Chapter 9: Interface With the Interface (Part 2)

Scarlet stepped out of the washroom already put together, fastening the final cuff of her shirt with a practiced motion, the top two buttons on her collar left undone for her murine companion. She’d hung the towel neatly on the rack behind her, dried the floors, and wiped down the mirrors, leaving the bathroom in the same tidy condition she’d entered it. No half measures, and everything in its place.

Her head was heavy, weighted down by the still damp braids she’d gathered and tied back into a low, practical ponytail. She’d then wrapped the mass in a smaller towel to keep them from soaking through her clothes. Washing her hair had been a time consuming, but necessary affair because finally she was clean once more.

She stepped out of the washroom only to be immediately confronted with the rest of the bunker. For a moment she’d forgotten the mess Maus had made. It had been a pleasant bout of amnesia.

She paused just past the threshold, her gaze dropping to the floor as it tracked a series of small, damp paw prints. She could see where the freshly cleaned Maus had intersected with the trail of the carnage he’d created earlier. Those sections were faintly pink where diluted blood had mixed with water.

Scarlet followed the trail to its culprit.

Maus sat only a short distance away. His fur, which she’d scrubbed thoroughly not ten minutes ago, had fluffed out unevenly as it dried, leaving him in that awkward, half-damp state that made him look both smaller and spiky. He was in the process of grooming his paws and remained completely unperturbed by the mess he’d made, or the fact that Scarlet would have to clean it up.

Scarlet stared at him for a moment, then exhaled softly through her nose. “Lovely,” she said.

Maus did not look up.

She shook her head slightly and stepped past him, careful to avoid the worst of the mess that trailed across the room. After a brief cleaning session in which she’d reluctantly laid to rest her ruined suit – double bagging and disposing of it with the rest of the biohazardous materials – Scarlet settled herself onto the chaise with her notepad and a renewed resolve.

Her focus was on the Interface and the Guide. The structure remained unchanged, waiting with the same quiet patience as before, and this time her attention moved downward with clear intent, settling on the section she had previously set aside.

Stats.

She focused, and the system responded.

[Stats (Statistics): Quantified measurements of physical, mental, and energetic capability

Strength: Represents expression of physical force
Dexterity: Represents coordination and precision
Vitality: Represents resilience and recovery
Perception: Represents capacity for acuity and awareness
Intelligence: Represents reasoning and comprehension
Willpower: Represents capacity for resilience and focus
Mana: Represents capacity to hold and express ‘mana’]

Scarlet read through each entry carefully. The descriptions were disappointingly straightforward, and she had the feeling they were just scratching the surface. There was no metaphor here, no abstraction to misinterpret. Each stat was exactly what it claimed to be, and whatever complexity existed could come later, when she wasn’t so completely out of her depth that she didn’t even know if she was asking the right questions.

Besides, it wasn’t like she had no insights. It was obvious based on her updated Status screen that her level and Titles were gained through experiences that the system recognized as ‘meaningful’ in some way.

Her increased stats indicated they grew with use. “Training, repetition, stress, and new experiences. Each of those stats indicated a qualitative difference in her capability. She could feel it with her perception. That meant that the higher she raised them, the better. She committed herself to the pursuit of growth. The roidcoons had been a stark wakeup call. The world was changing and its people were changing with it. The only way to stay safe was to stay ahead, and Scarlet intended to.

With that, her attention settled on two stats in particular – Vitality and Mana. Unlike the other stats where she could at least see a way to grow them, these two were less immediately intuitive.

She queried the Guide about how she could improve vitality.

[Vitality is increased through recovery.]

Well, that was vague, she thought before she redirected her attention.

[Mana is increased through use, recovery, and attunement]

What the hell was ‘attunement’? She added the question to her rapidly filling notepad. She reexamined her stat values and considered. If ‘use’ was the primary way to improve stats…

Scarlet glanced down at her freshly bandaged leg. The injury had dulled down to a persistent ache. Then she remembered the improved VIT on her Status.

“Surely not,” she couldn’t help but breathe into the room. But her VIT had improved. She grimaced then pursed her lips.

She pushed those racing thoughts to the part of her mind labeled ‘Future Problems’.

Scarlet leaned back slightly, considering everything she’d learned so far. If stats went up with use, then what were the FS for? She had 18 of them after all.

“All right, Maus” she murmured. “Shall we do a test?”

She focused on Vitality, her choice guided less by theory than by immediate circumstance, and a hope to avoid more pain. The injury in her leg made the stat feel relevant in a way the others did not, and if there was a place to begin, increasing survivability felt like the best place to begin.

She added one point to VIT and watched the number change.

Vitality: 4 / 11

Scarlet’s eyes narrowed slightly as she read the result. That was not what she had expected.

She scooped up Maus and began to pet him as she studied the entry.

The first number had not moved. Four remained four. What had changed was a second number. One she hadn’t known existed until just now. She mentally scrolled back through her previous interactions with the Interface, glad that she even could, before settling on the description of FS.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

[Free Stats (FS): Increase a stats’ potential when allocated]

She let out a soft breath.

“Potential,” she repeated. As in there were natural caps and adding FS to a stat increased those caps. However, if she wanted to increase her baseline she’d need to work for every new point. In gamer terms, she’d need to grind.

Of course, all of this was just conjecture until she had a chance to test her theories.

She selected Strength and allocated three points. The number shifted immediately.

Strength: 5 / 13

This left her with 14 FS and a lot more questions than answers.

Her attention drifted, inevitably, to the one stat that had stood out from the beginning.

Perception: 11

Presumably her stats were capped at 10. At least that had been true for VIT and STR. However, her PER had been above that threshold from the first time she opened her Interface. Just what did that indicate, and how would the System account for the anomaly?

Wait, anomaly?

She did have the Trait Anomalous Soul. Did this have something to do with it? Of course she didn’t have enough data to begin drawing conclusions, but she had a way to start collecting some.

FS: 14 -> 13

Perception: 11 / 15 -> 11 / 16

Scarlet stared at the numbers for a long moment.

Fifteen. Her baseline had been fifteen. Were all stats not initially equal in initial potential or was this just her? Did other people have different stat caps too?