Nick stared at his attribute values and considered the situation carefully.
[Attributes]:
Strength — 10.
Perception — 14.
Endurance — 12.
Charisma — 6.
Intelligence — 16.
Agility — 9.
Looks — 8.
At the moment, Nick had a whooping 16 v-points gotten from completing the previous task, the optional reward, and the bronze trophy. He was certain such a lucky series of rewards wouldn't repeat itself, so he had to utilize the v-points sensibly.
'I'm not strong or fast enough, compared to them.' Nick pondered and mentally crossed out attributes that weren't essential for the upcoming battle with simple analysis.
It was impossible to fight all three adversaries, even without considering the fact that they were armed. So, he narrowed his focus down and geared his plan towards a one-on-one encounter with one of the three men.
Naturally, his Looks and Charisma attributes were entirely irrelevant in a life-or-death confrontation. And his Intelligence was already high enough for the current circumstances.
He wanted to cross out Endurance as it was right on the average and because he didn't plan to engage in a prolonged fight, but then, things in life were generally famous for never going as planned, and he didn't expect this case to be any different.
As for Agility, the attribute value was simply too far from average, considering a swift and agile approach would be greatly beneficial in dodging, evading, and possibly ending things fast.
However, he couldn't ignore the importance of sheer Strength. His grip would be thicker, his blows would be harder, and—coupled with agility—his speed would be enhanced.
Taking the current dark environment into consideration, Nick rounded down the smart options into four in order of importance: Perception, Agility, Strength, and Endurance.
'But what would be the point of enhanced reflexes, strength, and speed if I trip and fall because I can't see?' he contemplated. As long as he could see better in the dark, he would undoubtedly be more mobile than his enemies, nullifying a bulk of agility's essentiality.
With 16 v-points, he was more inclined to upgrade only one or two of the attributes, with a single attribute taking a chunk of the v-points.
A second later, Nick selected the first essential attribute, Perception.
On the screen, the attribute value "14" was marked with a plus sign beside it. He increased the value until it hit "24", the max limit. He was going to spend 10 v-points to max his perception out.
Then, he increased Agility by 4 units and Strength by the remaining 2, pushing his endurance to the wayside.
At the top right corner of the screen, he clicked the green checkmark and was shown a prompt confirming if he was certain of the investment, and he clicked yes.
[Attributes]:
Strength — 12.
Perception — 24 [MAX].
Endurance — 12.
Charisma — 6.
Intelligence — 16.
Agility — 13.
Looks — 8.
Nick nodded at the changes, but quickly realized a very obvious issue.
'Wait, when would I even start seeing the effects of the investment? Would I need to have some rest first, or…' He had no clue.
After ten seconds of nothing, Nick thought to switch off his phone off and observe his surroundings.
Although the area remained dark, his vision had become astoundingly acute, enabling him to discern objects and navigate confidently as though his eyes had completely adapted to the darkness.
He could very well feel the faint but steady rhythm of his rapidly beating heart, smell the age-old toilets, faint odors of rotten animals, and the mold on the walls of the bathroom stall. From the droplets leaking from the open ceiling to the creeks of insects, the fluttering of bats, and so on, he could hear them all crystal clear.
Nick ran his hand across the wall, discerned its rough texture, and formulated a precise mental image of it. In addition, he could taste some bits of the last thing he ate on his tongue.
His five senses had reached peak human potential!
With this, he could discern the location of objects within a 2-meter radius based on scent, sound, and tactile sensations. Beyond that range, he had to rely primarily on sound and smell.
Observing these extraordinary changes within his body, Nick furrowed his brows and muttered, "Remarkable."
Nick tightened his fists and felt strength he had never felt before course through his bones.
Proceeding, he came down from the toilet and exited the stall. He looked around and stared down at his legs, feeling a different kind of energy—or more like 'readiness'—course through his muscles. He felt his limbs respond to his subtle movements faster than usual.
His strength and agility increased noticeably, but it wasn't something he would call a qualitative change, as compared to his perception.
Nick raised his head to look at the exit.
"I can do this."
With that, he stealthily left the fifth floor and went down to the fourth, expecting to run into one of Boss Falco's men.
Since they were looking for him in such a foreign place, he expected them to stick to the corridors. And since they were holding flashlights—which was simply a beacon at this point—finding them shouldn't be too hard.
He didn't know where exactly that scream and gunshots came from earlier, but he knew it wasn't too far below. So, he suspected the three men to be somewhere on the second and third floors.
This put Nick in a precarious spot, as he didn't want them to regroup, aiming to face only one of them at most.
He cautiously moved through the fourth floor in the dark, but just as he suspected, there was no one here. And he had already armed himself with a broken steel bar from an old bedframe and a cable wire.
'I'm wasting time. At this rate, I'll fail the task.' Nick gritted his teeth and quickly formulated a plan to go down to the second floor and wait.
However, right as he went out to the corridor and began walking down, he saw a beam of light emerge from the stair area far ahead and he quickly hid in the room beside him.
And a second later, the light beam shone past the corridor.
'Dammit, I made some noise.' Nick bent down and hid right beside the door. Despite the darkness of the room, he could even recognize a few objects.
The light beam gradually intensified as Boss Falco's goon proceeded cautiously down the corridor.
"What a dumbass. Birds and rats… he's just making up crap at this point." Nick heard someone far mutter.
He lay in wait, counting the approaching steps of the individual.
Nick got set to attack, took a deep breath, and counted down silently, "Three… Two… One…"
In Jun's vision, a figure suddenly emerged from the corner of the wall, raising a thick stick above their head!
Noticing the movement, he turned around sharply.
"What the fu—"
Bam!
Nick used the steel bar to strike Jun's right hand holding onto a gun, and the unexpecting goon groaned in pain as the gun flung out of his hand and landed far in the opposite room.
"Bastard!" Jun cursed.
Nick didn't waste time and immediately swung the bar at Jun's head, but the goon reflexively leaned back, dodging the swing.
Nick witnessed the smooth evasion and gulped. 'This guy is skilled!' This made things more complicated for him.
Jun stepped back and said in an annoyed tone, "So this is where you've been hiding, huh?"
…
[Rule #5: Pointers have full liberty to utilize their v-points however they see fit.]