While Elliot immersed himself in training, continuously dodging the puppet's powerful attacks and countering them with his own, he sensed something strange. Deep inside his body, the attribute energy he had been accumulating slowly began to condense, forming a small, concentrated ball in the middle of his body.
"Am I about to create a stat point?" he thought as he realized that this was indeed happening quickly.
His heart quickened, and he became a little impatient, but in his distraction, he took a clean hit on the face. Though the pain stung, it was nothing alarming, and he managed to recover quickly before continuing the fighting.
Yet, as the minutes passed, his interest and excitement gradually faded. Yes, something was gathering inside him—indeed, attribute energy—but nothing was happening.
Thirty minutes went by. Then, an hour later. But everything was the same.
Aside from the feeling of gathering, nothing had changed.
In the end, Elliot let out a sigh and decided to focus on his training instead.
_____
As time went by while he continued his training, Elliot began to try to understand attribute energy once again, this time more closely. This was because he had started to realize something: He wasn't creating agility the way he had expected.
And it made sense.
Dodging the puppet's attacks was easier said than done. Its strength was likely around 8 points—far superior to his own. In truth, his flesh was what had been holding up against the puppet's attacks and not his agility.
Upon realizing this, Elliot knew he had to understand attribute energy better. The problem was the fact that he had no books to read nor a mentor—so he would have to do it on his own.
But he couldn't understand it in depth. Even the greatest scholars hadn't fully understood this energy.
It had appeared out of nowhere alongside the Awakening System, feeling growth and increasing strength in its different aspects and the stats that would later determine your rank through the Strengthening Ranks. But one had yet to know exactly what it was. Its depth seemed to be hidden in mystery in the space, endless.
'Could it have something to do with my class? This says that I am the Monarch of Energy… I don't know what kind of title it is, but it does sound amazing,' Elliot thought as he glanced at his system panel.
It basically told him that he was the ruler of energy, but it still gave him no clue what that meant. It was almost as if he had been handed a kingdom to govern, but he wasn't taught the language or given any information or instructions about it.
So the question still remained, but he didn't have time to find all the answers.
With a burning fist, he delivered a punch straight in the puppet's chest for what seemed like the twelfth time. His bones were screaming in protest and pain, but his blow was finally effective, and the puppet's chest caved inwards before it was sent crashing into the wall behind it, ending the fight.
'Finally…'
As he took a deep breath, the energy inside his body seemed to have finally completed the whole process it had been going through.
[You have earned a stat point: +1 strength point]
Elliot's eyes immediately widened with excitement, and he quickly turned his attention to check his stats.
[ Statistics: ]
| Strength: 5. [+1]
| Resistance: 3.
| Agility: 3.
| Sense: 5 (Maximum achievable by a common human).
Remaining Stat Points: 1
Then a realization dawned on him—he had spent two hours at the gym and another two hours training here.
"I gained a stat point in just four hours!" He was stunned.
Although he had been whining for a while that he hadn't created any points in two hours of training, he knew that stat points couldn't be created so easily—in fact, it usually was never this fast.
'Maybe it has something to do with the attribute energy I stole earlier…' he thought.
But as he looked inside himself and noticed that something didn't add up, he frowned. "Isn't the energy that is transformed into stat points supposed to be gathered like that?"
As far as he knew (which was very little), attribute energy has two phases.
The first was when it had not been transformed into some kind of strength, which was Raw Energy (pure energy); the second was when it had already been transformed into that strength, which was Converted Energy.
In its first phase, pure energy must be guided by training or something else to become stat points. It is dispersed throughout the body but in its pure state.
The second form is also found in the body, but since it is part of a stats point that strengthens 'something', this time, it is already part of the body and is completely intermingled with it. It is no longer independent of the body.
Both states can be distinguished when one takes a quick look inside one's body.
But here was the problem—Elliot had no idea how to transform that energy inside him into stats actively. Since he had never attended an academy and his only knowledge about Awakened abilities came from what his father told him more than five years ago, he was confused about it.
But now, he understood.
"I see. So this is what it means. To become strong, you must first understand the way in which you want to strengthen yourself. If you want strength, you must understand how to gain strength and strive for it. That saying wasn't about creating attribute energy—it was about refining the energy within and condensing it into some kind of true strength."
The realization hit him like a spark igniting a fire. He was shocked—not just by what he was experiencing but by all that it meant, since…
'I still have a lot of attribute energy inside me that is in its pure state. That means all that energy will soon be transformed into stats as I continue to train and push myself, right?'
The smile stretched across his face, almost reaching his ears. Without wasting another second, he ran to a bookshelf on the side of the room, grabbed a martial arts manual, and set about starting to train properly.
Since he was in a facility this advanced, he needed to learn proper martial arts techniques to maximize the results of his training.
After studying the book's first few pages, which outlined an entire phase of movements, Elliot reactivated the mechanism in the room. A new combat puppet emerged, its heavy steps echoing in the room as it began to walk towards him.
He immediately assumed a mixed martial arts stance, balancing most of his weight on his left leg. One of his arms was raised in front for the strikes, while the other stayed back and high, ready for surprise counterattacks—at least that's what the book instructed.
Then, he patiently waited for the puppet, which seemed to be approaching with even lesser speed but seemingly with greater determination.
'It's the tank type. Good…' Elliot smiled.
He remained patient, waiting for the right moment. At the last second, the puppet lunged at him—fast and forceful. Elliot raised his left arm to defend himself.
Pain shot through his bones, but he didn't falter. This was the perfect opportunity to fight back, and so he responded. He twisted his body and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to the puppet's neck.
The kick connected effectively, and the impact sent the puppet stumbling to the side. Then, without hesitation, Elliot took advantage to start the fight and his training.
And so, the hours passed quickly.
From the wounds and bruises that became more evident on his body and the dents and cracks on the puppet's once pristine body, it was clear that he had been training for longer than he would have thought.
And the fruits of his efforts were not long in coming.
After 12 hours of intensive training.
After hitting the puppet for the last time, he stopped and took a deep breath. Then, he watched as the puppet was sent out of the ring before it collapsed.
His muscles ached, his knuckles throbbed—but his grin remained.
"Hitting these things is tough, but…" He grinned as he glanced at his system panel.
At that moment, he realized just how wonderful his Talent was.
In just 12 hours, he was able to create… four stat points.
[ Statistics: ]
| Strength: 5. [+3]
| Resistance: 3. [+1]
| Agility: 3.
| Sense: 5 (Maximum achievable by a common human).
Remaining Stat Points: 4
Most people could only dream of achieving that many stat points in such a short time. This was because there was no way that anyone could get such a large number of points in such a short time.
He could only do it thanks to one of his talent bonuses, the third one, to be precise.
"Not only can I create stat points much faster than others, but the same applies to my attribute energy. Even though I've been condensing more and more attribute energy into stat points, all that effort has created more and more attribute energy inside me, making me passively and actively strong."
The grin on his face just couldn't fade away, and suddenly, he was assailed by a sudden wave of emotions surging through him.
Joy. Thirst for revenge. Pain. Longing.
The joy of finally awakening—and not just to any power, but something extraordinary. The thirst for revenge was now within reach. The pain of having awakened too late to save the ones he had lost. And the longing… the hunger for what was to come.
His longing for power. His longing to climb to the top.
When he was torn between his desire to reach the top and his thirst for revenge, he remembered the conversation among those guys a while ago.
'The Star Tournament…'
'I think I'll be your equal sooner than you think.' Elliot smiled, and without wasting any moment, he allocated his remaining stat points.
Instantly, he sensed his body transforming. His muscles were growing stronger, gaining a strength that was totally different from the one he already had.
This wasn't just physical strength—it was something more. This was a mystical force, which, combined with the mysticism of the energy of attributes, left him craving more.
He took a deep breath to calm the fire within his heart. Although training was important, so was food. And right now, he was starving.
"I'll go and eat first, then get back to training. Somehow, I don't feel exhausted." He smiled and left the martial arts center.
Dawn had already arrived. He stepped outside to buy himself a breakfast, unfortunately, the $10 in his pocket didn't allow him to have a feast, so he would have to wait.
"Once I hit the 10-point milestone, I can make money by hunting the beasts. Until then, I just have to be patient and eat anything."
With that thought in mind, he settled for the cheapest breakfast he could find, one that would make him completely full.
Fortunately, the street vendors were selling affordable food at this time of year, so he didn't face much of a problem.
Then, he returned to the training.
First, he went to the gym, where a new training routine was designed for him—one that was focused on boosting his strength and resistance. These two stats gave him more energy.
And then, he dove into another 6 hours of relentless training.