[375 GTs bonus]",

    Cassarae''s eyes widened. "Holy shit, Syl!"

    She felt like her head was spinning. Setting aside the fact showing someone your full status window was basically unheard of. What she was seeing was ridiculous.

    There was a long list of cusses and things she wanted to say, but she eventually bit her tongue, pulling Ss away to a location that was even further from everyone else.

    "As you can see, I have an affiliation already and it''s not convenient to try to change it now. I can''t join, not because I don''t want to, but because I can''t."

    "That''s not the point, Syl—as," she hissed. "You can''t just go around showing people your stats like that!"

    Ss raised an eyebrow. "Do you think that I would just show it to anyone?"

    Cassarae''s mouth opened to respond, but she realized she didn''t have an immediate quippy reply and chose to look away instead, pretending to be irritated.

    "Forget it. Why are you stats so ridiculous, anyway? How are they so high when you''re not even Level 1? You don''t even have a ss!"

    "What''s the normal cap?" Ss asked. Honestly, he would be lying if he said this wasn''t one of the reasons he had chosen to reveal it like this. He wanted to know more about how he stacked up to others.

    "The usual Stat Limit is 25. Some people, people who were particrly good athletes back on Earth and such, can push it to 30. But 50 is asinine. You can only get that with a ss or by levelling up."

    Ss nodded slowly. He knew that his Grimde Lineage did help him, but he didn''t expect it to be so much. If his Stat Limit was already so high, how high were the Grimdes with the unmutated version of the lineage?

    "But you actually have a Comprehension. It''s no wonder you''re so ridiculous—I''ve never seen one of those before. No one even knows how to get one… And why is your Intelligence so stupidly low? Somehow it''s your Charisma carrying your Mental stat? There''s some god out there having a goodugh at this bullshit."

    "Is it?"

    Cassarae frowned and gave Ss a deep look. "This ispletely unlike you. You know so little and we''ve already been here for three months. What happened to the professor?"

    Ss looked a bit surprised. "You know I''m a professor?"

    "Idiot. You''re practically a mini-celebrity. It''s not every day Veridian appoints a new tenured professor. It was in a few local news papers."

    "Oh," Ss nodded. He did remember doing a few photoshoots, much to his distaste. He hated taking photos. "So you don''t know anything about Comprehensions?"

    Cassarae shook her head. "No one I''vee across has one, and unlike everything else, there doesn''t seem to be an obvious path toward getting one either."

    "Then what about sses? You can get them?"

    "Both yes and no. I''ve learned that there are two ways to get a ss. The first is to stumble into a ss Dungeon or a ss-themed Quicktime Event. The second is to wait until you''re Level 10, then you will receive a system award that guides you toward a ss you''ve… earned? I guess?"

    "Is one path better than the other?"

    "Again, it depends. It''s possible to run into a Bronze ss in a Quicktime Event, for example, and it might be better than to take it than to wait until your Level 10 and hope you''ve done enough to earn a Bronze ss Quest.

    "Plus, you can skip the Quest in the case of a ss Dungeon of a ss-themes Quicktime Event because the events themselves are the Quest."

    "So a Bronze ss is really rare, then?"

    Cassarae smiled bitterly and nodded. "I heard news in the Nexus about a Common ss Quicktime Event triggering and it was aplete bloodbath. No one who chose to participate even survived. It''s not ast man standing sort of thing. If you don''t meet the requirements, you''re finished.

    "But I''ve also heard of some powerful people hoarding sses as well. They''ll join the Quicktime Events but then not even absorb the ss Crystal."

    Ss'' brows raised, so that was possible, too. He would have to keep that in mind.

    "Can you change your ss?" Ss asked.

    "Um… I''m not sure, honestly. There''s probably a price to pay for an attempt. Nothing everes free in this world."

    "So you''ve already chosen your ss, then?"

    "I…"

    Cassarae shook her head and waved a hand.

    [Name: Cassarae Hale]

    [Species: Human (F)]

    [Affiliation: Casstle Main]

    [ss: —(Empty)]

    [Level: 0]

    [Titles: Executioner''s Sweeper (F)]

    [Physical: 28]

    [Strength: 28]

    [Constitution: 28]

    [Dexterity: 28]

    [Speed: 28]

    [Mental: 32]

    [Intelligence: 69]

    [Wisdom: 22]

    [Charisma: 5]

    [Will: 32]

    [Luck: 5]

    [Skills: Sharpen (F-); Basic Scouting (F-); elerate (F-); Execution''s de (F+); Withstand (FF)]

    [Comprehensions: —]

    [Gene State: Inflexible]

    [Fragmented Genes: —]

    [Common Genes: (2) Intelligence (F); Will (F)]

    [Gene Talents: Harden (F+)]

    Ss was surprised seeing this screen, mostly because it didn''t make much sense to him. How could she have so few Genes but have so many stats? Did she gain stats through other means?

    ''Wait. The system messages made a distinction between Gene Limits and Stat Limits, but I''ve been thinking of them interchangeably. But… what is the meaningful difference between the two?

    ''I''ve been able to gather more Genes than my stats allow me to disy, but why? And Cassarae seems to have done the opposite, gathered more stats than her Genes would otherwise suggest was possible…

    ''What''s the purpose of the distinction?''

    Seeing Ss immediately lose himself in thought, Cassarae couldn''t help but roll her eyes again, but she didn''t interrupt.

    Now that he thought about it, that Elixir had been able to increase his Wisdom, but he didn''t gain a Gene for it. So was that how Cassarae had done it? She certainly had the wealth to attempt it, but… it felt like he was missing something deeper.

    [Why is there a distinction between Gene Limits and Stat Limits?]