A Person with Morals gets Transported to Another World [LitRPG] [Satire]

Blyth handed out the papers to everyone. “These are copies of the raw data I’ve been collecting for those who are interested,” she said. The girl stood at the end of the table we were seated at and commanded attention. “We’ve figured out that increasing Body or Soul has benefits that scale exponentially but are non-compounding.” Many were confused as to what that meant.

An Earthling dressed as a fighter raised their hand and asked, “Can you start by telling us what we get by levelling Body?” The others with physical weaponry on them agreed.

Blyth pushed up her glasses. “Certainly. Much like the increase in HP, levelling Body results in an increase of physical prowess equal to 10% multiplied by the Body level gained. For example, if you were capable of doing 10 press-ups at baseline, at Body 1 you would be able to do 11.”

The full attention of everyone, including me, was focused on Blyth’s explanation.

“At Body 2, you experience a 20% increase, however this is non-compounding. Meaning you would be able to do 13 press-ups, not 13.2 press-ups.”

Was it even possible to do 0.2 of a press-up? Running the math through my head, I blurted, “So at Body 20, you would be able to do 220 press-ups?”

“Yes, exactly,” said Blyth with a surprised expression.

“You’ve gotten pretty smart, huh?” Loftus said as he nudged me playfully. In return, I shoved him forcefully.

Blyth went on, “Many of you have noticed that your increase in Body does not equate to an increase in muscle mass, despite the strength it gives you. Taking this into account, I deduced through some minor experimentation that you can change your baseline to gain more benefit from stats.”

Someone said, “In other words, if we train our muscles, we will be even stronger with the same stats. A person who can do 20 press-ups will be able to do 2 more at Body 1. Whereas someone who can only do 10 press-ups will only be able to do 1 more.”

“Precisely,” Blyth said. “This is not just for strength, though. Improving your baseline flexibility will improve the benefits that Body gives you too. Everything related to the body is affected. In the same vein, Soul increases your magical capabilities by 5% multiplied by the stat level.”

With Blyth’s explanation coming to an end, the members of the nightly meeting began discussing training methods to improve their baselines. The fighters discussed workout routines, but the mages seemed lost. They didn’t know any training methods to better their magical capacity because they purely used the System to cast spells.

They knew nothing of the mana conversion that study mages practised, so it was difficult for them to come up with a training regimen. And I wasn’t about to divulge my secrets. If they asked around at the school, they’d figure it out.

Now that the hall was lively with discussion, Blyth came over to me for a special word. She said, “The one thing I haven’t been able to test is Mind because no one else is investing into it.”

I sighed. “Yeah, I guessed as much.”

“Since it’s widely considered useless, I don’t want to waste too much time on it, but I am curious. What changes have you noticed by specialising into it?”

I gave serious thought on whether or not to answer, but I believed there to be no harm in it. Out of everyone I knew, Blyth was the one most likely to find a use for Mind. “I’m probably not fully aware of all the changes that have occurred to me, but I know for certain that I can calculate things much faster, and I can read standard books in under a minute.”

My last words made Blyth’s lips scrunch up into a small circle. “Really?”

“Yep.”

She slammed both her hands down on my shoulders. “This is perfect! You can become a knowledge-well for us otherworlders. We’ll have you spend your time in the library reading everything in sight, and then you can relay all the useful information to us. Don’t worry, we will pay you well for your efforts. There’s so much about this world that we don’t know, so a person like you is invaluable.”

It felt good to be valued but I outright denied Blyth’s request. “No.”

“Why not?” she asked. “You’ll be provided with ample payment. And we can bring you along on excursions if you want XP. I don’t think you understand just how essential knowledge is in this world.”

“I understand it perfectly fine, but I don’t want your blood money or XP.” I would have felt awful knowing that I was being paid in gold pieces that were stolen from innocent people. And I didn’t want to take any actions that would be useful to these people, so long as they committed evil.

“I’ll pay you 10,000 GP up front.” Blyth dropped a heavy pouch onto the table.

I shook my head and pushed the pouch away. “No amount of money will change my mind.”

“How about 10,000 GP and you get to punch Loftus?”

“Huh, why me?” asked Loftus.

Now that was far more tempting, but I still refused. “I can’t accept your request for anything less than pushing Loftus off of a cliff.”

“That can be arranged,” said Blyth.

“No it can’t!” protested Loftus.

Personally, I only wanted to associate with these people for as long as they were useful to me. Beyond that, I did not feel like helping them to achieve their own wicked goals.

I retired for the night to my bedroom. From what Blyth had revealed, it seemed that each level of Mind was increasing my baseline abilities by a certain percentage. There didn’t really seem to be an easy way to deduce what that percentage was. I supposed I could have timed the length it took me to calculate difficult equations, but there was too much room for variance. Plus, the exact percentage wasn’t that useful to know as far as I was concerned.

What did occupy me were thoughts of how to increase my baseline intelligence. If I played memory games, would I be able to recall things better? Possibly, but I wasn’t lacking in ability to remember, so there was really no need.

I took a moment to consider what Mind actually encompassed. I knew that Body affected one’s strength, flexibility, dexterity, reaction time, and so on. But what did a person’s mind consist of?

There were a lot of things that came to mind. I ignored the conundrum that the brain was technically part of the body, and so should not be separate from the mind. That was a metaphysical can of worms completely irrelevant to me.

Instead, I listed the main concepts: memory, attention, logic, speed of thought, ability to learn, creativity, willpower, and a bunch of other stuff. There was far too much that constituted a mind. The most important stuff like speed of thought couldn’t really be trained, so my baseline was unalterable for the moment.

I did consider what effect mind-altering substances might have, but I perished the thought quickly. The last thing I needed was another addiction to overcome.

Currently, the fact that my Mind would not help me further in battle was what worried me most. My prediction ability was being overcome by raw strength, speed, and reflexes. Plus, that predictive boon seemed to only be useful against fighters. What would I do if I were up against a mage?

Banking on gaining titles and skills that scaled off of mind, was not enough. Partly because those things came few and far between.

It pained me that fighting was such an integral part of my progression towards a better world. Without fighting, I couldn’t level up. And without levels, my capacity to help others was limited.

I was in bed, but I couldn’t fall asleep thanks to all the thinking I was doing.

I had to think of more uses for Mind. Funnelling all my brainpower, I managed to come up with something that wasn’t a solution to my problem at all.

With my high Mind, would I be able to learn languages faster? If I could, I might have had a chance at communicating with goblins and other monsters. By studying them or maybe some books, I could try to converse with them.

I patted myself on the back for the brilliant idea and then pinched myself for not coming up with a solution to my combat weakness.

I figured it would do me no good to stress over it, so I fell asleep while planning the next day’s activities.

The next morning, I woke up with a big stretch and a long yawn. The alarm rune begged me for a love tap and I obliged.

I put the impasse of last night aside and readied myself for the day.

Outside, Penrin and Newmill were waiting for me. Oddly, the prince was massaging a little red spot on his forehead. When I approached the two, I found out why as Penrin flicked me right above my nose. “Ouch.” The flick didn’t hurt so much as surprise me.

“I can’t believe you two disguised yourselves to try and flirt with my mother!” Penrin stomped her foot to the ground. “What do you have to say for yourself, Yarm?”

I could say nothing other than sorry. I apologised as deeply as I could.

“Good. It won’t happen again, will it?” Penrin was displeased but accepting of my apology.

“Not at all,” I promised. “From now on, I swear I will never wear a disguise when I flirt with your mother.”

She flicked my forehead again. “So you’re still planning on flirting with her? Did you think the disguise was my main issue?”

“I mean, yeah.”

“No! Stay away from her altogether.”

I extended a thumbs up. “Don’t worry, Penrin. I’ll make her a happy woman.”

She pulled on my cheek. “I’m not going to tell you again. Stop flirting with my mother!” she yelled loud enough for the surrounding public to hear.

“Ok, ok. I’ll stop!”