Learning About the Prestige Ability

I breathed in deep and breathed out. Maybe it's not as bad as it seems.

I looked at the Appraisal message.

[VERDICT: The Player is a complete joke…

…but not hopeless. By utilising the Prestige ability, the Player has improved their limits (by a very little bit). If they work hard enough, they might even be able to get something for their Thaumaturgy Attribute — though currently, the Player must ask themselves, what's the point in even trying?

GRADE: E.

The first E the System has ever given to anybody. But at least it's not a complete failure. That would be embarrassing. At the very least, it might be interesting to watch someone struggle so much for little gain.]

The vein on my forehead throbbed a little as I struggled to keep my cool while reading the Appraisal message. I never knew that the System could be so irritating.

Let's actually think clearly about what the Appraisal said.

There's been an improvement, it said, in my limits. So, my innate limits for the attributes with asterisks have improved! I heard that surpassing innate limits was actually extremely difficult and expensive to do, so maybe the Prestige ability is a way to bypass the normal method of doing that.

I went back to the skills tab and tried to activate the Prestige ability again, but a big red 'ERROR' message popped up in front of me.

Damn, so I can't spam the ability. That kind of makes sense. The error message mentioned the fact that I hadn't fulfilled the prerequisites to activate the ability. Maybe, there were different prerequisites I had to do to activate the ability each time.

[Answer: Negative. Prerequisites are reset every time the Player Prestiges.]

The message made sense to me. I wondered what the prerequisites were. The System automatically responded to my thoughts.

[Error: The Player has not unlocked prerequisite explanations. Would you like to purchase prerequisite explanations?]

This surprised me. None of Dad's friends and colleagues that visited our house over the years had ever talked about purchasing something from the System.

[Note: This mechanic is only available to Players with the Prestige Ability.]

You make it sound like there are other people with the ability. Are there other people?

[Confirmation Required: Would you like to purchase the answer to the query?]

I chuckled softly. I realised that the people who walked past me were staring. I must have looked like a lunatic standing still and chuckling to myself.

I've got to find somewhere a little bit more private.

***

After I settled down in the driver's seat of my car, I shut the door. I was glad that the parking spot that I found was quite out of the way. I looked over both my shoulders and noted that there didn't seem to be anybody around.

"System," the Status Window popped up into my vision as if in response to my soft voice, "What do I use to purchase information?"

[Answer: Every time the Player prestiges, they are awarded 1 Prestige Point (PP)—]

I snorted when I read the message.

[Query: What is funny?]

The question surprised me so much I suddenly stopped giggling. Was the System self-aware?

"Uh," I started, unsure how to respond, "Nothing. Don't worry. Just continue explaining."

[…]

The System acted like it was a living entity in itself. If this were to happen to a Magical Researcher, they would be experimenting on the System to figure out what's happened.

"Actually," I said, "I've never heard of the System having any sort of personality. Why do you have one now?"

[Answer: Personality AI has been unlocked for Players who have Prestiged.]

There it goes again, with a message that made it seem like other people have the Prestige ability. I took a quick look at the Skills tab and saw that the Prestige ability was slotted into my 'Unique Ability' section. Surely that meant that I was the only one the has the ability. Right?

[Confirmation Required: Would you like to purchase the answer to the query?]

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. "How much does it cost to get the answer?"

[Answer: 1 PP.]

There it goes again with PP-this and PP-that.

[Error: The System does not understand the aberrant value of PP. It simply stands for Prestige Points.]

I sighed. The System was starting to get distracted, and I didn't really feel like sitting in my car in a random car park the whole time.

"Just—" I struggled to figure out what to say, "—It takes a whole…Prestige Point to answer the question, and I only get one…Prestige Point per Prestige, yeah?"

[Answer: Correct.]

"Did I just use the — god, I really don't want to say the whole name every time — P…P to ask you that question?"

[Answer: Negative. Only specific questions pertaining to the Prestige ability and the System require PP. The previous question was not one of them. If the Player asks a question that requires an answer to be purchased, the System will require a Confirmation.

Query: Why is the Player struggling with using the abbreviated form of Prestige Point?]

"Let's just move on!" I quickly snapped.

Though I wanted to move on, I had to stop and think about whether using my Prestige Point to find out if anybody else had my unique ability was worth it or not.

"What else can I use the PPs for?" I said with as flat a voice as I could muster.

[Answer: Placing PPs into an attribute allows the Player to be able to reach the innate limit of the attribute without needing to fulfil the requirements.]

I scratched the scraggly, patchy hair on my chin as I thought through what the System said.

"Are you saying that, if I was struggling to improve my Fortitude attribute — for example — I can use the PP to do that for me?"

[Answer: Correct.]

Interesting, I thought as I started to review all that I had found out so far. I switched to my Status tab and looked through my attributes again.

[ATTRIBUTES

FORTITUDE: D*

APTITUDE: D*

THAUMATURGY: N/A*

VITALITY: D*]

The asterisks mean that my innate limits have improved overall. And PPs are used to quickly reach that limit. So, theoretically, if I was ever in trouble and in need of a boost of power, I can use my PPs to get it.

I repeated my thoughts and asked the System.

[Answer: Correct.]

"Ooh," I cooed to myself. The System was already like a game. The new PP mechanic with my Prestige ability made it more like a video game.

"I've only got 1PP total, right now, yes?" I asked.

[Answer: Correct.]

I looked over my Attributes again and thought long and hard about what to invest my Prestige Points on.

I made up my mind after a bit and proudly said, "System, I would like to put my PP into vitality."

Unfortunately, because I had been too focused on which attribute to improve, I didn't realise that somebody was walking through the car park and just so happened to have been right next to my car when I said that.

My face flushed red with embarrassment as I saw the woman who looked like she was in her early twenties glare at me as she walked away.

A System message popped up before me, and I adjusted my focus back onto the System.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I yelled.

[Error: The Player does not have enough PPs to improve an attribute.]

I massaged my forehead as a headache felt like it started to form there.

"How many PPs do I need to be able to invest in an attribute then?"

[Answer: The Player requires 5 PPs to invest in an attribute.]

I'm sure that if Mum or Dad heard the kind of curse words I used at that point, they would have been very disappointed in me.