Rosha shrugs and pulls back a sleeve to reveal a bracelet. “We’ve gotten some jewelry to help with that. Not everyone goes through the pointless action of cheaping out on their starter gear. Sure, the coins are worth something even once you hit ten, but why hold yourself back?”

Courtney coughs to draw attention. “It isn’t really fair to compare the two of you. Even if your father can’t directly give you money from the outset he still passed on some quick and valuable quests. By the time you had met up with Jason, you had already made back all the money you spent on gear.”

Jason laughs, “I don’t really care one way or another. I still have better stats than either of you. In fact, one of the things that happened was that I starred my toughness. I’m as tough as my body can handle.”

Rosha rolls her eyes, “Of course you would manage that before even leaving the city.”

Jason gestures at his armor, “Sure, but like I said, I can’t use the gear bonus stats anymore. I’m sure someone out there has better stats than I do.”

Rosha squints at him, “Of course there are people with better stats after their equipment is included. But we all know that gaining power and being able to fully use it are two different things. Your strength is all natural. Nevermind that the people with better stats are either like me but they did let their parents deck them out or got stupid lucky with a drop. And last time I checked drops are already so rare as to almost be non-existent.”

Jason shrugs, “I’m sure hundreds of people in our level range get loot drops.”

Courtney looks at him with an eyebrow raised. “Not really making your case there. Modern Archaeologies can hold an astounding number of people and even limiting it to people at our particular rate means that even a few hundred people receiving drops would make the event a heaven defying chance.

“Sure, you can still collect whatever random gear the monster had and coins do sometimes spawn in, but loot loot is special. This is especially true since the loot system bypasses the System itself. That is why it can still work despite the world being against it. While the original designers thought it was cool to have special drops that completely fitted your circumstance, it was proven to cause too much of a problem. But like any project, everything is built on top of one another and so trying to remove the system might make it all fail.”

“Huh”, Jason pauses, “I guess that makes sense. Still, you would think loot would be more common. Making stuff from raw ingredients is nice but can take significant time.”

Courtney nods, “It definitely takes its fair share of time. On the other hand, this is a world where some people spend a vast majority of their time. When running a game and people have a limited amount of time to do stuff, just having the gear ready at dawn makes sense. Here though?

“It’s all about immersion. You can use a blacksmith to make a sword but it is going to take just as long to make as a mundane sword back home. Sure, with skills and magic, some things can be improved. A magic kiln that near instantly dries the wood you need means that whole obstacle is gone. But in the end, metal working comes down to hitting the metal with a heavy hammer. Plus, that is when the System reveals the stats.”

Jason sighs, “I guess I can see where this is coming from. Still, it would have been cool to watch a master blacksmith just hammering away at it going super fast.”

Rosha nods, “It is fun and I would like to see it for real instead of just on a video. One of the few things I saw before joining the game proper.”

Courtney shrugs, “There’s always a loophole to make use of in this kind of circumstance. The video Rosha saw involved someone buffed up with a haste spell. And not just one haste spell, either. Throughout you can just barely notice buffs kicking in or wearing out.”

Jason settles back into the beanbag chair and focuses on petting Lily. Rosha, on the other hand moves the subject along. “Did you find anything else about starring stats?”

Courtney nods, “I learned that you need truly special circumstances for a person to acquire even one. However, despite how rare it is and how important it could be seen as, the System would really like to just sweep it under the rug. It’s just that it can’t. The whole starring thing comes from before the System was even created.

“Those bits and pieces hanging out underneath the surface tend to lack rewards of their own. Mind you, starring a stat is pretty worthwhile if you’re truly thinking long term. Mind you, I’m only talking about a normal sapient being. Lily might actually receive something depending on how close she is to still being a pet.”

Rosha frowns, “But if the System just wants to shove it under the rug, why would it reward the use of the system as well?”

Courtney rolls her eyes and does air quotes. “Because they aren’t ‘real people’ to the System. With pets, the System seems more able to provide the circumstances to star stuff and so the idea behind it is widely known. Nevermind whatever stuff they might receive on top of congratulations.”

Jason frowns, “The System better hope that Lily doesn’t get any extra stuff from starring her stats then.”

Courtney glances over at Rosha before looking back at Jason. “Well, just be civil. Lily is a clever little bunny and I would trust her in a fight. However, we don’t really know what they judge by.”

Akhier

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