Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 88: Allotting stats (3/3)

"So simply, what you meant is that… free points can help us break our limiter, right, elder brother?"

Lucien thought for a moment before a wide grin formed on his face, "Yeah, that is it."

Theo nodded. He now knew the basics of the stats the system gave and how it worked.

Lucien scribbled on the paper one last time before he gave the paper back to Theo.

"This is what I think is best for you, Theo. You can take your time to make the decision. Whatever needed to be explained has already been done so."

Theo took the paper in his hand and took a look at it one last time.

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Stamina: 8 → 10, +2

Agility: 7 → 9, +2

Vitality: 23 → 25, +2

Strength: 13 → 14, +1

Dexterity: 13 → 14, +1

Intelligence: 33 → 34, +1

___________

"You don't even have to do it right now, Theo. Look at everything on your own and choose things that you need to keep and change. I am not forcing you to choose right away," Lucien stated with a chuckle.

"… This all makes sense, elder brother. I don't think there is anything I would like to change in this," Theo said and continued, "But if I didn't know about the limit breaking, then my decision could have been somewhat different."

There was silence for a few seconds after which Lucien's attendant poured yet another half cup of tea.

"Alright, let's do the Mantis now, Theo. Time is important."

It had already been a minute since Theo was looking at the piece of paper.

"My apologies, I will bring it out right away."

Theo opened the latch of the box he had kept to the side. When the mantis had the opportunity to come out, it came flying onto the table and landed majestically.

Its gaze went in all directions, even the back, which made Lucien make a disturbed face for a second.

"Write down its stats on this paper now," Lucien stated.

Theo looked at everything and wrote it down before it was finally completed.

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Agility: 8

Dexterity: 11

Strength: 5

Vitality: 11

Stamina: 4

Intelligence: 6

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Lucien looked at the stats once and frowned. He looked at the mantis, who was moving toward everything with curiosity, and Theo, who already knew what Lucien was thinking.

"… Alright, let's take what I know about the mantis and what it says here into consideration… your mantis is clearly built for speed and precision. What it's lacking on this stat scale is raw power. If you want it to be a reliable combat partner, we need to enhance its strengths while decreasing the weaknesses little by little." He stopped to see if Theo had anything to say, which, to his surprise, he did.

"Everything that you said is right, except the endurance part, elder brother. I don't think the mantis lacks endurance."

"Well, your mantis right now lacks everything, but even if we look at it on a lower scale like this, its endurance is weak, Theo. You will have to work on it too," Lucien explained almost instantly.

He took the piece of paper and the fountain pen to write down more things on it.

Just a few minutes later, Theo got the paper back in his hands.

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Agility: 8 → 10, +2

Dexterity: 11 → 13, +2

Strength: 5 → 7, +2

Vitality: 11 → 12, +1

Stamina: 4 → 5, +1

Intelligence: 6 → 7, +1

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"This way…" Lucien got his attention and continued, "Your mantis will become even faster and more precise in time, while also gaining a little durability and strength. It won't tire as quickly and will hit harder when it strikes…. Also, the small boost to intelligence might help it follow your commands more effectively, Theo."

For Theo, the explanation felt good enough. Whatever needed to be addressed for the short and long term was all addressed in a matter of minutes.

"But even with that and also leveling up to level 3, your mantis's base stats are very low, which is a major downside when compared to things that are born with 30 points in strength from the first day, Theo. And it only increases with time," Lucien sighed after speaking. It seemed even after seeing so much, he was still a little disappointed.

"Elder brother, don't worry about that. I have utter confidence in my mantis and what it will be able to achieve with time." Theo stated without even looking up as if he didn't care about the negatives.

When Lucien heard that, he chuckled, "Having a positive outlook is nice… And to be honest, it could all still work out if the limiter of the mantis is not that low."

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"Even if it isn't, how will we train its individual stats, elder brother?"

Lucien thought for a few seconds with a humming sound before he spoke, "That will take a lot of specific training, Theo. From what I know, every stat is doable if you push down on it two or three times more pressure than usual. Only the intelligence stat is what becomes tricky."

Theo was going to speak again, yet he continued.

"But there was this book about beast intelligence in the academy, a club also formed around it. Its… what was its name again, Cassian?" Lucien asked.

"I believe it was 'Dumb Beast's Guide to More Intelligence,' master," Cassian spoke with a little smile. It felt like he was going to laugh anytime soon, but he refrained.

"'Dumb Beast's Guide to Intelligence'? That sounds a bit…" Theo hesitated to speak as he didn't know the author of the book. If it was a high-status person, it could lead to problems for him, even if speaking in front of his brother.

"I know, I know, the name is ridiculous, Theo," Lucien chimed in between his thought process, making Theo sigh, "But I have heard good things about the techniques in that book from many. There are training types in the book that make the beast think on its own. Unfortunately, the book cannot leave the academy grounds, and if ever you want to read it, the academy is your only option, Theo."

Theo nodded. The mantis was not THAT dumb to begin with. It had emotional intelligence, as seen with what happened with the boar, and could understand his commands, if not the more complex ones too.

"Alright, the only thing left now is to allot them, Theo. What do you think?"