Level 1 to Apex: My Monster Templates Defy Reality!-Chapter 101: The hidden stats

As Veyne lay inside his new gaming pod, the green light scanned his whole body as a notification popped up in front of him.

[User registration confirmed. Logging in...]

A weightless sensation pulled at him, and he found himself floating in the darkness.

Then, two massive AAs appeared in front of him, glowing with a golden hue.

[Welcome to Apex Ascension.]

The next moment, a bright light engulfed him, and he opened his eyes inside the guild office, surrounded by an empty potion bottle.

He didn’t even get a moment of rest before multiple notifications popped in front of him.

Ding!

[Extreme mana use detected. Special mana flow created.]

Ding!

[ Congratulations, player Forsyx. Your struggle has borne fruit, and you have managed to create a new form of mana use. New mana skill created.]

[Player Forsyx has learned the new Mana Phantom Mirage skill.]

After the initial few messages, there it was, the golden notification. Ding!!!!

[The Apex world recognizes a new spell created by user Forsyx. You are the first creature in the Apex world to develop this new method. For your achievement as the pioneer, you gain a special tailor-made reward.]

Ding! Ding!

[Pioneer Special Reward: One.

Player Forsyx has learned the special new skill Mana Overdrive.

]

Ding!

[Pioneer Special Reward: Two.

Your achievement presents you with a special opportunity to access hidden power. Please choose one:

— The Power of Wisdom: WIS hidden stat unlocked.

— The Power of Instinct: INS hidden stat unlocked.

]

Forsyx just stared at the special reward with wide eyes. Especially the title of him being the first creature ever to do it.

It was much different from the normal golden notification he saw in his past life.

The one he had seen back then only described you as the first player to do something, but in his case, it said first creature inside the world.

Well, with how absurd his method was, it made sense. After all, no NPCs would risk dying.

As he read through the notification, he just froze at the latter part.

He just stared at the words, both hands on his head. He couldn’t believe he could unlock a hidden stat when he wasn’t even level 10.

It was much different from manipulating them through templates, as unlocking meant he could invest stat points directly into those hidden stats.

Even among the hidden stats, he had gotten the monster’s options.

The first was the hidden stat of wisdom. It affected the quality of mana and the proficiency of skills.

Just investing in wisdom would increase the quality of his mana-based skills and also extend their limits.

From what he knew, if a mage had the fireball skill and he used 5 mana to cast a small fireball.

The same mage, if he had unlocked wisdom and invested up to 20 stat points. He could now cast that same fireball with 8–9 mana, and the effect of the fireball would increase up to three times, and in rare cases, even four times.

That was a big deal for wizards and mages who relied on spamming their skills.

With wisdom unlocked, not only would their powerful skills get boosted, but even their low-end skills would gain back that deadly edge.

Even for mana-based warrior classes like Magic Swordsman or Magic Spearman, who had many mana skills, unlocking wisdom would just push them to a different stage.

Then there was the hidden stat of instinct, which gave a player this new sixth sense.

The sense of instinct that allowed them to sense dangers before they happened. Anyone with their instinct unlocked was just a beast in close combat.

These were things he had only learned about through the internet.

In his past life, he had managed to unlock a few measly C-level, wasteful hidden stats.

But he never succeeded in unlocking any high-power A-level stats.

In Apex Ascension, there were multiple hidden stats, and in his past life, players had split them into four categories.

The worst of them were C-class stats.

These were more gimmicky and flashy things like charm, persuasion, beauty, self-reputation, and more.

These hidden stats didn’t correlate with a player’s power at all.

Then there were B-level stats.

These were stats that filled the gaps between the six base stats.

Things like dexterity, endurance, attack speed, mana defense, and so on.

Even Health Points and Mana would fall under this category if they were hidden stats.

Increasing your base stats would passively affect these B-level hidden stats, but unlocking them would give you a bit more control over how they function.

Then came the third category, the A-level hidden stats.

These were completely separate from the six base stats. But you still had them when you started the game.

Both wisdom and instinct were part of this group. Some other hidden stats in this tier were luck, willpower, and so on.

Every player started with a minimum number of these stats, which stayed the same until you managed to unlock them.

Finally, there were S-level hidden stats.

These were something players lacked at the start, but could gain inside the game.

Things like advanced powers like aura, element energy, fell into this category.

Now, even though unlocking any hidden stat was super hard.

To the point that in his entire past life, after playing for over half a dozen years, he had barely managed to unlock just two random C-level hidden stats.

Now, except for the C-level hidden stats that were inefficient for power, all three other levels of hidden stats could push a player to pro level if the person unlocked the right kind of hidden stats at the right time.

The kind of stat and the timing of unlocking it were super important.

Like, if a warrior who was already at Tier Three unlocked wisdom, it would be nothing but a waste for him.

Beyond that, even if you unlocked the correct stat, it might just end up being more of a gimmick.

After all, at that point, even gaining one level was extremely difficult, such that there would be no stat points to invest in something new.

But none of that applied to him. Not only did his class fall more into the neutral category, but he had also barely even started his journey.

Another notification pulled him out of his thoughts.

Ding!

[Please select one of the following within 2 minutes:

— The Power of Wisdom: WIS hidden stat unlock.

— The Power of Instinct: INS hidden stat unlock.

(Note: If no selection is made within the time limit, a random selection will occur.)

]

Forsyx focused back on the two stats while shaking his legs.

The thing was, wisdom was only good for pure mana skills, which he currently lacked. But there was always the possibility of gaining those skills.

He could create something like a Goblin Shaman super template or similar, and that would give him those high-powered magic skills he desperately needed.

But then, instinct was a godsend for physical fighters like him.

The ability to sense danger ahead of time would increase physical ability immensely.

The timer continued to move.

Less than a minute left as Forsyx tapped his leg, looking at both hidden stats.

He knew that in the future, he would have to rely on powerful templates, and for those, wisdom might be more effective.

But then, there were templates like Dire Wolf, with that special trait, and adding instinct to that form would enhance it significantly.

He coughed once and closed his eyes, going through all the possibilities. But the more he thought, the more confused he got.

Less than 30 seconds left. It was at this point that he thought about his current biggest objective.

Not even a second later, that crimson egg and its hatching condition flashed through his mind.

Yeah, to hatch that, he needed blood, and the thing that might help him with that would be...

He looked at the golden notification and took a deep breath to calm himself, making sure he wasn’t making an impulse decision.

Less than 10 seconds left. He didn’t wait for the last moment and tapped on the instinct hidden stat and said, "I will unlock instinct."

Ding!

[Instinct hidden stat has been selected. Are you sure about your decision? (yes/no)]

Forsyx gritted his teeth and tapped yes.

Ding!

[Unlocking the Instinct stat (INS)... Process complete.

Check your status for details. You have lost the chance to awaken wisdom. Better luck next time.]

Forsyx just stared at the last message with a poker face and cursed, "Fck."

He rolled down onto the ground, lying beside the empty glass bottle.

It took him a moment to calm his emotions, as he knew this might have been the biggest decision he had to make in the game.

It was much harder than resetting his character, because he might never get another chance to unlock wisdom again.

Now that he had made the call, it was easier to calm himself. He sat up and decided to check the two new skills he had just gained.

First, he wanted to check the regular skill, the one he had burned his mana to gain. The golden one could wait. He knew it would shake him to his core.

He whispered, "Player status."

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om