Collectively, they were known as "The Bros". At least, that is what they were claiming. I did not care enough to see if they were kidding or not. I had much better things to do than try to confirm a nickname. One of the things that needed to be done was allocate my skill points. I checked my trees and I could see them light up. At level 1, the player was given five stat points to allocate. Since it was the first week of the game, there was a perk of having an additional five stat points. That meant I had ten to allocate. As a Player, I had 5 stats. They were Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Endurance and Luck. Strength governed how hard you can hit and how heavy something can be before you could not lift it. Endurance determined how much you could get hit before you would start to feel it. It also set how much stamina you had in game while doing strenuous activities. Intelligence was used for magic. It also was the only stat you had that heavily influenced how the other NPCs viewed you. Evil, criminal or mischievous NPCs might target you because they all would see you as an easier target.
Dexterity was for speed, flexibility and ranged attacks. Luck was a special stat. It was what determined how often you did critical hits. Critical hits did double damage to the target. Everyone started out with 10 in each of their stats. They capped out at 100. At Level 1, you could reallocate the 50 stat points already assigned to you. A switch would be great if there was a certain thing you wanted to go for. Keeping it as it was allowed you to diversify tactics in the early game. It was not recommended to keep them all even though. It would take forever. After Level 1, each new level gave 3 stat point and 1 skill point. There was no inherent benefit to being a jack of all trades and a master of either one to the detriment of all others, or none but competent in all the basic skills. If that was how you wanted to play, that was fine, but you would find yourself outpaced in the mid and late game as opponents are pulling off crazy maneuvers and you are stuck with just the basics. This was a realistic setting. I did not know if there was magic. I had common sense, so I did not need my Intelligence high.
The same with my Dexterity. I was not planning a bow in this setting. I guess I could get a gun, but that sounded like a hassle. Depending on the laws of the city, I might not be able to freely carry a rifle on my back as I strolled around the city. Having a concealable melee weapon would be great. I reduced those stats down to 5 and raised my Strength and Luck to 15. Now I could look at the skills. Skills appeared as you did certain actions or achieve a feat during the game. Some just were available at a certain threshold in your stats. To unlock the benefits from the skill, you had to purchase them with skill points. Obviously, some were more expensive than others. Due to the conversation with the police officer, I gained both "Notoriety" and "Respect for Law". Notoriety raised my profile with the police and other law enforcement. For good and bad. Respect for Law made law enforcement treat me 1 degree better than what would normally be appropriate. There were friendly, neutral, aggressive, hostile and murderous. Hostile NPCs look for opportunities to attack. Murderous ones will attack on sight.
Seeing the gaudy fashion of The Bros, I got "Sharp Dresser". It allowed me to appear better dressed than I actually was in the world. "Polite Greeter" boosted the initial impression NPCs had of me. With the 10 skill points I had on me, I could get them all. I was not ready for Notoriety yet. I did not know how things would go. Each of them costed me 2 skill points. Getting the 3 skills left me with 4 points I could use them on other skills that came up. It was time for me to go. I wanted to check out both locations. To be fair, with an Intelligence stat so low, either of them could be lying to me right now. Brock wanted to exchange information with me. I nodded and I got all of their contact info. It was a cell phone that was conveniently in my back pocket. I promised that we would be in touch, and I left. I went to the recreation center first as it was closer to the park then the gym. It was not a giant facility, but it had everything I needed for training. More importantly, it had everything The Bros said it would have in there. Darts, billiards, and both table tennis and soccer were there too. It was all kept clean.
