The bonus reward was nearly as impressive as the primary one. Though I didn’t know how much training would cost, 20% was nothing to laugh at.
Seeing the next popup, suddenly my energy returned. I jumped up and smacked Kline on the shoulder while yelling, “Ding!”
He grabbed my leather armor on either side of the chest and literally picked me up over his head, tossing me up like a child. He roared while matching my excitement.
Note to self, don’t get into a pushing contest with Kline.
Finally putting me down, he said, “Woah! This is amazing, man! You are going to have to explain to me what this all means!”
“Hah! Don’t worry. Your gaming mentor will take care of you!”
“Blah!”
I couldn’t wait, so I checked what all the level ups got me. My entire character status screen had transformed.
Level 18
You have reached Level 18!
Ability Points +1!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 42 meters!
Level 19
You have reached Level 19!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 44 meters!
Level 20
You have reached Level 20!
Ability Points +1!
Advancement Points +1!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 46 meters!
Level 21
You have reached Level 21!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 48 meters!
Level 22
You have reached Level 22!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 50 meters!
Level 23
You have reached Level 23!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 52 meters!
Level 24
You have reached Level 24!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 54 meters!
Level 25
You have reached Level 25!
Ability Points +1!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 56 meters!
Level 26
You have reached Level 26!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 58 meters!
Level 27
You have reached Level 27!
Your Creature Indicator range has increased by 2 to 60 meters!
+4 Ability Points to Spend!
Of course, I already had planned what I needed to do with my points, so I waved Kline over to watch.
The first one for Guild Chat, since now that joining a guild was unlocked, it was going to become useful very soon.
Guild Chat!
Able to speak with guild members over great distances.
Only available if you have joined a player-run guild.
If only we would have had this the last couple of days. So many things would have been so much easier.
Since I had purchased all of the upgrades under the Basic tier, now it was time to decide what I would spend my Advancement Point on. Things were about to get a lot more complicated. In time everyone would probably max out the Basic tier, but as we advanced we would have to specialize more and more. There were limited ability points and the advancement points were even more limited.
It was essential to choose wisely. If every tier held advanced abilities like the ones Victoria explained when speaking about becoming a combat general, then the rest of my time in Codename: Freedom would depend on my choices.
Creature Indicator would probably give me access to improving my observational abilities and an upgraded Danger Indicator. It was the best choice for my own personal safety.
Communication was probably the farthest reaching upgrade I could hope for. It would give me access to improve both Group and Guild communication, and hopefully a personal chat soon.
Maps came in a close second to the Communication branch, no doubt giving some upgrades to Local and World Map that would be welcome.
Out of all the branches, the last one and perhaps the least useful was the Character Sheet. I told Kline as much and gave him some recommendations. He chose Communication. A smart move, since I doubted any of us would be hunting alone anytime soon.
Still, I had already decided on spending one of my rare Advancement Points on Character Sheet. The reason was that my current character stats were just too vague. I was used to similar stats in games, but not fully understanding how they were calculated was a pain. It was as if they were trying to imitate a game, but how they applied to the real world was only clear through experience. Kline’s higher Strength stat obviously meant he was stronger than me, but after watching him in action, I had a basic idea what 80 strength really meant in comparison to my 31 strength. That was as close as I could get to understanding it.
I had a feeling upgrading it would be the most useful. Yes, I had started to understand my new motivation, but I was under no illusion. I needed to get stronger.
Understanding that it might put me 10 levels behind the others for the rest of the game, I made my decision. Spending my Advancement Point with a click, a number of other options showed up before me.
Personal Training Tools
Character Analysis
Greatly increases the detail of the Character Status break down!
Includes Mental State Observation!
Each stat can be closely examined and broken down into its own individual list for closer examination!
Item Analysis
Greatly Increases the detail of inventory break down!
Will help with better understanding the strengths and weaknesses of an item!
To use on an item outside of your inventory, you must be holding the weapon!
I immediately bought both and examined my new character screen. There was so much information!
Character Status
(Character Status – Intermediate)
Player Name: Lucius
Leveclass="underline" 27
Health: 985.41
Endurance: 1793.3
Combat Leveclass="underline" Rank F – Level 99
Strength: Rank F – Level 95
Endurance: Rank F – Level 79.33
Quickness: Rank E – Level 10
Speed: Rank E – Level 4
Intelligence: Rank E – Level 7
Measurements
Fast Twitch Muscle: Rank E – Level 31
Slow Twitch Muscle: Rank F – Level 65
Flexibility: Rank F – Level 89
Cardiovascular: Rank F – Level 84
Anaerobic: Rank F – Level 92
Memory: Rank F – Level 97
Calculations: Rank E – Level 17
Definitions
Health Points: This number represents perfect health. As you are injured, the points lower depending on the part of the body that takes damage and how serious the injury. Your Strength, Endurance, Quickness and Speed are all taken into account when calculating this number.
Endurance Points: This number is based solely on your endurance. The type and intensity of the exercise will determine how quickly you lose points. Your strength, quickness and speed determine how much energy an action will take.
Rank: The ranks are G, F, E, D, C, B, A, S. Rank G is the lowest and S is the highest. The higher the rank the more powerful!
Levels: Each rank has 99 levels. The higher the level the stronger the stat. If the level goes past 99 then the player ranks up!
Where was I even supposed to start? I was even able to go more in depth with the Measurements and showed how every stat was calculated. This was exactly what I was looking for, even if it was far more advanced than any other character sheet I had ever seen.
Definitions (Continued)
Fast Twitch Muscle – Muscle fiber responsible for speed and power.
Slow Twitch Muscle – Muscle fiber responsible for enduring.
Flexibility – Fluidity of muscle and rank of motion.