ALTER REALITY: Online

The first thing Noel did was quickly use the Healing Bandages on the places he was hurt, starting with his right shoulder. It healed slowly, and the pain faded bit by bit, but not as fast as the pain from other injuries across his body.

His Health had dropped to 23. That was less than a quarter of his total. Only then did he realize just how much he had underestimated the impact of receiving quadruple damage.

Just that one gash to his right shoulder had caused nearly half the total Health loss. If he'd taken one or two more hits in the same spot, he would've died then and there.

'I really need to be careful when choosing the targeted part for Liability and make sure to guard it properly,' he thought as he looked at his shoulder.

Even though the Healing Bandages continued to mend the wound, the pain in his shoulder lingered, as if someone kept pressing down on it.

'Even with the pain perception toned down in the game, this amplified pain effect from my talent is just too much. I don't think it would've hurt this much in real life either.'

Just as his thoughts ended, the minute of Enhanced Liability ran out, and the pain dropped by several notches. The sting faded enough for him to finally breathe properly.

'Why didn't I think of that earlier? I could've just deactivated the ability and avoided all that pain. Ah… this feels so much better now.'

He let out a quiet sigh, relieved that the pain had dropped to something far more manageable.

Noel didn't stay there for long. The noise from the earlier fight might attract more monsters if he wasn't careful.

He looked around for another place to hide, but nothing nearby seemed better than the crevice in the rock formation where he had hidden before.

With no better option, he returned to it. The three Sand Stalkers that came after him earlier had likely been drawn from this area, so he figured it should be safe for a while.

But this time, he did something different before entering the crevice.

'Maybe they sensed me through the sand. Better be safe than sorry.'

Carefully, he climbed into the crevice without letting his body touch the ground. Using the rocky wall surfaces, he maneuvered forward with just his legs and arms, avoiding contact with the sand entirely.

He suspected staying in touch with it for too long might have been what gave away his position to the Sand Stalkers.

As he moved deeper, the space between the rocks widened. Once it was large enough, he shifted his posture, leaning his back against one wall and stretched out his legs toward the opposite side, suspending himself in a semi-seated position above the ground.

It wasn't exactly comfortable, but it felt safer. He wasn't sure if his theory was correct, but it was worth testing.

If no monsters found him in the next few minutes, then he might've figured out a way to avoid their detection. If they did, then he'd know the sand had nothing to do with it. Either way, he would find out soon enough.

Setting that aside, the next thing he did was check his gains from killing the three monsters.

The most obvious one was his level-up, along with the five undistributed stat points that came with it. 

As someone who had played plenty of games in his younger days, he understood how leveling worked. Still, just to be sure and get a clearer picture, he opened the description for Life Energy and Level.

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  ﴾ LIFE ENERGY : 250/300 ﴿

- Life Energy is the vital essence that sustains every being, the core force of life itself. Vanquishing Monsters will let you absorb their Life Energy and grow stronger by Leveling up.

 ﴾ LEVEL : 1 ﴿

- Once Life Energy reaches a specific value, you can increase your level. Each level increment grants you five undistributed stats to enhance your attributes, increasing your survivability.

Undistributed Stats: 5

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Noel found it interesting that the game developers chose to call it Life Energy instead of simply using XP (Experience Points) like most games. But considering how realistic everything was, from body movements to the environment and even the behavior of monsters, it didn't feel out of place.

The idea that killing a creature and absorbing its life force helped one grow stronger felt far more fitting in this world than a simple XP bar.

Killing those three Sand Stalkers had given him a total of 175 units of Life Energy. It not only pushed him past the threshold for Level 1, but also left him just 50 units away from reaching Level 2. One or two more monsters would be enough.

But before anything else, he had to use the five stat points he received from leveling up.

He began thinking carefully about where to assign them. The Spirit attribute was the first one he ruled out. While it was important as it improved his senses, perception of time, and thought speed, he didn't feel like he needed it right now.

His Spirit Energy regeneration, which scaled with the Spirit Attribute, was enough for now. As long as he didn't use Critical Liability, he could keep going without running out.

Next, he dismissed Vitality. Though it would boost his health and recovery rate, he decided to skip it for now. With Healing Bandages still in hand, he could manage.

What he really needed was a boost to his physical attributes: Strength, Agility, and Endurance.

'Strength can wait. What I need now is speed and stamina,' he thought.

His innate talent already gave him enough damage to slice through the Sand Stalkers' thick skin, so Strength wasn't a top priority. What he truly lacked in the last fight was the speed to dodge and the stamina to keep up.

If he'd been faster, he might've avoided some of the injuries, especially the one to his right shoulder.

As for stamina, he had nearly burned out while facing the three monsters alone. Using the Chain Reavers drained him quickly. The wide, sweeping movements they required took far more effort than a sword or spear.

By the time the fight ended, he had been breathing heavily, completely drained. If it had gone on any longer, he would've been in serious trouble.

With that in mind, he made his decision. He assigned three points to Agility and two to Endurance.

There was no need to touch the panel physically. Just focusing on the allocation in his mind was enough to get the job done.

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 ﴾ Undistributed Stats: 5 ➟ 0 ﴿

 ﴾ Agility: 10 ➟ 13 ﴿

 ﴾ Endurance: 10 ➟ 12 ﴿

 ﴾ Stamina: 23/50 ➟ 33/60 ﴿

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As soon as he allotted his stats, things didn't go as smoothly as he expected. A sudden wave of pain hit him, spreading through his nerves like a burning thread.

It wasn't unbearable, but it was enough to make him feel every nerve across his body.

It didn't stop there. His skin and bones also began to ache, though not as intensely. It felt like something inside him was shifting, adjusting to the new changes.

The sensation lasted only a few seconds, but it left him sweating, even more than before under the heat of the desert.

Noel hadn't expected anything like this when adding stats. If he had known, he would've mentally braced himself for the pain and the discomfort that came with it.

'Maybe I should've asked Leon more about the game before jumping in,' he thought.

But now that he was already inside, and couldn't log out without restarting the First Instance, there was no point in thinking about it. He pushed the thought away and focused on the changes he started to feel.

Right away, he noticed that his awareness over his body had improved. His movements felt lighter, more controlled.

A drop of sweat rolled down from his forehead, and almost without thinking, Noel raised his hand and caught it in mid-air. The action was smooth and fast. It didn't feel difficult at all.

Even holding himself between the crevice walls using his back and legs had become easier. Moving in that awkward position wasn't as tiring anymore. It all felt more natural.

He also noticed that his skin felt tougher. The small scratches he used to get from rubbing against the rocky wall weren't there anymore. The slight pain from contact with the rough surface had disappeared.

There were no visible changes on his skin, but when he tried to pinch it, it felt a bit firmer, like the layer had become denser.

He could even feel that his bones had strengthened. There was a kind of firmness in his posture now, like his body had more support from within. His legs and arms no longer wobbled slightly when holding his position.

Stamina-wise, it felt like he had taken a quick nap. The fatigue from before was gone, and when he checked, his Stamina was recovering faster than usual.

With the stat allocation done, Noel opened his Status screen again. This time, he noticed a few things that he hadn't seen before.

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  ﴾ STATUS ﴿

Name: Noel Veloce | Age: 42

Race: Lesser Human ⧼Male⧽

Level: 1 | Tier: 1 ⧼Low-Phase⧽

Life Energy: 250/300

Strength: 10 | Agility: 13

Vitality: 10 | Endurance: 12

Spirit: 10 | Luck: 16

Health: 56/100

Stamina: 33/60

Spirit Energy: 50/50

Undistributed Stats: 0

INNATE TALENT:║LIABILITY║⧼ Grade-5 ⧽

INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILLS: Yet to unlock

 ﴾ SPIRIT ITEMS ﴿

⧼ Common Grade ⧽ 

- Chain Reavers ⧼Yet to bond⧽

 ﴾ WEAPON MASTERY ﴿

STAGE 1 ⧼Lv.1 - Lv.10⧽

Lv.1║Chain Reavers Mastery║

 Lv.1║Chain Reavers Aura║⧼Locked⧽

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Author Note: 

ALTER REALITY: Online is the 1st Side Story of EARTH's ALPHA PRIME, a LitRPG System Survival novel that has completed 3 volumes so far. 

The revamped version of EAP Volume 1, 2 & 3 are now live on Kindle. You can find them on Amazon by simply searching the book title or go through the link provided here.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DR53YMV2

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Exclusive artwork for every free chapter is now available on my PATRE0N page! You can find the link in my Discord server.

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Discord Link for 'Earth's Alpha Prime' :

https://discord.gg/P6cWGg2G

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