Skill points are awarded only once per level-up. Since leveling up becomes increasingly difficult the higher your level grows, it is considered "nearly" impossible to max out the levels of every skill you acquire.
That is common knowledge, and for the most part, it's correct.
However, there is exactly one exception: using a Skill Point Skill Orb to raise a skill level.
With this item, it is theoretically possible to max out every single skill in one's possession. In practice, however, it is almost impossible.
The reason is simple: a Skill Point Skill Orb almost never drops.
Its rarity and the sheer difficulty of obtaining one are incomparable to even a Fire Magic skill orb. First, the pool of monsters that can drop it is extremely limited. The only confirmed sources are the King-type monsters that appear as the sole boss of the Floor 10 and Floor 20 rooms in any given dungeon. Since only one appears per instance, the difficulty of farming them is immense.
Then there is the drop rate itself.
The high-tier version of the Appraisal skill is Greater Appraisal, and one of its derivative skills is Analytical Appraisal. This skill allows a user to see a monster's item drop rates. According to data gathered with it, the drop rate for a Skill Point Skill Orb is 1 in 10,000 from a Floor 10 King-type, and 1 in 1,000 from a Floor 20 King-type.
In other words, you could run the Floor 10 boss room ten thousand times and still might not see a single one drop.
If the drop rate in the Floor 30 boss room eventually improves to 1 in 100, it might be a realistic goal to farm for... but at Floor 10, it's a pipe dream. Even for Hinata-san and me, completing ten thousand laps of a boss room would take an astronomical amount of time, and even then, we'd be lucky to see a single orb.
And yet, that precious item had just dropped for us.
Talk about beginner's luck! I'll certainly take it, though!
『Hey! That’s a Skill Point Skill Orb, isn’t it!!?』
『For real!!!!?』
『Hey, Leveling Junkie Bro! You gonna sell it? Are you actually gonna sell that!?』
『Holy crap!!! You could live in luxury for generations on that thing!!?』
『If you don't blow it all at once, your great-great-grandkids would be set for life!!!』
『Wait, is it really that valuable!!?』
『"Valuable" doesn't even cover it!! Put that up for auction and it’s guaranteed to go for at least 3 billion yen!!』
『The record high winning bid for one of those is over 5 billion yen, you know!!』
『Wha—!!?』
『Five billion!!?』
『That’s so much more than I thought, I’m dying!!』
They were right. It could be sold for an absurd amount of money. Unlike other skill orbs, the simple fact that it granted a point you could distribute freely made all the difference.
Skills are such that the more powerful and high-tier they are, the more they can drastically alter your combat strength just by acquiring them or raising their level by one. My "Teacher"—Danger Sense—was the perfect example. If Teacher hadn't been there, I never would have been able to wipe out that swarm of Metaslas in the Minato Ward Dungeon alone.
In fact, I might be dead right now. I likely would have been killed by the special variant goblin in the Floor 8 Monster Room or by Oishi-san. Being able to put a point into any skill of your choice is an advantage that simply cannot be overstated.
Because of this, high-level explorers whose progress has stalled because they can no longer level up are desperate for a Skill Point Skill Orb.
On the flip side, the people who can actually obtain these orbs are almost exclusively hardcore explorers. After all, the lowest floor they drop on is Floor 10. People who can reach those depths generally aren't hurting for cash, so the orbs themselves rarely hit the market.
That is why the price has skyrocketed. With the top-tier explorers—who already have more money than they know what to do with—competing in auctions, it’s not unusual for the price to hit 5 billion yen.
Selling it would undoubtedly be a "life-winning" event, even if I split the proceeds with Hinata-san.
But I—
"......Hinata-san."
Gulping hard, I turned to face her. I bowed my head earnestly and made my request.
"Could you sell this to me!? I don't have 2.5 billion in savings right now, but I think I can have it ready in about a month! Please!"
Actually, my current savings were over a billion yen. If we kept farming the Floor 10 Monster Room, I should be able to save up 2.5 billion in less than a month. I planned to give Hinata-san an amount equal to half the orb's market value so I could keep it for myself. I’d have to ask her to wait a little while, but it probably wouldn't take much longer than waiting for an auction to finalize and the funds to clear anyway.
However, Hinata-san—
"Nope, no way."
She shot me down instantly!
"Is—is that a no, Hinata-san!? Then how about 3 billion... no, I'll pay 4 billion if you give me some time! How's that!?"
"I don't need the money, Takeo-kun. I don't need my share, either. You should be the one to use it."
"—Eh?"
I looked up at her. Hinata-san was smiling at me with an "I guess it can't be helped" expression.
I was genuinely flustered. I had used the Footing Creation skill orb she found before, but the circumstances were different this time. The scale of the money involved was on a completely different level.
"N-No, but if we sell this, we're looking at 5 billion easily! Your half alone would be 2.5 billion!"
Essentially, I’d be taking a gift of 2.5 billion yen. Even someone like me has a conscience; it made me feel incredibly guilty. I felt much better about just paying for it. It was a staggering amount of money, but at my current earning rate, it wasn't an impossible sum to manage.
But Hinata-san firmly shook her head.
"I'm already earning more than enough money as it is. I'd much rather see you use that orb to get stronger, Takeo-kun."
"B-But..."
"If you're not going to use it, then I don't want it either. We'll just leave it right here."
"—!?"
Her tone was resolute. I understood immediately that this was her way of being kind, making it so I wouldn't have to feel indebted.
A goddess... There's a literal goddess right here...!!
Since she had gone that far, I had to find my own resolve. I bowed deeply to her once more.
"Hinata-san... thank you so much!!"
"Fufu, you're very welcome."
And so, it was decided that I would be the one to use the Skill Point Skill Orb.
『Whaaaaaaaaat?! Are you serious right now?!』
『He’s actually going to use it!!!』
『What a waste!!!』
『Hinata-chan is way too generous!!!』
『Hey, don't call a girl generous like that!』
『Hinata-chan is a literal Goddess!!!』
『Nice!!』
『www』
『Wait, what really got me was the part where the Leveling Junkie Bro said he could pay 4 billion if they gave him time!!』
『Wha—!!? Do explorers really make that much money!?』
『Of course not!!!』
『Earning that much is limited to only a handful of people even among the top tier.』
『Actually, if you farm Monster Rooms like the Leveling Junkie Bro does, it might not be impossible.』
『Plus, it's just him and Hinata-chan, so the split is huge.』
『Still, his current savings must be insane. I'm shaking lol』
『I wonder how much he actually has—wait, HE USED IT!!!?』
I used the skill orb immediately!
When I checked my status, my skill points had indeed increased by one, even though my level stayed the same. This is going to make the grind so much better!
...Or so I'd like to say, but I had already decided exactly where to put this point. It wasn't into a skill that would directly speed up my leveling, but it was a vital skill for moving forward. In fact, it was a mandatory skill if Hinata-san and I were going to push deeper into the dungeon alone.
That skill was my "Teacher"—Danger Sense.
I spent the skill point immediately, raising Teacher Danger Sense from level 2 to level 3.
"......"
I tried to concentrate for a second, but since the boss room was currently safe, I couldn't feel any immediate difference in performance. I’d have to test it in actual combat.
"Sorry for the wait, Hinata-san. Let's keep going."
"Yeah, let's."
With that, we gathered the rest of the loot and left the boss room behind—finally heading toward Floor 11 of the Shinjuku Dungeon.