Chapter 5

  Tyler was lost in his thoughts again, thinking about his life and how he ended up here. He thought about his parents—his mom, a smart woman, a lawyer who always told Tyler he needed to get his shit together. His father, an electrician who wasn't that smart when it came to social cues, but was very handy. Tyler knew about social cues; he just ignored them.

  His brother Darren was always the cool one. Smart, handsome, popular, smooth, and made Tyler's jokes feel like a rowboat compared to his cruise ship. Darren became an electrician like their father, but unlike him, he had more ambition and started his own company. The dude was driven, and Tyler admired him for it. Tyler was driven too, but driven to destruction—he'd rather blow his cash and live in the moment.

  He thought about the time he got drunk at one of their mutual friends’ weddings and ended up in a fight with the hotel concierge. The cops were called, and Tyler was taken out in handcuffs. He still remembered the look in his brother’s eyes—a pool of hatred burning behind them. It was a moment Tyler wasn’t sure Darren had ever forgiven.

  Looking down at the yellow rags, impressively dull in a way that felt intentional, he felt another twinge of embarrassment. It itched his skin as if it wanted to scrape off the top layer. It was a type of tunic, but cut low. Tyler only knew the word "tunic" from the RPG games he would play sometimes. He wouldn't say he was good at them—maybe half decent—but he would follow someone else's build and get pretty deep. Again, he noticed he was going on a tangent.

  The tunic had a deep, wide V-neck cut down his chest, which exposed Tyler's physique. The sleeves were cut almost down to his wrists, but Tyler rolled them up. The tunic barely reached his knees, with a sash around his waist that he tied into a knot. No undies, he thought, feeling the coldness rise up from the bottom of it. I feel like some kind of medieval peasant.

  Wormpool entered the room with a new look, but that coldness pushed Tyler out of his uncomfortable musings.

  "Hello, Henry. I'm back with your Skill Scrolls, and Ability Gem," the bat-like creature announced. Its tone was more professional now, less antagonistic. "I suggest you add your unbound points now. It will help with the generated abilities that will be offered."

  Tyler decided to play along since Wormpool was being less of an dick. "Thanks for the suggestion, Wormpool. Would you mind telling me what each stat impacts?”

  “We don't have—Fine.” Wormpool said with a sigh. “but it will be a quick lesson, and I will only say this once. Listen carefully, Human." Wormpool's bat-like features twitched with impatience. "First, there is Will. Will influence your ability to withstand mental and soul intrusions. It will also boost your energy level and its recharge rate."

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  He continued methodically, "Then there is Strength. Strength will increase your overall physical power—how hard you hit, how much you can lift, and how dense your muscles are. Intelligence will increase your ability to think quicker, to perceive things and make decisions. It will also help with your mental recall, but that has diminishing returns."

  The creature's pale eyes narrowed slightly. "Vitality is how fast you can heal when taking damage. Some wounds can't heal, so be warned. Agility is your quickness, how fast you can move. Dexterity is how good you are with your body—how fluid, how accurate you can be. Tyler figured that meant aiming, dodging, maybe parkour if things got weird. And finally, Resilience is how dense your layers are, how much it takes to cause damage upon you."

  Wormpool's claws flexed absently. "There are plenty more stats that are not displayed that have other impacts. Some items will show increases in these stats, but your numbers will be hidden from you. All the stats interplay with each other, so I would caution balance."

  "Thanks, Wormpool. That was... very insightful." Trying his best not to sound sarcastic. Tyler looked inward, and the system screen popped up in his third eye.

  Balance, he thought. He felt that Wormpool wasn't lying and decided to trust that he was steering him correctly, but Tyler did wonder why the creature was being so... not nice. That wasn't right—just less adversarial. Damn, where the fuck did that word come from? It fit though. Maybe Wormpool had talked with Vlad, or maybe he sensed something in Tyler now. Either way, balance seemed like a smart choice, at least for now.

  With that thought, he allocated his points: 2 into Strength, 2 into Intelligence, 6 into Vitality, 4 into Agility, 1 into Dexterity and finally 5 into Resilience. That would bring everything to an even 7, a number that seemed to pop up a lot. Maybe it really is a lucky number, he thought. Focus, Tyler.

  He put 2 more into Intelligence and 1 each into Vitality and Strength. I was never dumb, but maybe this will help me make better decisions.

  [Character sheet] [Subject: Tyler Jackson] [Age: 28] [Level: 4] [Race: Human (Basic 1) (High-Conscious)] [Affinities: Fortune] [Affinity Rating: 14.7] [Core Type: Fate Core (Basic 6)] [Energy: 412/412 Fate]

  [Classes]

  [Stats] [Will: 7] [Strength: 8] [Intelligence: 9] [Vitality: 8] [Agility: 7] [Dexterity: 7] [Resilience: 7] [Unbound: 0]

  [Abilities] [Skills] [Spells]