Chapter 4 (1/2)

Chapter 4: The Key to Single Player Games

Yue Qiang remembered very well that he had already put all of his free distribution points into ‘Charisma’, so where did this 1 point come from? Could this be the ‘Refined Energy’ Chen Zi Han was talking about?

It most likely is!

So from the looks of it, if you complete the quests in this game the normal way then you wouldn’t be getting any rewards at all. On the other hand if you completed them excellently – like how he did copy-pasting everything from mobile Baidu and scoring near perfect marks except for that one line, ‘even if his uncle can bear to do this, his aunt cannot bear to do’ – then you would be given additional rewards such as this ‘Free Distribution Stat Points’, that is the ‘Refined Energy’ mentioned by Chen Zi Han. And free stats are always great no matter what game you’re in, considering that they’re precious resources you don’t come by often.

[E/N if you haven’t read my note do so above the chapter t.i.tle]

It was at this moment Yue Qiang recalled that ridiculous notion he had earlier.

Should I drop this point into Charisma as well?

It is a common rule in RPGs that when you dump stats, you should focus on one stat alone. This is because stats fall under precious resources and are usually hard to come by. Since it’s impossible to increase every stat to a reasonably high level, maxing out one stat is the logical choice for most players, especially since Yue Qiang couldn’t forget what happened earlier. He really wanted to know what would happen if his Charisma changed from 15 to 16.

By the way, did you know? It is incredibly hard to improve one’s stats from 15 to 16. There is an old saying that explains this situation as, ‘one should strive to improve further despite achieving a fair degree of success’. If we are to speak in modern mathematical terms, the probability of getting a value of 6 or more in a normal distribution is incredibly small. For example, an average human’s IQ would hover between 80 to 120, and if someone’s IQ were to increase from 80 to 90 or 110 to 120, it would still be within bounds and would be nothing to be surprised about. On the other hand, if someone’s IQ were to increase from 150 to 160, then this person would be like a dragon evolving into a phoenix. Not only that, their IQ value would also no longer be an accurate reflection of their true mental prowess.

As Yue Qiang continued pondering, he added the point into ‘Charisma’.

System Message: ‘Refined Energy’ points cannot be changed once allocated. Are you sure you want to continue?

He selected ‘Yes’ without the slightest hesitation. This time, the circ.u.mstance of his stats distribution was different yet again.

System Message: Your ‘Charisma’ has reached its threshold value and would be temporarily fixed.

At the same time, his ‘Charisma’ stat had turned a gray hue of unchangeable text and was clearly different from his other stats.

So 16 is the system’s current threshold? Yue Qiang thought to himself as he brought out his phone in an attempt to test out that ridiculous notion of his. But before he could even dial a number, he was already receiving an incoming call from an unfamiliar number. Yue Qiang pressed the ‘Answer’ key, brought the phone to his ears, and listened to a pleasant woman’s voice,

“h.e.l.lo Yue Qiang, I am the cla.s.s beauty of our cla.s.s Rao Xiao Ting.”

“Yue Qiang, I’ve always thought that you’re a pretty cool person. You may not talk much in the chat group, but the things you said were always humorous and meaningful, deep and delicate. I’ve always wanted to become your friend, but I could never gather the courage to say it. I took liberties to call you today because I really wanted to listen to your deep, magnetic voice.”

“Yue Qiang, do you think we can become good friends?”

And Yue Qiang murmured, “As I thought the difference between 15 and 16 is HUGE, man.”

“What 15 and 16?” Rao Xiao Ting asked curiously.

“Nope, nothing. I mean, of course we can become good friends!” Yue Qiang answered, but his eyes were completely glued to the number ’16’ on his screen.

For the next twenty minutes, Yue Qiang listened to Rao Xiao Ting telling exactly how much she admired him. He wasn’t texting a few emoticons in the QQ group, but being a man of few words. He wasn’t sleeping in cla.s.s, but revising old materials and gaining new insights from them. He wasn’t a video game otaku, but an armchair detective who knew the world without setting a foot out of his house. Yue Qiang never knew he had this many ‘virtues’!

After finally putting down the phone, Yue Qiang immediately tossed away those compliments to the back of his head and remembered one line alone,