After confirming that I could fight without any issues despite the Mark of Death status ailment, we resumed our usual loops of the monster room.
By 7:00 PM, we decided to call it a day.
For the record, we completed 120 laps today. In the monster room alone, I had slain a total of 5,880 Goblins. Even I had to admit that was quite a feat.
After collecting the dropped items from the final wave of Goblins, we prepared to end the stream. We wouldn't be returning to the surface; instead, we planned to spend the night right there in the monster room.
Thanks to the God Dungeon Master’s "God Update" to the modern dungeons, two-way teleportation between circles was now possible, significantly reducing travel time. However, as we progressed to deeper floors, the area of each floor would only grow larger. Hinata-san and I had talked it over and decided it was time to gain some experience with overnight dungeon stays.
Thus, just like before, we had scheduled this excursion for two days and one night.
Before ending the stream, I decided to check my status.
It wasn't that I expected a level-up or anything of the sort. Rather, since I had completed several laps after Asceticism reached level 5, I wondered if any new skills had been unlocked, similar to how Indomitable Spirit had appeared.
The result—
"—Kichaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!"
I found myself striking an Inabauer pose. My body spasmed rhythmically.
『What happened?!』 『Whoa, you scared the crap out of me!』 『Way too loud, man!』 『Wait, what? Don't tell me he leveled up again?』 『Nah, there’s no way. Not this soon.』 『↑ Someone's sounding like a certain green-haired AI lol』 『Real talk: when Leveling Junkie Bro levels up, he screams "Nggibodyiiiiii!!", but this time it was "Kichaaaa!" so it’s not a level-up. It’s probably the same thing as when he found Indomitable Spirit.』 『!?!!?』 『A weirdo appeared!!』 『Is that the Junkie-Niki Expert?! It’s the Junkie-Niki Expert, isn't it?!』 『Man, this channel’s comment section has been attracting some real freaks lately.』 『The Hinata Channel is being systematically contaminated...!!』 『Give it back! Give back the Hinata Channel from the days when I was healed by Hinata-chan's bouncing figure!!』 『Calm down, you lot! This is the part where we should be asking if he actually unlocked a new skill!』 『What's the verdict, Leveling Junkie Bro?!』
The viewers' questions snapped me back to my senses.
"Y-Yes, that's right. New skills were unlocked... five of them, actually."
『Wha?!』 『Five?! Why five?!』 『Is that even possible?!』 『What skills?! Hurry up and tell us!!』
As expected, the viewers took the bait immediately. I raised my voice to settle the frenzy.
"Everyone, please, calm down! Four of them are just simple resistance skills!"
Out of the five newly unlocked skills, four were indeed resistance-types: Pain Resistance, Poison Resistance, Frailty Resistance, and Consumption Resistance. It seemed the conditions had been met through my repeated battles while under the effects of Asceticism.
However, I had no intention of activating them.
Dumping skill points into multiple resistance skills was a waste, and more importantly, resistance skills provided no benefit against the self-inflicted debuffs of Asceticism. There was no point in me taking them.
The viewers seemed to reach the same conclusion.
『Oh, is that all?』 『Resistance skills, huh? You had me worried for a second.』 『I mean, after fighting like that with Asceticism, it makes sense.』 『Four skills... so basically everything except the Mark of Death?』 『Wait, wait, wait!! Don't get all relaxed on me!! He said four were resistance skills, which means the fifth one is something else!!』 『Exactly! And Leveling Junkie Bro just let out that disgusting ecstatic moan, which means...?』 『Hah?! Oh damn, you're right!!』 『What is it?! Spill it, Leveling Junkie Bro!!』
I gave a solemn, heavy nod. I had no intention of hiding it.
"The new skill I unlocked this time is—"
I brought up the description of the new skill.
———————————————— Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds Lv.1 — Provides a 1.2x damage multiplier when afflicted with one status ailment. The multiplier increases by +0.2x for each additional status ailment active on the user. ————————————————
The moment the description went up, the more analytical viewers reacted.
『Wha!!?』 『A broken skill has arrived!!!』 『This is way more broken than Indomitable Spirit!!』 『I can't believe it's a Status Ailment Enhancement!!』 『That means with maxed-out Asceticism, the multiplier is a flat 2x!!』 『Hold on though. Since Poison and Consumption still drain HP and MP, is it really that strong?』 『That's only at level 1, you dummy!! If the base is 1.2x at level 1, it’ll probably go up by 0.2x for every skill level!!』 『If the bonus for additional ailments scales the same way, then at max level, one ailment would give 2x, and every ailment after that would add another +1x.』 『So if both Asceticism and Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds are maxed, that's a 6x damage multiplier?!』 『It's not as high as Mighty Blade's burst, but the overall cost is way lower, and it doesn't reset after one swing. This is definitely top-tier!!』 『Compared to the niche utility of Indomitable Spirit, this skill is way more versatile!!』
If I maxed the skill level, I would have a 6x damage multiplier while Asceticism was active.
Against Goblins, when combined with Increased Damage with Bladed Weapons and the Goblin Genocider title, I would be able to consistently output a 48x damage multiplier without even touching Mighty Blade.
If I added Mighty Blade on top of that—even at Mighty Blade Lv.3—the damage multiplier would hit 576x... Wait, wasn't that a bit much?
The power creep was accelerating at a terrifying rate. Was this really okay? Wouldn't the developers nerf this?
Well, admittedly, those ridiculous numbers were only against Goblins. Even against a Goblin King, I definitely didn't need that much overkill.
And come to think of it, I’d have to invest five skill points to reach that multiplier, plus the ten points already sunk into Seeker and Asceticism to unlock Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds in the first place. That was fifteen points in total.
It was undeniably strong, but the cost was a heavy barrier for anyone not already dedicated to the Seeker path.
Regarding the "Status Ailment Enhancement" term popping up in the comments, "enhance" can mean many things in different games—strengthening the ailments themselves or increasing damage against afflicted enemies—but in this case, it clearly meant "my attack power increases when I am the one afflicted."
『I wonder what the unlock conditions are?』 『Asceticism is definitely the key, but...』 『Eh, leave the theory-crafting to the Seekers and the Verification Team.』 『Leveling Junkie Bro, hurry up and take it! Test it out!!』
"Believe me, I'd love to do exactly that."
I was dying to activate it and see it in action, but unfortunately, I was fresh out of skill points. Furthermore, the experience required for my next level was astronomical; I expected it would take several days of grinding.
I explained the situation to the chat.
『Hm? Astronomical experience?』 『Wait... no way...』 『The required experience only spikes like that when the next level is a multiple of ten.』 『Does that mean... Leveling Junkie Bro, did you actually hit level 39?!』 『No, no, that's way too fast!!』 『Even for elite explorers, reaching that level usually takes at least a year...』 『And even a year is considered a breakneck pace.』 『Level 39 is territory reserved for the absolute top tier of explorers.』 『Wait, hold on. The experience needed for level 40 is 100 million. And you said you can do that in a few days?』 『New skills, impossible leveling speeds... I can't keep up with the retorts anymore...!!』 『He’s really going full throttle from the first day back...!!』 『Wait, I just realized something. Those dark circles he had when the stream started today? They’re gone. How?』 『It's true!! He hasn't even slept, so how?!』 『This is likely because the intake of a massive amount of experience points removed his physical fatigue and boosted his metabolism, resolving the dark circles.』 『The Junkie-Niki Expert strikes again?!』 『I want to call BS on that, but for some reason, it actually makes sense...』 『↑ I told you, my brain can't keep up!!』
Man, I really wanted to activate Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds and pump its level up.
If I did, I might be able to wipe out Goblin armies with a Great Flying Blade without needing to use Mighty Blade. That would allow me to loop floors more efficiently, since I wouldn't be draining my resources on Mighty Blade as often. This strategy might even carry me through floor 8 and beyond.
However, because I had dumped so many points into Seeker and Asceticism, my core combat skills were lagging behind. Loop-farming the floor 8 monster room was still too risky to do reliably.
So, for the time being, I’d just have to stay on floor 7 and grind experience the slow, steady way.
...Or so I thought at the time.
———————————————— Currently Undisclosed Information
Unlock Conditions for Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds Must satisfy the following:
Land the finishing blow on 10,000 monsters while afflicted with 2 or more status ailments. OR Land the finishing blow on 1,000 monsters while afflicted with 4 or more status ailments. OR Land the finishing blow on 100 monsters while afflicted with 5 or more status ailments. *Note: Status ailments must be maintained from the start of combat until the end for the kill to be counted.
In battles where status ailments are maintained from start to finish, the experience points acquired from monsters the user finishes must satisfy: Acquire a total of 1,000,000,000 XP in battles with 1 status ailment. OR Acquire a total of 100,000,000 XP in battles with 2 status ailments. OR Acquire a total of 10,000,000 XP in battles with 3 status ailments. OR Acquire a total of 1,000,000 XP in battles with 4 status ailments. OR Acquire a total of 100,000 XP in battles with 5 status ailments. *Note: The above values refer to the "total XP actually acquired by the user," not the monsters' base XP.
Satisfy conditions 1 and 2 within a 24-hour period.