After the comments praising Hinata-san finally died down, the viewers’ attention shifted toward me.
『So, did Leveling Junkie Bro buy any new gear? From what I can see, he looks exactly the same as always.』
『Put on some armor already.』
『Are you making light of the dungeon?』
"Nah, I don't really like armor. It makes it harder to move," I replied.
『It's a matter of personal preference?!』
『Take this seriously!!』
"I’m always serious. Besides... Hinata-san isn't the only one who bought new equipment."
『Huh? Leveling Junkie Bro bought something too?』
『It doesn't look like it.』
『What did you buy?』
In response to the viewers’ questions, I let out a smug chuckle and rolled up both my sleeves to show them.
『—!!? No way, is that...!?』
『Those bracelets... could they be...!!』
"Seems like you’ve noticed. That’s right! These are the Bracelet of Technique and the Bracelet of Fleet-footedness!!"
『What?!』
『I never thought he’d buy two pieces of magic equipment that cost over 60 million each!!』
『120 million for the pair?!』
『No, 60 million is the floor price! If he bought them at auction, they must have cost at least 10 million more than that!!』
『Th-this guy...!? What is he spending his money on instead of armor!!』
The viewers seemed genuinely shocked.
Since I was at it, I decided to explain the two items I had purchased.
The Bracelet of Technique and the Bracelet of Fleet-footedness were pieces of magic equipment that could buff the Dexterity and Agility stats by 10 points respectively.
However, the stat increase wasn't permanent; the effect was activated by channeling 10 MP into each bracelet. Each activation lasted for five minutes.
In short, they were magic items that allowed the user to trigger specific support magic by consuming their own MP.
Incidentally, these weren't drop items; they were artifacts created by craftsmen with production-type skills. Because they required high-level skills and rare materials, they were incredibly expensive.
"And using this new equipment, I’m going to run rotations in the Floor 6 Monster Room today!" I announced, moving the conversation forward.
『Hm?』
『Huh?』
『Floor 6? Isn't that Floor 7 you're standing in front of?』
Naturally, the viewers were puzzled.
Why was I planning to grind the Floor 6 Monster Room, which offered less experience than Floor 7?
The reason lay in the existence of a certain skill that I had recently maxed out.
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【Name】 Takeo Samejima 【Level】 33 Experience to next level: 5,062,602 HP: 195/195 (29 up!) MP: 57/57 (11 up!) Strength: 100 (14 up!) Constitution: 95 (15 up!) Intelligence: 6 Spirit: 51 (11 up!) Agility: 95 (10 up!) Dexterity: 95 (10 up!) 【STP】 0 【ST】 0
【Skills】 Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons (Lv. Max), Berserk (Lv. 1), Goblin Genocider (Lv. Max), Fighting Spirit (Lv. Max), Blood Vengeance (Lv. 1), Sword Aura (Lv. 1), Taunt (Lv. 1), ■■■■■■■ (Lv. 1), Life Magic (Lv. Max), Magic Sword (Lv. 1), Danger Sense (Lv. 1), Mighty Blade (Lv. 3), Seeker (Lv. Max)
【Titles】 Battle Junkie, Goblin Genocider, ■■■■■, Swordmaster
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Yes, it goes without saying: I’m talking about Seeker.
For context, here are the skill details for Seeker at its maximum level:
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【Skill】 Seeker (Lv. Max) — Upon activation, Level becomes 0 and all stats except HP and MP are reset to their initial values. In exchange, earned experience points are multiplied by 2.0. Additionally, this skill must be activated before attacking an enemy and must be maintained until the end of combat to receive the experience bonus.
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The description was much cleaner compared to when it was Level 1, but it was exactly as I had explained before.
I intended to focus on leveling up for a while using this Seeker skill... but in reality, the experience efficiency of simply running Floor 7 rotations was overwhelmingly better.
At my current stage, it was still impossible to run rotations on Floor 7 with Seeker active. Even without it, the experience gained there was 92,570 per run.
On the other hand, when running the Floor 6 Monster Room with Seeker, if I didn't have the experience-boosting skill, the base experience for a two-person party would be 19,535 each. In my case, with the combination of Goblin Genocider and Seeker, I would get four times that: 78,140 experience.
Needless to say, this was inferior to the experience gained on Floor 7.
However.
There was a catch.
My primary objective this time wasn't simply leveling up.
It was to find a new derivative skill or evolution skill following Seeker and Asceticism—something that had yet to be discovered, even after my predecessors had built mountains of corpses trying.
As I had explained to Hinata-san before, I predicted that "it" existed.
So, what did I need to do to find it?
After thoroughly researching countless skill unlock conditions, I had narrowed it down to a few potential requirements.
Specifically:
- Level up a certain number of times while using Seeker.
- Defeat a certain number of monsters while using Seeker.
- Gain a certain amount of experience while using Seeker.
- Defeat monsters of a relatively high level while using Seeker.
- Use Seeker and Asceticism simultaneously and level up a certain number of times.
- Use Seeker and Asceticism simultaneously and defeat a certain number of monsters.
- Use Seeker and Asceticism simultaneously and gain a certain amount of experience.
- Use Seeker and Asceticism simultaneously and defeat monsters of a relatively high level.
- Exercise the Seeker and Asceticism skills a certain number of times.
If there were unlock conditions for a new derivative or evolution skill, I figured they would look something like that.
For context, my predecessors had tried using Seeker-type skills to level up on Floors 1 through 3.
Because one needed enough skills to actually fight and had to at least acquire Seeker and raise it to max level, most people only started using the skill for leveling after they had reached a decent level themselves.
As a result, the monsters on Floors 1 through 3 didn't provide enough experience, and it was said that people could only raise their level by about five at most.
Furthermore, when it came to monsters on Floor 4 and above, those with reset initial stats could hardly defeat them—or even if they did, their HP would be nearly depleted after a single battle, making the process incredibly inefficient.
Currently, my level was 33. Since the required experience was astronomically high, it was difficult to level up. If the condition was to gain a certain number of levels, I would be in for a real struggle... but I had no intention of giving up.
I’m doing it. I’m going all in!!
If a new skill could be found through the Seeker series, and if it turned out to be a highly versatile experience-boosting skill, there was no doubt my leveling speed would accelerate.
There’s a saying that "the longest way around is the shortest way home," but more importantly, as a leveling fanatic, I’d be a fraud if I didn’t take this challenge. Not when there might be a more efficient method of earning experience sitting right there!
Besides, with the skills I currently possessed, I had a decent chance of success.
That said, I’d probably wait until this attempt succeeded before telling the viewers about it. I couldn't exactly show my status when there were sealed skills and titles on it.
So for now, I simply said, "The reason I’m going out of my way to run Floor 6 rotations this time is... because I want to level up using the Seeker skill!!"
Instantly, a deafening silence fell over the chat.
And then—
『Huh?』 『Huh?』 『Huh?』 『Eh?』
『WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!?』
『Leveling Junkie Bro, are you insane?!』
『Have you finally gone completely mad?!』
『There's no way you can do that!!!』
『Maybe you should raise your Intelligence for once!? No wait, even if you raise your stats, it's not like you'll actually get smarter or your personality will change, so it's a waste!?』
『Using the Seeker skill... listen, if you were trying it on Floor 1 or 2, that'd be one thing, but if you use that on Floor 6, you're definitely going to die, hey!!!』
『Think this through!!』
『And don't drag Hinata-chan into something like that—!!!』
I was met with overwhelming opposition.
But no matter how much they protested, my resolve remained firm.
"Everyone, please calm down. Besides, I'm not crazy. I look perfectly normal, don't I? Also, I've already raised the Seeker skill to its maximum level, so it's too late to stop now."
『Wait, what!?』
『Is this guy for real!!?』
『He spent five points on that garbage landmine skill!?』
『Ah... ahhh!! It's over!!』
『You had the potential to become a top-tier Explorer on the level of Headshot Yakuza or Master Denshiro, but now that future is closed off forever!!!』
『What have you done, Leveling Junkie Bro!!!!!』
"..."
Jeez, they're so loud.
You never know if something will fail until you try it.
Feeling a bit annoyed, I decided to start the rotation immediately.
"Right, Hinata-san. Let's get ready!"
"Y-yeah..."
『Hey—!! Don't ignore us—!!』
『Stop acting like everything's normal! Seriously, stop!!』
『Run!! Run, Hinata-chan!! Get away from that Madman!!!』