You know, if I were to tell someone from the Origin Timeline what I was feeling during my second week in the Caverns, I would either get canceled online or be killed on the spot.
When it came to Instances as notorious as the Caverns, the number of people who would be able to say they were actually BORED of what could be considered the most challenging and high-intensity Instance could be counted on one hand.
Even then, breaking down that handful of people, all but maybe one were being serious in their claims; the rest were full of shit, yet here I was, lying on the floor of the Bronze Gate Safezone, bored out of my mind.
At first, time passed by relatively quickly; however, as I watched my stats draw ever closer to the No-Rank cap, I found myself often slacking off in my training.
It was already impressive that I was able to sit still constantly and dutifully use my circulation skill time and time again, only stopping once my six daily uses had run dry.
But as I sat there staring up at my display panel, I knew I needed to get a move on and do something else.
[Statistics]
{Level:0}
{Level Progress: 10.55%}
{Talent Growth Rate: 01%} *4 x Modifier*
{Alpha Particle Count: 0/5}
New novel đŹhapters are published on freŃwebnoŃ”el.com.
{Physical Offense: 10} *+4.4*
{Physical Defense: 10} *+4.4*
{Intellect: 26.5} *+0.2*
{Meta Physical Offense: 4.6} *+0.3*
{Meta Physical Defense: 4.3} *+.04*
{Stat Points: 0}
Through my training, most of which involved using my Circulation skill and accidentally hurting myself with my Talent, I was able to improve everything, including my Meta Physical Defense.
And that wasnât all; after spamming my Hidden Vestiges of Physicality like an NPC BOT, I had gotten VERY close to upgrading it to the Next Attainment, only requiring a few more uses, which unfortunately wouldnât be possible until I reached Alpha-Rank.
Although boring, it had been a fruitful endeavor as I stepped into a Tier of people the smart few were vocal about admitting. I was a Capped Ranker.
This illustrious title was logically flawed, especially in the early days after the Saturation Completion, as apart from telling someone your stats, we didnât really have a way to confirm whether someone was lying.
Filled messageboards were a dime a dozen as there was always a clique of trolls claiming to be Capped Rankers, and it wasnât until much later, around year five or Six post saturation, when the testing machines were in abundant circulation that we could get definitive figures.
Even so, to find someone back then with Capped stats in the No-Rank was virtually impossible thanks to the annoying restrictions holding us back from advancing IE, Racial Classification.
I am sure there were more than a few members of the Myriad Races who had obtained the Metaphorical Title since they had higher Classes than humanity, but it wasnât like they were about to admit it and paint a target on their backs.
Still, I was quick to realize that capping my physical stats wasnât all it was cut up to be. Due to my lack of physical maturity, and even though I had a tougher body thanks to being 6C, I was well aware that I was more of a danger to myself than those tired weasels constantly throwing their bodies into the barrier.
Speaking of those vermin, it had been nine days since I slaughtered the team of unsuspecting idiots and a pack of monsters, and only now were the two Beta-Rank leftovers beginning to degenerate.
Sitting up from the position I had claimed as my bed for the past few days, I tossed a calm glance at the two Ferretmoles and smirked.
Both of them cut a sorry image of exhaustion.
Their fur was matted with dirt and dried blood from their idiotic self-mutilation as they repeatedly attacked the Safezone barrier. Broken claws and fang fragments littered the surrounding terrain as they were cast aside to grow new ones, creating a literal treasure trove of resources in the right hands.
Better yet, setting aside the physical damage I could see, based on the weak particle signatures radiating off their bodies, I knew the time had finally come to make a move.
Standing up, the first thing I did was, of course, clean up, as I had finished the final Cycle of my Circulation skill a little over an hour ago and reeked like a dead animal.
After 10 minutes, a box of wet wipes, and fully decked out in my child-sized battle gear, I began running through all the calisthenic exercises I could think of.
I needed to get used to my newly obtained physical strength, and within minutes, I realized I was in no shape to jump headfirst into battle.
THUNK
"Mother fucker, that hurtâŠ" jumping jacks, pushups, sit-ups, it was all going well until I tried executing some sprints from one side of the tunnel to the other, only to end up falling face-first into the ground thanks to my legs moving WAY faster than I was used to.
Had my Physical Defense not been so high, I donât doubt Iâd be spewing blood out my nose and be missing a couple of teeth; I had hit the ground that hard.
Inhaling in frustration, I began the effort-filled task of acclimating to my maxed stats, and as embarrassing as it is to say, I didnât end up eating pavement that one time, no, it happened wayyyy more times than I am ever willing to admit, but that was to be expected considering the large gap between when I had last fought and now.
On paper, the numeric changes may not be that big, but when you remember that the starting line for most people is only 1.2-5 in Physical Offense, it meant I was technically a little over five times stronger than a normal person.
Every minor movement or muscular twitch was filled to the brim with power, and in the short few minutes I spent working out the kinks of my new stats, I knew it would take me a few hours before I was comfortable enough to fight.