Jason doesn’t have an answer for Peter’s question. The fact that his physical stats seem to count for more really doesn’t make any sense. Gregor on the other hand has an idea of what might be going on.

Gregor shrugs, “Stat totals aren’t the end all, be all. A person might have 11 strength while his friend has 12 and yet they end up lifting about the same amount of weight. Only once you get to one having 110 and the other 120 does the gap begin to widen, and even then there can be an upset. The difference only seems so set in stone because people tend to compare warriors to wizards. Of course someone with 110 or 120 strength will be obviously stronger than the guy with 20 to 30 strength.”

“People who are going to advance in levels don’t tend to stick around any specific stat total long enough for this to really show itself. Randomness being what it is people are more likely to believe they got beat at arm wrestling by the wizard early on by chance and now that they can win every time that proves it.”

“I admit that it hasn’t been tested so I can’t say anything with 100% certainty, but there are some things I feel comfortable saying. One of which is that a person’s point of strength is not equal to another person’s point of strength. Now that I’ve said the thing I am most certain of, let me go over some guesswork.”

“The System is not fully in control of the system. A point of strength represents something other than a universal truth. Rather, it is a personal truth and the system in charge of stats displays it as such. As if there was a hidden modifier on your strengths effectiveness. So some people lack a modifier at all, a simple 1. For 10 points of strength their strength remains 10 after multiplying it by that modifier of 1.”

“Someone like Jason on the other hand is blessed and has a bigger modifier. I don’t know what it is, but let’s say 1.5 or so. His 10 points of strength would then be worth 15 points instead. Likely most people have a modifier very close to 1 though not quite. What the System does for everyone else is add on a couple more points of strength so if Jason was a normal person, that would display as 15 instead.”

Jason nods, “That would explain why I’m so strong despite lacking Strength.”

Courtney on the other hand shakes her head, “Nope, doesn’t make sense. If that was the case, what about creatures with lower natural strength? What about creatures with extreme strength? Some of them are sapient so we can compare their stats. You would think people would notice the difference.”

Gregor shakes his head, “That would be where fake training bonuses would come in. The strong creatures get them more easily, and the weaker creatures gain them slower. My bet is that there is some sapient race with the slowest advancement that all else is based around. The reason I think this is Jason there is gaining stats much too slowly. A magic user who is as physically active as him would have near 100 points by now despite not putting a single point into strength.”

Courtney frowns, “It still doesn’t make sense. The System could have just added a secondary stat to represent a stats effectiveness. Easy to understand and would allow it to normalize the stats better.”

Peter cuts in at this point. “You’re missing an important factor or purposefully avoiding it. The System isn’t natural. Anyone who manages to get as far as me and my husband, knows that. The way it reacts is too similar to the more advanced golems we can make. There have even been some Magi who simulated something similar to the System. While this is not proof, per se, it would make sense of a number of the System’s reactions.”

Courtney shrugs, “Even with that accounted for, it doesn’t explain why it didn’t just use something like my suggestion.”

Peter rolls his eyes, “Whoever made the System probably decided how it would work. The discrepancies in stats and other such things are the result of it trying to compensate for the nonsense.”

Jason shakes his head, “While all of this is interesting we’ve kind of gotten off track. Whatever the reason, my stats are apparently worth more than others because the System can’t mess with them. In fact, what even was the point of this?”

Gregor frowns, “I honestly don’t remember. I kind of got distracted by the topic. Though there is one take away for you. Levels don’t matter.”

Jason raises an eyebrow, “And where did that come from?”

Gregor laughs, “I was being a bit facetious, but it is kinda true. The levels are worthless for you. For most people, levels are equal to strength because that is how you get stat points. You on the other hand? You’ve given up on stat points so about the only thing your levels do is let your rabbit level.”

“Bottlenecks on the other hand are different. They represent a qualitative change instead of just another brick on the wall. For the first bit, it can be hard to tell. After all, you don’t really get all that much directly from the first few bottlenecks. You only recently received your first bottleneck bonus, and those are always weird and niche.”

To the side Courtney nods, “While most of our fellow travellers see the bottlenecks to be more of a thing to stop you from leveling, the rich and important know differently. The challenges measure more than just basic game skill. They actually test things that can’t be increased with stats such as reaction speed and adaptability. The bottleneck after this one is to complete a System quest. You do have a selection to choose from, but that tends to be more a matter of flavor instead of content.”