North East Penthouse

  Granite City

  Jut dawned a fresh pair of shorts and a t-shirt after his shower. He just finished the first morning of the team's workout that Brick was fixing to turn into a routine. They ran a good distance, did individual workouts like crunches, squats and push ups, and used weights crafted by Brick. The equipment was little more than a few ingots fused together and given shape, but they did the job.

  The results were as expected with Isabelle being the only one who surprised him, working harder than everyone else. Joy and Brick were always ahead of everyone, having been consistent in working out even before the crash. Isabelle kept up with them while Jut barely kept up with her. Diggy was much slower but ran for far longer without slowing down at all and he seemed to have no issues with the rest of the workouts either. He was just begrudging to do it at all, as was usual. He hadn't changed and it made Jut smile internally.

  The Minotaur was actually the one to point out the difference after the single day's work. It was something Jut thought the System should inform people about, but decided later it made sense the System assumed they already knew because it should have been true all along, even before the System arrived.

  Working out and exercising increased physical stats.

  Jut didn't believe it at first. He believed his stat increases were from his gear, but the numbers from his gear were denoted in parenthesis along the side. Sure enough, his Strength, Constitution, and Agility had all gone up by one since he had spent his Attribute and Statistic Points. He wondered if learning and studying would have the same effect on his Mind Stats.

  He reviewed his status for the first time after that morning's training was over. It looked like Alex had added a few things for him.

  I believe the Stats will not decrease should you not continue this exercise routine now that you are Stone Rank. The trade off for that is a limitation of only being able to increase the Stats by five points, at least for now. All the work you did with the old team had already given you a boost of two or three in each Stat too. I'm guessing the limitations are different for Normal Rankers.

  Normal Rankers probably have a higher cap but have to keep the exercise going to maintain the Stat increases. Is your information in the Lore? Jut asked Alex. Or is it another one of those things?

  Your guess is as good as mine and I can't explain it. It's like it's written into your information, but no. It is not in the Lore.

  Thanks. I'll keep pushing it until I stop improving. Do let me know when I hit that wall, will you?

  Can do!

  Alex's window and visible orb of light blinked out, back into his Entertainment Lore once more. They had become much more talkative ever since Jut made them spill their upgrade secret and he was enjoying it. However, they still spent a lot of time watching shows and reading books from his memories. Despite being an AI, Alex seemed to read and consume entertainment as fast as a regular person did.

  Jut sighed to himself. Now to do what he had been avoiding since their botched run. He had to review his share of the loot and clean out his inventory. He also needed to see about his new quests.

  Jut had ran the dungeon alone the night before to collect Mana Chips and finally had enough to make another Mana Stone without emptying out his supply. Unfortunately, he hadn't made a dent on the Boss, getting skewered again and bleeding out before being ejected from the dungeon.

  None of the new gear he had received, from the group run or his recent solo run, were upgrades to what he had. So, Jut passed it all to Diggy in exchange for the property Tokens his friend had picked up for him. He also unloaded everything he could onto the Minotaur that wasn't useful and told him to sell it all then to use the profits as an invest in the store. Jut had a feeling having some dividends from such an investment later was well worth the sacrifice now.

  Besides his stacks of casual clothing, his crafting materials, what was in his Armory, and a few odd nick-knacks, all Jut had to examine or deal with was left over from his quests before the Lock Down and the potions Isabelle had given him. He quickly spread out one of each item he had on his bed.

  The first item up for inspection was the Stone Rank Healing Potion he had gotten from the Survive the Wave quest. He still had all four. They looked the same as Isabelle's but he could feel a difference in them. It was like the difference between a Stone Rank person and a Normal Rank one. The stronger potions just felt more dense and solid. He made its information appear.

  The cool down was less harsh on it's restrictions while taking longer to get rid of through sleep. It must have been a side effect of it's increased potency. If the effects were halved if used at Copper Rank, what effect would it have on a Normal Ranked person? Could he restore their HP to full? Regrow lost limbs? He didn't want to test it out until Isabelle or Wendy could make replacements however.

  Jut slipped the potion into his pouch and lifted a ball like item next. It reminded Jut of a Skill Orb, only it was smaller. Instead of a strange color like a Skill Orb, it was the tan color of his Stone metal. On a few of the surfaces, an engraved image of a Monster was visible. The images were very simplistic, but reminded Jut of the Stone Ranked Human Monsters. They had more unique details than the actual Monsters he had fought who were Normal Rank of the same shape.

  Was that really over a week ago?

  Out of the sixty cores, he noticed he had four variants, fifteen of each. Dog, Cat, Scorpion, and Bird. He made a Dog Core's information open.

  Jut stored the Cores away and was already planning to make his first weapon using a Core. His skill gave him the notion that he could use one during the empowerment phase of Smithing. He was looking forward to trying them out and seeing the outcome.

  The last two items were interesting. Both were Skill Upgrade Tokens. They were eight sided discs about an inch thick and the size of his palm. One was the light blue color of mana and was Normal Rank. The other was the tan of Stone Rank. He examined them both in turn.

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  He placed them back into his pouch and decided he would use the one he could after he looked into his new Quests as they also dealt with the upgrading of Skills.

  He examined the Elemental Power one first.

  Not knowing how to do what he was being asked to do, Jut focused on that screen, but nothing happened. So, he explored his other windows. Nothing happened when he focused on his affinities on his Character page either. Next, he looked into the Skills tab. Focusing on his Non-Combat Skill Bar, a new popup appeared.

  It was true. Jut could not close out the window. He saw it with his eyes closed. He had to select one then and there. He didn't understand why such a drastic, unchangeable choice had to be made on the spot. Why couldn't he explore the situation more for a more informed choice?

  As there was no answer forth coming, and he had no other choice, Jut considered each option carefully.

  Fire affinity and Smithing was a very obvious combination choice. It would likely let him have better control over his creations temperature during the crafting process, which Jut had come to learn was the most complicated and influential part. If the metal was too hot, he would over shape it too easily and have to correct it or start over. If it was too cool, the metal wouldn't want to shape at all.

  Yet, something about his High Magic Affinity screamed to him. He already knew it had to do with the Monster Cores, the item description making him suspicious. He wanted to know what it was. Could he end up making weapons more capable of killing certain Monsters? Or give the items themselves better magical properties?

  Unlike the decision of picking his Race, Jut bounced back and forth on this one for quite a while. He wasn't sure, and neither was Alex, whether bonding the affinity would hurt his affinity or hamper his own growth in some way or not. He didn't want to regret the choice either. Unlike with Race, where there was a possible System Feature he could choose if Drakkin was a mistake, there was no possible way to undo this one.

  Finally, Jut decided to go with Soul magic. If it was rare to have the affinity, he might as well use it on creation. He might not know what Soul magic did yet, but he knew fire was more about destruction more often than not. He wanted to avoid using magic as ominous as "Soul" magic in a destructive way.

  The pop up that resulted from making the selection made a twinge of hope and buyers remorse flash through him in equal measure.

  Jut blinked once then dismissed that window to complete the quest. What was done was done and he needed to continue or he'd fret about his choice forever.

  The Secondary Path Skill Upgrade Token appeared in his inventory. It was also blue like the other Normal Ranked Skill Token. Jut pulled it out and ran a finger over the eight sided coin's surfaces. It had a feeling more akin to plastic than metal, smooth but hard. He knew it was solid Magic. He could feel it.

  Jut activated it like a Skill Orb to the same effect. The disc melted into him, causing him no pain. He felt a warm sensation flow into his mind and hover there as his Skills window opened. His secondary bar was highlighted and clearly visible while the rest of his Skills and bars were distorted and grey. A small text box opened as well.

  Jut immediately concentrated on Smithing. Why wouldn't he? It's the best choice at this stage. He would love a magically boosted ability to create better weapons for the team. However, the resulting popup made that hope die just as quickly as it had come.

  Jut sourly chose the Harvest Skill. He was happy he got a second Stone Ranked Skill, and the need for him to be familiar with a Skill before upgrading it made sense. However, Jut was still majorly frustrated.

  The emotion was put on the back burner as Jut felt that pressure caused by the Upgrade Token dissolve into his mind. It was like learning a Skill, only sharper. He received a notice that brought up his Skill after he dismissed it.

  Jut's eyebrows crinkled in curiosity and further frustration. He had expected something like the guaranteed Monster Cores, but what was a node exactly? He had heard of them and even seen them mentioned in certain windows. But he had never received one as a drop.

  Did the text mean that he could spawn his own Monsters to fight? He would have no issues figuring something out to allow the team to train without having to wait for the Dungeon Timer.

  While he could easily go stand in line for a solo run, the designated spots filling and emptying quickly, the team wasn't so lucky. As only fifty people could be in the Dungeon at once, the Safe Zone limited it to eight teams inside at once. With more and more teams forming daily, their second run was set for two days from then. That would mean they were likely only able to run the Dungeon once a week.

  So, if Jut could find an easy solution to that temporary limitation, he would.

  Jut dismissed the window and went to the ritual room. He had remembered that he could make another Upgrade Token. Multiple rituals later and Jut was holding a new Upgrade Token, reading the description. It too was the same shape and color as the previous Normal Rank Token, eight sided and the color of Mana.

  Jut, sitting next to the Ritual Circle he just used, collapsed onto his back with a sigh when he tried to use the Token.