I went to B7 of Nihonium, which was teeming with electricity-clad mummies.
Flame rounds were effective here, but I had an even better means of attack now: eternal flame rounds, the fusion of flame and blue flame rounds. After being fired, these bullets made invisible, super-high-temperature flames.
I fired one, led the mummies to it, and killed one after another in energy-saving mode, gaining willpower seeds as I went.
Kill, drop, raise stat by one.
Kill, drop, raise stat by one.
I repeated this process until it began to feel like my stat had gone up. Then, I used a portable status board to check.
My willpower, which had been capped at S, was now SS just like the others.
When I’d obtained the mirror, my HP, strength, and speed had been uncapped to SS. Likewise, the magatama had raised the caps on my vitality, MP, and intelligence. And the sword I’d now obtained had unlocked my willpower stat.
Next up: luck.
I went down to B8, which had three-headed dog zombies.
To narrow it down to two heads, I fired a homing round first. Then, I closed in on the zombie and fired a growth round into one of the heads the homing round hadn’t chosen. Its head flew off, the dog zombie disappeared, and I got my luck seed.
I picked it up and raised my luck by 1.
I repeated that against the next dog zombie, firing a homing round and manually knocking a different head off. This was less effective; the zombie remained alive and well.
These zombies couldn’t be killed unless you guessed the correct head. Homing rounds always targeted the worst head, so I farmed by firing one and guessing which of the other two heads was the good one.
I continued on, killing at a 50% success rate.
Repetition could skip all of this. It could kill even dog zombies. However, I killed them the right way.
I started to rush a little as I approached my goal, but it was times like this when I needed to remember my purpose. If I decided to force my way with my raw, overpowered abilities, I’d get sloppy and mess up. This world was like a game, and I’d experienced such failures many times in games I played.
Be prudent. Remember why you’re here.
I continued my 50% success rate strategy until it felt like I was done.
Then, I used a portable status board again.
My luck had reached SS, as well. Now I had eight out of nine stats at SS.
Only one remained: dexterity.
It’s finally time.
I went down to B9.
In the midst of the dungeon snow, I saw a giant monster─a dragon. It was a four-legged dragon, as big as a two-story home. Its body rotted in various places, and it emitted a sort of miasma.
This was B9 of Nihonium, a dungeon full of undead monsters. Fittingly, the monster here was a zombie dragon. I could tell at a glance that it was strong, but that wasn’t all.
“Three… What does it mean?”
The number 3 was above its head.
“Well, let’s get testing!” I readied a gun and fired a growth round, which had become my main weapon by now.
There had to be a trick here─or so I thought, but the bullet pierced through and blew a part of its body off.
No special trick?
But then, the number changed from 3 to 2.
I thought for a moment. I’d spent so long concentrating today that I figured it out quickly: that was the number of times I could attack it.
The problem was what would happen if it reached zero.
Would I be unable to attack? Or would it disappear and waste my time without dropping anything?
Worse, would I be warped out of the dungeon?
Knowledge and experience led me to various conclusions.
“What attack can expose the truth and deal with whatever might happen after?”
My heightened concentration gave me an answer.
I pulled out both guns and loaded the same round in either one. Pulling the triggers simultaneously, I made a fusion round from two blue flame bullets. After I fired, the number on it changed from 2 to 0.
I knew it. It was the number of attacks.
And though I had bullets loaded after them, pulling the trigger yielded no more shots.
“Wind Cutter!” I tried magic as well. It did not fire.
I also tried punching, but it was basically just a tap─no force behind it. It seemed certain that the number was the number of attacks.
Fortunately, the eternal flame round I’d chosen took care of that problem.
I couldn’t attack, but I could evade. I dodged the zombie dragon’s attacks, guiding it into the fire and slowly burning it to death.
It died and dropped a seed. Suppressing my excitement, I gingerly took the seed in hand.
Ryota’s dexterity went up by 1!
But I couldn’t hold it in. My joy manifested as a fist pump.
“Woohoo!”
I now saw the path to perfect SS stats.