It took them time to figure out how their stats worked, but after an hour their group believed that they had a good grasp on the effects stats gave. The hardest part was testing the defense stat versus the physical resistance stat. Frankly, at a glance, they seemed to do the same thing, but they found out that was not the case.

Physical resistance increased a person's ability to feel less pain from physical attacks. Young-Dae claimed that the damage he took after increasing his stat felt like a kid hit him. Once he bumped his resistance up by another point, he was able to withstand a light cut caused by Chang's sword.

By light, it meant that the edge of the sword was not pressed too hard against his skin. To others, the blade's sharp edge would cut them, but to him, it slid across his skin smoothly. Although they all wanted to test this out more to see what the limits were, having no way to heal themselves they did not proceed further.

As for the raw stat, Young-Dae said that he felt more invigorated than before. That and the number of punches he could take had increased.

There was still a lot of testing that had to be done before they could fully grasp their stats and what stats worked best, and what stats countered each other.

Billy looked at his own stats questioning what he wanted to do. He wanted to be an all-rounder but he did not think that was necessary. Monsters seemed to be fairly weak so far as their group has not had a tough fight.

That could also be thanks to them using caution when choosing their battles.

Young-Dae had his stats all over the place right now so he was kind of an all-around fighter, and Chang was going for a damage dealer build. The kid wanted to be like those fantasy heroes from those wuxia novels.

As for him, Billy wanted to survive. Death was scary, but that did not mean he wanted to be a tank.

After a moment of deliberating, he decided.

Ten points in spear proficiency, five in physical resistance, and the last five he used to increase his stamina.

Name: Billy Hartwell | Age: 25

Class: Warrior | Year: 0

Affiliation:

Trait: Regressor [3rd life]

Prestige: 0

[Stamina] 15 | [Mana] 10  | [Sense] 10 | [Luck] 25 | [Potential] 250

[Attack] 10 | [Defense] 10

[Physical Resistance ] 5 | [Magical Resistance] 0

[Critical Chance] 1 | [Critical Damage] 200% | [Critical Resistance] 0

[Spear] 15

[Points] 0

The increase of his stats caused him to grin, but it did leave him to wonder. How high could their stats grow?

If it was based off their potential, then that would mean he could only increase his stats to whatever his potential was set to. He was hesitant to ask Chang and Young-Dae about theirs and neither of them seemed to bring it up when they were discussing stats.

'Ah, there I go again...'

Billy thought as he caught himself getting dragged along by his thoughts.

The increase in his spear proficiency made the spear he was holding feel light. He could sense the weapon even as he closed his eyes. It was strange, but he could see it as an extension of his arm.

Billy took this moment to get used to this feeling as he began twirling the spear around. With each motion, he could feel his attacks becoming faster and more fierce.

He lacked the subtle elegance others might have, but he was ok with that.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Chang doing the same thing as him. Except Chang moved in a way that looked as if he were dancing. It was a sight that almost captivated Billy, but he quickly moved his vision to Young-Dae.

The man was seated in a lotus pose with his eyes closed.

This was the first time Billy saw him meditate and wondered if he did this often.

Billy's breathing calmed down from all the motions and he opened his stat page once more. This time he hovered over his class as a list of skills appeared before him.

The odd thing was that the skills that were there prior were gone. In their place were five new skills. Each one different than the last.

Actually, now that he looked at it the skill description matched the idea he had in his mind.

'Do skills change based on your stats?"

Billy asked himself as he read through them all.

He lacked the points to purchase any, but it never hurt to look.

The price of one was no longer five, instead, it increased to fifteen points.

'Obtain a skill next.'

That was his next goal, he already set his sights on it.

Young-Dae stood up from his seated position and approached the tree. It was still sturdy and barely damaged.

Still, Young-Dae took a stance as he took a deep breath. A second later he threw a punch. Dust flew up from the ground as his foot moved. The air seemed to crack and with a loud thud, the tree shook.

An imprint of a fist was embedded into the tree as leaves began to fall nonstop.

Billy could not believe his eyes.

Were was this strength before? What exactly changed?

Even Chang stopped what he was doing to look at Young-Dae with a strange glow in his eyes. It was as if Chang was seeing a gold mine for the first time. That's how amazed he was.

"How did you do that?"

Chang asked the question that Billy wanted to ask.

"Qi. I obtained a skill that lets me use Qi. It's a basic skill but I can already see how useful it will be. The downside is meditating."

"What skill? And why do you need to meditate."

Billy asked.

"Wait, is this like those eastern-themed games and novels?"

Billy added to his question with another question.

Young-Dae raised his eyebrow before he understood what Billy meant. He never read many Chinese novels if he was being honest, but it was similar to it.

"Basically. However, my Qi is already determined by how many points are already invested in it.  Whenever I use it to increase my attacks or defense I consume a portion of the Qi. To recover it I have to meditate."

"Interesting..."

Billy did not have a skill like that, and from the look on Chang's face, he did not either.

The ground underneath their feet shook once. Then twice, then three times.

"Earthquake?"

Chang asked as he lowered himself.

"They don't feel like this. It has to be something else."

Billy answered.

"It's like someone is walking. Pay attention to the rhythm and you'll see what I mean."

Young-Dae said.

He was right, it did sound like footsteps.  And those steps just happened to be coming in their direction.