System and attributes

Quick warning, this chapter contains a lot of stuff people might already know but it still contains substance that helps forward the plot and introduce what needs to be known!

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"That was a late night," Jaxon shook his head, still groggy from the aftermath of all the drinking he had done.

While he was busy telling the story of his capture of a killer to Emily, Barry popped by, handing him a cheque and a very expensive bottle of whisky, which Jaxon suspected he might have stolen from his father's cabinet.

With Barry not staying any longer to celebrate, Jaxon began drinking all by himself. It was fine in the beginning, as he washed off the stress he had accumulated in the two-day hunt for the case. But this time, he seemed to have finally felt his limits with the aged whiskey. After drinking half a bottle of it by himself, the last thing he remembered was Emily taking him to his room and helping him to his mattress as he fell asleep.

"God, I need to learn self-control," Jaxon muttered, taking a deep breath.

The sunlight streaming through the curtains didn't help his headache. He sat up slowly, rubbing his temples. His phone buzzed on the nightstand, and he picked it up, squinting at the screen. It was a message from Julie.

Julie: "Morning, Jaxon! Just wanted to thank you again for everything!"

Jaxon smiled faintly, typing a quick response.

Jaxon: "You're welcome. Take care of yourselves."

He put the phone down and dragged himself to the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face. As he stared at his reflection in the mirror, he brought out his system, as it had been a daily ritual of a sort. It started as a way to make sure he wasn't delusional and later developed as a trend to make sure he knew his goals.

"System!" he called out.

The screen appeared in front of him like normal, but the content of the screen left him aghast.

"Am I still drunk?" Slapping himself a few times, he looked back at the screen again but nothing had changed,

"Reputation point met!"

(250/250)

+20 POINTS!

Access System Now!

"I gained 1 point through Julie, even considering the remaining 3 of them after the case was solved, why did I gain 21 extra points?" Jaxon wondered aloud, his confusion growing but a faint hint of excitement overwhelmed his doubts for the moment as he had finally done it, he didn't know how but he did it, "Access"

He said out loud as the screen booted up into the basic stat screen, he had been dying to see for years, "21 years! It took me 21 fucking years and I finally did it... let's see what we're working with."

Name: Jaxon Cross

Title: Private Detective

Strength: 7

Agility: 7

Vitality: 5

Dexterity: 7

Intelligence: 7

Attribution points: 0

Passive skills: Intuition

Active skills: Boxing (Beginner), Driving (Beginner), Interrogation (Beginner), Firearms (Beginner)

Reputation points: 20/500

"Hmm... I see." Jaxon nodded as his bright smile slowly began to fade, "Isn't this too bad of a stat?"

"Did I waste my life not doing enough?" Jaxon said out loud, "Did I throw it all again?"

"That can't be it, right?" Jaxon shook his head trying to convince himself, "It's a system, the whole point with a system is to grow so how bad can it be."

Taking a breather, Jaxon went back to his 'bedroom' as he looked through all the information available regarding each of his stats.

Strength (STR):

Definition: Measures physical power and the ability to exert force.

Impact: Affects the character's ability to lift heavy objects, deal physical damage, and sometimes endure physical attacks. It often influences the effectiveness of melee weapons and physical tasks.

Vitality (VIT):

Definition: Represents overall health, endurance, and physical toughness.

Impact: Influences the character's health, resistance to physical damage, and recovery speed. It often determines how long a character can sustain damage before being incapacitated.

Dexterity (DEX):

Definition: Reflects hand-eye coordination, precision, and nimbleness.

Impact: Affects the accuracy and effectiveness of ranged weapons (like bows and guns), the ability to perform tasks requiring fine motor skills, and sometimes the ability to dodge attacks. It can also influence speed in some systems.

Agility (AGI):

Definition: Indicates overall speed, reflexes, and the ability to move quickly and gracefully.

Impact: Impacts the character's movement speed, reaction time, and evasion. It often helps with tasks requiring quick movements and the ability to avoid being hit in combat.

Intelligence (INT):

Definition: Measures mental understanding, knowledge, and reasoning ability.

Impact: Influences the character's effectiveness with magic or technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and sometimes the ability to learn and use skills quickly. 

"Hmm.. so the definition of these stats isn't much different from the games I used to play back in the day." Jaxon nodded to himself as he went through the further details, "Let's see the highest stat a human could reach in their life is considered a perfect 10, and the average stat of a normal human would be 5. So the strongest man would have the strength stat as 10, the fastest man in the world would have the agility stat 10, and so on." 

"According to this, my strength should be quite above the average whereas my health is kinda fucked up... must be all the drinking." Jaxon shook his head, "So if I can raise my attribute points, I should be able to manually further increase my stats, with that I'll be able to cross the threshold of what is considered humanly possible."

"Let's not think too much about this for now then..." Jaxon said to himself, "So how do I increase my attribution points, I don't see a stat depicting my level anywhere, so there's probably no way I can gain it by just grinding my levels."

Methods to Earn Attribute Points:

Complete Secret Quest: Successfully find and complete secret quests to earn points. (Based on Difficulty)

Training: Regular physical and mental training can occasionally grant points, after meeting certain criteria.

Reputation: Gain reputation points from clients and peers to unlock special rewards and bonuses.

"That's ambiguous as fuck! Secret Quests? Sudden criteria in Training? More Reputation points?" Jaxon couldn't help but feel defeated at the thought of grinding towards a goal he wasn't sure was going to accomplish the said criteria.

Not to mention, the thought of just gaining more reputation points made him shiver to his very core, "Why can't I just level up like a normal reincarnated person with a system? Is this shit broken?"

As he couldn't bring himself to look further into it, he turned his attention somewhere else, his passive skill, which he only had of, "Intuition, huh?"

Intuition:

Effect: Gains instinctive insights into people, places, and situations.

Benefit: Helps in making quick and accurate judgments about suspects, potential dangers, or hidden truths.

"This is good, right? This is something I gained myself, so I don't know if it's good or bad." Jaxon shook his head, "Then what about my active skills?"

Active skills: Any skill you can gain a certain mastery over can be considered an active skill. You may develop a new active skill through learning something new, and can further develop it through practice/training or gain it through the system itself.

"So the system will lend me a hand through these things, that seems like a better option than training them uniquely which would take me ages, just learning the few skills I have was already a major pain in my ass." 

"But what's this... I understand the rest of my skills being labeled as Beginner but my boxing shouldn't be so low, right?"

Jaxon blinked at the screen, still processing the information. "Beginner in boxing? No way," he muttered, feeling a pang of disappointment.

"Sure, I am no Mike Tyson but I have never lost a single match in my life," He had spent years training in boxing priding himself on his skills in the ring. "System, show me my boxing skill details," he commanded, hoping for some clarification.

The screen shifted, displaying the specifics of his boxing skill.

Boxing (Beginner):

Proficiency: 80/100

Effect: Basic knowledge of stances, punches, and defenses. Limited effectiveness against experienced opponents. Nearing proficiency threshold to Intermediate level.

"Nearing proficiency threshold to Intermediate level, my ass!" Jaxon couldn't help but scoff at the labeling the system had given him. He rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on—not just from the hangover, but from the frustration, "Luckily, unlike certain systems I know, this doesn't seem to talk back to me or else I might just die from high blood pressure!"

Scanning through the whole screen, the corner of his eyes met the little gift box icon shaking at the bottom of his screen.

Clicking on it, he opened a new screen, revealing a notification that he hadn't noticed before, as a wave of relief washed over him, calming his anger immediately.

Congratulations! You've completed the required Points!

The system offers you a Starter Pack!

Starter Pack Contents:

Title

Skill Booster (2x)

Healing Potion (2x)

Mystery Skill Scroll

Hidden Item

"This doesn't seem like much..." Jaxon said bitterly but he still went ahead checking through every single detail regarding the contents, "Title?"

New Title Obtained!

City Hunter (Lvl 1)

Effect: Increases reputation gain from solving cases by 10%. +1 increase in all stats.

Description: A title bestowed upon those who have proven their skills in navigating and solving mysteries within a city. Your name carries weight, and people start recognizing your expertise.

(Can be leveled up further to increase its effects! Certain criteria need to be fulfilled)

Skill Booster

Effect: +50 proficiency points.

Description: Take your existing active skills to new heights!

Healing Potion

Effect: Heals any ailments and injuries!

Description: Heals any external and internal wounds in an instant. Minor diseases can be healed as well. 

Mystery Skill Scroll

Effect: Grants a random skill upon use.

Usage: Click to reveal and acquire a new skill.

Hidden Item

Effect: Grants a random hidden Item upon use.

Usage: Click to reveal and acquire the Item.

"..."

"..."

"I see..." Jaxon said unsure of the 'gift' he had received from the system, "Let's activate the skill and hidden item first! Could be something useful..."

Clicking on the Mystery Skill Scroll

The screen shimmered, and a new skill appeared.

New Skill Acquired:

Lockpicking (Beginner):Proficiency: 0/100

Effect: Basic knowledge of lock mechanisms. Ability to pick simple locks with standard tools. Increased chances of successfully opening locked doors and containers.

"..." 

"Could've been something worse..." Jaxon looked through the stats menu and there it was in the active skills section, "Hey! If I decide to rob someone it might come in very handy!"

Jaxon shook his head up and down, convincing himself that it was a good skill.

As he was about to click on the hidden item, his hands started shaking, quickly pulling his hand back he joined his hands together, as he stared above, "Dear God! I know I have never really prayed to you before! But this time I ask you for one thing and one thing only, Luck!"

"I believe in equivalent exchange, to ask for something I'll need to sacrifice something of equivalence, so I promise you I'll give on drinki- no, maybe smokin- I haven't decided yet but I'll make sure to sacrifice one of those two things!"

"I don't need much, maybe something like the Holy sword Excalibur or something close to its power would do."

"So bless me with Luck! Amen!"

Making his shady deal with his god, Jaxon closed his eyes, his hands reaching for the screen finally clicking it.

The screen flashed bright, as something heavy dropped in his arms. Opening his eyes, praying for the item to be good, he stared at the item in his hands.

If the stats had a function to measure his rage, one could easily see it climb up sky-high and maybe even evolve into a whole new skill of its own.

"What the fuck is this shit!" Jaxon picked up the item nearly throwing it to the floor, but keeping his cool, he couldn't muster to throw the one item he had gotten with the system.

The scarily heavy octagonal-shaped metal box seemed pretty much worthless what he had in mind. The box had strange hieroglyphs on it, which made it easy for anyone to deduce that it was Egyptian. 

"Sigh! Let's see what it is first."

Hidden Item Acquired:

The Key

Description: The puzzle box, is said to unleash a powerful force and open the doorway to countless valuable treasures! Further research is required to find the true use of the key!

"Further research is required? Isn't it your job to tell me what it really means? Hey? Hello-- System?" Jaxon lips began twitching violently as he held the box with all his might, making his veins pop out, "This damn thin- wait! Countless treasures?"

Jaxon gulped, as he ignored the rest of the description even forgetting his anger at the moment as he stared intently only at the words he wanted to see.

If it was physically possible, one would be able to see dollar signs spinning around in his eyes as he greedily eyed the box, the same box he was about to throw away a minute ago.

"Hahaha! It seems I've misunderstood my handy-dandy system! Of course, it will take some research! Hahaha! Nothing is free in this world right!" Jaxon in a jolly mood looked around the cube from every possible angle, "A puzzle box... so how do I solve it?"

Jaxon fiddled around the box for a while, until he finally felt a small button-like thing sticking out of the box, pressing it without hesitation, the box opened up into a sun-like pattern, revealing what lay within.

"Is this a treasure map?" Jaxon took out the piece of paper that was stuffed inside the box, immediately opening it, "Hmm- I see... uh huh! yeah, I definitely don't get it."

The strange paper depicted drawings related to Egyptian culture and more hieroglyphs that he couldn't understand.

"I'll keep it for now!" Jaxon said with excitement a huge grin still stuck on his face, he put the paper back in closed the puzzle box, and shoved it down his pocket. The bulging print of the huge box was clearly visible to anyone who could see him but Jaxon wasn't concerned at all, "Since I am leaving anyway, I should make sure to find someone who can read this and tell me about it."

"Now let's see what's next!"