《The Rise》 Day of Choosing Peter was not surprised. If you spend all of your conscious hours from age four to eighteen preparing for a decision, and that decision occurs, then surprise should not be the expected reaction. Empower Body. Strength focus. Lower body variant. Peter looked at the document in front of him only for as long as it took him to read these seven words, then left the podium to begin his training. For even if the Day of Choosing is supposed to be the highlight of one¡¯s life, Peter already knew precisely what those words would read. Every moment not spent training would be a moment wasted. Peter was going to break the cycle his family had, proudly-for-them, upheld for generations. He was going to break the level fifty barrier, break the expectations of a common laborer, and break the world¡¯s assumptions of what a Strength focus is capable of. It was time to hit level one. Peter had fully prepared his body and mind for the beginning training, regardless of having no actual attributes available. As he entered the gym, Peter calmly walked up to the sandbag hanging in the back and roundhouse kicked it directly in the center. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- An hour later, the corner of Peter¡¯s mouth very slightly ticked upwards, as his internal status screen read: Ding! Congratulations, you have reached level 1. You have five (5) unallocated attribute points. Vitality - 0Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Endurance - 0 Strength - 0 Dexterity - 0 Intelligence - 0 And now, Peter thought to himself, time for the decision he had based his entire life on. Peter put four points into Endurance and one into Intelligence, then went back to massacring the sandbags. With the enhanced energy the endurance provided him it was late into the evening before Peter noticed his exhaustion, or for that matter, the beginning pangs of hunger. With his experience bar nearing 94%, he resumed training until the exhilarating sound came again: Ding! Congratulations, you have reached level 2. You have five (5) unallocated attribute points. Again he put four into Endurance and a single point into Intelligence, then began heading home for a well-deserved rest. Peter walked into his family¡¯s tiny home and was greeted by a flying bundle of joy wrapping him in a hug. Rachel shouted ¡°Brother! Congratulations! You¡¯re just like Ma and Pa, now you can stay with us supporting the Constructors as a Leg!¡± ¡°Rach... I love you, but I won¡¯t be staying. I leave for Junton at the end of the week. You know that,.¡± Peter replied. ¡°But¡­ you¡¯re a Leg now?¡± ¡°Yes. And I will be the champion.¡± ¡°A Leg hasn¡¯t won the district tournament in, well, ever. Come on are we so awful you¡¯d rather humiliate yourself in the city?¡± Rachel teased. Peter waited a beat, looking at her calmly before replying, ¡°I will take many lessons from our family. Our stamina is legendary. Father can spend multiple days moving granite. I¡¯m going to apply our gifts to something more than simply building a far-off emperor¡¯s palace.¡± Sensing the other legendary trait of her family, stubbornness. Rachel sighed and simply gave her brother another hug. This time the gesture wasn¡¯t full of rampant joy, but rather a solemn goodbye. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- Three days later Peter had said goodbye to his parents and his few village friends. As he began the two-week journey east towards Junton, he reflected on his stats: Level 4, 48% (1633/3403) Vitality - 0 Endurance - 16 Strength - 0 Dexterity - 0 Intelligence - 4 Peter smiled. He wouldn¡¯t win any races. Or duels. He wouldn¡¯t excel as a pure mathematician, and he¡¯d never lift the heaviest stone. But he¡¯d outlast them. He¡¯d outlast all of them. Travel to Junton Peter began jogging, with his current Endurance he had calculated he should only need to eat once every 40 hours, and sleep every 60. With his Intelligence not yet 10 he focused on one of the few public training regimes possible while running - the famed riddles of Linth. ¡°Five nobles have obtained 100 Fruits of Celerity and have to divide up the loot. The nobles are all extremely intelligent, treacherous, and selfish (especially the king). The king always proposes a distribution of the loot. All nobles vote on the proposal, and if half of them agree, the treasure is divided as proposed, as no single noble would be willing to take on the king without superior force on their side. If the king fails to obtain support of at least half his subjects (which includes himself), he faces a revolt, and all nobles will turn against him and commit regicide. The nobles start over again with the next senior noble as king. What is the maximum number of treasured fruits the king can keep without risking his life?¡± Pete had intentionally avoided learning the solutions, and could only rely on his newly advanced Intelligence to rationalize through the problem, hopefully without too much ease - so the classic riddle could still provide valuable experience. He initially thinks the number the king can keep would be small, but his intuition is telling him something¡¯s wrong with it. Pete was trying to ignore his internal bias against nobility¡­ but then was thinking of the opposite extreme situation. Of course the other nobles wouldn¡¯t accept 0 of the treasures, but as there are precisely five in this situation¡­ the answer must be 98 Fruits for the king, with a single fruit for the most junior and the second most senior of the nobles. The king would reason it out to his subjects - If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°If there were just two of us, obviously I would simply propose myself taking all of them and would count as 50% of the vote, and would thus win. Now assume this situation is for the second and most junior of you. Noble 5 would receive nothing in this example, so you must have at least three of us surviving to hope to gain a single treasure. Let¡¯s then assume that myself and Noble 2 are killed, of the three of you that are left Noble 4 would get nothing as Noble 3 would simply make the distribution 99, 0, 1 - which Noble 5 must vote for as a single Fruit is much better than none. The following situation would be then if only I were to die. Of the four left, Noble 2 would simply offer to give a single coin to Noble 4, with the distribution being 99, 0, 1, 0 - which means Nobles 3 and 5 would leave with nothing. So instead I propose that Nobles 3 and 5 each get a single fruit, leaving you to both live as well as gain a valuable treasure.¡± Ding! Congratulations, you have reached level 5. You have five (5) unallocated attribute points. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- Pete spotted the gates to Junton 9 days, two sleeps, and three levels later. He looked over his stats before approaching the line entering in from the south gate: Level 8, 27% (3727/13804) Vitality - 0 Endurance - 32 Strength - 0 Dexterity - 0 Intelligence - 8 His Endurance had passed the point most only reached towards the traditional soft-ceiling of personal level 50. While his speed and health would impress no one, the organic assistance by leveling as a Strength variant had his legs putting impressive dents in the various boulders Pete had passed on his journey. Confident in his plan, Peter approached the line of farmers, merchants, and other aspiring competitors. As he approached the gate, a guard called out ¡°Name, level, variant, purpose and length of visit¡± ¡°Peter Miller. Level 8. Empower Body - Strength - Legs. District tournament, as long as it takes¡± The guard simply called ¡°Next! Name, level, variant¡­¡± Peter walked up to the first food stall he spotted, there was a woman working inside of it cooking some sort of delicious-smelling meat. ¡°Hello, can you please point me to the Paxton Training Center?¡± Peter asked. ¡°Gonna buy a hare?¡± The woman replied. ¡°How much?¡± ¡°18 copper a leg, 40 for the whole thing.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take a leg, and directions¡±. ¡°Southeast end of the inner district. Square brown building, look for the idiots throwing fire at each other.¡± Meeting Paxton Peter walked through the city, delighting in the casual displays of power all around him. He saw a magnificent building advertising Communication services, the sign outside read ¡®Tired of waiting weeks to send a message to your beloved across the empire? Done with letters going missing at sea? One silver per word with our world-class Communicators!¡¯ As he approached the brown training facility he took a moment to watch a duel between what looked like two Elementalists. A brunette woman with a nasty face scar and studded leathers was throwing out beams of highly condensed air at a man encased in ice. The woman kept just out of reach by manipulating her beams to push her sideways and backwards, trying to trip the man whenever she had distance. The man¡¯s Ice Armor was proving too strong, able to get inside of her reach and swing a massive mallet directly at the woman¡¯s chest. In a desperate attempt the brunette through a beam right at the man¡¯s face, but got nowhere with the powerful Ice Shield. She went down in a heap. The man walked over and held out a hand. A few seconds later the woman took it, grinning she said ¡°Thanks Rob. Almost 300 experience that time. Give me two minutes for my stamina to get back and let¡¯s go again?¡± Peter walked over to the two, ¡°Hello. I just arrived in town today. I¡¯ll be training for the tournament, how do I become a member at Paxton¡¯s?¡± The man, probably Rob, said ¡°Hah, just got in today and you¡¯re joining in the tournament? What¡¯s your ele?¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Ah, I¡¯m not an Elementalist actual-¡± ¡°Whoa, you¡¯re a Mind? Large or Small objects? Or¡­ are you one of them freaky Mentalists?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m a Strength variant, Leg to be specific.¡± The woman snorted loudly. ¡°Hah! A Leg? And you want to train here? And you think you can join the tournament?¡± ¡°Look,¡± Peter said ¡°please just let me know where I can sign up. I¡¯m here to train.¡± Rob jumped in. ¡°Paxton doesn¡¯t accept Legs or Arms, except whenever he¡¯s adding in a new course I guess, to build the thing. But if you want to embarrass yourself you¡¯ll find him in his office inside, it¡¯s in the back.¡± Peter walked inside, feeling their judgment from behind. Immediately inside the building, he was overcome with a sense of exertion all around him. He saw people lifting impossibly heavy weights, running various obstacle courses, and even playing board games. Spotting the office all the way in the back, Peter couldn¡¯t help but smile. Time for step 2. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- It took thirty minutes of convincing, essentially all of the silver he had, and a promise to only train at night while he helped clean up during the day, but Brick Paxton finally agreed to accept Peter as a member, and gave him a cot in the storage area for when he needed to sleep. With membership came beginner manuals - training regimes for competitors with 0-35 in attributes. Peter set out to start cleaning while practicing the dexterity drills. By nightfall Peter was 20% closer to level 9, the gym was far cleaner than just hours before, and best of all he wasn¡¯t tired at all. As the other competitors started heading home Peter walked towards the weights - his intuition telling him the relative lifting struggle would be best for experience grinding based on the materials, and lack of partners, available to him. One hour before the gym reopened for the day Peter finally hit level 9, again placing four points in Endurance and one in Intelligence. He slept for a single hour to get back to fully refreshed, then walked into the gym to start again. Two nights later Peter hit level 10: Ding! Congratulations, you have reached level 10. You have five (5) unallocated attribute points and one (1) unallocated passive skill point. Peter didn¡¯t even need to look through the skill tree. He¡¯d been planning this for his entire life, and immediately made his choice. Adaptation After getting the passive skill, Peter reflected on his stats: Level 10, 03% (972/24,297) Empower Body. Strength Variant. Lower Leg Focus. Passive(s): Adaptation Vitality - 0 Endurance - 40 Strength - 0 Dexterity - 0 Intelligence - 10 Peter needed to test his new passive, everything he was building towards was based on his calculations - on the thing that the rest of the world ignored because Strength variants were below them. The problem was that with his Vitality being so low, he couldn¡¯t just get in a random fight - he had to schedule a Sanctioned duel with its built in protections. After speaking with Paxton, the trainer finally said he¡¯d set it up for the coming weekend, after Peter committed to cleaning the gym for another month without pay. Sanctioned spots were apparently in high demand leading up to the district tournament. In the days leading up to the duel, Peter reflected on his plan. Most true combatants reached level 50 with little issue, and were able to get towards 60 by their peak. Peter based his whole life on the key observation he had from watching his father. It was said that Jared Miller was able to lug around chunks of granite for three days before needing a rest. He was the most reliable and requested Leg in the village. His Endurance was legendary, and Peter knew the attribute had been at 86 for all of his dad¡¯s adult life. Apparently his father had put any points he gained directly into Endurance, Strength, and some into Dexterity - the things that would help him do what his father, and his father¡¯s father, and their ancestors before them had done - build. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. But what if, and this is the most important if of his life, that same Endurance was pointed at something different? If you combined a near-endless amount of stamina with maniacal focus on training, leveling past 50 should be more than reasonable - eventually. And then, when your lasting power was unmatched, there was a passive that was ignored by all but Mental Combatants - the rare variant who specialized in battle intuition. That passive was Adaptation, which read ¡°Achieve permanent - but miniscule - understanding of unique battle techniques when used against you. Scales with Intelligence.¡± So that was Peter¡¯s plan. Stamina to train forever, slight Intelligence to learn¡­ everything. If Peter kept his Strength and Dexterity low - the relative struggles of weight training and obstacle courses should let him level up near-infinitely on available materials. He¡¯d begin exchanging one point in Stamina for one in Vitality now that he hit level 10. After all, it was important not to die while he slowly scaled. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- Peter walked into the coliseum, approaching the information desk at the lobby. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m here for a Sanctioned duel. Could you let me know where to go?¡± he asked the gruff looking man, the one attendant without a line in front of them. ¡°Name, level, Element, Elemental variant?¡± ¡°Uh, actually I¡¯m not -¡± ¡°Don¡¯t care, it¡¯s not a secret, Element.¡± ¡°No,¡± said Peter ¡°I mean I¡¯m not an Elementalist.¡± Suddenly the man seemed interested. ¡°Oh, fascinating. My name¡¯s James - it¡¯s been a month or so since we¡¯ve had a Mind in here. Small or Large?¡± ¡°Actually I¡¯m a Strength variant, Leg specifically. And to the beginning questions - Peter Miller, level 10.¡± It seemed like the man had a hard time shifting emotions so quickly, as now there was a pained, almost angry look on his face. ¡°What is this, some shitty prank? Where¡¯s Jake, did he put you up to this? How¡¯d you even know there¡¯s a Peter Miller supposed to duel today? That¡¯s protected information.¡± It looked like Peter¡¯s forethought of being thirty minutes early would come in handy. Five minutes later, James gave up. ¡°Fine - this is obviously a shitty prank but I¡¯m not losing my job over it. Tell Peter that he¡¯s in bay 4 down the hall on the left. And tell SUSAN or whoever¡¯s behind this that I¡¯m still recording Peter Miller as a Leg, and she¡¯ll have to explain it if anyone asks what happened here.¡± Sanctioned Duel So Peter left, heading towards a room with a big 4 on top of the door. As he entered, he spotted another person sitting on the bench alongside the inside left wall. The young man looked up, grinned, and said ¡°Hi! I¡¯m Rupert Stint, level 10 Darkness Elementalist, Dagger Throwing variant. What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Peter Miller, level 10 Leg.¡± ¡°Whoa! I¡¯ve never dueled a Leg! This¡¯ll be fun¡± said Rupert. ¡°Wait, you¡¯re not upset you have to face me?¡± ¡°Why would I be upset? I¡¯ll be the only person I know who actually had a Sanctioned duel vs a Leg. I didn¡¯t even know your people were allowed to fight!¡± ¡°My people are people, we c-¡± ¡°Oh wow I¡¯m sorry, that came out way worse than I meant!¡± started Rupert ¡°I just mean I haven¡¯t really gotten to meet a Leg before, or any Strength variant. This is an honor really!¡± Peter had to pause. Every part of his journey since the Day of Choosing had only reinforced his belief, that Strength variants were eternally looked down upon as simple labor for others. That they could never be realistically considered combatants, and certainly not Champions. He looked directly at the man, a kid really - probably 16 to Peter¡¯s 18, and said ¡°Thank you Rupert. I really appreciate that. This is my first Sanctioned duel, well really my first duel or true combat at all. Would you mind walking me through the details?¡± ¡°Sure, sure!¡± Rupert began ¡°So, these buildings are special - I had to wait a whole month for this duel! - because Sanctioned essentially means not only are they recorded and the match counts towards our Combatant score, but also that we¡¯re protected from dying/serious injury. There will be a Mind watching our match, a Combat Specialist variant, whose only job is to make sure the Air Eles overseeing are ready to interrupt if things get too spicy. It lets us go all out and try as hard as we can without any real concern. There¡¯s even a Vitality fountain to help us heal up and get back in the matches. Oh, by the way - what is your Combatant score? You said it¡¯s your first duel, but have you been in the tournaments before?¡± ¡°No, so I guess I¡¯d just be 1500 right now?¡± said Peter. ¡°Yep, also your first matches count more for determining ranking so if you beat me you¡¯ll be in a good spot! I just hit 1630 after the tournament two months ago. Made it to the third round! Will you be competing in the regional in three weeks?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the plan¡± Peter said. BONG BONG BONG. A bell rang, signalling the start of their 4 hour session. The door to the inner chamber opened with an audible click. Rupert turned to Peter and said ¡°Once we¡¯re inside, there will be a bell along the wall. Once we ring that the duel officially starts. It ends when either the Ele has to break us up or either one of us concedes. We have the room for four hours, and I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll both need long breaks after each duel so let¡¯s get going! Good luck Peter!¡± Peter walked in, looking around. The room was a 50 foot by 50 foot square, with four 3 foot wide pillars near each of the corners, perhaps placed so combatants could use them to dodge or kite. As Peter approached the furthest wall, Rupert called out ¡°Ready? Going to ring the bell!¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Ready.¡± Peter replied. Rupert rang the bell and suddenly a light shield of Air surrounded each of them, signaling they could start. Immediately Rupert threw a dagger of Darkness right towards Peter¡¯s head. Peter moved to dodge, but was a step too slow. BONG. A blast of Air pushed back both Peter and Rupert, signalling the end to the duel. ¡°Err, wow. Sorry - wasn¡¯t expecting that to win right there¡± said Rupert. Peter gave a small smile and said ¡°Go again?¡± ¡°Alright!¡± began Rupert, ¡°it¡¯s your CS to sacrifice! If you don¡¯t need the Combatant score I¡¯ll gladly take it! I need 30 seconds to fully regenerate Stamina and let¡¯s go¡± Half a minute later, Rupert pushed the bell, and the light shield of Air surrounded both Combatants. Rupert immediately threw another dagger of Shadow out of his right hand, again directly towards Peter¡¯s head. This time, as Rupert was moving his hand, Peter felt a slight nudge in his brain. Something clicked, and he began moving before the Shadow started its journey. Peter cleanly dodged to the side, and charged at Rupert. When Peter was 15 feet away, Rupert kicked his left foot up, a Shadow dagger springing out towards Rupert¡¯s midsection. Unable to dodge in time, they both yet again felt the gusts of Air drive each Combatant back towards the starting positions. Peter had a full grin going now, and looked right at Rupert, yelling ¡°Again!¡± Rupert was enjoying himself but - ¡°You got it, one minute on Stamina though, don¡¯t you need a break?¡± ¡°Nope,¡± said Peter. ¡°I can go all day. Ready when you are.¡± ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª- For the first three hours, Peter lost every single one of the duels, and it wasn¡¯t very close. But then all of those little nudges in his brain started adding up. He had seen a particular feint before, or that unique shadow dagger had approached his left side in an earlier duel, or his experience of having a kick dodged by Rupert and the correct follow-up - all of these mini memories were sparking something and gave his body the precise response he needed and finally, he won a match with a terrifying roundhouse kick directed right at Rupert¡¯s core. Just before impact the Air shield popped into place and flung the combatants back to their starting positions. Interestingly it was Rupert who shouted with glee after Peter¡¯s first victory. ¡°Yes!!!¡± Rupert yelled. ¡°Uh, thank you?¡± said Peter. ¡°No, sorry, I mean congrats, I mean - well, I leveled up! Finally 11!¡± ¡°Ah, congratulations to you as well then, ready for the next duel?¡± Rupert replied back ¡°Yep, I¡¯ll place my attributes later, not sure what makes the most sense, probably just more Vitality and Dexterity. But with the level up my Stamina is full - so, let¡¯s go!¡± As they got back to the duels, Peter went on a string of victories. Initially the matches were close, with Peter barely coming out the victor. By the end though Peter would finish every match without a single scratch on him or a lone missed attack. With just twenty minutes left of their allotted time, and Rupert¡¯s enthusiasm quickly waning with the constant losses, Peter felt his own level up happen. Ding! Congratulations, you have reached level 11. You have five (5) unallocated attribute points and zero (0) unallocated passive ability points. Peter immediately put three points into Endurance, one into both Intelligence and Vitality. With his strategy confirmed he had to make sure he lived long enough to see it to fruition. Peter turned to Rupert ¡°Just leveled up myself, ready to finish out the duels?¡± ¡°Might as well,¡± said Rupert, ¡°Even if I¡¯m suddenly losing everything it¡¯s at least great experience!¡± Peter and Rupert finished their matches, with Peter sweeping the rest easily - fast enough that Rupert¡¯s needed Stamina breaks weren¡¯t a big hindrance. BONG BONG BONG. That bell rang again, signalling the end to their time. As Peter began to leave the room, Rupert turned to him and asked ¡°That was so much fun! You got really strong so fast, I had no idea Legs were so powerful! How come more of you don¡¯t compete in the Tournaments?¡± Peter smiled ¡°Well, most Strength variants don¡¯t even try, they¡¯re too busy building and working to make sure their families stay healthy and safe.¡± ¡°Oh. I guess that makes sense. Well - if you want to practice again in the future let me know! My family belongs to the obstacle club in central Junton and I¡¯d be happy to bring you to practice together! We get two guest passes a month, just let me know. I live over in district 2, the green house at the top of the hill.¡± After they parted ways, Peter was heading out of the coliseum when James flagged him down from the front desk. ¡°Hey Peter¡± James said, ¡°I wanted to apologize. We just haven¡¯t had a Leg in here for¡­ I think ever. Anyway, the ending duel score was 11 - 14, in Rupert Stint¡¯s favor. Because he started at a higher CS than you your current CS still went up 45 to 1545. Let me know if you have any questions or need anything.¡± ¡°Got it. No worries, thank you for the information.¡± ¡°Yep, sorry again. Have a great day¡± Internally, Peter couldn¡¯t help but be elated. His plan absolutely worked. Adaptation was as strong as he hoped. Any time he faced a combat situation similar to something he¡¯d already experienced it helped guide his reactions. The next phase was simple. Now all Peter had to do was train. Train for every circumstance. With his Endurance already at 43, Peter had no concerns over a lack of stamina. He had three weeks until the next Regional Tournament, and he planned to spend every waking minute - or about 95% of all the minutes - training.