I loved leveling up.
I really did.
Takeo Samejima had always been fond of grinding levels in games, particularly in RPGs.
Not that such a peculiar hobby—or more accurately, a fetish—seemed destined to be of any use.
In the winter of his third year of middle school, he was in the depths of despair over his future. He imagined a life where he would eventually be forced into a company he didn’t want to join, doing work he didn't want to do, enduring a superior’s harassment, and having his labor exploited for a meager wage until his eyes went dead.
However, the world reached a major turning point.
"We apologize for the interruption."
The evening variety show suddenly cut away. A serious-faced announcer began reading the breaking news against a backdrop of frantic station staff running to and fro.
Simultaneous cave-in accidents had occurred on a global scale, not just within Tokyo.
As the hours passed, it became clear that these were not accidents, pranks, or even terrorist attacks.
Abnormal spaces spread inside the sinkholes where the ground had collapsed. Enormous caverns stretched deep underground. It was a scene beyond reality, with glowing minerals sprouting from the floors, walls, and ceilings. And then, there were the jiggly, moving monsters known as Mizu-manju.
People who had fallen into these mysterious holes began posting about the conditions inside on the internet after managing to escape.
Among the various posts, one topic became particularly explosive: "the people who became able to use superpowers."
At first, the world dismissed them as fake videos. However, footage of fire, water, wind, stones, and lightning manifesting from fingertips—sights common in fiction but impossible in reality—began to flood the internet.
Furthermore, these videos were posted by a diverse array of individuals, varying in age, gender, and nationality.
The public gradually began to realize that these were neither fiction nor fakes.
"I’m serious!! When I killed a Mizu-manju in that hole, its body vanished, and this little marble-like thing appeared instead!!"
"And this is the weird part. For some reason, that marble looked delicious."
"Seriously, my body craved it as if I were being offered ice-cold water while parched in the middle of a desert. Not that I’ve ever actually been in a desert, but you get the point."
"I mean, I knew better, right? My brain knew it wasn't food, but I couldn't stop myself. I ate it—or rather, I swallowed it."
"Then I suddenly became able to use superpowers!!"
"LOL"
"Why the hell would you eat a marble? lol"
"Is this guy okay in the head?"
"Hey, didn't your mama teach you not to eat things you find on the ground? lol"
"Dangerous guy alert, lmao"
"But most of the other people who can use powers are saying the same thing."
"So the story is that you get superpowers if you eat the 'marbles' that drop when you kill a Mizu-manju?"
"Isn't this becoming too much of a global meme?"
"It's a fact, not a meme."
"Does that mean I can use powers if I eat one too?"
"If it's true, that's awesome!"
"I wanna use powers too, nnnnggh"
"Has the time finally come for my hidden power to awaken...? I'm gonna go find a hole."
Takeo, like many others, spent his time gathering information on social media.
As a result, he synthesized the information coming in and understood the situation perfectly—
"Hmm..."
Not particularly interested, Takeo went back to leveling up in his game. Incidentally, he was supposed to be studying for entrance exams.
And then—three years later, Takeo was attacked by a monster in a collapsed Tokyo and died.
—Or so I dreamed.
●◯●
Huh...?
When I suddenly woke up, I was lying on the floor of a Monster Room.
Why was I sleeping in a place like this?
I sat up, feeling bewildered.
"Takeo-kun, are you okay?"
"Hinata-san...? Yes, I'm fine, but..."
Hinata-san was peering down at me with a worried expression. A short distance away lay the remains of the five deceased explorers.
Right. I had encountered a strange Goblin here and managed to defeat it with Hinata-san’s help.
What happened after that...?
My memories before losing consciousness were fuzzy. I felt like I had been dreaming about something, but since it was just a dream, it didn’t really matter. However, the memory gap itself was a problem. Since I couldn't quite recall the details, I decided to ask.
"Hinata-san, why was I sleeping here?"
"Eh...? Takeo-kun, you don't remember?"
『Leveling Junkie Bro lost his memory...?!』
『What the hell happened?!』
『Is it an illness?』
The comments from the viewers scrolling on the drone's feed felt somewhat restless.
"No, I don't remember. We defeated the Goblin... and then, oh, right. I remember calling Urara-san, but that's where it stops..."
"Yeah, you remember most of it then."
"?"
"Right after the call ended, you suddenly collapsed, Takeo-kun."
"Are you serious?"
Apparently, I had just suddenly keeled over. According to her, I had only been out for a few minutes.
I desperately tried to pinpoint the cause, but my head started to ache whenever I pushed, so I decided to drop it.
Oh well! If I can't remember it, it probably wasn't a big deal!
"Are you really okay?"
『Are you really okay, Leveling Junkie Bro?』
『Mainly in the head.』
『Since he wasn't screaming this time, I don't think he reached ecstasy from a level-up or a new skill, so I'm actually a bit worried.』
『Expert Bro?!』
『I wonder why I occasionally feel such grossness in Expert Bro's comments? lol』
『Leveling Junkie Bro collapsing is basically a regular occurrence, but it's definitely worrying that he didn't make an Oho-voice before falling this time.』
『What kind of worry is that? lol』
『But it's true though, lololol』
While being fretted over by Hinata-san and the viewers, I stood up and assured them I was fine.
Truly, there was no problem. My body felt normal.
More importantly—
"Waiting around is boring. It's not like we can farm this Monster Room right now..."
Once there was nothing left to do, the boredom hit me. I was just fidgeting.
If Hinata-san and I left the room, the remains of those men would be absorbed by the Dungeon. I couldn't exactly start another round of combat under these circumstances.
"Um... Takeo-kun, aren't you tired? Why don't you rest for a bit?"
『It was such an intense battle, after all.』
『Yeah, just take it easy.』
"Ah, no... I'm not particularly tired, it's just..."
What I wanted to say was something else.
"Hinata-san, what should we do about the stream? There's nothing to do, and I thought the viewers might be getting bored."
"Ah, is that what you're worried about?"
"Yes. Shall we end the stream for now?"
"Hmm, I guess so..."
Just as Hinata-san was about to nod, the chat exploded.
『Hold on a second!!』
『If you're going to end the stream, do a chatting stream instead!!』
『We have so many things we want to ask!!』
『Don't you dare end it so casually, Leveling Junkie Bro!!』
『You were using a skill that looked like Sword Aura but that we've never seen before!! Explain that!!』
『Also, I'm curious about what you did at the very end to kill that super-strong Goblin?! Why did that guy suddenly attack you, Leveling Junkie Bro?!』
Apparently, they had plenty of questions.
"What do you think?" I asked Hinata-san.
"Well, if you're okay with answering, Takeo-kun, I think they’d appreciate it."
"Understood. Then, shall we go through the questions one by one?"
And so, while we waited for the recovery team, I decided to answer the viewers’ questions.
Not that my answers were anything special.
"Well then... shall we start with the skill that looked like Sword Aura but seemed new?"
『Yeah, yeah!』
『In the end, what skill was that?!』
"Actually... I didn't use a new skill. If you think it looked like Sword Aura, it’s because it was Sword Aura."
『What about that thing where the aura turned into a giant sword?!』
『I've never seen anything like that on any other explorer's stream!!』
"Ah, that was definitely Sword Aura."
I explained it to the skeptical viewers.
I told them that I had raised my Sword Aura Skill Level to 2 recently. I explained that because of this, I could fire larger Flying Blades. Beyond that, there were other functional changes to the skill.
The change was, in short, that I "became able to manipulate the aura more precisely and freely than before."
At Skill Level 1, I could only coat my sword or fire Flying Blades, but once I reached Level 2, I could suddenly perform various maneuvers.
"Parrying" enemy attacks with the aura, or swinging an enlarged aura blade without firing it as a projectile, were techniques made possible by the increased freedom in aura manipulation.
Additionally, the flight speed of the Flying Blades had increased slightly, and the "charging" time required to infuse HP into consecutive slashes was shortened, allowing for faster rapid-fire.
The performance changes for Sword Aura were really only about that much.
Though, in actual combat, those differences were massive.
『No way! I've never heard of being able to do things like that by raising the Sword Aura Skill Level?!』
『But I think I've heard you can fire larger slashes.』
『I've also heard that the speed of the slashes increases.』
『Hmm? Then is it normal?』
『No, I've never heard of Leveling Junkie Bro's "Parry" or "Great Blade" techniques.』
『I know someone with Sword Aura Level 5, but he can't do anything like that.』
『Maybe there's some kind of restriction based on Level or Stats?』
『Ah, maybe that's it. The guy with Skill Level 5 is only Level 17 or so.』
『He maxed out Sword Aura at Level 17...?』
『He wouldn't have enough HP for that.』
『What an idiot, lol』
『Setting aside the Max Sword Aura Bro, isn't it weird that only Leveling Junkie Bro can do it? Shouldn't top-tier explorers be able to do the same? I mean, wouldn't it be normal to see them doing it on stream?』
『Even among the top tier, fighting styles are all over the place.』
『Most of them give the impression of wiping everything out with Magic or Title Skills.』
『With Headshot Yakuza, he usually just immobilizes them with Intimidation and then—bang! Magic Gun to the forehead. That’s usually the end of it.』
『Denshiro-sensei is... well, he does everything.』
『The Hero uses Giga Slash, the Sage uses Magic, Kurage-chan uses Water Torture Freezing Tentacles, and Professor Naked Armor is just naked.』
『Looking at it like this, there aren't many top-tier explorers who use Sword Aura as their primary skill.』
『Well, even if they do, I get the impression they mostly use High-tier Skills derived from it.』
『Wait, in Leveling Junkie Bro's case, maybe the Swordmaster Title is the key?』
『Don't Titles just let you learn skills?』
『What do you say, Leveling Junkie Bro?』
The comment section was deep in debate.
I honestly told them I didn't know if the Title was related or not, then shifted the topic from Sword Aura to the actual battle.
The viewers asked about things they had found curious during the fight, and I answered to the best of my ability.
I explained how I knew the Goblin's Level, the items it dropped, and the reason the Goblin's aggro had shifted from Hinata-san to me at the very end.
"—So, basically, I took the aggro by activating Asceticism, and since it created a massive opening during the Maximum Aggro state, I managed to finish it off."
『Are you serious?!』
『You used Asceticism in that situation?!』
『As expected of Leveling Junkie Bro, he’s totally insane (compliment).』
『A monster that resists Taunt is a shock, but I can't believe he could activate Asceticism against that Goblin.』
『He seemed to be parrying by a hair toward the end. If he'd gone into melee combat while weakened by Asceticism, wouldn't he have been in serious trouble?』
『No, but isn't Asceticism amazing? More accurately, Mark of Death.』
『The effect of Maximum Aggro is seriously useful.』
『This is a god skill lol』
『I told you to stop with the misleading comments.』
『Normal people can't use Asceticism! Fighting while that's active is practically impossible!!』
『In reality, Maximum Aggro is more of a debuff than a buff. It basically makes the enemy go into a berserker state, you know?』
『Most people probably couldn't pull off what Leveling Junkie Bro does.』
『Seriously, you'd just die. Don't try it.』
『Standard reminder: Leveling Junkie Bro is just abnormal.』
As we continued chatting, quite a bit of time passed.
Then, without any warning, the door to the Monster Room swung open.
『Oh?』
『Ah.』
『Did they arrive?』
『Hmm?』
『Wait, those guys... is that who I think it is?』
『For real? It's Mayuri.』
The group that entered the room was a five-person party of explorers.
As the comment section’s reaction suggested, they were famous.
Even I, who mostly followed Headshot Yakuza's streams, knew them well enough. It was an explorer party consisting of one woman in her early twenties and four men of about the same age—the members of the DungeonTube channel "Mayurin and the Warosu Friends."
The woman leading them—Mayurin—raised her hand with an excessively cheerful smile and greeted us.
"Hey! Nice to meet you, Leveling Junkie Bro-kun! I'm Mayuri! You can just call me Mayurin! By the way, my three sizes are 89-58-86☆"
"Eh...? Ah, yes."
Why did this person suddenly announce her measurements...?