Chapter 20: Speculation x The True Value of Attribute PointsOn the island where the fourth stage of the Hunter Exam was taking place.
Lorin sat cross-legged on a large stone, facing a gently flowing stream, though his attention wasn’t on it at all.
His focus was entirely on the system panel that only he could see.
Lorin stared at the single point of vitality and mental power that hadn’t changed since the beginning, deep in thought.
Honestly, Lorin hadn’t paid much attention to attribute points at first.
After all, he was only level one, and his attribute points were just one each.
But as the days went by and the attribute points remained unchanged, Lorin started to find it odd.
On the first day, he assumed it was because he had just started training, so it wasn’t strange that the attribute values didn’t change.
However, during the three days in the Trap Tower, Lorin had been training almost constantly.
Even without precise measuring tools, Lorin could feel that his physical condition had improved significantly.
Yet…
The attribute values still hadn’t moved.
Was it possible that his level of improvement hadn’t reached the minimum threshold for an increase?
Lorin didn’t deny this possibility.
After all, based on the data he had seen when he first leveled up, a single point of vitality translated to at least two tons of strength. And when he burst into speed, Lorin could probably run 100 meters in under five seconds.
His endurance was even more exaggerated—he could probably run four or five full marathons in a row without breaking a sweat.
So, while Lorin could feel his improvement, it wasn’t enough to compare to the enhancement brought by a single point of vitality.
Still, Lorin didn’t think that was the real reason.
He believed that the reason his attribute values hadn’t increased was because the vitality displayed on his system panel wasn’t a simple measure of strength, speed, or stamina.
In other words, just training his body wouldn’t effectively increase his vitality.
And the reason for this… was the high-speed state he had entered during his game with Netero on the airship.
At the time, Lorin had concluded that he had been able to enter the high-speed state due to his upgraded attributes.
And afterward, he gave it more thought.
The main reason he had been able to enter that state was probably because of his single point in mental power.
After all, while his physical condition was decent, it wasn’t extraordinary. Even Killua currently had better physical abilities than him.
So, the high-speed state had to be mainly due to that one point of mental power.
But that raised another question.
How strong exactly was one point of mental power?
Lorin had previously tried to compare the strength of one point of mental power to the strength shown by one point of vitality.
At the time, his conclusion had been that it simply surpassed the level of an ordinary person.
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One point of mental power had brought him close to the realm of Netero, the strongest human in this world. So how strong was one point of mental power, really?
When he compared Netero’s ability to actively compress his sense of time, Lorin began to think that the strength of one point of mental power might actually rival the human peak!
If that was the case, then one point of vitality couldn’t just be limited to two tons of strength or a 100-meter sprint in five seconds.
With that, Lorin came to his earlier conclusion.
The two tons of strength and the five-second sprint were probably just passive boosts brought by one point of vitality.
The true value of vitality wasn’t in its direct enhancement of strength, speed, or stamina.
Instead, as its name implied, vitality was the essence of life itself—an enhancement of life’s very foundation.
If this hypothesis was correct, then vitality and mental power would align.
One point of vitality and one point of mental power essentially elevated Lorin’s physical and mental essence to the peak of human potential.
However, because of the difference between the body and the mind, mental power was easier to manifest, while the full potential of vitality would require gradual accumulation through training.
Testing this hypothesis would be simple.
If Lorin trained his physical condition to several times its current state and the system panel’s vitality still didn’t increase, then he could confirm that his guess was correct.
“If my hypothesis is right, then the value of upgraded attribute points is far greater than I initially imagined!” Lorin muttered with a smile.
After organizing his thoughts, Lorin stood up, stretched, and his gaze became resolute.
“Time to start training!”
Lorin was brimming with motivation.
After all, more than just upgrading his physical and mental strength, Lorin was eager to confirm his theory.
The difference between the two outcomes was vast.
“First, to slightly adjust my training plan, I need to find some useful tools!” Lorin said to himself as he moved through the forest, his eyes scanning his surroundings.
Before long, Lorin found what he was looking for.
A Hunter candidate carrying a blade.
Lorin’s gaze sharpened, and in an instant, he surged forward, quickly approaching the candidate.
“Who’s there?”
The Hunter candidate, who was holding a knife and on high alert, immediately noticed the sound of Lorin’s approach. However…
Lorin appeared beside him in a flash, striking him with a single blow that sent the candidate flying.
As the candidate spat up blood and was thrown into the air, Lorin frowned slightly.
While he had killed a few beasts over the past few days, this was the first time he had attacked a human.
Still, he had held back and avoided any vital areas. If the candidate died from this, Lorin wouldn’t have much to say.
The Hunter Exam was a life-or-death challenge, and if someone died, they had no one to blame but themselves.
Lorin stepped forward, retrieved the candidate’s number badge, and, more importantly, took the knife from the candidate’s hand.
He needed it to chop wood.
His upcoming training wouldn’t be the same as the past few days, where he had simply run to gain experience.
This time, Lorin planned to focus on strength training.
Compared to endurance or stamina, which were harder to measure, strength was more straightforward. And through this, Lorin could test his hypothesis.
But to train strength, he needed the right equipment.
Since Lorin’s strength was far beyond that of a normal person, traditional bodyweight exercises wouldn’t provide much benefit.
So, Lorin turned to the most abundant resource in the forest—wood—and planned to use logs as weights for his training.
“Let’s see how this plays out over the next few days!” Lorin took a deep breath, darted deeper into the forest, and began searching for a suitable training spot.