The Novel's Extra Chapter 5

In this world, there was an awakening phenomenon called 'enlightenment.' Often called the first qualification to becoming a Hero, enlightenment was a form of personal insight said to occur when a person surpassed one's limits.

Active-duty Heroes were all enlightened. But because numerous experiences and training were required to reach enlightenment, most cadets had yet to experience enlightenment. Of course, there were exceptions like Kim Suho or Shin Jonghak. They were enlightened at the age of 15 and 17, respectively.

An enlightened person could see their Gift, skills, and abilities objectively, and thus train more efficiently. Furthermore, enlightenment allowed one to acquire 'clear rewards' from Towers and Dungeons.
The Hero Association called this phenomenon the 'status window.' It was an established fact that a status window could only be seen by its owner.

But because I liked exceptions, I also put in exceptions to this setting.

In place of one's eyes, one could use other sensory organs or other mediums such as a book or a weapon to see one's own status. Special enlightenment naturally came with special powers. Though it was a bit of a spoiler, the main character would undergo two enlightenments because of this setting.

"… Is this that?"

According to my setting, this laptop could be said to be a medium for enlightenment.
I began to grow a bit excited. No one hated being special.
But rather than being happy, analyzing the situation came first.
When I hit the Enter key on the keyboard, several windows popped up.

===[Synchronization Complete]===
===[Kim Chundong's status reset. Kim Hajin's status transferred.]===
===[All status reset. 10 Points acquired.]===

[Kim Hajin] [Current SP: 64]
▷Stats
*Variable Stats
[Strength 1.2]
[Stamina 1.3]
[Speed 1.5]
[Perception 2]
[Vitality 1.3]
[Magic power 1]

*Invariable Stats
[Intelligence - 4.105/10]
[Perseverance - 5.010/10]
[Luck - 6.330/10]
[Charm - 4.135/10]

Point: 10 (Will disappear in 10 days if not used)

▷Gift
「Observation and Reading」
[Null attribute]
—Observation
You can observe the characters in your vision
—Reading
Any time you want, you can read the laptop's settings book without a medium.
▷Arts (0/3)
X
▷Physique (0/3)
X
▷Setting Intervention [Authority]
—Using SP, you can modify or add settings to a non-living target.
—Using SP and relating to target 'Kim Hajin', you can modify or add settings to stats, Gift, Art, and Physique.

*Novice Consideration: Once only, you can write a Gift worth 10,000 SP free of cost.
*SP (Story Point): As Kim Hajin's importance increases in the world, you gain more SP. You can exchange Points with SP.

▷???
—Will be unlocked when the main story completes.

The first words to catch my attention were "synchronization" and "reset".
I didn't know what that meant, but I knew it was what changed my name from Kim Chundong to Kim Hajin and gave me my face back. My stats also seemed to have been adjusted appropriately.
Compared to Chundong, I was much weaker, but I obtained 10 spare Points as compensation. With Points, I should be able to raise the stats I want.

"… Points are really nice."

As the world's creator, I was well aware of the importance of Points. An average adult had 1.5 points in each stat. Furthermore, this world didn't have a concept like leveling-up. So 'Points', which could raise one's desired stats, were extremely rare and expensive, obtainable only from Towers or Dungeons.
Kim Suho's current magic power stat should be around 9. In other words, if I put the 10 Points I had into raising my magic power, my magic power would come to surpass Kim Suho's…

"No."

That wasn't the best plan. With only a stupidly high magic power, I would have to become a magician, but being a magician was exhausting. Not only was it expensive, it also required extreme effort and memorization. I would need to increase both intelligence and perseverance, but invariable stats couldn't be raised even with Points.
In other words, being a magician was out of the picture.

"…What's up with the three question marks?"

The next line to catch my attention was obviously the suspicious question marks.

===
▷???
—Will be unlocked when the main story completes.
===

It was what caught my attention next after synchronization and reset.
Unlocked when the main story completes.
Perhaps, this was the key to going back. Even if it wasn't, it was the only clue I had.
The problem was that I didn't know when the main story would end. If it referred to the storyline before I went on hiatus, I would have to wait 10 years at the very least…
One thought led to another.
First, I had to find a way to go back home. To achieve that, I needed power or authority. To achieve power or authority, I needed something called 'SP'. To obtain SP, I needed to get involved in the storyline. To do that, I needed to get stronger or stand out.

"… Gun. Looks like it wasn't such a bad choice."

A gun met both of these conditions.

First was power.
A gun didn't require high stats to be useful. Close ranged weapons like the spear or sword required equal distribution into all stats. While the importance of the stamina stat was less for a bow, the other stats were still necessary. On the other hand, speed, perception, and a tiny bit of magic power were enough to use a gun.
In other words, it was easier to meet the 'minimum strength' requirement with a gun.

The second was specialness.
No Hero in this world used a gun. That was more than enough to make me special.

So it seemed I should continue using the gun. At least, until my stats increased and I was mentally ready to fight monsters at close range.

With my main weapon decided, I could move on to the next topic.

Gift.

"…I can create my Gift."

A Gift held a special meaning for Heroes, but it still held on to its dictionary meaning.
The natural ability or talent for something.
But the standard for this ability was high. At the very least, a Gift had to be like a psychic ability.
Gifts were separated into many categories. The five most common were 'weapon', 'physical', 'element', 'magic', and 'nature.'
As for the main character, he worthily had two Gifts. The Gift he currently awakened was the weapon class Gift, 'Sword Saint'. It was a super cheaty Gift that gave him the world's protection in regards to swords. Simply put, his sword could cut water. Just this single Gift was enough to make him the world's greatest Hero.

That was how important Gifts were. It didn't need to be complex. A stronger and more efficient Gift was better.
I began to type.

===
▷Gift
—Getting Stronger Every day
[Null attribute]
Every 24 hours, increase all stats by 0.1.
===

"… Will this work?"

Even I found it shameless. When I went on hiatus, Kim Suho's strength stat was at 16. With this Gift, I would obtain 36.5 into all stats in just 365 days.
But since it could be reverted before it saved, I gave it a go.

[Novice Consideration activated. A Gift worth 10,000 SP will be created.]
[10,000 SP is not enough to create this Gift. It's quality decreases.]

===
▷「Getting Stronger Everyday」
[High-intermediate rank] [Spirit attribute] [Static]
—Cultivation Physique
Every 24 hours, increase all stats by 0.0015.
===

[Would you like to save the modified result?]

I immediately canceled.
1.5 into all stats in 1000 days. In 10,000 days, or 25 years, I would gain 25 into all stats, but I would be too old.

Next, I wrote down a Gift I thought of before.

===
▷Gift
「Master Sharpshooter」
[High-intermediate rank] [Null attribute]
Can wield long ranged weapons well.
===

I didn't put much detail into it. From my previous attempt, I realized what this laptop could do. No matter what I wrote, the laptop would modify it appropriately.

[Novice Consideration activated. A Gift worth 10,000 SP will be created.]
[10,000 SP is too much to create this Gift. It's quality increases.]

===
▷「Master Sharpshooter」
[High-intermediate rank] [Composite attribute] [Static]
—Master Sharpshooter's Training Method
*Unconditional proficiency in all long ranged weapons
—Thousand-Mile Eyes
*Can see farther away in more detail and accurately predict target's movement path.
*Increases perception and speed by 3.
—Bullet Time
*Once every 24 hours, you can spend 3 minutes in 'Bullet Time'.
===

"Oh?"

It was quite good. I especially liked that it applied to 'all long ranged weapons'. With this, I could use a bow if I wanted to. The Thousand-Mile Eyes seemed pretty self-explanatory, and Bullet Time probably increased my shooting speed or the like.
It was satisfactory, but there was still something I needed to change.
[Static]
Rather than a static Gift, which was a Gift that couldn't grow, a Gift that could get stronger was better.

[A phrase has been modified.]

===
▷「Master Sharpshooter」
[Low-intermediate rank] [Spirit attribute] [Evolving — Grade 10] [EXP 0%]
—Master Sharpshooter's Training
*Familiarity with all long ranged weapons
—Thousand-Mile Eyes
*Can see far away and somewhat predict target's movement path.
—Bullet Time
*In combat only and once every 24 hours, you can spend 3 seconds in 'Bullet Time'.
===

"Mm."

It fell from high-intermediate rank to low-intermediate rank and the skills became weaker overall, but in the grand scheme of things, an evolving Gift was much better. Not to mention, the main story would continue for at least 7 years…
Ah, I'm getting sad again.

"Fuck."

With a swear, I cleanly shook it off.

[Point 10]

Next, it was time to go back to stats.
How should I spend these 10 priceless Points?
Since invariable stats were 'invariable', I shouldn't be able to change them. In that case, I had to pick from variable stats.
However…
I might be able to modify invariable stats.

"… Should I exchange them for SP?"

Points could be exchanged with SP. Perhaps, it was possible to change invariable stats using SP.
But before making an irreversible mistake, I decided to give it a test. Thankfully, I had 64 SP, so I tried changing perseverance stat from 5.010 to 5.500.

[Using 64 SP, you modified an invariable stat.]
[You do not have enough SP. The value will be adjusted. Perseverance was changed to 5.060.]

"It worked?"

My eyes widened. If this worked, what I should do next was obvious. I had to convert my Points into SP and invest in invariable stats.
The question was which stat to choose…
Intelligence. Perseverance. Luck. Charm.
To be honest, as a man, the charm was extremely enticing.

"Luck it is."

But I knew all too well how important the luck stat was in this world.
I remembered a line from my novel.

[Luck stat doesn't just affect the chances of finding treasures in Dungeons. It also affects chances of getting bonus stats from training, chances to land a critical strike from attacks, and even chances to win a lottery. It was the best stat that applied to all sorts of situations…
Life was like that. Luck was what mattered the most.]

Without hesitating any longer, I used 10 Points to gain 10,000 SP.
Using all 10,000 SP, I increased luck to its maximum.
What I wanted was [Luck — 10/10]

[You do not have enough SP. The value will be adjusted.]

The laptop rejected my ridiculous wish and returned a reasonable compromise.

[Luck — 9.100]

"9.1 is the highest I can go, huh."

Since 9 was the limit for humans, 9.1 was extremely high.
But I didn't hit 'save' and canceled the modification.
Though it would take a bit longer, there was a more efficient method.

[Luck — 6.4/10]

First I raised my luck from 6.3 to 6.4 and saved. Next, to 6.5. Next, to 6.6, 6.7, 6.8… Doing this repeatedly…

[A mysterious luck applies! Your luck stat further increases by 0.01!]
[A strange luck applies! Your luck stat further increases by 0.05!]
…
…

[Luck — 9.100/10]

With this method, I got my luck stat to reach 9.1 with just 9000 SP. I had saved 1000 SP.
For reference, the 'Great Sage' of this world had 9.5 intelligence stat. As 9 was the limit for 'normal' humans, spending the remaining 1000 SP was unlikely to increase my luck further.
In exchange, higher invariable stats had an exponential effect. But now, it was better to use the remaining SP elsewhere.

"Perseverance should be good."

In my current situation, training was key. But with my old mindset, I would never be able to digest Cube's training. I didn't even want to do 10 push-ups.
Without hesitation, I put in the remaining 1000 SP into perseverance.
I wrote, [Perseverance — 8/10]

[You do not have enough SP. The value will be adjusted.]
[Perseverance — 6.600]

Though I wasn't too satisfied, I hit save.
Effect of luck only applied after saving.

[An incredible luck applies!]
[Your perseverance stat increases from 6.600 to 7.207!]

"Wow."

Now I was satisfied. But I didn't feel any different. 4 was the standard for an average person. 7 should be at the level of a talented individual.
In any case, I was happy. As I increase my invariable stats whenever I gained SP, I was sure I would just as cheaty as the main character.
Immediately after I had such blissful thought…

[An error that could greatly affect the plot has been detected. From now on, invariable stats cannot be modified with SP.]

"… What's this?"

A warning window popped up on the laptop screen, shutting down my plan for the future.

"Hm."

Intervention by the world?
Though I was displeased, I had no other choice. Nothing would change even if I argued with the air. Plus, I was already full of luck, which was what I wanted.

"Whatever~"

Without much thought, I closed the laptop and got up with a grin.
Now, it was time to test the Gift I created.

Chapter end