The Level-Up Junkie Finishes the Tutorial

Shinjuku Dungeon Floor 2 was running hot.

Fewer people than Floor 1, higher monster encounter rate. Which meant my levelling was flying along.

While I was at Lv.4, three-pack Goblin fights still made me eat the occasional hit, but once I hit Lv.5 even those stopped.

On the day's second level-up I didn't put any points into 《STR》, but even so — once 《Bladed Weapon Damage Up》 hit max level, I could just bull the sword through the Goblins' shoddy cudgels and drop them in a single stroke.

At which point this floor is mine.

If I didn't get careless, I wasn't taking damage anymore. Shinjuku Dungeon Floor 2 had become my personal hunting ground.

I didn't go back up to the surface for lunch — too much lost time. I retreated to the staircase between Floor 1 and Floor 2 and ate there. Monsters, for some reason, don't enter Dungeon staircases — they function as a sort of safe zone.

I washed down four convenience-store rice balls (bought before coming) with tea, and after a quick break, went back to grinding.

I went on murdering, and murdering, the Goblins-and-occasionally-Slimes.

Then 4 p.m.

I'd planned to grind all day, but maybe because I'd taken a few hits, or maybe because today's fight pace was faster than yesterday's — once again, I hit the wall on stamina early.

But the haul, oh, the haul was excellent.

Behold, this Status!!

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【Name】Samejima Takeo

【Level】『9』   To next level: EXP 『9,830』

《HP》12/45 (8 up!)

《MP》18/18

《STR》30 (5 up!)

《VIT》15 (3 up!)

《INT》6

《MND》12

《AGI》27 (10 up!)

《DEX》19 (7 up!)

【STP】『0』

【SP】『4』

【Skill】《Bladed Weapon Damage Up Lv.Max》《Berserk Lv.1》《Goblin Killer Lv.1》

【Title】《Madman》《Goblin Killer》

《Bladed Weapon Damage Up Lv.Max》 — When attacking with a bladed weapon, damage dealt to the enemy is ×2.0. No effect with non-bladed attacks.

《Goblin Killer Lv.1》 — Damage dealt to Goblin-type enemies is ×1.2.

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Quick footnote up top: I bumped 《VIT》 for the same reason I'd been bumping 《DEX》. As long as your 《DEX》 is high enough, you don't get the force-management problem — but apparently when you put out big force, your muscles, tendons, and bones all start failing to keep up.

I learned this the hard way after taking 《STR》 to 30 and then swinging the sword full-power: I felt the fibre of a muscle just go ping, and let me tell you, ow.

So I hurriedly threw a few points into 《VIT》 too.

Anyway — yes, levels went up nicely.

Got high a lot of times today.

A pure pleasure, that — but the unfortunate news is that this pace doesn't carry forward.

You'll see why if you look at the EXP-to-next-level number.

That's right — to reach the next level, I now need 9,830 EXP.

Hold on, that's way too sudden a jump in the requirement!!

…Right? I thought so too. But it's been clear for a while now that, in modern Dungeons, EXP requirements scale up grossly every ten levels.

Reason being: until now I was getting 5 Stat Points per level. Starting next level, that becomes 10.

【STP】 per level scales upward like that — adding 5 points per level every ten levels. Skill Points stay constant, mind.

Whether or not that's the explanation, every ten levels the EXP-to-next-level number literally jumps an order of magnitude.

And by the way: the EXP needed for each level is shown on your Status, so the formulae have actually been worked out.

Here are the EXP requirements per level band:

Lv.0–9      5 × (10     × next-level-number)
Lv.10–19   10 × (100    × next-level-number)
Lv.20–29   15 × (1,000  × next-level-number)
Lv.30–39   20 × (10,000 × next-level-number)
Lv.40–49   25 × (100,000 × next-level-number)
Lv.50–59   30 × (1,000,000 × next-level-number)
Lv.60–69   35 × (10,000,000 × next-level-number)

And so on, by the same pattern.

Have you noticed how unhinged this design is?

For Lv.0 to Lv.9, it's not too bad. Even the EXP cost from Lv.8 to Lv.9 is only 『450』.

But going Lv.9 to Lv.10? It jumps to 『10,000』 in one step. Seriously, I can't say it enough — that is way too much, way too suddenly.

And Lv.19 to Lv.20? 『300,000』 — thirty times what Lv.10 cost.

Point being: levels 0 through 9 are very easy to gain.

Which is why, among Explorers, this stretch is apparently called the "Tutorial Period". Meaning: from Lv.9 onwards, the actual game starts.

Today I gained way more EXP than yesterday — but even at this exact pace of Goblin-hunting, I won't level up tomorrow, the day after, or the day after that.

I'll happily slay thousands of Goblins for the rush — but faster levelling is always better.

Worth thinking about how to grind EXP more efficiently.

The level-up chart I'd put together originally was: max out 《Bladed Weapon Damage Up》, then acquire and level a particular pair of skills, then keep grinding Goblins steadily.

But I unexpectedly picked up two skills that weren't on my original plan.

You all know them: 《Berserk》 and 《Goblin Killer》.

《Goblin Killer》 is a Title-Skill — if you check the 【Title】 row, you'll see a Title with the same name has been added. The acquisition conditions are "slay 100 Goblin-type monsters" + "recognition by the wider public". I dropped my hundredth Goblin (combined across yesterday and today) and the Title just appeared, which means the second condition was apparently already satisfied.

…huh? Why?

I haven't streamed once. I'm two days into being an Explorer. Why? What's actually happening to me? Is it scary? Am I supposed to be scared?

A little bit of fear and a lot of bafflement. But — and now my brain pivots — could this actually be useful?

Bluntly, almost nobody spends precious Skill Points on 《Goblin Killer》. The general principle is: invest in Skills that are either powerful or highly versatile.

《Goblin Killer》 unconditionally boosts damage against Goblin-type enemies up to ×2.0 — so on the "powerful" axis you could call it strong. But on versatility, it's a zero. It only works on Goblins.

The mainstream view is that putting limited Skill Points on something so narrow is a misallocation, but —

"Pouring points into a 'trash' skill — bit late to start worrying about that now."

There's a Skill I'd absolutely planned to take regardless of what else came up.

It's called 《Truth Seeker》 — its acquisition conditions are relatively lenient and it pops in many people's pools. But almost nobody actually picks it. The consensus is that it's a junk skill with massive downsides relative to its upside.

I, however, see potential in it.

And 《Goblin Killer》 might just have good synergy with 《Truth Seeker》. The trade-off is that I'll be stuck diving Shinjuku Dungeon for a while —

"Hmm…"

I tapped the Skill row on the Status casually and pulled up the Acquirable Skills List.

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【Acquirable Skills List】

《Underwater Breathing》《Water Resistance Modulation》《Truth Seeker》《Brute Strength》《Fleet Foot》《Endurance》《Blunt Weapon Damage Up》《Taunt》《Battle Aura》

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Compared to last time, 《Battle Aura》 has been added. That's because I met a Skill-unlock condition. In this case — maxing 《Bladed Weapon Damage Up》. Although honestly any other weapon-or-martial-arts Skill would've done the trick.

"《Truth Seeker》 can wait… right now I'd rather progress faster…"

I deliberated, settled on it.

Spent the saved Skill Points to acquire one new Skill and bump two existing Skills' levels.

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【Skill】《Bladed Weapon Damage Up Lv.Max》《Berserk Lv.1》《Goblin Killer Lv.3》《Battle Aura Lv.2》

《Goblin Killer Lv.3》 — Damage dealt to Goblin-type enemies is ×1.6.

《Battle Aura Lv.2》 — While active: 《STR》, 《VIT》, 《AGI》 +40%. Consumes 2 HP per 10 seconds.

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