An awakening phenomenon called enlightenment existed in this world. Often considered the first qualification to becoming a hero, this form of personal insight occurred when a person surpassed their limits.

Active-duty heroes had all experienced enlightenment, but most cadets hadn’t because it required years of experience and training. Of course, exceptions like Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak already went through it at the ages of 15 and 17 respectively.

An enlightened person could view their gift, skills, and abilities to train more efficiently. Furthermore, enlightenment allowed you to acquire rewards from clearing towers and dungeons. The Hero Association called this phenomenon the status window, which could only be seen by its owner. However, I enjoyed exceptions and had made one for this setting. 

Instead of your eyes, you could also use other senses or mediums like a book or a weapon to view your status. Special enlightenments naturally came with special powers. The main character would eventually undergo 2 enlightenments because of this setting.

“… Is this that?”

According to my settings, this laptop served as a medium for enlightenment. This special event excited me, but analyzing the situation came first. Several windows popped up when I hit the Enter key.

[Synchronization Complete] [Kim Chundong status reset. Kim Hajin status transferred.] [All status has been reset. 10 points acquired.]

[Kim Hajin] [Current SP: 64] ▷Stats: Variable Stats [Strength 1.2] [Stamina 1.3] [Speed 1.5] [Perception 2] [Vitality 1.3] [Magic power 1]

Invariable Stats [Intelligence – 4.105/10] [Perseverance – 5.010/10] [Luck – 6.330/10] [Charm – 4.135/10]

Points: 10 (Will disappear in 10 days if not used)

▷Gift: [Observation and Reading] [Null attribute] — Observation: You may observe characters in your vision — Reading: You may read the laptop’s settings without a medium whenever you desire. ▷Arts (0/3) X ▷Physique (0/3) X ▷Setting Intervention [Authority] — You may modify or add settings to a non-living target by using SP. — You may spend SP to modify or add settings to your stats, gift, arts, and physique.

*Novice Bonus: Once only, you may create a gift worth 10,000 SP free of cost. *SP (Story Point): You will gain more SP as Kim Hajin’s importance increases in the world. You may exchange points with SP.

▷??? — Will unlock when the main story is completed.

The words, Synchronization and reset, caught my attention. I didn’t know what they meant, but I knew that it changed my name from Kim Chundong to Kim Hajin and gave me my face back. My stats also seemed to have adjusted appropriately. I was much weaker than Chundong, but obtained 10 spare points as compensation. I should be able to raise my desired stats with those points.

“Points are really nice.”

As this world’s creator, I was well aware of the importance of points. An average adult had 1.5 points in each stat. This world lacked a natural leveling system, so points were extremely precious to raise stats and could only be obtained from towers or dungeons. Kim Suho’s current magic power should be around 9. I could surpass that if I invested all 10 points into magic power.

“No.”

That wasn’t the best plan. I would have to become a magician for that, but being a magician was exhausting. It was expensive and required extreme effort and memorization. I would need to increase both intelligence and perseverance, but invariable stats couldn’t be raised even with points. A magician was out of the picture.

“What’s up with the 3 question marks?”

The suspicious question marks in the next line caught my attention.

▷??? — Will unlock when the main story is completed. 

Perhaps this was the key to returning home. Even if it wasn’t, it was the only clue I had. However, I didn’t know when the main story would end. I would have to wait 10 years at the very least if it referred to when I went on hiatus. I had to take one step at a time. First, find a way home by accumulating power or authority, which required SP. I needed to involve myself in the story to obtain SP, which meant I needed to grow stronger or stand out.

“Looks like a gun wasn’t such a bad choice.”

A gun met both of those conditions.

It didn’t require high stats like a spear or sword, which demanded equal distribution into every stat. Likewise, the bow also required most stats except for stamina. Meanwhile, the gun only required speed, perception, and a bit of magic power. I could meet the minimum strength requirement easier with a gun.

Second, I stood out with it. No hero in this world used a gun, so that was more than enough to make me special.

I should continue using a gun until all my stats increased enough and I was mentally ready to fight monsters at close range.

I moved on to the next topic after deciding my main weapon.

Gift.

“I can create a gift.”

A gift held a special meaning for heroes. It still meant the natural ability or talent for something. However, the standard for this ability was very high, at least on the level of a psychic ability. Gifts were separated into many categories, but the 5 most common were: weapon, physical, element, magic, and nature. The main character had 2 gifts. He currently awakened the weapon class gift, Sword Saint. This super cheat gave him the world’s protection when it came to swords. Simply put, his sword could cut water. This single gift was enough to make him the world’s greatest hero.

That was the importance of gifts. It didn’t need to be complex. A simpler and more efficient gift was often better. I began to type.

▷Gift: — Getting Stronger Everyday [Null attribute] Every 24 hours, all stats will increase by 0.1.

“Will this work?”

Even I found it shameless. When I went on hiatus, Kim Suho’s strength was at 16. With this gift, I would obtain 36.5 in every stat in just 365 days. I gave it a go since I could just delete it before saving.

[Novice Bonus activated. A gift worth 10,000 SP will be created.] [10,000 SP is not enough to create this gift. Its quality will decrease.]

▷[Getting Stronger Everyday] [High-intermediate rank] [Spirit attribute] [Static] Cultivation Physique — Every 24 hours, all stats will increase by 0.0015.

[Would you like to save the modified result?]

I immediately canceled. That would take 1000 days to gain 1.5 in every stat. In 10,000 days or 25 years, I would gain 25 in every stat. I would be too old by then.

Next, I wrote down a gift I thought of before.

▷Gift: [Master Sharpshooter] [High-intermediate rank] [Null attribute] — Can wield long ranged weapons well.

I didn’t put much details. I realized the laptop’s capabilities from my previous attempt. It would appropriately modify whatever I wrote.

[Novice Bonus activated. A gift worth 10,000 SP will be created.] [10,000 SP is too much to create this gift. Its quality will increase.]

▷[Master Sharpshooter] [High-intermediate rank] [Composite attribute] [Static] Master Sharpshooter’s Training Method: Unconditional proficiency in all long ranged weapons — Thousand-Mile Eyes: Can see farther away in detail and accurately predict target’s movement path. Will increase perception and speed by 3. — Bullet Time: Once every 24 hours, you may spend 3 minutes in bullet time.

“Oh?”

It seemed quite good. I especially liked that it applied to all long ranged weapons. With this, I could even use a bow. The thousand-mile eyes was self-explanatory and bullet time probably increased my shooting speed or something of that nature. It was satisfactory, but I still wanted to change something. I wanted a gift that could grow stronger rather than a static gift that couldn’t grow.

[A phrase has been modified.]

▷[Master Sharpshooter] [Low-intermediate rank] [Spirit attribute] [Evolving — Grade 10] [EXP 0%] Master Sharpshooter’s Training: Familiarity with all long ranged weapons — Thousand-Mile Eyes: Can see far away and somewhat predict a target’s movement path. — Bullet Time: Only in combat and once every 24 hours, you may spend 3 seconds in bullet time.

“Mmm.”

It fell from high-intermediate rank to low-intermediate and the skills became weaker overall, but an evolving gift was much better in the grand scheme of things. Not to mention, the main story would continue for at least 7 years. Ah, I’m getting sad again.

“Fuck.”

I swore and shook it off.

[Points: 10]

Next, I went back to my stats. How should I spend these 10 precious points? I shouldn’t be able to increase my invariable stats. In that case, I had to pick from variable stats. However… I just might be able to modify my invariable stats.

“Should I exchange these points for SP?”

Points could be exchanged for SP, which I could then use to increase my invariable stats. I decided to test it out first before making an irreversible mistake. Thankfully, I already had 64 SP. I tried increasing my perseverance stat from 5.010 to 5.500.

[You have modified an invariable stat using 64 SP.] [You do not have enough SP. The value will be adjusted. Perseverance has increased to 5.060.]

“It worked?”

My eyes widened. If this worked, what I should do next was obvious. I had to convert the points into SP and invest in invariable stats. The question was which: intelligence, perseverance, luck, or charm? Honestly, charm was extremely enticing as a man.

“Luck it is.”

I knew all too well the importance of luck in this world and recalled a line from my novel.

[The luck stat doesn’t just affect the chances of finding treasures in dungeons. It also affects the chances of receiving bonus stats from training, chances to land a critical strike, and even chances to win the lottery. It was the best stat that applied to every situation… Luck mattered the most in life.]

With no hesitation, I exchanged the 10 points for 10,000 SP and spent all of it to increase my luck. What I wanted was [Luck — 10/10].

[You do not have enough SP. The value will be adjusted.]

The laptop rejected my ridiculous wish, but returned a reasonable compromise.

[Luck — 9.100]

“9.1 is the highest I can go, huh.”

Since 9 was the limit for humans, 9.1 was extremely high. However, I didn’t hit save and canceled the modification. It would take a bit longer, but a more efficient method existed.

[Luck — 6.4/10]

First, I raised my luck from 6.3 to 6.4 before saving. Next, to 6.5. Then, to 6.6, 6.7, 6.8… I kept repeating this…

[A mysterious luck has been applied! Your luck stat has further increased by 0.01!] [A strange luck has been applied! Your luck stat has further increased by 0.05!]…

[Luck — 9.100/10]

With this method, my luck reached 9.1 with just 9000 SP and I saved 1000 SP. For reference, the Great Sage of this world had a 9.5 intelligence stat. As 9 was the limit for normal humans, spending the remaining 1000 SP was unlikely to increase my luck any further. Invariable stats scaled exponentially, so it was wiser to spend the remaining SP elsewhere.

“Perseverance should be good.”

I would never be able to handle Cube’s training with my current mindset. I didn’t even want to do 10 push-ups. Without hesitation, I invested the remaining 1000 SP into perseverance. I wrote, [Perseverance — 8/10].

[You do not have enough SP. The value will be adjusted.] [Perseverance — 6.600]

I didn’t feel too satisfied, but pressed save. My luck would only apply after saving.

[An incredible luck has been applied!] [Your perseverance stat has increased from 6.600 to 7.207!]

“Wow.”

Now I was satisfied, but I didn’t feel any changes yet. The normal stat for an average person was 4 and 7 would be a talented individual. I would become just as overpowered as the main character by increasing my invariable stats whenever I gained SP. Immediately after such a blissful thought…

[An error that could greatly affect the plot has been detected. From now on, invariable stats cannot be modified with SP.]

“What’s this?”

A warning window popped up and shut down my plans.

“Hmmm.”

Intervention by the world? It displeased me, but I had no choice. Nothing would change even if I argued with the air. Plus, I already increased my luck and got what I wanted.

“Whatever.”

I closed the laptop and got up with a grin. Now, it was time to test my new gift.