[Report 014-001]

Age: 14 Years [210 Lunar Cycles] (Per current planet’s yearly standard revolution)

Level: 52

Experience Gained: [Skills= 2,230,250] [Professional=156,764] [Fighting=7200]

Total Experience= 2,394,214

HP: 1,100 | Stamina: 613 | Mana: 600

Vitality: 110 [Free Points Added=92, Base = 18]

Endurance: 34 [Free Points Added = 0, Base = 34]

Strength: 40 [Free Points Added = 0, Base = 40]

Dexterity: 39 [Free Points Added = 0, Base = 39]

Senses: 28 [Free Points Added = 0, Base = 28]

Mind: 44 [Free Points Added = 0, Base = 44]

Magic: 60 [Free Points Added = 0, Base = 60]

Clarity: 48 [Free Points Added = 0, Base = 48]

Total Base Attributes = 311

Total Spent Attributes = 92

Free Points = 418

**NOTE: Due to the increasing number of free points, and having the free points exceed my base attributes, I have deemed it time to start adding in free points. Whether they can be lost due to time or other unforeseen events is unknown, however it is an unnecessary risk. The mental attributes have seen a dramatic decline in improvement recently, particularly Mind and Senses. Clarity does continue to improve, alongside the Sense Mana skill, however I feel that I have achieved a soft plateau. I have decided to invest 1 point into Senses, Mind, and Clarity each month alongside Vitality.

**NOTE: Utilizing an increase in Vitality each month to aide recovery seems to bear fruit. Without others to compare with, or more data, further conclusions can not be made. However, consistently improving Vitality in small increments has had no negative side effects, and potentially even positive ones. Generally, people who have high Vitality shine with an ethereal glow, particularly people who invest a lump sum all at once. It calms down after a while, but the tale tell signs are still there. Due to my high clarity, senses, and mind, I seem to be able to differentiate this aspect of people with some accuracy. It is hard to analyze oneself, however, I seem to have much less of a glow per the amount of vitality I have. My level is one of the highest in the village, I’m sure, and I have spent over 9 entire levels worth going to Vitality. Without knowing the stat distribution of others in the village, and correlating that with their ages, it’s hard to form concrete data. Nevertheless, there seems to be a more subdued quality to my additionally Vitality that others lack. This could be a potential boon, as anything that is harder to see through is one less piece of information for any observers. Level estimation skills do exist, though tend to be less than specific. I can only hope that my small incremental adjustments have made it harder for skills like that to pick up on.

Skills:

Tier 1 Skills [Number = 19, Total Experience Gained = 740,450]

By Level: Meditation (LV75), Sprint (LV50), Drawing (LV50), Cleaning (LV50), Acrobatics (LV48), Farming (LV45), Wood Carving (LV42), Knife Skills (LV39), Stone Carving (LV39), Carpentry (LV35), Cooking (LV35), Trading (LV34), Climbing (LV27), Plowing (LV25), Scythe Skills (LV21), Butchering (LV19), Sewing (LV19), Knitting (LV18), Hunting (LV15)

NOTES: Meditation has stopped improving for the past year. My attempts to pass the test so far have all failed. I have gotten a new Tier 3 Skill, that I believe is the key to moving past this roadblock, more notes on that further in the report. Both Sprint and Drawing have hit the first test as well. I can’t say when I’ll pass the Sprint test, as I haven’t been in true combat before, and that seems to be the key to improving many physical skills. Drawing, is another conundrum. My drawings have gotten quite excellent, and I can only hope that as my Surveying skill increases, I’ll be able to pass this hurdle. As for cleaning, I have a few ideas. I’m hoping to combine Mana Manipulation with Cleaning in some fashion to pass this test. I have high hopes and expect success.

Tier 2 Skills [Number = 14, Total Experience Gained = 922,400]

By Level: Sense Mana (LV73), Mathematics (LV72), Writing (LV50), Measurement (LV50), Increase Price (LV31), Lower Price (LV29), Knife Arts (LV14), Transplant (LV13), Gourmet (LV12), Memorize (LV10), Anatomy (LV8), Steady Hands (LV7), Calligraphy (LV5), Dodge (LV3)

NOTES: I’ve gained a glut of Tier 2 Skills lately. Sense Mana is almost at the test, and perhaps I can pass the upcoming test alongside Meditation soon. Mathematics is growing increasingly hard to level. My knowledge is being pushed every level up, and I’m in new territory most of the time. I’m not sure what the requirements to pass the Level 75 test will be. Measurement is an interesting skill. I’ve hit the first test. I have plans for moving past this test, I just require more time. There are so many things to measure that I haven’t tried yet, other than just distance and time. My cartography has benefited immensely from this skill, but I think I can utilize it in many more ways. What about pressure? Humidity? Soil water content? Temperature? The methods are endless.

My proudest new skill must be Memorize (LV10), however. This was born from my Senses attribute training with my eyesight. Memorizing the order of things at a glance, or the order of an entire deck of cards. After consistent training in that area, I gained this skill, and I believe it will open many new doors to higher leveled skills. So far, it has benefited me in many small ways, notably in Mathematics and Surveying, however there is a lot of explore in detail with this skill.

And of course, I can’t finish this report without including my newest skill, Dodge (LV3). It’s a bit embarrassing to talk about, but I decided to try out some more imaginative methods of training, many of them coming from movies and fantasy books. One such method was to fill an area with swinging bags of dirt and attempting to move about in such a way that I never got hit. It was effective, and with my Sense Mana skill and Senses stat, timing with Measurement, and combining all of that with Analyze, I managed to pick up a new skill. This skill is slightly strange, as I get the sense there is a mental component, but I haven’t quite spent enough time practicing. With bags of dirt, there is no intent in their movements. However, last week Annabelle threw something at me, and I’m certain I picked up on some mental aspects of this skill, like it could sense her intent in some way. This will be an interesting skill to level, and perhaps I will be forced to cause a little bit of trouble to properly level it.

Tier 3 Skills [Number = 6, Total Experience Gained = 516,900]

By Level: Expel Mana (LV60), Mana Manipulation (LV38), Analyze (LV34), Surveying (LV10), Mana Breathing (LV15), Contract (LV14)

NOTES: Expel Mana has hit the second test. Like Meditation, it hasn’t budged in quite a few lunar cycles. I’m hoping that Mana Breathing will assist both of those skills in moving past their test barriers. Mana Manipulation is incredibly difficult to level, not to mention the lack of teaching and methods I have to practice with. This led to gaining the Mana Breathing Skill, as most of the time I’m using Mana Manipulation while Meditating and using Expel Mana. I suppose time and effort have paid off in the form of a new skill. I have no idea what the true purpose is quite yet, other than to facilitate what I was already doing. It seems to improve my mana regeneration rate slightly and is a little painful due to taking in the wild ambient mana in my lungs, however I haven’t noticed any other effects yet.

Analyze has improved dramatically and has helped in countless ways. It is easily combinable with another skill, as its primary purpose is to take in information and assist in finding conclusions. I’m finding more and more uses for this skill every day. I have a feeling this skill is almost on the Tier 4 level, but I haven’t had any trouble leveling it so it’s hard to say.

Contract is a scary skill, one I got through my increase Trading activity. Gramps has now placed me in charge of all farm trade deals going forwards. My skill levels and Mind attributes have gotten us plenty of good deals over the last few years, and I can guess he is tired of dealing with the sly Traders every year, so he pawned it off on me when I proved up to the task. I’m unsure of the true nature of the Contract skill, however like most of the Trading skills, I’m assuming there is a mental component. Afterall, almost anything can be placed onto a Contract. In the pasts, even levels themselves were up for grabs before karma came raining down on them. The fact that a contract could hold such power as to give Levels directly from one person to another, many times unwillingly, is another reason for me to continue improving. I can only feel slightly safer now, knowing I have picked up Mental Resistance, a Tier 4 Skill I will discuss further in the report. Hopefully, that lends some protection for my mind.

Tier 4 Skills [Number = 3, Total Experience Gained = 50,500]

By Level: Mental Resistance (LV13), Inject Mana (LV11), Extract Mana (LV9)

NOTES: The skill that now allows me to sleep more peacefully at night, Mental Resistance. I wasn’t expecting to gain this skill, much less for it to be Tier 4, however I’m more than glad to have done so. After years of trading with much higher-level traders, who most likely even have much higher Mind stats than I do, and fully resisting their effects for as long as possible, I finally gained the skill. It can’t be that common, otherwise everyone would have a Tier 4 skill. I’m guessing even traders don’t all have it. It’s impossible to know because no one in their right mind would ever mention having a Tier 4 skill. I have been arduously improving my Mind stat, as well as leveling multiple Mind related skills for years, as well as reaching Level 75 in Meditation, so I can hazard a guess and assume those play a role. Regardless, this is one skill I will praise for every single level up.

Inject Mana and Extract Mana. Such a simple concept. Took me years to learn. I can almost kick myself for not going beyond the basic attempts I made years ago. After farming for a few years, I had the sudden inspiration to attempt to give a plant mana. Maybe I could make a magical plant? It didn’t work on the first try, other the many subsequent ones. I couldn’t quite figure out what I was doing wrong because everything pointed to it working. I finally tried on a stick, and whatever invisible magical muscle I wasn’t using properly finally activated, and I got the skill. Then I immediately tried to get my mana back, because that’s just the way I am. Efficient till the end. In my practice to do that, I did get some of it back, and got the Extract Mana skill as well. I haven’t had any success in making any observable differences in any of the living plants, other than killing a few, but I’m hopeful for the future! This new ability prompted the gain of the Mana Breathing skill as well.

Observations on the Quality of Attributes:

Over the course of my time here in this world, I have pondered on the significance of attributes and stat points that we can assign to each attribute. Firstly, what does one point in strength really mean? I have constructed quite a few scales and tests to analyze my strength at each new point. There is a correlation, although it may not quite be that clear. For instance, when testing how much weight I could curl in a barbell style curl, there was a steady and somewhat linear increase in strength. As the stat rose, the trend line didn’t quite follow in a linear pattern. This is a simple test. In the more complex tests, I came up with quite a few variations of strange calisthenic movements, and awkward lifts. In those tests, strength wasn’t nearly so linear. Sometimes not improving at all. After extensive testing in the past few years, I have come to a few conclusions on the physical stats, and these conclusions may carry over to the others as well.

Firstly, one point in strength is not the same for everyone. That is clear. It is already common knowledge that the size of your body, height, weight, muscle mass, and other factors allow one to utilize their strength more effectively. Therefore, physical labor is still primarily a male craft, when women can theoretically have the same exact strength, or even more. However, I think it goes further than that. I’m not sure of the specifics of how a “free point” increases my strength, but it seems to at least empower what is already there, rather than giving some arbitrary level of strength not related to biological reality.

So, I began more experiments. Thinking back to Earth, there were various levels of “strength”. There were the Strongmen, lifting cars, pulling buses, and generally being at the top of the functional strength scale. However, they didn’t necessarily have the world records that Powerlifters would hold. Those guys who focus on only three lifts: Bench Press, Deadlift, and Squats. Other than ways to improve those three skills, they were lacking in quite a few areas. They pushed their bodies to the limit in extremely specific ways, even more so than the Strongmen.

Then there were Bodybuilders, the pinnacle of muscle monsters. Terrifying, almost. It just goes to show you what the human body is capable of. They took a different approach than pure strength, but rather one of improving muscle mass. Using hypertrophy to make the muscle grow bigger. They still had impressive strengths, but their muscle wasn’t nearly as functional.

Then you have the people of Calisthenics, using mostly bodyweight and impressive control of their bodies to perform cool and flashy techniques. Gymnasts, primarily. They took functional to a whole new level. They may not have the same strength as a powerlifter, but they had complete control over their bodies, able to perform some entertaining feats, as I can attest to losing hours of my life watching online.

Each of these groups could be thought of as pursuing strength on Earth, in entirely different ways. Whose to say that’s not the case here as well? If a ballerina came here, and improved their strength, what would that look like? I’m almost positive they wouldn’t see the same increases in pure and simple strength I obtained for each point, but what about those tiny muscles in their feet and legs. I would guess that their strength improvements would be a little more subtle, allowing improvement in other areas. Say we each had the exact same strength stat, and we had a contest of who could stand on their tip toes the longest, I’d say it would be my loss. Perhaps if I had a few more points invested, I could match her record, but that’s exactly my point.

I’m tentatively calling this quality, “Direction”.

The direction in which someone’s attributes are aligned. It’s a subtle effect, but I believe it becomes more noticeable with higher and higher attributes. An archer and a lumberjack may have the same strength, and discounting the use of skills and stamina restrictions, I’d imagine their strength is more suitable to their specific tasks. If all their skills were eliminated in some way, the archer wouldn’t be able to cut down as many trees as the lumberjack, and the lumberjack couldn’t shoot as many arrows.

The second quality that I have theorized, is called “Effectiveness”, for lack of a better term.

Say two people had a strength of ten. One person then added ten free points into strength, and the other just worked hard until he had ten more strength. Who would be stronger, eliminating many of the factors discussed above? In a pure and simple barbell curl, with their capabilities being exactly equal at the start, who would be able to lift more at the end? My conclusion is the second person, who increased their strength organically. It may seem biased, and I must admit to having a severe bias in this regard, as this is the method I use to increase my own strength.

However, there are additional observations that support my theory. Myself for one. I have compared strengths to both Gramps and Annabelle. Annabelle is more in my range, but Gramps provided some useful data as well. When we turned ten, Annabelle passed me in strength for a short while, as she invested a few points into the strength attribute. However, in all my tests with her, even with her slightly superior stats, she was never close to beating me in a match of strength. Taking away my own leverage and using creative ways to battle one another – which she was happy to participate in – I never lost to her, even once. While her attributes didn’t surpass mine by much, it was quite telling. I had been practicing strength training for years, performing difficult physical feats and pushing my boundaries every single day. I can only conclude that my “Strength” was more effective in some way. Whether it was the small muscles, ligaments, and tendons that I had strengthened over the years, or some other factor, my strength was more effective than hers.

I can say with confidence that organically raised attributes are superior – disregarding other factors – than those raised with “free points”. How much more effective? I’m not sure. To be noted is that these tests were perform at relatively low attribute levels. For those who surpass a hundred, two hundred, or even more, I can’t say with any accuracy how this will affect them. Perhaps the difference becomes almost nothing, or perhaps the importance grows.

The third and final quality I have found, I call “Control”.

This one is different than the previous two, and I believe it’s highly related to the combination of the previous two qualities. If one has high effectiveness and a specific direction, it’s most likely the case that their control is good. It may not be entirely reliant on those other two factors, as my knowledge of this subject is sorely lacking in all areas, however the observations I have made show that it is affected to a high degree by them.

The easiest way to visualize this quality is to imagine two people with identical strength. Let’s say they can both punch with 100% of their power every time. Ask them to punch with just 50% instead. Could they do that? How close would they get? What if they were asked to slowly decrease their power with each punch, could they both do it? And at what rates? Let’s say the first person has poor control and tries to slowly decrease the strength of each punch. Sometimes he hits harder than he did the previous time, and sometimes much softer. The second person, while not perfect, at least has a steady rate of decreasing strength in each punch. This is what I call control.

This is the least researched out of all the qualities I have been looking into, but I know there is something to it. My guess is that skills, for the most part, have filled in for this quality, or at least supplement it greatly. After all, there are plenty of skills that give a person almost perfect accuracy. What I’d like to know, is if the skill the gives you the control, or if someone’s control grants the skill? How does the skill improve? Is it related to gain better control of your attribute, or is practice with the skill enough?

Lastly, my final thoughts on the different aspects of attributes. I mentioned my subdued aura of Vitality earlier in this report. I haven’t found an answer yet. Why do some people gush with Vitality, even though others have even more? How can this be altered, and does this affect identification type skills? While I had placed this on the backburner and relied on some small hope that my subdued aura would benefit me somehow, recently I came across a few mages. They were passing through town, on some adventure to the high magical density forests. Having a high Clarity and Mana Sense skill, I almost immediately noticed them. They were practically broadcasting their locations to my senses. I was immediately taken aback and asked a few of the other villagers who those people were. It turned out they were mages of some sort and were passing through.

I’ve long been wary of mages, not wanting to get involved in their politics and schemes. I still practice with my mana because I believe I will find a use for it, but I have long closed the doors to the path that most mages end up taking. After a few moments of watching them through my Sense Mana skill, I came to a realization. If it were so easy to see them with my untrained senses, could they also sense me?

When I began to compare each of our varying levels of mana and how I must look to them, I breathed a little easier. I had never added any attributes into Magic, so while it was very much improved from an average person, and my aura was significantly smaller than theirs. Regardless of the case, I quickly got out of the village before I was noticed. Perhaps I was, however, there should be no danger in them finding me out here on this isolated farm.

This remined me of my observation of my own Vitality, and while I have no data about what their Magic attribute was, I could tell there was a subtle difference in our mana. Not just in power, but almost like a certain density and ‘energeticness’. My mana is quite stable and slow, as I practice meditation frequently, and use Mana Manipulation to slowly decrease the speed of my vortex to enable a deeper meditative state, almost like hypnosis.

Their mana was much wilder and more untamed, floating around, drifting, and not under seemingly much control at all. It made the spectacle much bigger, and possibly more intimidating, but I wouldn’t say our mana was the same in any way. Perhaps this is another quality of the attributes?

I haven’t had time to explore this new information recently, with Spring coming quickly once again, but this is of prime importance for me. I do not want any random mage coming into the village to be able to immediately sense me. That would ruin all my plans. For now, I’ll be making much fewer and shorter trips into the village until I can find some sort of solution.

End of Report [014-001].