Novel Active
Chapter 188 Trying to balance things out
Tristan thought about this decision for several minutes, comparing pros and cons. In the end…
'It doesn't really matter if I spent my first cheap skill refunds now or not. Earning more points is only a matter of time, and I'm not in a hurry anymore. Of course, buying that talent would bring me a lot of popularity, but becoming less scatterbrained will prevent me from making potentially deadly mistakes in criminal life, too.'
In other words, trying to balance out the intelligence attribute by ascending another skill was the most rational option.
'But which one is it?'
Tristan opened his status and looked at the list of skills.
[======]
[Tristan Gemello (Tristan Hayes)]
[Current identity: Pop-star. Second identity: Criminal.]
[Pop-star rank: On The Olympus.]
[Criminal rank: King Lion.]
[Pop-star Points: 8264]
[Criminal Points: 0]
[===Attributes===]
~~~Pop-star~~~
[Appearance: 570 (Top Model)]
[Charisma: 1059 (The Beguiler)]
[Dexterity: 600 (Gymnast)]
~~~Criminal~~~
[Fearsomeness: 1077 (Dark God)]
[Strength: 679 (Weightlifter)]
[Toughness: 800 (Bones of steel)]
[Intelligence: 553 (Mastermind)]
[===Skills===]
~~~Pop-star~~~
[Vocals: 6000 (Impossible!!)]
[String instruments: 6000 (Impossible!!)]
[Percussion instruments: 0 (Nobody)]
[Wind instruments: 1 (Nobody)]
[Electronic instruments: 0 (Nobody)]
[Keyboard instruments: 801 (Professional Amateur)]
[Exotic instruments: 0 (Nobody)]
[Songwriting: 6000 (Impossible!!)]
[Dancing: 6000 (Impossible!!)]
[Acting: 6538 (Impossible!!)]
[Production: 6000 (Impossible!!)]
[Style: 6000 (Impossible!!)]
~~~Criminal~~~
[Stealth: 6844 (Impossible!!)]
[Melee combat: 5224 (Impossible!!)]
[Ranged combat: 4836 (Impossible!)]
[Observation: 5076 (Impossible!!)]
[Driving: 2618 (Racer)]
[Athletics: 2419 (Coach Physical Instrument)]
[Medicine: 5203 (Impossible!!)]
[Interfacing: 6003 (Impossible!!)]
[Sleight of hand: 533 (Light Fingers)]
[Tactics: 505 (Good)]
[*Strategy*: 5000 (Impossible!!)]
[Hacking: 6431 (Data Demon)]
[===Talents===]
[Clark Kent Effect] [Sleepless] [Clean Hands] [Bullet Time] [Hypnotic Voice] [Sight Awareness] [Electronic Sight Awareness] [Ambidextrous] [Bilingual (Spanish)] [Freezing Glare] [String Theory] [Copycat] [Detective] [Blind Shot] [Quick Fingers] [Explosive Awareness] [Heat Vision]
[===Tasks===]
~~~Pop-star~~~
[None.]
~~~Criminal~~~
[Make the next leader of Cuatro Angulos your puppet. Value: 1000.]
[======]
'What even is the opposite of intelligence?' Tristan asked himself. 'It's not stupidity. Uh… If intelligence represents logical thinking, maybe the opposite will be something emotional or creative? I already have charisma, though…'
Most pop-star skills were creative, but only one can be called emotional—acting. Tristan decided to try this one first.
'I can also find how many points I need to ascend an average skill.'
With that plan in mind, Tristan began putting points into his acting skill bit by bit.
[Acting skill increased from 6538 to 7000.]
[Your acting rank has changed from Impossible!! to Impossible!!!.]
[Acting skill increased from 7000 to 8000.]
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[Acting skill increased from 8000 to 9000.]
[Acting skill increased from 9000 to 10000.]
[Your acting rank has changed from Impossible!!! to Ascendant.]
[Warning! You have reached the limit of the acting skill. Further points put into it will bring no effect.]
[You now can ascend the acting skill! Doing this will ascend your charisma attribute, remove all the points within the skill and add 1 point to the charisma for every 100 points in acting skill. You can do it at any time from the status menu.]
Tristan stopped there.
'Only 10 thousand points to Ascendant rank? And here I thought there will be more.' He was disappointed, but only briefly—there were more things to think about. 'And of course the system won't explain what ascending the charisma will give me! It probably won't create another attribute. A new skill? No, I don't think so.'
Tristan shook his head.
'I can think about it later. For now, this attempt was a failure. Let's try another skill.'
He purchased the skill refund for 100 Pop-star Points and refunded the acting skill. This immediately brought him a slight headache and 10000 points, half of which he put back into the skill.
[Acting skill increased from 0 to 5000.]
[Your acting rank has changed from Nobody to Impossible!!.]
Tristan had 9702 points left, and the skill refund now cost 1000 points.
'Alright, fine. If an emotion-related skill didn't work out, next I should use the most creative skill.'
With that thought, Tristan upgraded his songwriting skill next.
[Songwriting skill increased from 6000 to 10000.]
[Your songwriting rank has changed from Impossible!! to Ascendant.]Nôv(el)B\\jnn
[Warning! You have reached the limit of the acting skill. Further points put into it will bring no effect.]
[You now can ascend the songwriting skill! Doing this will create imagination attribute, remove all the points within the skill and add 1 point to the imagination for every 100 points in the songwriting skill. You can do it at any time from the status menu.]
'This is it. Maybe. Either way, after I upgrade this skill, I will have just enough to bring it back to 5000 points.' Tristan took a deep breath. 'And just enough time to get on with my day as I planned.'
Maybe it would've been wiser to postpone this decision, at least until tomorrow, but Tristan preferred decisive action.
Tristan lied down comfortably in his bed before proceeding, remembering how he blacked out the last time. Then he began the ascension.
[Please, wait—skill ascension is in progress.]
Now that Tristan was ready for the dizziness and the weakness in his limbs, he had a much easier time riding it out. He could almost relax and let things happen as notifications drifted by.
[Creating imagination attribute… complete.]
[Resetting songwriting skill… complete.]
[*Songwriting* skill decreased from 10000 to 0.]
[Your *songwriting rank has changed from Ascendant to Nobody.]
[Spreading points overflow… complete.]
[Imagination attribute increased from 0 to 100.]
[Your imagination rank has changed from Nobody to Daydreamer.]
When his body felt like his again, Tristan got up, shaking his head. Before examining himself, he quickly put 5000 points into his songwriting skill. Now only 702 Pop-star Points were left.
After that, Tristan stretched his limbs and tried to make sense of his head.
'What do I feel? Did things balance themselves out even a little?'
Tristan wasn't sure at first. The changes were unusually subtle.
They bloomed inside him like flowers—too slow for people to pay attention until they were already greeting the sun.
'Huh. Isn't that a strange thought to have?'