The door creaked slightly as the man stepped out, offering a hesitant smile over his shoulder. "Don't hesitate to ask if you need something," he said, his English heavily accented but clear enough.
Calvas nodded, watching as the man left him alone in the small, quiet room. The quiet room where he'd been questioned for the past few hours hadn't been as intense as he'd expected. Just a lot of questions—probing, careful questions. They'd checked on him, given him dry clothes, and even brought him a hot meal. For a moment, he had almost forgotten where he was.
But now, left alone in the room, He should've felt more at ease, but he didn't.
He shifted in the chair, staring at the plain walls. His mind wandered back to earlier, back when he'd looked at the system panel for his skills tab. He itched to see more, to understand what he was working with. He'd already seen the skills tab, but there had to be more to it.
'Alright,' he thought, sitting up a little straighter. 'Stats, right? That's usually a thing in these kinds of systems.'
He focused his thoughts, just like before, and muttered under his breath, "Stats."
A soft glow appeared in front of him, and the system panel materialized, displaying the information he hadn't had a chance to look at earlier.
[System Overview]
Name: Calvas Zavala
Age: 19 (15)
Height: 5'6"
Status: Normal
Level: 1
XP: 0/100
HP: 164/164
Stamina: 86/86
Health Regen: +3 HP/min
Stamina Regen: +2 Stamina/min
Vitality: 12
Endurance: 8
Strength: 10
Agility: 9
Willpower: 7
Intelligence: 6
Control: 11
Perception:6
Calvas blinked at the display, curiosity quickly taking over his unease. 'Okay, not bad. But what do these stats do exactly?'
As if responding to his thought, the panel shifted slightly, offering more detailed descriptions of each stat.
Vitality: This attribute governs the overall robustness of the body, enhancing the user's health pool by +2 per point invested. Additionally, it bolsters natural regenerative capabilities, allowing for accelerated recovery from physical ailments such as disease, poison, acid burns, and injuries. Fatigue recovery is also notably improved under this stat, making it a crucial factor in the user's long-term survivability and stamina replenishment.
Endurance: A key factor in sustaining both physical health and stamina. Each point in Endurance grants +5 to maximum health and +3 to stamina reserves, enabling the user to endure more damage and exertion. It fortifies the body's resistance to fatigue, allowing the user to maintain physical activity for longer periods without succumbing to exhaustion.
Strength: This stat defines the user's physical power, directly impacting the force behind physical attacks and actions. Additionally, it enhances the effectiveness of certain abilities and skills that may not traditionally rely on strength.
Agility: Governs the user's overall speed and swiftness of movement. This attribute increases movement velocity for both gross and fine motor skills, enabling quicker reactions and faster motion. It does not, however, inherently improve coordination or precision.
Willpower: Represents the user's mental fortitude and resistance to external influences. A higher Willpower increases resilience against mental manipulation, emotional stress, mind control, and psychological fatigue. It also strengthens the user's ability to withstand prolonged exposure to pain or extreme conditions, bolstering their ability to remain focused under duress.
Intelligence: This stat represents the user's cognitive capabilities, increasing skill damage output and refining the complexity of skill usage. Intelligence is tied to the user's processing power and memory, enhancing logical thinking, problem-solving, and the ability to adapt to new information. A higher Intelligence allows for more efficient skill use and strategic decision-making during high-stress scenarios.
Control: A critical stat for those who rely on precision and mastery over their abilities. Control enhances the user's skill execution, improving accuracy, range, and the ability to multitask with multiple abilities simultaneously. This stat also extends to physical control, refining the user's coordination and precision in physical movements, allowing for greater finesse and complexity in combat or skill usage.
Perception: This attribute governs the user's ability to sense and interpret the environment around them. A higher Perception improves overall awareness, allowing the user to see and feel things with greater clarity. It enhances accuracy for ranged attacks and improves hearing, enabling the user to distinguish between various sounds more easily. Not only do sounds become more discernible, but the user can focus on specific noises, filtering out distractions when necessary.
He stared at the numbers, quickly doing the math in his head. 'One hundred base HP and fifty base stamina,' he calculated. The rest had been boosted by his Endurance and Vitality. But as he looked at the numbers, a new thought began to creep in.
He frowned. 'If I get hurt… What happens if my HP hits zero? Do I pass out? Or… does that mean I'm dead?'
The thought sent a chill through him. He wasn't willing to test it. He had to be careful. Whatever the system was, it clearly operated by its own rules, and he wasn't about to gamble with his life just to see how it worked.
He shook off the unease as best he could, but it clung to him. He forced himself to keep scrolling, his curiosity dragging him further into the panel. That's when he noticed the Quest tab. Without thinking, he focused on it.
It blinked, but when he tried to access it, a system notification appeared.
[System Notification]
No quests available at the current moment.
"Figures," he muttered."
Calvas sighed softly, he wasn't frustrated, just… resigned. 'Well, it's not like anything's been easy since I got here.' He closed the system panel with a mental flick, the faint glow fading from his vision.
Standing up, he stretched a little, his muscles still stiff from the questioning. He moved toward the door, glancing around cautiously. 'Might as well check out the restroom, get a look at myself. Better to confirm it for real.'
Keeping his movements casual, he slipped out of the room and down the hallway, making his way to the restroom. Once inside, he paused in front of the mirror, taking a long, hard look at the person staring back at him.
It was still him, but younger. His features were softer, less defined. His shoulders weren't as broad, his height noticeably shorter. He could almost feel the years that had been stripped away.
'So… this is me now.' 'The system really altered me like that…'
The realization settled in deeper now. The system had changed his body. He was younger. Smaller.
'I'm… technically a minor now, aren't I?'
The weight of that realization hit harder than anything else. If the heroes figured that out—and they would—it wasn't hard to guess what would happen next. 'They'll put me in the system. Some foster care or government-run home.'
A cold sense of dread washed over him. That was the last thing he wanted. 'I can't let that happen. No way.'
Just as that thought crossed his mind, the system flickered to life again, pulling his attention with a sudden notification.
[System Quest Triggered]
[System Quest: Escape!]
Objective: Avoid being placed in the system for underage individuals. Escape from your current location before they can formally process your placement.
Rewards: 2 Skill Points, 100 XP
Calvas's heart skipped a beat. 'Escape…?' He stared at the notification, the weight of the quest sinking in.
'Well,' he thought, a grim smile forming as he straightened up. 'You wanted a quest, right? Here's your quest.'