Since I had long since actualized my particles, I was already past the starting line and midway down the track; in my autopilot state, I had even gone so far as to empty out my PC, meaning all I needed to do was fill up my tank, filter them into my personalized type, and then I can begin.
Resting my hands on my knees, I activated the first step of my Circulation skill, drawing in the ambient particles and using the Skill itself to filter the incoming particles, a task I had become quite adept at.
It took me roughly an hour until my PC reached the maximum. I didn’t stop or hesitate; instead, I chose to dive head-first into the Acclimation step, a process that was no different than trying to thread ten strings through 10 different needles simultaneously.
With this knowledge, I didn’t speed up or try hurrying the process; instead, I slowed down and took my time while splitting my PC into 20 identical portions and spreading them around my body.
This wasn’t my first rodeo; I had been here many times before, so with a careful and steady hand, I allowed the particles to flow, nourishing every square inch of my body internally.
It was arduous and time-consuming, but I paid that no mind; every bone, muscle fiber, blood cell, and microtissue was tended to until every bit of my internals had been covered, signifying that I had reached the halfway point to completing my Rank up.
The next part was easier and akin to running down a hill at breakneck speeds, and with the high of increasing my Rank building in my chest, I expelled all the accumulated particles out of my pores while standing up.
In a flash, I was standing buck naked as a faint, icy blue light cloud traversed all of the external portions of my body: hair, face, eyes, all the way down to the soles of my feet.
Eight hours and 37 minutes, from the moment I drew in the ambient Alpha particles to the end of the Acclimation, that was how long it took, and the instant I sat back down to re-absorb the cloud of particles, I heard the sound of shattering glass, as I completed my Rank-Up.
From start to finish, there wasn’t an ounce of pain or suffering, and by the end of it, I was only feeling euphoria as my stats increased more than usual, thanks to my racial trait.
Unfortunately, although no pain or fatigue came along with ranking up, that couldn’t be said about the god-awful stench I was emitting.
Since the rank-up process essentially rebuilt your cells from the ground up, all the old, now dead tissue had to go somewhere, and as I glanced at the foul brown slick coating my skin, I suddenly felt the urge to bathe for a second time today…so I did.
Cracking out my trusty kiddy pool, soap, and a fresh 5-gallon jug of mountain spring water, I took a speedy bath until I was squeaky clean and dressed in a set of clean clothes.
Dumping out the borderline toxic sludge remaining in the kiddy pool, I then spent some time scrubbing and getting the plastic toy rid of toxic waste before dumping everything onto the ground and storing my supplies back in my inventory.
Riding the high that accompanied the revitalization of my cells by way of Alpha Particles, I did a few rounds of shadow boxing and some workouts to test my new and improved body before finally opening up my Status profile and examining the gains.
[Status]
{Taylor Lawrence Jörgensen}
{Particle Grade: Alpha}
{Race: Prymordyal Hyumun}
{Race Rank: Sixth Classification}
{Talent: (Prymordyal) Primitive Psy-Kinesis }
{Talent Rank: Beta}
{Talent Potential Grade: Omega *Upgradable*}
{Currency: 18327 High Alpha, 232,779 Low Alpha}
[Statistics]
{Level:0}
{Level Progress: 0.0%}
{Talent Growth Rate: 05%} *4 x Modifier*
{Alpha Particle Count: 25/25} *+5*
{Physical Offense: 18.75} *+3.75*
{Physical Defense: 18.75} *+3.75*
{Intellect: 37.5} *+7.5*
{Meta Physical Offense: 18.75} *+3.75*
{Meta Physical Defense: 18.75} *+3.75*
{Stat Points: 1.5}
[Racial Trait, Progress, and Evolution]
{Current Race: Prymordyal Hyumun}
{Current Race Rank: Sixth Classification}
{Racial Trait: 1:1500 Level Progress Gain, +3 Stat Point Upon Leveling Up, Talent Changed to its Prymordyal Form, 25% Stat Boost upon Ranking Up.}
{Racial Progress: 0%}
{Available Racial Evolutions: 0}
[Skillbar]
{Available Slots at Beta-Rank 8.}
{Slot 1: Talent Skill: (Major Plus*) Coersion}
{Slot 2: Talent Skill: (Major*) Psy-Tag}
{Slot 3: Circulation Skill: (Major) Hidden Vestiges of Physicality}
{Slot 4: (Major*) Augmentation 2nd Stage }
{Slot 5: (Major*) Telepathy }
{Slot 6: Empty}
{Slot 7: Empty}
{Slot 8: Empty}
"Hehehe, well, I’ll be damned, Foooo," exhaling loudly to curb my budding excitement, I fought against an overwhelming sense of nostalgia as I read through my stats.
In the origin timeline, getting even close to the numbers I had at present was a pipe dream at Alpha or even Beta-Rank.
Without the aid of such an impressive Circulation Skill like the Hidden Vestiges of Physicality, it was absolutely impossible ever to reach the numbers shown on my System panel.
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Hell, I was already partway through the Beta-Rank before my Physical Offense was remotely close to the impressive 18.75 points. Getting 4 points per level up was already astounding to me.
Yet, when partnered with my Circulation Skill, I had achieved something that only a select handful had even brushed against in the Origin Timeline.
I had fully capped all my skills pre-Rankup, and now, with the added 25% boost thanks to my Racial Trait, I was firmly seated in the range most Pure Offensive Builds would see in a single stat, let alone all of them.
However, the number of people stupid enough to try that video game-style build was more than you’d probably imagine. Thankfully, Brenden was smarter than that, as he had evenly distributed his points between his Physical Offense, Defense, and Meta Physical Defense.
It was a build that was fairly standard in the early days until people began realizing how Vitally important it was to increase your PC consistently.
One of the key changes to occur when you Ranked up to Alpha from Non-Rank was the ability to input your Stat points on Particle Count, which completely changed things for the high rankers.