Ch 46

  When morning broke, Matt discovered that after the previous night’s debacle, no one had ventured into the dungeon. It seemed that Steve had attempted to rally three others to join him, but in the end, only two still thought it was a good idea. This mix of success and irritation fueled Matt as he gathered everyone for a brisk morning meeting to lay out the day’s agenda and plans for moving forward.

  During the meeting, Matt revealed two major pieces of information that he had kept under wraps until now. The first was that he possessed a unique skill capable of repairing the fort once certain conditions were met. Although he admitted he wasn’t entirely sure what those conditions were, he planned on conducting experiments that very day to investigate further. In truth, Matt’s intent was simpler: he hoped to collect as many large boulders as possible and carefully fit them into his special storage, with the aim of using them to mend the broken wall.

  The promising reaction to his announcement was quickly overshadowed by his second revelation. He proudly explained that, the day before, he had managed to increase one of his base stats by a single point without even leveling up. This news sent a ripple of excitement and confusion through the group, prompting many to pepper him with questions about his secret technique. All he offered in response was that he had been thinking intently about various problems when his mind stat seemed to surge unexpectedly. He even cautioned that perhaps only those who reached F rank could replicate such a feat, suggesting that if it were any easier, some other stat should also have increased.

  Once he had gathered the group’s attention and quieted their growing murmurs, Matt issued the day’s marching orders. Dividing the fighters into three groups of four, he instructed each team to take turns manning the area near the destroyed wall, as he intended to lure enemies into the open for confrontation. One team would stand by in case the enemy force proved too formidable for a single group, while the final quartet would hold positions in the inner area as a reserve. Meanwhile, he directed the remaining six members to begin gathering rocks and rubble, piling them atop the inner wall adjacent to the damaged outer wall. Their objective was to create a defensive barrier from which they could fend off any monsters that might overwhelm the two assault teams.

  Although there were some grumbles at this plan, Eleanor managed to restore order with a few carefully chosen words. She recognized that the task, though arduous, was the perfect opportunity to bolster the fort’s defenses overall. However, she also warned that they needed to venture beyond the fort’s meager boundaries soon in order to secure enough building material. Moreover, she pointed out—and reminded Matt—that the fort’s gates had long since rotted away, rendering any repairs to the wall somewhat futile unless they were replaced. With that, Matt mentally appended the tasks for the day to included finding a few suitable fallen trees to his list before the team set out to tackle their assignments for the day.

  The moment Matt stepped outside the walls, he smiled as he ran like he had never been able to before. Although there was still some lingering awkwardness in his movements, Matt felt as if the whole world had opened up to him. At the same time, he found himself wondering how he had managed to deal with the goblins that had also reached F rank, not to mention the one that had been E rank. All he could surmise was that, just as his Mind stat was still under 20, the goblins were likely in a similar situation, only with more of their stats distributed differently. This realization made him more focused on understanding how increasing stats worked when he got his first monster to start following him.

  The only problem was that Matt found he needed to slow down considerably to avoid losing the monster as he began searching for more to attract before turning around. This brought along another revelation about his new stats: he felt as if he wasn’t tiring in the least at the slower speed. Even though he knew this same pace would have seen him gradually exhaust himself just a few days before, now it felt like he was simply out for a casual walk at a leisurely pace. As he continued, more and more monsters began to trail him.

  This quickly led him to realize a new problem as he saw the number of creatures behind him surpass a dozen when he wasn’t even halfway back. His goal had been to get five or six monsters to follow him each time, but it seemed that wasn’t feasible with the current situation. So, he decided to test whether he could actually lose his pursuers by turning away once more and picking up speed again. Only 15 seconds later, Matt found himself completely alone once again as he received another notification.

  Base Dexterity stat +1.

  The notification on the screen almost made Matt stumble over his own feet, but he quickly regained his balance and pondered its significance. Was it simply that reaching Rank F had unlocked the ability to level up his stats, or was there something more at play? Just as he prepared to round up another horde of monsters for further training, Tempormr’s calm, measured voice broke into his thoughts.

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  "It’s because your base stat is lower than your highest stat, and your effective stat is less than 50% of your highest effective stat. To see any additional gains currently, you need to focus on training your mind—it’s lagging behind—while your dexterity no longer falls under the second threshold."

  A smile tugged at the corners of Matt’s mouth before he responded. "So that means if I manage to boost one stat enormously, I could potentially raise all my other stats up to half of that value?"

  "Yes," Tempormr confirmed. "That is precisely why so many power seekers concentrate their efforts on the stat they deem most beneficial. You, however, did not pursue that path with your last level; instead, you split your focus evenly among three stats. In many cases, such an approach is seen as wasteful, as it can cause stats to be unable to be trained past a point that they would have been otherwise."

  Matt frowned slightly before asking, "Then why didn’t you warn me sooner?"

  "Simple," Tempormr replied, with a hint of disdain. "I consider those who spread their efforts thin to be fools. As long as the base stat remains below the effective stat, there are always ways to train any attribute with the proper tools. You will need those tools to reach at least C rank before I can advise you on where to look. Meanwhile, by the time you hit D rank, you must select a single stat into which all your level-up gains will funnel."

  Without hesitation, Matt said, "Stamina. It’s my strongest stat—"

  "You don’t fully understand what you need in order to survive," Tempormr interrupted. "Durability and spirit deserve your consideration before you discard them entirely."

  Matt countered, "As long as I can regenerate, durability only matters to avoid a one-hit death. But I suppose I know too little about what spirit does for me to dismiss it outright. So, why are you being so helpful all of a sudden, without trying to get me to agree to any deal?"

  "I despise watching anyone squander their time on fruitless efforts," Tempormr replied firmly.

  Curiosity laced Matt’s tone as he asked, "Then why did it take me until last night to gain a stat in Mind?"

  "The stat increase in Dexterity was simply waiting for you to take that one extra action when the conditions were finally met," Tempormr explained. "Every bit of effort you exerted before culminated in that possibility. At this moment, any of your stats—save for mind and dexterity—would rise if the conditions were met and you took that decisive extra step. Now, return your focus to the tasks at hand."

  With that, Matt felt as if Tempormr had finished dispensing his advice, so he turned his attention back to the task before him. He spent the rest of the day methodically rounding up monsters in groups of four to eight and ushering them back to the fort, though he quickly escaped from any group that exceeded that number. During this time, Matt deliberately refrained from personally confronting the monsters, trusting instead that his companions would handle them. His role was to retreat to the fort and tend to any injuries sustained in previous skirmishes, only then to set off again on another round of drawing monsters in.

  At the same time, he managed to locate several large boulders and a few fallen trees, which he carefully transferred into his spatial storage. Notably, this wasn’t as simple as merely willing the items into place; he had to visualize himself picking them up and methodically placing each one into the designated room, all while remaining completely still. Any movement—or being attacked during this process—would cause the overloading attempt to fail, forcing him to commence the procedure anew after addressing the interruption. Despite the inherent risks, this careful process garnered him 120 experience points, bringing him nearly halfway to level 6 by the end of the day.

  Upon returning to the fort, he observed a marked improvement among his companions: all six of those who had started the day at level 1 and actively fought had reached level 2, and their morale was visibly boosted. The plan for the following day was to allow the remaining six to focus on leveling up. At the current pace, Matt estimated it would take about five more days of similar effort for everyone to reach level 3, and by that point, nearly all who had joined him in the dungeon would have advanced to level 4. Then, only one more level would stand between them and his current status—though Matt predicted that he, too, would level up within the next five days if they maintained the same rhythm.

  Despite this progress, one more elusive task still nagged at Matt: repairing the fort. He had tried several different methods, including interacting with the crystal ball in the tomb, but nothing seemed to work. Tempormr appeared unwilling to offer any additional assistance, and Matt suspected this reluctance was less about preserving time than about forcing him to increase his mind stat. Nonetheless, there was a glimmer of hope—one clue buried in the message imparted by the crystal ball when he had touched it—which he planned to follow up on.

  Administrator privileges detected.

  Unable to access Tomb of the Restless Defenders advanced administrator menu at this time.

  Please correct issues surrounding the Tomb of the Restless Defenders to access the advanced administrator menu.

  Matt wasn’t entirely sure what issues were being referred to; it could mean he needed to repair the fort before accessing the administrator menu, or that there was another issue altogether. After all, Matt felt like the administrator menu was likely the very tool he needed to utilize various functions to repair the fort. If that was the case, it seemed like a paradox where he needed to open an indestructible, unpickable locked box, but the only key was inside the box. To make matters worse, he had discovered that to do more than just select the species that could come and go freely from the fort, he needed access to the advanced menu. The whole situation felt like a frustrating puzzle with missing pieces.