NOVEL WEB Chapter 20: Law of averages
The bore-bot trio had done their job well. Jack was able to cast [Status Granting] for the thirteen normal members of the group before moving on to the priests. He felt good, still having energy to spare despite the repeated casts. [Chosen of the Status] was a bit more intense to cast than the traditional method of bestowing a status, as it gave two additional skills to the recipients, instead of just the [Status] skill.
Only when he had finished all of his casts did he realize that Lexen had failed to step forward and receive the status. The demon was kneeling, his hands raised towards the sky in prayer. He stared into the white sun, tears streaming from his eyes as he mumbled words Jack couldn't hear. It wasn't until one of his team members knelt by him that the demon seemed to come back to reality. The group were examining their new status screens with interest, and Lexen looked at them with awe.
He turned to Jack, "Please, bestow upon me the [Chosen of the Status]! I will spread this gift to all who dwell within the High Deity's light!"
Jack paused, Deis had only told him to use the skill on the priests who came to visit. Jack didn't think Lexel was a priest, the man honestly had creepy stalker vibes towards god. Though some people Jack had known felt that way back on Earth...he decided to ask. "Lexel, are you a priest? The High Deity forbid me to give this to anyone he didn't approve of and he only approved the priests."
The gathered group looked at Lexel, neutral expressions on their faces. Lexel looked like his dog just died, and he vibrated with sadness. "...no." It was the saddest, most pathetic noise Jack had ever heard. Jack almost felt guilty enough to use the skill on him, but steeled his resolve. Jack moved to use [Status Granting] on the demon, but Lexel raised a hand to stop him.
"I need time to reflect on this revelation. Perhaps I shall earn my priesthood, and join in the holy mission to spread the will of the High Deity." Lexel seemed to gain conviction and purpose as he spoke, slowly straightening up with every word. By the end he seemed to be a new man, and his group followed him as they moved off towards one of the larger buildings.
Jack nodded to himself. Another task was done, now it was time to check on some pressing issues. He turned towards Mills, "Can you call up your status again?"
Mills nodded, then once again summoned his status screen. Once again Jack's voice emerged, acting as the trigger to activate the spell. It didn't come from Mills's mouth, rather seeming to emanate from his whole body. It was Jack's voice though, there was no doubting that. Jack had known that many systems had voices that gave announcements or did other things, but he hadn't really thought his voice would be used for the purpose.
Sighing deeply, Jack turned to Jeler. "Could you try opening your status without talking? I want to see if the same thing happens."
Jeler obliged, but nothing happened. Jack's voice didn't come out and the screen didn't appear. Jeler frowned before asking Mills for tips. Mills signed back to the cat man who frowned at the answer.
"He says it just happens. He thinks about using the skill and your voice appears on its own," Jeler relayed to Jack.
Jack chewed on this. Maybe Deis gave a different version of the skill to nonverbal people? Or perhaps it worked around people who did and didn't have the [Talking] skill or any of the other speaking-related skills. Well, they could experiment later, he wanted to check on the stats everyone had received. He could also grant a few more status screens today as well.
"Jeler, are the people from the other day free? I'd love to look over all the status sheets now that we've made some changes."
Jeler shook his head, "Some of them are on duty right now, we could probably round up six or seven of them. Oh, but I heard we had some other people lining up to be volunteers."
"Perfect! Let's go grab anyone that's free and wants to help out." Jack was excited to show off some of the new system skills that he had pitched to Deis.
After about twenty minutes of checking in with Riniox, finding the mercenaries who had screens and were free to assist, and finding the free members who were ready and willing to be granted a status, the group was once again assembled in the open area where the sparring had taken place days ago.
One of the assembled people was a draconid, the first Jack had been able to meet. The man was about five feet tall and covered in bright red scales. He had horns, but unlike a demon's horns, these grew back alongside the head instead of rising into the air. He offered to shake the man's hand but was turned down. "I am participating because I wish to see this [Status Granting] spell. I have attempted to replicate the [Status] skill to no effect, and am looking for some insight." The draconid informed him matter-of-factly.
The whole interaction came across as a bit rude, but it wasn't really any of Jack's business if people didn't like him. In fact, the draconid didn't seem to be mingling with almost anyone except a pair of human twins who were volunteering. The three of them seemed to form their own small group.
All in all, there were about twelve people assembled not including Jeler who was assigned to guard Jack. Six of the group already had status screens, so the remaining six need to be granted the [Status] skill. There had been more volunteers, but Jack wasn't confident he could manage more than six casts with the mana he had left. Not wanting people to sit around bored, Jack asked the ones with screens to compare their stats before beginning the process of granting statuses.
True to his word, the draconid closely observed Jack as he cast the spells. He used his own magic, spells of various elements or noises to try and interfere with the casting. He would stand all around Jack, sometimes between Jack and the spells recipient in an effort to feel the flow of mana. On the last cast before the draconid, the man asked if he might touch Jack to feel the flow of internal mana. Jack didn't mind and agreed, but the draconid seemed slightly sick at the contact.
Once he was finished, Jack had everyone assemble once again. There were still no bore-bot volunteers so Jack still didn't have a frame of reference for them, but he still had a biggun, a draconid, humans, demons, and some animalus to work with today. The humans had the lowest averages for [Toughness] and [Fortitude] which Jack supposed made sense. All the other assembled races had some form of tougher skin or natural features that indicated defense. The demons had leathery skin, the bigguns were huge and tough, the animalus had fur or scales, and the draconid boasted the highest natural defense.
[Power] was obviously the category that suited the bigguns, Jack had yet to see one that didn't have arms thicker than most peoples legs. Stone had a listed [Power] of 31, an insane amount of strength. But there was no clear higher average among the assembled individuals. The numbers painted a picture of physical capability among the assembled group, one which could be roughly determined from the builds of everyone here. There wasn't too much to be gleaned there.
[Technique] was an incredibly mixed basket. Jack didn't really think that this stat would be more apparent in one race when compared to another and it seemed he was correct. Jeler was the highest of the assembled people at 28, but the draconid was right behind him with 27. Jack was surprised to see the biggun as the fifth highest of the people assembled. He had made the assumption that [Power] and [Technique] would have an opposite or at least contrary relationship.
[Intelligence] among the gathered group seemed to be on the lower side. Jack recalled that they were all mercenaries, book learning might not be their strong suit. Surprisingly Jeler took the highest score here with 18 out of a potential 40. He blushed slightly when asked about it, claiming that Riniox made him read a lot of books and quizzed him on the contents. Everyone else assembled fell between 10 and 15. Not very high, but not especially low either.
[Wisdom] was a different story altogether. One of the twins boasted a shocking 30! That basically meant she was as wise as the biggun was strong! Jack idly wondered how her brain worked as he examined the other scores. The other twin seemed just as surprised, her own score at a very respectable 20. Jeler was near the top again and Jack reaffirmed that the cat man had hidden depths. Jack hadn't really been able to focus on anything besides making the system work, but he had a steadily growing respect for his bodyguard. Honestly, Jeler was the kind of person Jack would want to be friends with if he had the chance.
[Influence] had a lot of high numbers. Jack supposed that made sense, everyone gathered here had an air of confidence and power to them. Many of them had a natural swagger that Jack supposed came with being a mercenary. One of the demons had the highest number here at 25, though he admitted that Riniox would probably have the highest of everyone in the compound.
[Empathy] was a strange one. Most of the group fell around a 9, lower than Jack had expected. Jeler and the twin with the highest [Wisdom] tied for the highest at 13, but it was the lowest stat they both had. Jack wondered idly if this was another product of their lifestyle. Not needing to be in touch with emotions or other people as much meant that this stat wouldn't get as much work.
The assembled group chatted and ribbed each other as Jack considered these things. Some of them looked boastfully at others as they pointed out their high numbers, only to be put in their place by others pointing out their low scores. Jeler was the only major standout as the best spread of numbers, but Jack was honestly impressed at the assembled group. The overall impression their numbers gave was a strong hardworking group. What they lacked in learning and traditional smarts they made up for with martial ability and flexible thinking. That thought led him to their next experiments.
"Alright, Jeler?" Jack called out. The cat man came jogging over to him. "I have some new system abilities I would like to try out, including something to help your system combat ideas. Want to help?"
Jeler's eyes shone with delight, nodding his head vigorously as he followed Jack to the sparring area.