Chapter 8: Ch 8 – Stats

Ectoplasm was a kind of spiritual essence or fluid, according to human dictionaries. 

As for what the Archive considered it to be, I wasn't sure. Still, everything displayed by the Archive was in English terms that I could understand. It was unlikely that the Archive's Ectoplasm was much different from what we thought it to be, considering it used that specific term. 

In that case, could I strengthen my spirit by using Ectoplasm? It was counted by units and acted as some sort of currency, so it could definitely be used for either getting something or increasing something. 

I rested in the locker room. Elijah did a count, and after the recent deaths, there were 93 athletes present. Along with the 7 coaches, there were a clean 100 of us. 

Since it was the end of the day, I had decided to munch on some snacks and do some tests. 

I haven't gotten to really sit down and contemplate my situation yet. We had constantly been moving, so now was the first time I had gathered myself and checked the changes in my body. 

Everyone had changed in some way, or it would be more accurate to say that everyone had been strengthened. I went to the weight room and did a few tests, and the result was a bit shocking. 

I had previously been able to deadlift a maximum of 485 pounds a single time. But now? I was able to deadlift 615 pounds. 

My bench press likewise increased from 255 to 365. 

I did lifts for nearly every muscle, and the result was a drastic increase in strength across the board. I also took a look at myself in the mirror, and despite having lost a few pounds, I had actually gained muscle mass. I had a bit more size, and was more cut due to lesser fat levels. 

The sudden changes were obviously supernatural. I had worked out for years and had been rather close to my peak. Getting stronger would take a lot of time and dedication, my strength growing much slower than years prior. 

But to have a large percent increase in strength over the course of three days? That wasn't normal by any stretch of the word. I knew just how difficult it was to get stronger. This was physically impossible. 

And for those who had been even stronger than me, it was even more exaggerated. Elijah did a test too, and he went from bench pressing 355 pounds to 505 pounds. 

It was ridiculous! Even Kevin discovered that he was faster than before after going for a sprint. 

I knew that we had gotten stronger, and I had subconsciously wondered why everything seemed so much easier, like easily knocking over zombies that were full grown adults. This was why. 

It all came down to my stats and this new Power. 

After doing a tiny bit of math and seeing the difference in Energy and Health for my skeleton before and after his little upgrade, I figured out that:

1 Power = 3 Energy

1 Vitality = 5 health.

It was rather straightforward, as were the functions of the other stats. Strength increased the strength of my muscles, Agility increased my reaction and movement speed, and Intelligence... well, I wasn't exactly sure about that one. I hoped it would make me smarter though. 

With all that, I evaluated myself and my capabilities. Considering most zombies had been regular adults, and even before the apocalypse I had been much stronger than the average adult, I was definitely in a good position. Killing zombies was easy, and if not for the infection, killing bare handed wouldn't be difficult. My only problem was my skill with weapons and confidence. 

But again, this brought me back to the same problem. 

"How the hell do I get better?"

I scratched my head in thought. This Archive wanted us to evolve, and it helped us in a game-like fashion. 

By that logic, the rewards from killing should be able to be used to increase our strength, or our stats. 

Did that mean Ectoplasm could be used to increase my stats?

Getting to that point, I pondered for a second before opening my mouth. 

"Uhh, use one Ectoplasm to increase Strength."

---

{Would you like to distribute [Ectoplasm] into [Strength]?}

{It costs (x1) [Ectoplasm] to increase [Strength] by 1.}

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"Oh! This is it!"

I suddenly felt a surge of glee seeing those alerts. 

Stats could be increased using Ectoplasm!

My mind whirled with thoughts. 

I had 33 Ectoplasm after a couple days of killing zombies. Did that mean I could increase my stats by 33 points?

My Strength stat was 15. If I doubled it to 30, would I be doubling my strength? Could I become one of the strongest men on the planet so easily?

And my agility was 18. Could I become the fastest? 

Could I become the smartest?

I was hopeful yet skeptical. I found it hard to believe that I could so easily reach the limits of humanity simply by killing a few zombies and distributing points like a game. But here I was, about to do exactly that. 

Either way, I wasn't going to pass on this opportunity. Question was, how would I distribute my points?

After a bit of thinking, I found that my strength was more than satisfactory. That would be secondary. 

On the other hand, better agility would help me greatly. It would help my reaction speeds and movement speed, which is what I needed to better fight zombies. I was always anxious when fighting them, and being faster would calm me down knowing I could react quickly. 

With that, I decided to distribute some points. 

While thinking of how many points I wanted to put in, I spoke. "Distribute Ectoplasm into Agility."

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{(x6) [Ectoplasm] distributed into Agility.}

{Agility has increased from 18 to 22.}

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"Huh?"

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Seeing the increase, I was confused. I put in 6 points. Why did it only go up by four?

I hesitated before speaking again. "Distribute 1 Ectoplasm into Agility."

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{(x2) [Ectoplasm] are required to increase Agility by 1.}

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"Two? But I thought..."

I scratched my head in thought. Did Agility take more points to increase?

"Distribute 1 Ectoplasm into Strength."

---

{(x1) [Ectoplasm] distributed into Strength.}

{Strength had increased from 15 to 16.}

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"So it only takes one for Strength. Unless..."

I thought about the increase in Agility. 

"It only took two points to go from 18 to 20. Then four points to go to 22. That means it gets more expensive. So when the stat reached 20, it costs two points. Does that mean it'll cost three points when it reaches 30? Ouch."

Although I wasn't completely certain, for now I was assuming that it got more expensive the higher the stats. In that case, I couldn't just blow up my stats as I thought. I would have to be somewhat sparing. 

Still, now I knew I could increase my stats. 

"Oh, what about my Power stat?"

Suddenly, I remembered that increasing my Energy level could only be a good thing, perhaps more important than strength or agility. 

"Distribute 10 Ectoplasm into Power."

....

Nothing happened after waiting a few seconds. I immediately knew it didn't work. 

So Power couldn't be increased by Ectoplasm, I guessed. 

"That's... not good."

I frowned. Increasing my Energy would be crucial, but I didn't know how if not for distributing points into it. 

I also didn't have anything else at my disposal to try. The only currency I had was Ectoplasm. So for now, my Power and Energy were stuck where they were. 

But it wasn't like I had to stop at increasing my stats. 

My skeleton still needed to be upgraded. 

"Upgrade Skeleton Sentry to Stage 2."

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{Upgrading [Skeleton Sentry] to Stage 2 requires [Ectoplasm] (x20)}

{Confirm upgrade?}

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I smiled, glad I had enough Ectoplasm to carry it out. 

"Yes."

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{Upgrade confirmed.}

{[Skeleton Sentry] is now Stage 2.}

[Skeleton Sentry]

Ability: A minion of bone who will faithfully carry out any of your basic orders. This minion sustains itself with the bones of its enemies. It can be summoned and unsummoned at any time. Should the Skeleton be destroyed, 7 days are required to reform it.

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