Chapter 16: Returning to the game
When Adyr returned home, he didn't jump straight into the game.
First, he had the dinner Niva had prepared, then washed the dishes. Afterward, as she had begged him to, he helped her with her studies. With the big exam approaching, Niva's stress had been steadily growing, and since she knew she performed best when studying with her brother, she had been bugging him more than usual lately.
As the clock ticked into the late evening, Adyr finally made his way to his room.
He started by fixing the broken door handle with whatever tools he had on hand, making sure he wouldn't be disturbed. Then he changed the melted candle from the night before, lit a fresh one, and placed it where the light wouldn't bother him.
Before logging in, he repeated the same exercises he had done yesterday to better understand his strength. Though bodyweight training no longer did much for him physically, it still helped him control and measure his power.
And during that process, he realized something else.
When he first started the game, his [Physical] stat was 2. Considering he'd been doing strength training since he was a child, it made sense. If someone without any training had a stat of 1, then being twice as strong aligned with what he knew about himself. Based on that, he began to suspect that the average person's base stats—Physical and possibly the others as well—might all start at 1.
That is... if the game's stats truly reflected reality.
After finishing his physical and mental routine, he grabbed the now fully charged helmet, placed it on his head, and lay down on the bed.
The screen went pitch black.
Then, once again, glowing neon green numbers began to count down.