Volume 1 Chapter 6-2 Ability Value
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Sorry for asking something strange, but I’ve always envied the life of someone living on a pension. I had plans to catch up on all the games I’ve stockpiled and play them all in my retirement.”
Ms. Marsha had been patiently listening to me ramble on about my dream of a pensioner’s life, but she must have decided it was endless.
She resumed her explanation with a smile.
”Ah… well, then, let’s get right to it and create your status card, Sir Sabarois.”
Ms. Marsha handed me a crystal ball the size of a tennis ball.
The crystal ball was connected to a sleek, unassuming laptop on the desk with a thick cable.
I had thought we were in a world of swords and magic, so the sight of a laptop was a bit jarring.
But then I reconsidered; if we’re summoning humans left and right, having a laptop around isn’t that strange.
The crystal ball was quite heavy, and I worried it might break if I dropped it, so I held it firmly with both hands.
As Ms. Marsha operated the laptop, the crystal began to slowly flicker.
”It will take some time for the measurement results to come out, so I’ll give you a brief explanation in the meantime.”
Making a status card is a familiar setup in games, but usually, such events are over in seconds, with fancy effects and all.
I hadn’t expected the status measurement to take nearly half an hour.
If I had to wait this long in a game, I’d throw the controller and never play again.
It had a strange sense of realism, but I thought, I don’t really need this kind of realism.
”This crystal is used to measure a person’s ability values. Ability values are the fundamental numbers that represent all of a person’s abilities and they don’t change throughout their life.”
It’s like when you’re making a character in an RPG and you choose the initial stats.
If your base ability values are low, even when you level up, your HP and stuff don’t increase much, and you struggle the whole time, right?
In the game, ability scores mean talent, and leveling up means effort, but ability scores also affect how much your stats increase when you level up.
So, the higher your level, the bigger the gap gets.
That means the more you try, the more your talent differences grow.
It’s kind of real, but for characters with low ability scores, it’s a system that never really rewards you.
In games like this, I’d keep resetting again and again until I got good numbers, spending hours making characters over and over.
When it takes hundreds of hours just to level up once at high levels, spending a few days making a character with high ability scores isn’t a big deal.
”Ability scores go from 1 to 20. But extreme numbers like 1 or 20 almost never show up. Usually, they fall between 6 and 14.”
It doesn’t seem to be just pure random.
In a game, you’d reset right away if your ability score is below 10.
Ideally, you’d want to stick it out until you get 15 or higher.
”For the hero, there’s a special bonus added at summoning, so their numbers will be much higher than ours (native).”
So if you’re summoned to this world, you get your normal ability score plus a bonus on top.
That’s a total cheat.
”You can spend one cost point once to freely reassign the summoning bonus. We’ll talk about respecs again before job changes.”
I want to choose whether to be a swordsman or magician based on my own preference.
Losing one cost point sucks a bit, but being able to assign your bonus however you want is a huge advantage.
”The total summoning bonus is said to be between 1 and 20, but there’s no record of anyone getting below 3. Usually, it falls between 6 and 14.”
If no one got below 3, then someone probably had a 4.
Poor luck for them.
That’s what I thought back then, like it was someone else’s problem.
The crystal ball felt a little warm in my hand.
It wasn’t the ball heating up──it was like some kind of energy was gathering in my palm from all over my body.
”Th-this is…”
Marsha was working the computer like she knew what she was doing, but then she gasped in surprise.
Seeing her worried face, I knew the results weren’t good.
”First, the good news. Sir Sabarois’s dexterity is 18.”
With a max of 20, 18 is amazing.
I felt a quick wave of relief, thinking I worried for nothing.
”Dexterity alone doesn’t help much in battle, but it boosts other abilities. For example, a swordsman’s sword skills grow faster.”
A skillful swordsman didn’t sound bad at all, I thought then.
”Next highest is wisdom, which is 9.”
My blood ran cold──just 9?
I never expected the second-highest to be a single digit.
Who would guess it drops to half right after 18?
”Wisdom also boosts other abilities. It’s important especially for magicians and priests.”
A skillful magician sounds okay, but is 9 really enough?
Can someone with wisdom only 9, about average, even become a magician?
If the other stats are even lower, this could be bad.
I told her to go on.
”Next, agility is 9. Agility helps in many situations.”
Another 9?
Could they all be 9?
It seems I won’t be unbeatable, but maybe with the summoning bonus, I could at least be an apprentice hero.
At this point, I still hadn’t lost hope.
”Next is vitality… 8. This stat raises resistance to injury and sickness.”
Vitality a bit below average at 8.
If this is my true stat, it sounds about right.
Since I was little, I was unusually skilled with my hands──I even appeared on TV as an origami prodigy in kindergarten.
But beyond that, I had no special talents.
My grades and sports were below average.
I already guessed the rest of the stats before hearing them.
”Intelligence is 8. This stat mostly decides magic potential.”
”Charisma is 8. It’s the ability to attract others.”
”Strength is 7. This important ability affects your attack power when fighting with weapons.”
”Luck is 7… That’s it.”
Even though the result was expected, I felt burnt out facing those hopeless numbers.
Ms. Marsha didn’t look down on me at all; she seemed just flustered.
She’s a good person, Ms. Marsha is.
”Oh! There was the summoning bonus, right?”
My last hope.
If I use the summoning bonus of about 10 points wisely, I might not become an overpowered character, but maybe I can manage as a specialized type.
Ms. Marsha’s face looked like she might cry for a moment.
Could it be that the summoning bonus is low too?
Total of 7 points?
6 points?
Please tell me I don’t have only 4 points.
I never imagined it could go below 3 points, that would be unheard of.
Because normally, that just doesn’t happen.
After blinking a few times and taking a deep breath, she told me in an surprisingly businesslike voice.
”Luck is +1.”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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