It was fever time on the second floor of the Shinjuku Dungeon.
With fewer people than the first floor and a higher monster encounter rate, my leveling went incredibly smoothly.
Back at Level 4, I’d still take the occasional hit when facing groups of three Goblins, but by Level 5, even those minor setbacks disappeared.
During my second level-up of the day, I didn't put any points into Strength. However, since "Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons" had reached its maximum level, I could now force my sword right through the crude clubs the Goblins used for blocking and take them down in a single strike.
At that point, I was essentially invincible on this floor.
As long as I didn't get careless, I was no longer taking damage. I spent the rest of my time tearing through Floor 2 of the Shinjuku Dungeon, which had effectively become my personal hunting ground.
Returning to the surface would have been a massive waste of time, so I retreated to the stairs connecting the first and second floors to eat. For some reason, monsters never enter the dungeon stairwells, making them a sort of natural Safety Area.
I washed down the four convenience store rice balls I'd bought earlier with some tea, finished my short lunch break, and got back to the hunt.
I carved my way through Goblins and the occasional Slime, killing them by the dozen.
Then, at 4:00 PM.
I’d planned to stay submerged in the dungeon all day, but whether it was from the damage I'd taken or the faster combat pace, I reached my physical limit early again today.
Still, the results were magnificent.
Behold, this Status!
――――――――――――――――
【Name】 Takeo Samejima 【Level】 9 Exp to Next Level: 9,830
《HP》 12/45 (8 up!) 《MP》 18/18 《Strength》 30 (5 up!) 《Constitution》 15 (3 up!) 《Intelligence》 6 《Spirit》 12 《Agility》 27 (10 up!) 《Dexterity》 19 (7 up!)
【STP】 0 【SP】 4
【Skills】 《Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons Lv. Max》 《Berserk Lv. 1》 《Goblin Killer Lv. 1》
【Titles】 《Madman》 《Goblin Killer》
《Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons Lv. Max》: Increases damage dealt with bladed weapons by 2.0x. Has no effect when using other weapon types.
《Goblin Killer Lv. 1》: Increases damage dealt to Goblin-type enemies by 1.2x.
――――――――――――――――
First, let me explain: I raised my Constitution for the same reason I raised my Dexterity. As long as you have a certain amount of Dexterity, you won't mess up your power control, but apparently, if you exert too much force, your muscles, tendons, and bones can't actually withstand the output.
In fact, after I hit 30 Strength and tried to swing my sword with everything I had, I felt a sharp twinge in my muscles. It hurt like hell.
So, I hurriedly dumped points into Constitution as well.
But man, I’ve really come a long way.
I got to experience so much euphoria today alone.
While I’m honestly happy about that, I can't help but feel a bit frustrated—or maybe lonely—knowing that things won't go this easily starting tomorrow.
You’ll understand why if you look at the experience points required for my next level.
That’s right—I need 9,830 experience points to reach the next level!
You’re probably thinking that the requirement jumped way too high, right? I agree. However, it’s already been discovered that in Modern Dungeons, the experience requirements increase astronomically every ten levels.
The trade-off is that while I only received 5 Status Points per level until now, I’ll get 10 points per level starting from the next one.
The STP gain increases by 5 points every ten levels. Skill Points stay the same, though.
Whether that's the reason or not, the experience needed every ten levels increases by a literal order of magnitude.
Since the required experience for the next level is displayed on the Status screen, people have already reverse-engineered the formulas for each bracket.
The experience point formulas are as follows:
Levels 0–9: 5 × (10 × Next Level) Levels 10–19: 10 × (100 × Next Level) Levels 20–29: 15 × (1,000 × Next Level) Levels 30–39: 20 × (10,000 × Next Level) Levels 40–49: 25 × (100,000 × Next Level) Levels 50–59: 30 × (1,000,000 × Next Level) Levels 60–69: 35 × (10,000,000 × Next Level)
The pattern continues infinitely from there.
Do you see how insane this system is?
Levels 0 through 9 aren't actually that hard. Even the jump from Level 8 to 9 only requires 450 experience points.
But the moment you try to go from 9 to 10, it suddenly spikes to 10,000. I’ll say it as many times as I have to: that is way too much of a jump.
And Level 19 to 20? That requires 300,000. That’s thirty times the requirement of Level 10.
My point is that levels 0–9 are incredibly easy to breeze through.
Because of this, Explorers call this the "Tutorial Period." In other words, the real game starts at Level 9.
My pace today was significantly faster than yesterday, but even if I keep hunting Goblins at this rate, I won't level up tomorrow, or the day after, or even the day after that.
I’m willing to slaughter thousands of Goblins for that rush of pleasure, but the sooner I level up, the better.
I need to think about how to earn experience points more efficiently.
In my original leveling plan, I was going to max out "Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons," pick up and level two specific skills, and then just keep grinding Goblins steadily.
However, I unexpectedly ended up with two skills I hadn't planned for.
"Berserk," which everyone knows, and "Goblin Killer."
"Goblin Killer" is a Title Skill. If you check the Title column, you'll see a title with the same name has been added.
The conditions for obtaining it are "Defeating 100 Goblins" and "Recognition from an unspecified number of people." Since the title appeared the moment I killed my 100th Goblin (counting yesterday's kills), I must have already met the latter condition.
Wait, but why?
I haven't streamed any videos, and it’s only my second day as an Explorer. So why? What exactly is happening to me? It’s actually a little creepy.
Despite my slight fear and confusion, I figured I should see if I could use this.
Honestly, almost no one spends precious Skill Points on "Goblin Killer." Usually, you want to invest in skills that are either "Powerful" or "Highly Versatile."
"Goblin Killer" can be considered powerful since it can eventually double your damage against Goblins, but it has zero versatility. It only works on Goblins.
The current consensus is that wasting limited Skill Points on something like that is a mistake, but...
"It's a bit late to worry about wasting points on a dud skill..."
There’s a specific skill I’m determined to take for my leveling career.
It’s called "Seeker." The requirements are relatively easy to meet, and many people unlock it, but almost no one actually takes it. It’s widely considered a "crap skill" because the downsides are just too heavy.
However, I see potential in it.
And "Goblin Killer" might actually have great synergy with "Seeker." It means I’ll be stuck in the Shinjuku Dungeon for a while, but...
"Hmm..."
I tapped the skill column on my Status and pulled up the list of available skills.
――――――――――――――――
【Acquirable Skill List】 《Water Breathing》 《Water Resistance Adjustment》 《Seeker》 《Herculean Strength》 《Fleet-footed》 《Endurance》 《Increased Damage with Blunt Weapons》 《Taunt》 《Fighting Spirit》
――――――――――――――――
"Fighting Spirit" had been added to the list. I must have met the requirements—in this case, maxing out "Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons." Any other weapon or martial arts skill being maxed would have unlocked it too.
"I’ll put 'Seeker' on hold for now... I need to be able to push deeper first."
After thinking it over, I reached a decision.
I spent my saved Skill Points to acquire one new skill and level up two others.
――――――――――――――――
【Skills】 《Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons Lv. Max》 《Berserk Lv. 1》 《Goblin Killer Lv. 3》 《Fighting Spirit Lv. 2》
《Goblin Killer Lv. 3》: Increases damage dealt to Goblin-type enemies by 1.6x.
《Fighting Spirit Lv. 2》: While active, Strength, Constitution, and Agility are increased by 40%. Consumes 2 HP every 10 seconds.
――――――――――――――――