Stats are alphabetical variables that measure the physical capabilities of an individual. They originate from the System and are used to measure various parameters of a character in Questism. They represent the physical and mental attributes of a character and are used as a scale for a character's overall battle prowess. ^{[Note 1]}

Overview

Originating from the System, the Status Window is a sub-window for a larger interface called the "Quest Window." Stats are not measured numerically, but alphabetically, following a tier hierarchy similar to those found in gacha games.

They provide a metric for five parameters: Strength, Speed, Potential, Intelligence, and Endurance. There are many ways to increase one's statistics, the most common being through nurture cards provided by a System user or through training and improvement.

This is especially true of the inflated stats of individuals from North Gangbuk High, most notably those of the two executives, Daniel and Jeongdu Ma, whose stats far surpass anything the series had seen prior. It is not known how stats physically alter an individual to accommodate the ranking, but the System has shown the ability to genetically modify its subjects, as seen when it made Suhyeon Kim six centimeters taller.

Status Window

A status window is a holographic box that displays the five measurable statistics of an individual. It also shows someone's height and weight.

This window is not visible to other people and can only be seen by those who possess a system, currently only Suhyeon Kim, and formerly Yun Jo. While individuals can be aware of the concept of a status window, they will still be unable to see it or notice the changes that happen to their bodies.

For a system user to see other people's stats, they must use the Peek At You! card, which gives them the ability to view the parameters of others with certain restrictions. The first is when the target's stats are far higher than the user's own, which generates a failure prompt.

The second, although not confirmed, is when a target's stats are too high for the System to measure alphabetically, replacing the ranking with "Unmeasurable."

The stat window's measurement ceiling has evolved over the course of the series. Early on, it could only measure up to S-rank, which is why Jaeha Han and Seok Kang's specs initially showed as unmeasurable with only partial readings. By Part 1, the ceiling had risen to SSR, which is why Yun Jo and Daniel's stats showed as unmeasurable at that time, despite later being revealed as X-rank or above in Part 2.

While the general assumption is that those with higher stats are guaranteed a victory, stats only measure base strength and do not account for additional abilities like Cards.

This has been proven true on multiple occasions, such as when Suhyeon defeated Hajun despite the latter having stats three tiers above him. The Status Window is also only for display; one cannot willingly choose which stat to invest in, and nurture cards cannot target a specific stat unless specifically designed to do so (such as Superior Leap of Strength).

Parameters

Stats take the form of three physical parameters and two mental parameters: Strength, Speed, and Endurance, followed by Potential and Intelligence. These parameters are represented by their respective names followed by an alphabetical rank. Stats are determined either by a person's natural aptitude or by intensive training.

Strength

The most fundamental combat stat and arguably the single most important one. Without sufficient Strength, dealing meaningful damage to an opponent becomes extremely difficult regardless of technique, speed, or combat sense. Before Suhyeon used nurture cards, he was unable to deal any damage to Cheonhak Yang at all, which is the clearest example of how crippling a low Strength stat can be.

However, Strength alone isn't everything. Characters with high Speed can turn the tables on Strength-focused fighters, as long as a character's overall stats are above average, deficiencies in Strength can be partially compensated for through combat sense, technique, or other high stats.

Speed

Arguably as important as Strength when paired with other high stats. High Speed allows a character to dominate opponents who have invested heavily in Strength and Endurance, and depending on the gap, it can compensate for lower Endurance. The Yugyeom Na vs Cheonhak Yang fight is a prime example of Speed exploiting a slow, tanky fighter.

The downside is clear: if a character's Strength is too low or the opponent's Endurance is too high, fast attacks won't deal enough damage to matter, making Speed useless in isolation.^[1] When both Speed and Strength are high, a character can hold the advantage even against opponents with similar overall stats. Post-Awakening Jaeha Han hitting SSS in both Strength and Speed and briefly overwhelming Suhyeon, who also had SSS Strength, demonstrates this clearly.

Endurance

Important for sustaining prolonged fights and surviving powerful hits. If a character's Speed is low, high Endurance becomes essential for staying in the fight. Even if both Strength and Speed are lacking, strong Endurance can buy time and keep a character standing. Conversely, high Speed with low Endurance leaves a character vulnerable to being dropped in just a few hits, as demonstrated repeatedly by Haru Seong's early combat appearances.

When Strength and Endurance differ by 2 or more tiers, fights can end in as few as two clean hits, as shown in the Hajun Gu vs Seok Kang, where Seok didn't even react to hits from the S+-ranked Hajun and Jaeha because his SS+ Endurance was so far above their output.^[2]

Intelligence

A highly valued stat that encompasses both combat sense and strategic thinking. Characters with high Intelligence tend to either excel at reading opponents mid-fight (like Eunhyeong Ji and Jaeha Han) or specialize in large-scale tactical planning (like Jihyeok Jang and Beomsang Jeong), sometimes both.

High Intelligence can make fights viable even when there's a significant stat gap. Daniel's Intelligence S+ was able to analyze Yun Jo's Intelligence S combat patterns well enough to compete despite Yun being 3 tiers higher in Strength, 1 in Speed, and 2 in Endurance, plus possessing Quest abilities on top of that.

That said, higher Intelligence doesn't guarantee victory in a battle of wits. Situation, individual resourcefulness, and knowledge of an opponent's weaknesses can allow someone with lower Intelligence to outmaneuver a smarter opponent, as Hakjin Ju demonstrated against Seonu Ha during the Fall of East Gangbuk.

Currently, no character has been shown with Intelligence above S+, and no Potential above S has appeared outside of Johan Seong and Daniel Park at SSS. These stats seemed to have been designed with a lower ceiling than the physical stats, but the extreme power inflation of the combat stats has made this disparity more glaring over time.

Potential

Potential determines how drastically a character's combat power changes upon reaching milestones like Awakening, Ascension, or the Path to Mastery. Characters with A-rank or higher Potential can undergo unpredictable leaps in power upon reaching these stages. Potential appears to be impossible to raise through natural means; the only known method is the Lucky Bag card. Characters with S-rank Potential receive two exclusive cards upon Awakening instead of one, and if such a character reaches both Ascension and Mastery, they would theoretically possess six exclusive cards total.

C-rank Potential appears to be average, with B-rank already considered decently talented. Despite B-rank looking low next to the many A-rank characters in the series, several characters noted as particularly gifted fighters (like Cheonhak Yang and Jeong-u Song) sit at B Potential, and Jin Jang was described by Gun Park as having real talent at B.^{[citation needed]} A-rank is effectively genius-level, A+ is exceptional even among geniuses, and S-rank represents the kind of generational talent capable of reaching the absolute peak. S+ and above are considered fantasy-tier: Johan Seong and Daniel Park both sit at SSS, and as expected, their stats registered as Unmeasurable.

There are notable inconsistencies with how Potential plays out in practice. Jihyeon Lee, with C-rank Potential, achieved SSS+ through Awakening combined with Jigen-ryū (and even without Jigen-ryū, her Strength jumped from A+ to SS+, an enormous leap for C Potential). Meanwhile, characters with the same A-rank Potential have shown wildly different growth depending on the needs of the power balance. It's worth noting that Seok Kang and Changung Yeom had their Potential reduced to B+ by the Diablo card's effect, which may partially explain some inconsistencies.

The Three Stages of Potential

When characters are pushed beyond their limits in battle, face their past, or feel overwhelming conviction, there is a chance they may tap into their untapped potential and maximize it, boosting their stats further. There is no exact condition to activate the three stages, only that the fighter is backed into a corner physically, mentally, or both. Each activation is different: Haru Seong confronted his past with Daniel, while Suhyeon Kim was driven by a desire to protect his teammates. Meanwhile, Seok Kang reached this stage simply because he was being bested in battle by Gukja Yang.

The result of reaching a stage leads to increased stats (the magnitude determined by Potential) and an exclusive ability unique to that character. Awakening is a prerequisite for Ascension, and Ascension is a prerequisite for the Path to Mastery. When a character reaches one of these stages, the System user is warned through a prompt.

For the full breakdown of the Path to Mastery, its relationship to Lookism's Mastery concept, and all known Mastery cards, see the Mastery page.

Awakening

The first stage. All stats except Intelligence and Potential increase, and the character receives an exclusive card (two cards if their Potential is S-rank).

Ascension

The second stage, first attained by Cheonhak Yang^[3]. The stat boost is massive: Cheonhak went from an average below SS to an average of SSR, with his Endurance reaching UR. Characters also gain access to Ascension cards. Yun Jo demonstrated that Ascension can be forcibly triggered using the Diamond Card Forced Ascension, which produces even greater stat increases than normal Ascension but does not grant an Ascension card. As of the series' end, all West Gangbuk executives up to No. 10 have Ascended except Eunhyeong Ji, and all North Gangbuk executives up to No. 10 have Ascended except Seonu Ha.

Path to Mastery

The third and final stage, available only to certain individuals. Seven characters have reached this stage. See the Mastery page for full details.

Stat Tiers

The full tier list from lowest to highest is as follows. From S-rank onward, tiers are subdivided with minus (-) and plus (+) modifiers, and the gap between each tier grows progressively larger as you climb.

Power Inflation Comparison

To give a sense of how the tiers relate to each other in practical terms, the following comparison illustrates each tier's relative standing if the entire scale were compressed back down to the original letter grades:

• SSS+ and below = roughly F-tier relative to the top
• SR to SR+ = roughly E
• SSR to SSR+ = roughly D
• UR to UR+ = roughly C
• LR to LR+ = roughly B
• MR to MR+ = roughly A
• X = roughly S- to S+
• XX = roughly SS- to SS+
• XXX = roughly SSS- to SSS+
• EX = roughly SR to SR+
• DX = roughly SSR to SSR+
• Immeasurable = roughly UR and above

Potential Ranking

The known Potential tiers are: N/A → F → E → D → C → B → B+ → A → A+ → S → S+ → SSS

The stages of Potential: Initial → Awakened → Ascended → Mastery

• Note: Ascension can reoccur, even if an individual has already experienced it.

Trivia

• Intelligence and Potential have noticeably lower ceilings than the three physical stats. No character has exceeded S+ in Intelligence or S in Potential (outside of Johan Seong and Daniel Park at SSS). This was likely an intentional design choice from early in the series when S was the upper limit, but the runaway inflation of combat stats has made the gap feel increasingly odd.
• Taeho Cheon's Potential is uniquely depicted as something he can toggle between Awakened and Ascended states at will, as if controlling the output like a throttle. No other character has been shown doing this.
• Stats reduced to None through different methods are treated differently. Mana Drain and The Great Absorption Technique reductions can be recovered, while Let's Make A Deal reductions were portrayed as permanent until Episode 156 proved otherwise. Episode 159 later showed Suhyeon using an Elixir to restore Jintae Heo's Deal-erased Potential and Intelligence.

Notes

References