The Scumbag's Guide To Heroism Chapter 14 | Morality is a Luxury, But Stat Points Are an In

The silver wheel appeared again. Spinning. Slowing. Stopping.

This ti it landed on purple.

〘 SILVER PULL RESULT

Rarity: EPIC

Ability Acquired: Boundless Stamina

Classification: Passive Trait

Description: Your stamina regeneration operates at 300% normal human capacity. Physical exhaustion accumulates at 40% normal rate. Sleep requirents reduced to 4 hours for full rest. Training efficiency increased by 50%. Side effects include accelerated healing for minor injuries and enhanced recovery ti between physical activities. 〙

The information settled into my body differently this ti. Not knowledge. Biology. Every cell in my body shifted slightly. Recalibrating. Upgrading.

The aches from training with Sloane started fading. Not gone entirely but noticeably better. The split lip on my face tingled as skin began knitting itself back together faster than it should.

I stood up. My legs didn’t shake. The exhaustion that had been weighing down vanished.

"This is broken."

〘 Epic rarity abilities typically are. Boundless Stamina eliminates your primary weakness as an Unmarked individual. Extended combat becos viable. Training can occur at higher frequency and intensity without risking injury. Your progression speed has effectively tripled. 〙

I pulled up my status screen again. A new section had appeared beneath my attributes.

ACTIVE SKILLS:

Spectral Reach (Rare)

PASSIVE TRAITS:

Boundless Stamina (Epic)

CURRENT LOADOUT: Functional for low-tier combat encounters. Significant advantages against baseline humans. Notable disadvantages against trained Aspect users.

Two abilities. One rare, one epic. Both of them would’ve taken years to develop naturally if they could be developed at all.

And I’d gotten them in five minutes because I’d completed a quest that required to smack a girl’s ass.

The guilt tried surfacing again. I shoved it down.

"System. Real question. Am I a terrible person?"

〘 Define terrible. 〙

"I just manipulated soone who trusts . Soone who’s been nothing but helpful. And I’m planning to keep doing it because that’s how your progression system works."

〘 Counter-question: Would you prefer the fifty percent reduction in anatomy? 〙

"Obviously not."

〘 Then your question answers itself. Survival requires adaptation. Morality is a luxury afforded to those with options. You currently have limited options. Act accordingly. 〙

Cold logic from a cold system. But it wasn’t wrong.

I hadn’t asked for this situation. Hadn’t asked to wake up in a dead kid’s body with a system threatening permanent mutilation if I didn’t play along. Given the choice between keeping my anatomy intact and feeling guilty about so boundary crossing, I’d pick keeping everything attached every single ti.

Sloane would get over it. People got embarrassed all the ti. She’d probably punch tomorrow morning and that would be that.

The image of her face surfaced again. Red from neck to hairline. Those blue eyes wide with shock. That little noise she’d made.

Yeah. That noise was getting filed away for later.

I flopped onto my bed and stared at the ceiling. Seven hundred SP sat in my account. Two new abilities sat in my loadout. And Sloane’s Temptation Gauge had jumped to thirty-eight percent.

"System. What happens when her Gauge hits forty?"

〘 Stage threshold advancent. Current stage: Curious. Next stage at 40%: Attached. Emotional baseline shifts from ambient interest to active investnt. Her thoughts will begin defaulting to you in unrelated contexts. She will engineer reasons for proximity. Physical contact will beco more frequent and less justified by circumstance. 〙

Two percent away from making Sloane actively seek out.

"And at sixty?"

〘 Stage: Devoted. She will prioritize your wellbeing over her own in critical situations. Jealousy responses activate when other won enter your proximity. Physical boundaries dissolve almost entirely. Romantic and sexual attraction reach actionable thresholds. 〙

"Actionable thresholds. You an she’ll..."

〘 Correct. At sixty percent or above, reciprocation of physical advances becos statistically probable. Rejection likelihood drops below fifteen percent depending on context and approach. 〙

I sat up. My heart hamred against my ribs.

Sloane Fitzgerald. The girl who’d been in my life for nine years. The walking explosive who could level city blocks if she lost control. The person who’d agreed to train despite thinking I was going to die.

At sixty percent, she’d be actively into .

And I was already at thirty-eight.

"Okay." I stood up and started pacing. "Okay okay okay. Let’s think about this rationally."

〘 You are incapable of rational thought regarding this subject. Your hormonal response indicates significant attraction despite moral reservations. Proceed with emotional honesty rather than false objectivity. 〙

"Shut up."

〘 Noted. 〙

Fine. Emotional honesty.

Sloane was attractive. That wasn’t up for debate. Pink hair, blue eyes, athletic build with curves in all the right places. The leggings she wore to training left absolutely nothing to imagination. And watching her move during combat was like watching a professional dancer who could also explode things.

But beyond that, she was competent. Confident. She knew exactly who she was and what she wanted.

That was hot.

The fact that she got flustered when that confidence cracked made it even better.

So yeah. If the System wanted to raise her Gauge to sixty and beyond, I wouldn’t exactly suffer through the process.

The guilt could take a number and wait in line.

"Alright, System. I’m in. What’s the next quest?"

〘 Main Quest queue updating. Please wait. 〙

I waited. The interface flickered. A new notification appeared.

〘 NEW QUEST

Quest will be revealed after current cooldown period expires.

In the interim, focus is recomnded on stat allocation, ability mastery, and continued progression with Subject Sloane Fitzgerald. Training sessions provide optimal cover for physical contact escalation. Morning al preparation demonstrates dostic capability and raises comfort trics. Evening sessions offer vulnerability windows with high success probability for boundary testing.

Strategic recomndation: Use SP to raise all stats to 15 each. This provides minimum threshold competency for a Hero candidate. Remaining SP can be reserved for ergency allocation or secondary stat increases once you hit a threshold. 〙

"Do it. Move everything to fifteen."

〘 Acknowledged. Allocating SP. This will be uncomfortable. 〙

Pain exploded through my nervous system.

Every muscle in my body seized. My bones felt like they were being stretched and compressed simultaneously. My tendons burned. My joints popped and crackled as they restructured themselves at the cellular level.

I collapsed onto the bed and bit down on my pillow to keep from screaming.

Then it stopped.

I lay there gasping. Sweat soaked through my shirt. My hands shook.

But when I stood up, everything felt different. Lighter. My body responded faster to ntal commands. The distance between thinking about movent and actually moving had shrunk.

I threw a punch at the air. It ca out crisp. Clean. Faster than before by a noticeable margin.

〘 STATUS UPDATE

Strength: 15 ( 5)

Agility: 15 ( 5)

Dexterity: 15 ( 5)

Intelligence: 15 ( 5)

Endurance: 15 ( 3)

Remaining SP: 470 〙

Five points didn’t sound like much. But the difference was night and day. I felt competent. Not good. Not great. But competent.

Like maybe I wouldn’t imdiately die in the Halloran exam.

"System. Probability assessnt. Current chances of passing the entrance exam."

〘 Calculating... Current probability: 8.3%

This represents a significant improvent over your previous 1.2% baseline. Contributing factors include new abilities, enhanced attributes, and ongoing combat training with a Legendary-tier Aspect user. Further progression required for aningful success probability. Recomndation remains unchanged: complete quests, raise Gauges, acquire more abilities. 〙

Eight percent. Still terrible odds. But better than one percent by a long shot.

I looked at my closed door. Sloane was sowhere in this house. Probably still mortified about what happened. Maybe plotting my murder. Definitely not thinking about it as much as I was thinking about it.

Forty-seven hours until the next quest dropped. Three months until the Halloran exam. And a progression system that required to seduce won to gain power.

"This is the dumbest isekai ever."

〘 Correction: This is your life now. Adjust accordingly. 〙

Yeah. My life now.

I flexed my hand and watched three spectral arms materialize from my forearm. They moved smoothly. Responded instantly to my thoughts.

Not bad for day two.

I dismissed the constructs and headed for the shower. Training started again tomorrow morning at five-thirty. Sloane would probably try to kill for real this ti.

But I had Boundless Stamina now. She could hit all day and I’d keep getting back up.

And if I played my cards right, her Gauge would hit forty percent by the end of the week.

"Ga on."