"So this is what karma is used for!"
Anaxa's eyes lit up as the system finally revealed the utility of the mysterious stat. He thoughtfully realized, "It seems gathering biomass alone isn't enough to grow stronger. I need to collect karma as well, Hmmm…this… "
The conclusion caused him to hum with some concern.
Tthere were two main reasons for it.
"Hmm… It seems the system does not want me to just turtle and gain power. It wants me to also go out there and interact with the outside world. The fact that it uses the word 'karma' to refer to that stat point clearly refers to that, i.e.- my actions will have consequences, whether good or bad. Even the system's note next to it—'your existence has virtually no effect'— pretty much confirms it. Sigh…what was a cunning setup!"
The reason for the lampooning comment should be quite clear- Anaxa, being a bit of a coward, would have far more preferred to just hide himself in the extreme depths of a jungle and simply carry on with his life as was, not coming in contact with anything or much more specifically anyone dangerous- i.e.- humans.
This was his original plan too- he wanted to just become strong enough to protect himself and then subsist on fruits and other game that he hunted at his leisure.
Anaxa thought very confidently that if herds of elephants could eat as much as 300 kg of food per day per animal and still stay relatively unanimous with no noticeable damage to the wildlife, what did he have to fear?
Even if ate ten times the amount, it would still be nothing in the grand scheme of things.
And this was without even considering the oceans with their virtually endless food- a single sperm whale ate as much as 2 tons of food every day, yet their whole species combined was unable to make even a dent on the total number of marine life. Anaxa thus really did not fear going hungry while staying virtually unanimous.
But with this 'karma meter' all those plans seemed to turn into wishful thinking. Anaxa thus once again saw proof that this system of his was very much sentient and had a certain purpose, wishing to guide him through a selected path.
"Sigh… okay so… how exactly do I gather this karma?"
Anaxa disregarded the system's plan for now due to already discussed reasons and simply moved on to the next natural question that came to his mind- the collection method.
So he began to think back to how he had obtained his first point, musing to himself,
"I wonder why the system granted me this karma point then? Was it because that snake was that dangerous? Was it destined to bite someone important? Or maybe it was because I was ambushed and had to fight a nail and tooth battle? So this is my reward for the unexpected survival."
"Or perhaps the point depends on the size of the prey… i.e- the animal needs to be at least a certain weight before I can get anything. That would explain why those small insects got me nothing."
"Hmm… but then again… insects are dangerous too. Mosquitoes cause thousands, if not millions of deaths in the animal kingdom per year. So should killing them not bring me a lot of karma?"
Like so Anaxa tried a variety of ways to deduce the mechanism behind his unexpected gain.
"....."
However without the system's input, he could never hope to draw any concrete conclusion. There were not enough data points. Thus Anaxa's hope to find the most efficient way to farm karma without causing too much ruckus was quickly halted.
"Tsk! Forget it." Realizing this, the man also decided to drop the matter. He turned around to rally his spirits over his level up, grinning. "Yoosh! Time to check the stats. System…"
Host Attritube Window-
Level- 3
Biomass: 50/1200 micro units.
Skill Points: 1
Body length: 7 cm; Tail length- 10 cm; Tail thickness- 3 mm
Health: 0.4 (0.5); Defense: 0.1; Stamina: 0.4; Agility: 0.8 (1); Spirit: 3; Strength: 1 (2.5)
Karma- 1
Skill: 1. Dextrous tail- Beginner Level- Proficiency (56/100)
Expanded Stomach- Proficiency- ????
Note- Host will soon enter hibernation. Please quickly find a safe place to rest.
"Hmmm… not bad! Most of my attributes have increased by double or even more. I did not think it would grow by so much!"
Reading the number, Anaxa was quite satisfied with his reward, such that even the slight temporary decrease in the health and agility stat due to his injury did not faze him much.
He particularly focused on the rise in his 'Spirit' stat, given that it had increased the most and wondered about its use. With the mystery of the 'Karma' stat solved, only this enigma remained.
And speaking of karma, Anaxa also keenly noticed the stat still said 1, even though he had already expended that point to level up.
The tiny lizard wondered what was up with that.
However, knowing how tight-lipped the system tended to be, he did not bother asking. It had made it abundantly clear that if it ever intended to explain itself, the system would do so on its own terms and only on its terms.
"Alright, let's leave that for now. I just gained a skill point- time to upgrade my stomach!" Anaxa thus cheered himself up by moving on to what could arguably be considered the main event- spending his hard earned point to increase the holding capacity of his belly.
He eagerly pressed the illusory option to allocate his point to the skill with that anticipation.
Yet….
"Beep! Error! The skill 'Expanded Stomach' cannot be upgraded using skill points."
"...."
You had to really give it to the system- it really knew how to rain on Anaxa's parade. It struck him down when he was most excited and that too in quite a hard way.
And indeed, the red lettered error message let the tiny lizard's heart sink to near a nadir.
"Dammit! Dammit system! Why? Why? Tell me…. Dammit!" He grieved in a slightly croaking voice, almost shedding a tear. Due to already aforementioned reasons, Anaxa was really looking forward to increasing this skill- it would have made his life a lot easier
"Beep! The special skill can only be upgraded through special means… such as increasing the level of the curse." And as if moved by the man's wounded whimpering, that slightly feminine voice gave a succinct explanation.
"....." However this seemed to only pain Anaxa's aching heart even more.
To him the tone sounded eerily sarcastic, especially as the condition for the upgrade as state was absolutely ludicrous- it was basically asking Anaxa to voluntarily become hungry even more quickly if it wanted to eat more. That entirely defeated the whole purpose behind Anaxa's intention!
"....Sighhhhhh!" But at the end of the day, Anaxa could only grit his teeth and swallow, knowing there was no alternative. Complaining would be simply like howling to the empty wind.
He thus tried to console himself by reasoning, "The skill came with the curse. So it does make sense to improve with the curse," before chirping up with the last bit of glee, "Okay… let me improve my tail then."
"Beep! Insufficient proficiency. Minimum requirement- 80%. Host is recommended to reach full mastery before leveling up. This will unlock new ability."
"....." Anaxa's eyes only dimmed to a new lifeless state reading this- he was past the 'getting angry' point by now. The slight silver lining that kept him from flipping out was that the system at least gave him a reason for the rejection as well as the news of glad tidings.
The allure of a brand new skill managed to douse some of the acrimony inside the poor lizard's heart, as he looked forward to the kind of boon Beginner level 100% proficiency would bring him.
"Beep! Host will soon enter hibernation to level up. Please quickly find a safe place to rest." While seeing Anaxa continuing to dawdle for so long, the system once again repeated the last warning.
"Right, right!" And this finally got the poked lizard to get a move on. He recalled just how heavy the sleep that undertook him the last time was and knew if this were to happen here now, out in the wide open… well that certainly would be Anaxa's last sleep.
Thus he limped across the forest floor at the fastest possible speed, using his three good limbs as well the tail as a supporting fourth.
Luckily he managed to make good time, reaching the stone covered door of his nest just before the sun began to set. Then once inside, Anaxa quickly made himself comfortable and the last thoughts he had before drifting off were,
"Hmmm… it seems the stats shown on the panel stat window after my level up do not immediately reflect reality. The system needs some time to apply them."