The Scumbag's Guide To Heroism

I read the Intelligence description twice.

Learning efficiency. Ability optimization. Reduced stamina costs through better execution.

That was huge. I’d been treating INT like a dump stat because combat didn’t feel like it needed book smarts. But if higher Intelligence meant I could use Spectral Reach longer, execute Blitz more times in a row, learn new techniques faster when I unlocked more abilities...

That changed everything.

Dexterity mattered for Spectral Reach. The finer my control, the better I could manipulate objects at range. Agility mattered for Blitz. The faster my base speed, the more terrifying the burst became. Strength mattered because I was still getting into fistfights where raw power decided outcomes.

Endurance was already my highest stat at fifty-one. Boundless Stamina covered most of what Endurance normally provided anyway. Pushing it higher felt redundant.

Intelligence was the wildcard. Undervalued. Game-changing if I committed to it.

I pulled up the allocation screen and stared at the numbers.

Thirteen hundred forty points. Fifty per point. Twenty-six total points to spend.

I could push four stats to fifty-six and have points left over. Or I could specialize hard. Get two stats to sixty-three and leave the others at fifty.

Balanced build versus focused build.

The exam was tomorrow. I didn’t know what the challenges looked like. Combat, obviously. Halloran always tested combat. But they also tested crisis response, tactical thinking, Aspect application creativity.

Going all-in on Strength and Agility would make me a better fighter but leave gaps everywhere else. Going balanced kept options open but made me mediocre at everything.

Fuck it. I’d spent two weeks training with Sloane. She’d drilled fundamentals into me hard enough that my muscle memory didn’t need stat support anymore. What I needed was the ability to think faster, react smarter, execute cleaner.

I allocated points.

〘 INTELLIGENCE: 50 → 63 (680 SP) 〙

〘 DEXTERITY: 50 → 63 (680 SP) 〙

〘 REMAINING SP: 30 〙

The pain came again. Different this time. Less physical, more mental. Like someone was rewiring my brain while I stayed conscious for the whole process.

My vision sharpened. Colors looked more distinct. The hum of the air conditioning became audible. I could hear Sloane moving around in her room down the hall, the soft pad of her feet on carpet, the click of her phone screen.

My thoughts moved faster. The connection between observation and analysis tightened. I looked at my hand and immediately noticed details I’d never consciously registered before. The scar pattern on my knuckles. The slight asymmetry in finger length. The way my pulse moved through the veins on my wrist.

Everything slowed down just enough to be processed. Not actual slow motion. Just my brain catching up to real-time instead of lagging behind it.

The Dexterity upgrade hit my hands and fingers. They felt lighter. More responsive. I picked up my phone and typed a test message one-handed without looking. Deleted it. Tried again with my eyes closed. Perfect accuracy both times.

〘 STATUS UPDATE 〙

〘 STR: 50 | AGI: 50 | DEX: 63 〙

〘 INT: 63 | END: 51 〙

〘 REMAINING SP: 30 〙

I pulled up Spectral Reach and activated a single construct.

The amber arm materialized instantly. No lag. No wasted motion. I directed it to pick up my water bottle across the room and it moved smoothly, no stuttering or overcorrection. The bottle lifted, rotated, and landed back on my desk without a sound.

Before the upgrade, that would’ve taken concentration and multiple attempts. Now it felt automatic. My brain processed the spatial geometry faster, my control responded without conscious input.

I dismissed the construct and activated Blitz.

My body settled into the stance without thinking. The breathing pattern came naturally. I launched across the room and stopped exactly where I intended, no face-planting into the wall like my first attempts.

The Intelligence boost made my abilities feel like extensions of my body instead of separate tools I had to consciously operate.

This was what sixty-three looked like. Thirteen points above baseline human maximum.

I was still nowhere near Radiant’s level. Not even close to top-tier Heroes. But I was finally past the threshold where pure stats compensated for lack of experience.

My phone buzzed again. Three messages from Sloane this time.

Sloane: you better be getting ready to sleep

Sloane: we need to be there by 10am tomorrow for check-in

Sloane: if you make me late i will actually kill you

I typed back with one hand while pulling up the System menu with my other.

Lukas: im awake. just thinking.

Sloane: thinking about what

Lukas: how badly im gonna embarrass myself tomorrow

Sloane: you wont

Sloane: youre better than you think

Sloane: plus if anyone tries to make fun of you ill explode them

Sloane: which i can do because my aspect is better than theirs

Lukas: noted. ill hide behind you when things get bad.

Sloane: youre supposed to say you dont need protecting

Sloane: that youll handle it yourself like a real hero

Lukas: im a realist. you can bench press me. im using that tactically.

Sloane: ...

Sloane: i hate that i cant tell if youre serious

Lukas: always serious. im a very serious person.

Sloane: shut up

Sloane: get some sleep

Sloane: ill wake you up at 7

Lukas: you mean youll kick my door down at 6 and drag me to the gym

Sloane: only if you dont wake up when i knock

Sloane: which you never do

Sloane: so yes ill kick your door down

Fair.

Lukas: see you at 6 then 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Sloane: goodnight lukas

Sloane: youre gonna do great tomorrow

Sloane: i mean it

Something tight squeezed in my chest. Guilt, probably. Or affection. Hard to tell which.

Lukas: goodnight sloane

I set the phone down and lay back.

The countdown sat in the corner of my vision.

〘 TIME REMAINING: 11 HOURS, 47 MINUTES 〙

Eleven hours until the tutorial ended. Twelve hours until the exam started.

Whatever the System had planned, it would hit right before the biggest test of my life. Maximum chaos at the worst possible time.

Standard operating procedure for the Scumbag System.

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

My brain, now running at sixty-three Intelligence, refused to cooperate. Thoughts came too fast. The exam. The countdown. Diane in Chicago. Sloane down the hall. The stats I’d just upgraded. The abilities I still needed to unlock. Grande Dame’s smug face. The Faceless Veil in my inventory. Usurper waiting to steal someone’s power.

Too many variables. Too many unknowns.

I forced my breathing to slow. Boundless Stamina would keep me functional even on no sleep, but rest helped. My body needed recovery time even if my stamina pool regenerated faster than normal.

The house settled into quiet. Sloane’s footsteps stopped. The air conditioning hummed. Outside, Verano’s distant traffic created white noise.

I lay there in the dark, staring at nothing, while the countdown ticked steadily toward zero.

Twelve hours.

Then everything changed.