Chapter 33: It Could Be Done

The Historian was not a fool.

He knew exactly what she was implying with her vagaries and her wraparound questions. She had not given him her current stat distribution, had not mentioned any FS she may have been holding on to, had not even directly admitted that she was the ‘someone’ with the potential capacity to attempt a full stat push. Still, he understood exactly what she was implying with her questions.

For a moment, he simply looked at her. His expression having softened, though a hint of that predatory sharpness still lingered beneath it all. Implied or not, the Historian was interested.

“If someone had the FS, the time, and access to proper instruction,” he repeated slowly. “Would it be worth doing? The answer is yes, of course. The maximum is the ideal. Is it feasible?” He twisted his beads between the fingers of his hand. His eyes never left her as he shrugged.

What was that supposed to mean?

“You know, I don’t know much about you,” he continued. Scarlet did not react to the seeming non sequitur. The Historian’s ears angled slightly forward. “I am not inclined consider handing power to talented strangers.”

Scarlet did not smile outwardly, but she was ruthlessly suppressing her sense of satisfaction. The Historian had either forgotten that he had lowered his shielding, or he had failed to appreciate just how much she could read from him now that he had. Perhaps he believed she was only getting the obvious emotional signatures? He would be wrong.

Scarlet could clearly feel the slight sense of guilt at his own statements. Was cautious? Yes. But beneath that caution was so much more. He was called the Historian, and based on how he spoke of it, she was handing him a way to potentially make history.

He thought it must have been done before. Somewhere. Somewhen. Given enough worlds, enough species, enough absurd circumstances, surely someone had achieved full stat saturation at Tier Zero.

But he did not know.

For one such as himself that was significant.

Scarlet was injured, exhausted, alone, and sitting across from an entirely foreign, sapient species with the power to kill her before she even thought to protest. She had no leverage in the ordinary sense. However, it seemed avarice for knowledge was a trait she shared with the fox person. That in mind, she pressed on.

“What factors would determine whether it was worth attempting?” she asked.

The Historian’s tail flicked once in amusement. “There are many. Time for one, access, biological tolerance, mental stability, initial foundation, available instruction, existing stat distribution, traits, titles and so much more, little human.

“Full stat saturation,” he continued, “is the term generally used when an individual raises one of their stats to the maximum value before crossing into the next tier. At Tier 0, that would mean bringing a stat’s up to twenty-five after raising its potential before advancing into Tier 1. The number of people who would even have enough FS leftover after getting the rest of their stats up to a reasonable level.” He let out a genuinely amused laugh.

He leaned back, beads moving slowly through his fingers. “Then of course there’s the fact that the only practical time to attempt such a thing is Tier 0. Any other tier and you would have to concern yourself with specialization, and suboptimal advancement…” He trailed off on a mumble before coming back to himself.

“There are reasons most do not attempt it. Most simply can’t. Even without the issue of how to get necessary FS, translating those into actual stats can be a problem of its own. Many hopefuls will find they simply don’t have the resources or the creativity.”

“Creativity,” Scarlet repeated.

“Creativity. Many of those who reach saturation in a single stat are able to do so because they had an instructor. Do you really think simply lifting weights over and over will push STR past 15? Not only is it highly inefficient in terms of time to stat-growth ratio, it also just wouldn’t work forever.”

“Diminishing returns,” she concluded.

“Exactly.”

Scarlet let the information settle. Pain, instruction, and opportunity. That was what she would need to reach full stat saturation. Well, that and a few more stats, but she was close. She was sure there must be some way, and if not, she’d make one. That made it worth pursuing.

She had a decent pain tolerance, and this was obviously an opportunity. The question was, could she secure instruction?

“Could you; for me?” She asked.

“Pardon?”

“Would you consider doing it for me?” As she asked, Scarlet had to ruthlessly suppress both her pride and her shame when she asked, though she was starting to notice a little bit of fatigue from the constant use of her skills and traits.

“Would I consider guiding a newly integrated individual to complete Tier 0 stat saturation?” He mused, emotions fluctuating too quickly for her to catch them. Eventually he continued. “It would require a significant commitment. A certain level of concentration and expertise.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Could it be done?” he murmured to himself. “Yes. I suppose it could. Many faction powerhouses are reported to have had one or more stats at saturation before they tiered up. But full saturation across all core stats at Tier Zero…” He trailed off, beads clicking softly.

“How long would it take?” She asked.

He studied her again, and she could feel him calculating. “Between two and three months,” he said finally. “Perhaps less, depending on your own effort and aptitude.”

Scarlet nodded as her thoughts spun. Three months in the portal world.

She had seven Earth days for the Safe Zone quest. She did not want to waste too many in the portal world. She needed time to return, assess the situation, secure the area, and complete the objectives.

[Objectives:

1. Eliminate hostile threats within designated boundary
2. Secure primary claim of designated area
3. Maintain control of settlement zone for 30 consecutive hours

Optional sub-objectives may appear]

All those objectives would be easier if she returned stronger. Even better if the Historian could help her understand her traits, her bottlenecks, stat integration, and the strange psionic potential he seemed to know something about. The benefits of learning from the Historian would compound far beyond the quests.

If she could build a solid foundation now, she would be setting herself up for the future. Her only real concern were the potential ‘sub-objectives’. It would be mortifying to fail an objective because she ran out of time. Then again, dying because she wasn’t strong enough to complete the quests in the first place would be awful too.

“I have two to three months.” She said.

The Historian’s expression did something complicated.

He wanted to help her. Not for her, but because of his own ambitions. That information did give her a little bit of leverage.

Just as she began calculating how best to use it, a notification appeared. Absentmindedly, she checked it.