

Description:

Basic iron throwing daggers crafted by a journeymen smith. While the material and shape are nothing special, the smith used a special heritage technique in the crafting of this set of daggers. This elevates them to the status of graded items.

Grade: Low Normal (technique)

Effects:

Slip-through - The blade is able to slip through things like foliage with great ease

Small Porcelain Jar of Redeath Rose Essential Oil x2

Description:

Oil that has been steam distilled from the immature flower of a Redeath Rose Slug. This oil contains a large amount of Nature Mana and is aligned with countering the energies related to the undead through subsuming said energy to fuel its own growth. If sprinkled on a corpse, the oil will prevent it from rising as an undead for ten days. When applied to a weapon while the oil remains, any undead hit will receive extra damage and the weapon will ignore any defenses based on the undead's natural powers. Can be used as an ingredient to add anti-undead properties into other things.

Grade: Normal (ingredient, magic oil)

Effects:

Gentle Repose - Prevents a body from being turned into an undead by consuming undead powers that would attempt to do so, though the Nature Mana will fade after ten days.

Undead Bane - Provides +2d6 damage against undead and penetrates up to ten points of defense and damage reduction provided undead aligned powers. This effect lasts for one hour until the Nature Mana fades.

Undead Protection - If applied to the head will protect against possession by ghosts up to the third break. This protection lasts for either 24 hours or until the person next sleeps.

(Manual) Small Scale Alarm Ritual

Description:

A manual describing how to carve a small scale Energy base alarm ritual. The ritual requires ten Energy to work

(Manual) Light Ritual

Description:

A manual describing how to mimic a light spell with Energy. The ritual requires one Energy to work

}

Jason nods as he glances through the various things. First of course is his stats and the fact despite his toughness gains, it looks like Agility might be the stat to overflow star. Though since he does have it up, Jason adds it all together and removing the base ten each stat gets and the result is 204 points. Compared to the 107 gained points normal people get, that is quite impressive.

On the other hand, Jason hasn't received any permanent stat boosters that rich people will prepare for their kids. Sure, it might be reported that only once a year does someone find some mystical fruit that increases Agility by +5, but everyone knows that is only because the rich and powerful, both in and out of NeoRealm, have grabbed ahold of most of those resources. And when the only limit is how much variety you can get of them since repeated use has diminishing returns, some of those rich young master types might even be able to match, if not double, the lead Jason has.

Despite that, Jason still feels satisfied. While his stats might not make him the undisputed strongest player for his level, even if he went back and included the stockpiled stats gains, his various bonuses and skills should make sure he isn't too far behind. Just on titles alone, Jason is ahead of the pack in both quantity and quality. After all, things like how many stat points an average person has becomes less and less useful as a measure the further you advance.

Bottlenecks are a real stopping point for many people. So what good is knowing what the average stat total someone will have at level 100 when the average person won't ever make it to level 100? So while stats are useful and more is almost always better, the simple bonuses Jason has and the skills he knows are more important.

Sure, right now something simple like a +5% bonus to damage against cats or being able to feel the maturity of a herb doesn't seem like much. Later on, though, those bonuses will shine. Percentage bonuses are easy enough to explain, they apply late in the damage calculation and so can have an impressive effect on damage output. The herb thing, though?

It might seem more niche until you remember those boosting fruit. If you find a tiny apple tree growing a single apple that will improve your HP by 9, that is a nice little bonus. Most people will pick it and either eat it right away or sell it to a rich faction. Much better though would be to know it only needs two more days to fully ripen and then end up with a fruit that will increase your HP by 81 because the amount it could boost tripled every day until ripe.

That and Jason's skills are all quite advanced despite now showing all that much growth recently. To remember this all you need to realize is how for crafters, the level 24 bottleneck is beaten by having an apprentice rank production skill and more than enough crafters still get stuck at level 24. Compared to how all but one of Jason's skills have reached apprentice rank including herb farming, a production skill?

Well, he is only level 16, which is less than halfway to 24. If he had chosen to be a producer, he would already qualify to breakthrough. Sure, the 3rd bottleneck isn't some great filter, that tends to be the sixth, but some figures he had been taught in school pointed towards nearly a quarter of crafters will end up getting stuck at 24 for their entire life.

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