Blood began pooling on the ground, the beeping of the bomb was getting faster and faster, a body slumped to the floor.
I had done it, even if I was almost dead myself the victory was still mine.
As the victory HUD faded in I heard a familiar voice.
[User gains 0.9 free attribute points for winning]
My rank flickered for a few moments before changing slightly, I had reached Bronze 9!
[Congratulations for ranking up from Bronze 8 to Bronze 9, user is rewarded with a choice of three skills:]
Canary Fruit: Increases the charm aspect of user's voice, this also makes listeners more receptive to suggestions (Consumable)
Hero's Aura: Creates a lingering feeling of hope and reliability for 2 minutes, boosts morale and trust amongst teammates (1 use per match)
Predator's Gaze: Causes split second hesitation in target if direct eye contact is made and the target's rank is lower than your own (Passive)
'The options have changed… all of them sound useful though. The Canary Fruit would be excellent if I want to go down the route of a group leader, having people desire to listen to my instructions would be a big bonus.
The Hero's Aura doesn't sound particularly impressive but I bet it would be great for a match if making a comeback was required, that being said there are disadvantages. If I go pro then it will lose it's usefulness really quickly as having 2 minutes in a potentially 15 round game would be pretty meaningless most of the time.
Finally there's Predator's Gaze, this would increase my advantage more and more in situations like the one I just faced. Maybe my opponent wouldn't even have been able to move his gun; however it seems like a waste to get this skill when I could just improve my reaction speed…
Alright, the only one I can see being useful long term is the Canary Fruit so I'll take that.'
As if by magic I felt something warm appear and then immediately melt in my mouth, it tasted of mango. Suddenly an overwhelming urge to swallow this wonderful mango juice came over me and before I knew it there was nothing left.
[User has unlocked subjective attributes section, the subjective attributes section is named because all attributes within it would normally be uncalculatable . For example vocal charm, physical charm and Inspiration]
[User's vocal charm attribute has increased by 0.3]
[Displaying statistics]
Vocal Charm 1.3
Physical Charm 1.7
Inspiration 1.0
'System, I get that the vocal charm started at 1 and was just increased, also I assume that physical charm is roughly based on my physical stats, but what is inspiration and why is it only at 1.0?'
[Inspiration is extremely similar to physical charm but as the definition of Inspiration is restricted, user will have to discover the details on your own.]
'Oh, this happened with X-Factor as well… what do you mean it's similar to physical charm though? I guess I'll just wait to discover it naturally.'
I carefully removed my VR gear and set it down before collapsing on my bed and opening the physical attributes window.
'System bring up my physical attributes.'
[Displaying statistics]
Agility 1.7
Acceleration 1.7
Balance 1.7
Endurance 1.7+0.1
Speed 1.7
Strength 1.7
Reactions 1.7
X-Factor 0.1
[User has 1 attribute point remaining, please assign them]
'Okay, split them evenly and then assign the remaining three attribute points to Strength. Also shift my X-Factor points in endurance back to reactions again.'
[Displaying statistics]
Agility 1.8
Acceleration 1.8
Balance 1.8
Endurance 1.8
Speed 1.8
Strength 2.1+0.1
Reactions 1.8+0.1
X-Factor 0
I admired my statistics briefly before a wave of exhaustion washed over me.
'I guess that I changed too fast again…' I thought before my consciousness faded into nothingness.