Insect Tamer's Ascension

"Your strength right now is 13 points and Stamina 8. They are alright for your age, but for what you're trying to achieve, they are bad numbers, Theo. We need to increase them," Lucien explained and took the sheet of paper in his hand.

At that time, Theo gave a side glance to Clara for a second, who was standing right at the side. Her eyes moved in a nod.

He already knew what Lucien said made sense, yet there was no problem in having a second opinion when there was a chance.

Lucien kept the paper back on the table and took the pen to write some things on them.

When he was done, Theo saw the paper again and saw the changes with curiosity.

______

Strength- 13 —> 14

Stamina- 8 —> 10

______

"A 1 and 2 point increase," Theo nodded. It seemed like a very safe decision.

"This is what I think you should do right now, but by the time we reach the last stat, things might change here and there."

"So, to explain things in a simple way, I have tried to focus on your stamina here, Theo. You can increase strength and agility in time, the same is with stamina, yet increasing it by 2 points will give you an edge for the strength and agility training."

"Because I need stamina for both the strength training and agility… it makes sense, elder brother. I have already experienced that my disadvantage is that I get tired very quickly," Theo admitted, and Lucien nodded.

He looked at Theo for a second before he took the paper again.

At this time, Theo was quite satisfied with the allocation decision for the two stats. He had some purity that he would come up with the same decision too, seeing all the logical information he had about himself.

"Your agility might as well be weaker than I had hoped… a +2 increase in it seems necessary," he muttered and made the changes.

"Next is Vitality. You already have a high enough amount of it, but it's never a bad idea to have more of it, Theo. Things can always go bad real quick."

There was another silence for a few seconds where Lucien wrote things down, and Theo thought about things of his own.

Vitality was something that represented the durability of a beast and a person. A high vitality would mean it would take a lot more to defeat that person than usual. A small boost to that made sense.

"You know what dexterity is, right, Theo?" Lucien asked while scribbling on the page.

"Yes, it represents the precision and coordination of an individual. A high amount would make them better at using tools and weapons, elder brother," Theo answered.

"That is right, and this is also one of the reasons why tamers think of it as a somewhat useless stat, Theo. They don't need tools and weapons to give themselves a boost in strength; their beasts can do that for them," Lucien explained.

"That…" Theo was at a loss of words. It felt almost like a dumb idea to not have a high amount of dexterity. Just relying on the beast at times of danger was a stupid thing to do.

"But we Merricks, especially the older ones, have a simple understanding that having a high or somewhat good dexterity can help a lot along the way. That is why I will recommend you to add a single point to it for now. We can't be greedy with a stat like that, or your body might become unstable."

"Unstable?" Theo asked. He could get a small idea as to what it meant, but getting a professional answer was better.

"Well… if you were to have a high amount of strength but your agility is left behind, which is very, very common among people, it will make you a bulky tank, nothing more. Having balanced stats is everything, Theo."

"To add to this statement, I had a high amount of strength since birth, which I was proud of, but with time, I understood how slow I was. Having balanced out my agility and strength in some ways, I feel stable."

Theo thought about it and nodded before he spoke, "That makes sense, elder brother. You're very tall and bulky too, but I have seen your speed when you ran the other day. I get it."

"Having examples is always a good thing; it makes things easier to understand. But there are some more basics that you need to know right now. Usually, they are stuff that you will get to know with time in the academy, but your situation is unique, just like your affinity."

Theo chuckled awkwardly at that remark but listened carefully. Any knowledge that came from the academy was always helpful.

"I will tell you about it with an example, Theo. Your… strength right now is at 13 points, and we are going to increase it by 1 point. So, Does that mean you will gain a lot of strength automatically?" Lucien asked.

Theo thought for a second before muttering, "I have leveled up three times now, and each time, I got 1 point in all my stats, I never felt my strength or agility increase right away, elder brother," he stated while looking toward the sky through the window.

"You're onto something here," Lucien smiled. "When a person or a beast increases some points in their stats, it means that their ability to gain strength improves, Theo."

"It's like, if you have a bottleneck of strength according to your body and genetics, that you can't get above a certain level of strength. The solution to become better is by increasing the stat points forcefully, it's to help you increase the amount of strength you can amass with time, Theo."

When Lucien stopped speaking, Theo was both surprised and in deep thought.

'But… wouldn't that mean it's kind of like… evolution of sorts?' Theo thought with a frown.

If his body was capable of 10 points of strength naturally, adding these free points would mean breaking the limiter.

"Did you understand that?"