Soulless Players

Chapter 37: Class (3)

What is it like to have an increase of 15 to your Physique?

This was the question Philip had been wondering ever since he upgraded his Physique impulsively in the past. He wanted to know what benefits it brought to his strength and stamina.

It was only when he was on the run for one week and experimented his newfound body that he realized how important each Stat point is.

In Raven's form, he had always been at the top with his initial 30 Physique and was the strongest and the fastest among the ordinary people.

This was the result of his training in the previous life and the constitution of a main character of the story.

And if he added 15 more, he could have the stamina to run for six hours straight at his fastest speed without stopping. This was like an increase of two hours from his original record.

As for his strength, usually, he could carry 120 kilograms of weight but after the upgrade, he could now carry 180 for a long period!

That was why ever since it came to his knowledge, he had been careful and stingy about allocating his Stats points.

Ting!

Mental: 13 (+17)

Philip had always been smarter and shrewder compared to the other undercover agents. It was like his talent and intelligence brought him to the top of the food chain in the espionage world.

So if that was the case before, what would happen to him now that he has a Mental of 30?

It was like having an IQ of 300!

After Philip confirmed the increase, his world stopped moving. No. It was more like everything was moving extremely slowly.

The leaves outside were swaying mid-air as if they were opposing the force of gravity.

The flipping of book pages also slowed down, leaving the visible air pressure they carry.

Philip noticed the dust and other small particles floating around the classroom. Although they were just a bunch of dirty dead skin cells and soil, in Philip's eyes, they were beautiful, especially when they danced with the seven colors of sunlight reflecting on them.

But Philip forced himself to stop enjoying the scenery as time limited him. He quickly controlled his mind to bring him to the past, specifically to the time when he saw the answer printed on the book of his seatmate.

The world started moving, but backward and Miss Leffindor's countdown returned from 3 to 10.

Later, the time once again stopped, but now at the scene where Philip had glimpsed the answer.

Philip became ethereal as he ejected himself away from his physical body. He moved towards his seatmate and looked at the book on his front.

The hazy part had finally become clear to him, and he read each word in ecstasy.

And after he scanned the answer, he returned to his body and back to the present. Shortly, he looked straight into Miss Leffindor's eyes and answered the question confidently,

"Characteristic strength is minimum assured strength + 1.64 times standard deviation."

Miss Leffindor stopped her countdown and smiled, "Correct."

When Miss Leffindor said the word, cheers and applause echoed around the classroom.

Philip looked at his classmates celebrating as if they were the ones who answered the question and could not help but smile.

He might not like the attention they gave, but he was still happy with how friendly Conrad's classmates were.

'Now I'm sure that Conrad had misunderstood his classmates,' Philip thought while enjoying the cheers of his classmates. He was thinking of having a long talk once Conrad returned. He wanted Conrad to know how lucky he was to have friends who celebrated his success.

"Okay stop shouting!" Miss Leffindor drummed the table, "Don't disturb the classes next door."

"Good job Mr. Conrad. As expected of the top of the department!"

She then announced to the whole class, "So class, be like Mr. Conrad who studies the lessons in advance. You belong to the section one class of our department. Surely, you don't want to embarrass the university, right?"

"Yes!" The students unanimously replied, their tone was burning with competitiveness.

***

A couple of hours later, Philip could be seen running towards the university gate. Only when he stepped outside he resumed walking at a normal speed.

'I never knew that a university is this scary,' Philip murmured, his eyes were shaking as he glanced behind him.

But when he noticed people waving their arms at him, he quickly looked away and ran to the inn.

Earlier, after answering all of Miss Leffindor's questions and finishing her class, his classmates quickly roamed and pulled him closer to them. They were fighting for him as if he was the last discounted good in the store.

While Philip could easily break free from them with his strength, he chose not to. After all, he was Conrad, not Philip.

But when they started asking him academic questions, then he fought for his freedom and ran away from them. He no longer cared about 'Conrad's persona', all he wanted to do was to stay far from them.

'Hah. I finally knew the reason why Conrad thought he was being bullied.'

Conrad could not be blamed for his misunderstanding as his classmates were too fierce and forceful to answer their curiosity. And with Conrad's shy and dense personality, he could not fight and explain he was hurting.

Philip massaged his shoulders and thought about whether to solve Conrad's problem or not. He didn't want Conrad to misunderstand them. Also, he didn't want his classmates to continue their insensitive actions.

'Well, it is simply informing them about the truth. So I see no problem solving Conrad's situation.'

Philip stopped thinking and walked towards the inn. It was lunch break, so he had time to return.

Because the inn was close to the university exactly just outside the gate, he quickly arrived at his destination.

Philip entered the building and when he noticed that Evans' men were not there to create chaos, he heaved a sigh of relief.

'It's good they were still mindful about ethics.'

He then noticed a man he had never seen before seated at the receptionist counter.

He offered the man a slight bow, and the man also nodded in reply.

'So they also have other employees,'

Philip thought that only Conrad and Maris ran the inn since he hadn't seen someone else besides them.

It was only when he talked with Conrad last night that he confirmed three other people were working under them.

Philip secretly observed the man. 'Why does he look strange?'

However, Philip stopped his thoughts upon seeing a couple climbing down the stairs.

"Hello, I hope you enjoy staying in our inn," Philip greeted. He knew the couple, especially the wife as she was the same bride he saw at the church yesterday.

"Yes, thank you. We have a great stay here," answered the husband.

The greeting was short as they immediately dispersed.

Philip noticed the husband forcibly dragging the wife. She was clutching her stomach, and her stride was weak and short.

Although Philip was slightly concerned about her, he didn't poke his nose and help. He had enough of being meddlesome with Maris yesterday.

Moreover, he had more important things to do.

Philip entered a room on the basement floor. It was the room of Conrad and Maris.

After Philip transformed into Conrad, they decided for Philip to stay in their room. This was made to convince Evans' men that there was nothing wrong or suspicious going on.

Maris was not in the room or in the inn as she was studying in a school four blocks away. Like Conrad, she has been away from school to accompany his brother. Only when Philip arrived and acted as Conrad did she finally go back.

Philip smiled. This was what he needed, a quiet and empty room.

"Open System," he whispered.

Shortly after, a screen panel appeared before him. Philip then focused his mind on the System's Log.

[The player is under immense mental pain from continuously using his uniqueness. +1 Mental Toughness]

After reading the new log, Philip finally knew why his Mental increased from 12 to 13.

'So, not only I can upgrade my stats with stats points but also with training.'

Philip thought. If he trained his mind and body, his mental and physique might also undergo a change.

However, Philip frowned at the thought of strengthening his body.

'Hah. How can I train if my initial body is disabled?' Philip sighed. He decided to prioritize finding a medicine.

'To do this, I really need information…'

Philip looked at the 'Information' in the system panel and pondered, 'If only I could use this.'

Philip glanced at his karma getting more negative each hour.

'I almost got myself into trouble earlier with this…'

'As expected, I have to personally erase the reason for my karma getting more negative…'

Philip fixed his clothes and glanced outside the window. He saw the legs of a group of muscular men that had been following him since earlier.

When one of the men noticed some movement in the basement window, he squatted on the ground and smiled at Philip.

Philip narrowed his eyes as he quickly pulled the curtain down closed.