"How do you think we are faring compared to the others?"

Chang asked his two comrades as he sat down on the ground.

Their small group was still situated in the forest, but they continued to move. Rarely stopping in one place for more than thirty minutes.

With Young-Dae scanning for new prey, their group managed to find creatures to hunt easily. With every kill came great reward.

"It's only been about three hours since we've arrived... I think. Pretty sure a lot died but the ones left should have adapted to this place like us."

Billy responded leaning his back on a tree and closed his eyes.

It was difficult to tell how much time has actually passed, but it should not have been more than a few hours.

"You know, speaking of time I haven't had the urge to take a piss or anything."

Young-Dae commented.

Chang and Billy both came to the realization that this was true. Since coming here they did not feel the need to go to the bathroom. Even Billy when he ate those pills earlier did not feel hungry. Thinking about it... what did those pills taste like? He somehow forgot.

"I wonder if that is a perk of this place."

"Who knows, I'm more concerned about how long we will be stuck here. Eventually people will get tired of fighting creatures and start to search out other people. We've already seen it happen."

Young-Dae said as he recalled that scene prior.

Chang was silent for a moment before he looked up and clenched his fist.

"If that does happen, we will be ready."

Billy snorted and rolled his eyes.

"How strong do you think we are? There are three of us and thousands of others. By the end of the day people will have formed groups, each with their own ambition. Some might be more ambitious than others. Some more sinful, but at the end of the day the majority of us will belong to some group. We are three, but who knows how many we will encounter next time. We ran into one person, but what if we run into ten?"

Billy saw Changs disappointed look and shrugged.

"Just bring honest. We aren't special."

Chang glanced over at Young-Dae who had not spoken after listening to the words Billy had said.

"A bit harsh, but he isn't wrong. This just means that we cannot stop. We have to keep pushing ourselves and improving. When that happens... well who knows?"

Chang sighed but he understood.

"How many points do you guys have?"

Chang asked.

"Twenty."

Young-Dae replied after checking his status.

Billy nodded his head, he too had the same amount of points.

"Eighteen here. I want to ask you guys what are your intentions?"

Seeing the confusion on Billy's face, Chang knew he misspoke.

"I mean with your points. Like, how do you plan on distributing them?"

His question is something Billy himself has been thinking of. How should he use his points? What was important to him and what was not?

"I know you constantly say that this is not a game, but I've been paying attention to my stats and their uses. I think I have figured it out. However, even with what I know it will only benefit us if everyone adopts a certain role."

Chang paused.

"In games their are classes, each with a distinctive ro-"

"Yeah, we aren't that old. As I stated before, I'm not old so I know all about games and classes. No need to explain, just cut to the chase."

Billy interrupted Chang from giving a detailed explanation of something that he already knew.

"I'm trying to say, we should acollate our stats based on what we want to do. For instance, a person who wants to focus on dps should increase their stats based around that. Tanks, also do the same. We do not really have a mage.. so there is that."

Chang said.

Billy shook his head.

"You only increased your stats a little, but it is not as cut and dry as you are making it seem. Take the case of my sense and Young-Dae's perception. Both are beneficial to have, and what it can actually do has yet to be fully uncovered. It's the same with all the stats. Who is to say that increasing your attacking power will benefit you more as a Damage based class than focusing on improving your proficiency? Still, your idea is not wrong it's just that I would not look at our stats as something simple and comparable to the ones in games."

Billy told Chang as he too had given it some thought.

"Well, I can be the test subject. Obtaining points won't be difficult, so there is a way to make up from this test. What should we test out first?"

Young-Dae spoke up causing both Chang and Billy to look at him.

"I believe that stats are beneficial, but what is the difference between proficiency and just raw stats? Does Stamina increase our ability to keep running for longer periods of time or is it related to our health? Should we invest in skills or stats?"

Billy asked various questions, ones that has been on his mind for a while.

"I only have so many points, let's start with one and work our way from there."

Young-Dae responded as he stood up and faced a tree.

He balled up his fist and thew a punch.

His fist hit the tree, but the tree was study and stood in place. A leaf did not even fall, the only thing that happened was a twitch in Young-Dae's facial expression.

Hitting a tree with his full strength was painful, but this much was ok.

"Raw stat or proficiency?"

Young-Dae asked the two.

"Well, how much do you have now?"

"Five points in attack and two points in proficiency."

"Proficiency?"

Chang asked as he looked at Billy.

Billy nodded.

"Increase it by one and let us know what you feel."

Young-Dae opened and closed his fist a few times.

He thew out another punch, this one was faster than the last. The wind whistled as his fist went through the air.

His face twitched as it was still painful, but it was less painful than before.

Exaiming the tree he noticed that there were white marks where his fist landed. Almost as if something exploded and only the white marks were left.

"So?"

"It was different. More compact, and the power behind it was greater. I could feel the change in the way I threw that punch, and with it the power increased."

Young-Dae explained.

"So increasing your proficiency helped you correct your mistakes in your form and in turn your strength increased."

Young-Dae nodded.

"Also I obtained a notification that I could learn a new skill. It's the second one I can learn."

"Alright, so proficiency helps you increase the power of your attacks and improves how well you can use whatever weapon you wield. Figured that it would increase how well we wielded our weapons, but the power increase and skills were not what I was expecting."

Chang had his hand on his chin as he thought outloud.

"Try increasing your attack next."

"It will be hard to judge this... even if he were to test. Because the test would never be real, since he increased one stat his punch had already improved. Increasing another stat that will essentially do the same thing won't help us much."

Billy said as he watched Young-Dae but spoke to Chang.

"It doesn't need to. If the increase in power is the same then proficiency is better overall, however if the damage is more than twice as lethal then that would be incredible no?"

Young-Dae did the same thing, just punching the tree using his full strength. When his fist hit the tree there was a thud. This sound was not present before.

Three leaves slowly fell down from the tree.