Was it because it had been a while since the last stream?
The questions from the viewers showed no sign of stopping. They wanted to know everything—the details of the dungeon terrorism incident, what we had been doing over the past week, and more.
Hinata-san had apparently been reporting on these things via ZX in advance, but it seemed not every viewer had caught the updates. She spent her time answering their questions, occasionally sugar-coating things—and occasionally not.
As we ventured deeper into Floor 7, five Goblins appeared before us.
I drew my sword and stepped forward, calling out to Hinata-san.
"Hinata-san, I’m going to try that before we reach the monster room."
"Got it. But don't push yourself!"
"Of course!"
『Hm? That?』
『What do you mean by "that"?』
Hinata-san answered the natural surge of questions from the viewers.
"Um... it looks like he's going to test out the Asceticism skill."
『The Asceticism skill?! Is he seriously going to use it?!』
『Oh yeah, he did pick that up during the last stream.』
『Asceticism is a total nightmare, man!!』
『As someone who's tried it, let me tell you: there’s no way you can fight while using that.』
『Isn't it a forced Pain status at Level 1? I heard it hurts like hell.』
『What is the Leveling Junkie Bro planning to do?』
Naturally, since the notoriety of the Asceticism skill was widespread, doubt erupted among the viewers.
However, I gave a faint smile and declared, "Don't worry! I haven't exactly been playing around this past week, either."
『What?!』
『No way?!』
『Did he find a strategy to beat Pain?! No, that's impossible!!』
Pain—the status ailment forcibly applied the moment the Asceticism skill is activated. It inflicts intense physical suffering upon the target.
While you feel the pain, you don't actually take damage to your HP... but on the flip side, the sensation is agonizingly powerful. It's said to be equivalent to being stabbed deep with a knife.
This overwhelming, white-hot agony causes anyone afflicted by Pain to fall into a state of total incapacitation. It is a far more vicious status ailment than mere poison or bleeding.
However... the agony felt through Pain had a specific characteristic.
I had noticed that characteristic from the information left behind by my predecessors, and I had devised a method to overcome it...!!
I smiled with utter confidence, making a declaration to reassure the worried viewers.
"Humanity's greatest weapon is wisdom! I shall overcome Pain through logic!!"
『Ridiculous! That's impossible!!』
『Even we haven't found a way to beat Pain yet!!』
『There’s no way the Leveling Junkie Bro's intelligence could find a strategy that even we missed...!!』
『I had a hunch, but the guys from the Seeker Thread are definitely in the comments now, lol.』
『Oh right, since he discovered Indomitable Spirit the other day, the Seeker Thread guys have been obsessed with the Leveling Junkie Bro, lol.』
The enemy Goblins had already noticed us and were closing in. With about three seconds left until the start of combat, I activated Taunt to draw their hostility.
"Come and get me!!"
With that, Goblin Genocider triggered, doubling all of my stats. If I were prioritizing experience point efficiency, I should have activated Seeker as well, but since this was still a test run, I left it off. I coated my blade in a Sword Aura and braced myself.
"Phew... Here we go!!"
I steeled my resolve and activated Asceticism Lv. 1.
"—Guh-gh!?"
In an instant, an intense, searing pain flared up in my left flank, as if a blade had been driven deep into my side. This was seriously no joke.
My entire body stiffened from the sheer shock. My vision flashed white, and my consciousness began to flicker. But—
"—Now!!"
The peak of the agony lasted only a few moments. Since I hadn't actually been stabbed, the intense pain didn't persist, and there was no actual bleeding. Even so, my brain was convinced I'd been wounded; I felt a dull, throbbing ache—but it wasn't enough to stop me from moving!!
I poured HP into my longsword and swung it in a massive horizontal arc. I layered the Mighty Blade skill onto a Great Flying Blade and slammed the slash into the pack of Goblins!
The group included a Goblin Knight, but against a slash with ninety-six times my base power, its high Constitution and defense skills were meaningless.
Powerless against the massive blade of aura, the five Goblins were bisected simultaneously and died.
I deactivated the Asceticism skill and quickly checked my status. Thanks to the synergistic effect with Goblin Genocider, I had earned 2.4 times the experience points.
—Success.
In truth, Pain had a particular quirk: the intense agony strikes once every ten seconds.
In other words, you just have to endure the initial agony the moment you activate Asceticism and finish off the monsters before the next wave hits.
As I’d expected, the plan worked perfectly.
I had successfully conquered Pain. I turned back to the drone behind me with a smug expression. I couldn't help but wonder if I might even earn the Sage title for being this brilliant.
『Hey, what's with that smug face?!』
『That’s not a strategy at all!!』
『It's just pure brute force!!』
Hostile comments immediately came flying back at me.
How sad that people cannot honestly celebrate another's achievements.
However, there were also more analytical opinions.
『Wait, hold on. It's definitely brute force, but isn't the idea of killing the enemy instantly actually viable?』
『If he can do this, he can grind while using Asceticism!』
『No... I think you guys are misunderstanding something. Normally, it's impossible to wipe out a pack of Floor 7 Goblins in an instant.』
『Maybe you could kill a single Normal Goblin from Floor 1 in an instant, but the experience points in the shallow floors are terrible.』
『This is something only someone who can unleash high-powered special moves can pull off.』
『That's not all!! The Leveling Junkie Bro is making a fatal oversight!!』
『Even we can endure the agony of Pain once or twice!!』
『The true horror of Asceticism reveals itself as the number of battles increases!!』
『Normally, nobody can keep enduring that recurring agony forever! Eventually, just trying to activate Asceticism will make you feel heart palpitations and shortness of breath!!』
『It's the Asceticism Yips!』
『Once that happens, you won't even be able to activate Asceticism anymore!! The agony of Pain carves trauma into your very soul!!』
『Enduring the pain once or twice doesn't mean you've overcome it, Leveling Junkie Bro!!』
『These guys... they're getting desperate because they don't want him to get ahead of them, lol.』
『Wait, so the guys from the Seeker Thread can actually endure Pain once or twice?』
『I already knew this, but the Seeker Thread people are also pretty unhinged, aren't they?』
It seemed there were people who simply refused to acknowledge my success.
And what they were saying was technically correct. To use an analogy: few people could repeatedly activate a skill if they knew they would feel like they were being stabbed the moment they did. On top of that, the agony of Pain cannot be acclimated to or mitigated, so there is no way to deal with it other than to endure (unless it was applied by something other than Asceticism, in which case it could be cured with the Refresh spell).
Eventually, a psychological rejection would trigger just by trying to use the skill.
But—I had already found a solution for that, too.
After picking up the Goblins' Magic Stones, we continued deeper toward the monster room.
Perhaps because explorers hadn't been entering for a while, there were more monster encounters than usual.
About thirty minutes had passed since the start of the stream. By this point, we had already engaged in eight battles.
And I had activated Asceticism in every single one of them. Yet, there was still no sign of me falling into the Asceticism Yips.
『I-Impossible...?!』
『No way...!!』
『After activating Asceticism eight times in a row, anyone should be feeling at least some fear or hesitation...!!』
『Leveling Junkie Bro, what the hell are you?!』
The viewers—presumably the ones from the Seeker Thread—began to question me, clearly finding my lack of hesitation bizarre.
Since I had no intention of hiding it from the start, I decided to teach them how to avoid the Asceticism Yips.
Well, though I say that, it's not like I did anything particularly complex.
"It's quite simple, everyone."
I turned around and faced the drone. With a triumphant look, I tapped the side of my head.
"You just have to link the agony of Pain with pleasure in your mind."
『Eh?』
『Huh?』
『Is this a sudden masochism declaration?』
『No, we already knew you were a freak from the start!!』
"You're wrong."
I am neither a masochist nor a pervert.
"What I mean is, you use the pleasure derived from experience points to alleviate the fear of Pain's agony. If you focus on the massive experience point boost you get by activating Asceticism, you can suppress the fear of the pain, right?"
In short, I was just doing the same thing I did back when I first started venturing into Floor 3 of the Shinjuku Dungeon.
Back then, I was constantly getting hit by the attacks of Armed Goblins, and I was being sliced to ribbons every day.
Naturally, it hurt like hell. Moreover, unlike Pain, the bleeding and the ache lasted a long time. Since I was being wounded every time I fought, it wouldn't have been strange for my spirit to break.
But I endured. I was able to endure.
Why? The answer is simple.
By ingesting experience points, my brain secreted natural narcotics. I used the pleasure generated by those endorphins to mitigate the pain of my wounds and suppress the fear of being cut by the Goblins.
I carefully explained this logic to the viewers.
『Oh yeah, I remember there was a time when the Leveling Junkie Bro was covered in blood every day, lol.』
『He was using pleasure to ignore the pain even back then, lol.』
『Normally I'd want to scream "What the hell are you talking about?"... but the terrible thing is that, coming from him, it's actually plausible...!!』
『Even if you explain it, nobody else can do that!!』
『It's a method only possible for a "special" individual who finds literal pleasure in experience points...!!』
『As far as we know, the Leveling Junkie Bro is the only one like that in existence, right? www』
『So does that mean Asceticism is still an impassable wall for normal people?』
『Leveling Junkie Bro, I'll admit you've avoided the Asceticism Yips through your unparalleled eccentricity... but not yet!!』
『Don't get cocky just because you avoided the Yips!!』
『There are people among us who can convert pain into pleasure, too!!』
『Leveling Junkie Bro! You still don't know the true horror of Pain!!』
『Oho? The Seeker Thread guys are saying something again.』
『Wait, there are actually people in the Seeker Thread who can endure Pain? lol. Though their principle seems slightly different from the Leveling Junkie Bro's. www』
『Lmao www. I wasn't interested before, but I'm suddenly very interested in these Seekers. lol.』
『They might be a collection of weirdos beyond our wildest imagination. lol.』
『I'll dare to say it! Leveling Junkie Bro! You will succumb to Pain in the monster room!!』
I gave a fearless smile at the comment from the Seeker.
In that case, let me prove it to you. I'd show them all that my method for conquering Pain was flawless!!