Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 52: Chapter 48: Progress

Read chapter 52 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Chapter 48: Progress Chapter 48: Progress The forest east of Vrung’s Quarry wasn’t especially dangerous, just dense. The deeper he pushed, the more the trees leaned in like curious old men, whispering through their leaves at Alex. Shafts of sunlight pierced the dense canopy in lazy golden beams. Alex found a small clearing not far from the slow-moving section of the river, marked it on his mental map, then dumped his pack onto a flat rock and exhaled. “Alright,” he said. “Time to get to work.” “Finally,” Obby replied, his voice buzzing with smug satisfaction inside Alex’s head. “You’ve been walking for hours. Your progress bar was starting to cry.” “I get it already, damn.” Alex muttered. “First, let’s figure out how to best spend these experience points. Which stats are going to be my priority?” “Still can’t believe you hit Wisdom five,” Obby said. “Feels like I can breathe again. If I had lungs of course.” Alex ignored him, rubbing his chin. Wisdom was certainly not his priority right now, despite how much he knew Obby would disagree. “So then,” he said. “What’s our plan?” “Short version? You’re a broken mage with no core, running off body-stored aether. That makes you a hybrid. Glass cannon without the glass or the cannon.” “Helpful.” “Just being honest. So, if you’re going to be a martial caster without a core, you need three things: survivability, efficiency, and spell-integration.” Alex nodded. “So we prioritize stats that support all three.” He mentally pulled up his status screen to spend his points, and his finger hovered over the screen. “Willpower and Intelligence. I need to absorb more aether and use it better,” Alex muttered. “Those stats would likely also help in progressing my [Aether Attuned Body] ability at a faster rate.” “ That’s all true, but it wouldn’t provide a power increase here and now, just slightly accelerate future growth. Remember, your body runs on aether now. But you also use it to cast your spells, so the more you can store the better.” “Easy, it has to be vitality then.” Alex said. “ For increasing your overall power right now, that would be the best bang for your buck, so to speak.” Obby gave Alex a mental nod as he spoke in his mind. Alex wasn’t sure how he knew that, but he felt it. “Bang for my buck huh? You mentioned Batman earlier too, how do you know all these things from earth? From my world?” Alex asked wearily. “ Oh good question!” Obby’s rock hummed softly. “ I have no idea.” “ None? Really?” “Really. I can guess it has something to do with our connection, but Arceus only knows the truth on that.” “ Arceu- okay never mind, forget it. Vitality it is, let do this.” Name; Alexander Pierce Experience; 9 Strength: 7 (0.2%) Agility: 7 (4.8%) Vitality: 8 (13.0%) Wisdom: 5 (0.1%) Intelligence: 5 (21.9%) Willpower: 7 (1.0%) He poured every experience point he could into his vitality. As he already knew, the amount of experience it took to increase each stat was climbing. So after spending over thirteen-hundred points, it didn’t feel like Alex really made much progress when simply looking at the numbers on his status screen. That wasn’t entirely true though. Each gap between stat points seemed to increase as Alex kept climbing. The level of difference between eight vitality and seven vitality was greater than the difference between seven and six, for example. He felt this fact as the soothing warmth of energy in his body faded, and he mentally checked his body with his mind’s eye, as well as his [Aether Sight]. “Looks like my body is ready to absorb more aether now, that’s for sure.” Alex said, looking down at his torso and limbs. The saturation of energy in his cells and tissues that he felt before, full and nearly bursting, was now hungry. “Try doing that thing where you attack your insides with aether then. You know what I mean. It’s fun watching you grunt in pain and sweat all over the place. Reminds me how glad I am to not be a weird fleshy sack creature like you.” “Yet you wish you coul