The usual routes that most of the local trains took, however, didn't stop anywhere conveniently near the Taisho Upper-town district.
So, Shitsubo was forced to trek for quite a while on foot, and then eventually take a different, more expensive Metro-train line just to get back to Taisho Upper-town.
This, of course, cost him some more of his money.
By the time he finally got all the way back to that familiar, abandoned mall, Shitsubo immediately checked his usual designated spot, but Daigo was yet to return.
So, he then just went up to the relatively secluded first floor, found a quiet corner, and then immediately brought up his Profile again, primarily to distribute all those reversed, now available Status points.
**Profile
Name: None
Nature: Evolve Human
Level: 10
Title: Viking
Hit point: 100/100
Damage per hit: 40
Arcane Energy: 26/29
Arcane Skills
Shape-shift Lv.1
Arcane Physiology (None)
Power Status
Strength: 8 Heart: 1
Speed: 5 Vitality: 1
Stamina: 17 Energy: 12
Construct: 10 Cognition: 2
Available Status Points: 65
Trophy
'Okay, now. How much StatusPoint do I actually need to put into Construct to make a real difference?
It would be incredibly fuckin' stupid of me to just blindly throw a huge, random amount of it into that stat without knowing for sure.
Shit, man, I really thought I had finally fuckin' figured at least half of this confusing System shit out already.
But it seems like just knowing only half of the goddamn story isn't nearly gonna cut it by a long fuckin' shot, not if I want to survive,' Shitsubo thought, looking intently at the holographic tab as he began to pace restlessly back and forth in that same filthy, abandoned toilet that he had been hiding in before Daigo had come to call him out for that last mission, what now felt like many, many long hours ago.
'…And I certainly can't just be cautiously adding only a little bit of points at a time, and then constantly fuckin' testing if my body can now handle a mad fuckin' punch force or not.
I don't have that humpty, Evolved PMC nurse around here to magically patch me up again if I fuckin' break myself while trying to test this new shit out.
Fuck, I really do not even want to risk breaking my own damn bones again in the first place, not if I can possibly avoid it…'
He finally stopped his agitated pacing around.
He then headed straight to a relatively clean corner of the ruined toilet and, resting his back wearily against the cold, grimy wall, he slowly slid his back downwards until he was sitting on his butt on the dirty floor.
He just sat there for a long while, silently coming up with many different, complex ideas, and then immediately finding all the potential errors and flaws in those same ideas, for what felt like several tens of minutes, his mind working furiously.
Then, eventually, his eyes made a quick, almost unintentional glance back at the still-open Profile tab.
And as he did, his eyes suddenly caught something there, something that felt somewhat strange at first, but then also felt like it was probably not just a random, meaningless coincidence.
"Wait a second… My current Damage per hit is listed as 40… My Strength is currently at 8… and my Speed is at 5. Now, 8 times 5 is… holy shit, it's exactly 40," he couldn't help but say aloud, his voice a stunned whisper.
He then immediately adjusted his sitting posture, leaning forward intently, so he could concentrate much harder on where this new, unexpected line of thought was now going.
'That absolutely can't just be some kind of bloody, random fuckin' coincidence, can it?
That my listed Damage per hit just happens to be the exact fuckin' same number I get if my current Status points in Strength and Speed are multiplied together…
Fuck, I fuckin' hate this stupid, confusing, game-fuckin'-like System sometimes!' he couldn't help but lament internally, as his head immediately started to feel like it was about to begin seriously aching again, probably because of all the intense, concentrated thinking he has been doing lately.
He then consciously forced himself to take a long, deep, calming breath, and then whispered quietly to himself, "Okay, okay… Let's just see what's actually going to happen now when I try to add just 1 single Status Point to my Strength stat…"
He did exactly as he'd just said, mentally assigning one point.
And, just like he had now suspected, his Damage per Hit value on the Profile screen instantly changed from 40 to 45.
'Well, I'll be damned. So, the actual power of my physical attacks isn't just based on my Strength stat alone in this case, but my Speed stat also plays a direct role in it too.
I kinda suspected somethin' like this might be the case, but that damn kid on the train, the one who first told me about this System, he specifically said that 'Strength is equal to Power,' plain and simple.
Maybe I really shouldn't be tryin' to judge everythin' about this complex System based solely on some stupid fuckin' game that kid apparently plays.
It might look a lot like some kinda game shit on the surface, but this is my actual, real, fuckin' life we're talkin' about here,' he quietly, firmly, took down another important mental note regarding his rapidly evolving understanding of his newfound power.
"Okay, so… my body should, theoretically, be able to safely handle my own maximum attack power… So, that would probably mean my total Damage per hit value should ideally be equal to, or maybe even less than, my current Construct stat, right?" he then said, partly asking himself the question, trying to work out the new logic.
He then, after a moment more of deliberation, decided to take a calculated risk.
He mentally threw a significant 35Points directly into his Construct stat.
It wasn't exactly a fully confident, data-driven decision for him to make, not by any means, but he felt he had to trust his own intuition and his recent logical reasoning on this one.
The only other alternative was to try and increase it just a little bit at a time, and then repeatedly test his strength again and again, with the very real, painful possibility of seriously injuring himself yet again in the process.
After he did indeed increase his Construct stat by that large amount, he immediately stood up from the floor.
He then walked over to the solid, grimy wall directly opposite him, then stopped just a few short feet away from it.
He then slowly began rolling his shoulders and audibly cracking his neck, preparing himself.
He then threw a single, powerful right jab directly at that unsuspecting wall with all his currently available might.
A loud, sharp THUD immediately followed after his strike connected, leaving a visible network of fresh cracks, like newly formed spider webs, spreading out across the surface of the old but tough crumbling wall.
Shitsubo causally, carefully, withdrew his fist from the clear indentation he'd made, and then began flexing his grip, checking for any immediate, tell-tale signs of pain or damage to his own hand.
"Hmm. That felt about as strong as when I punched that goddamn Golem… well, maybe not exactly the exact same amount of insane force, but definitely fuckin' close to it," Shitsubo said quietly to himself, as he carefully inspected his now slightly reddened right arm.
He then looked at the significant damage he'd just done to the solid wall a bit more closely.
The clear, compressed print of his knuckles was now a few inches inserted deep into the wall's surface, with numerous small, branching webs of fresh cracks radiating out all around it.
"No severe pain this time, that's good. Just that plain, regular kind of ache you always get from punchin' hard stuff," he then said with satisfaction to himself.
Just then, he heard a muffled voice coming from the other side of the closed toilet door.
"Hey, di…you hear…that? Soun…s like … bomb…. or some…."
But it was mostly garbled, muffled, which clearly meant that the person who was speaking was still a bit far way from the toilet, not right outside.
He stood perfectly still for a bit, his senses alert, and concentrated intently on his hearing, trying to listen if someone was actually approaching the specific toilet stall he was currently in.
But after about ten seconds, or maybe a little bit more, he didn't hear any further sound of anyone approaching.
He then turned his attention back to the still-levitating Profile tab that was hovering patiently in front of his face.
"Alright then. Now it's finally time to distribute the rest of these fuckin' Points," he said to himself, getting right back down to business.