The day after I completed Kuze and raised Dungeon Teleportation to LV 21, the world was my oyster—to open with my sword, of course! The Span no longer had its claws in me, so I could’ve challenged a new dungeon—like one of the B-rank dungeons with a recommended level of 10,000 or above I’d been eyeing. But I didn’t do that. Instead, I went back to a dungeon I already maxed out—the C-rank dungeon, Niimi.
Hana stood beside me in front of the Gate. I squeezed her hand protectively.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” she replied. “Better than I expected.”
Seeing her smile, I didn’t think she was covering. I would understand if dungeons were a sore spot for her after everything that happened, but she seemed all right.
“Want to head in?” I asked.
“Let’s do it!”
Together, we stepped inside Niimi’s depths.
Hana told me about what happened with Yanagi directly after our death match, but outside of the heat of the moment, we went over the details of what happened again. That conversation brought my attention to an intriguing detail.
Yanagi rigged a situation where Hana had to defeat a strong monster just so he could confirm the value of her unique skill, Stock. The monster’s defeat boosted her level exponentially. When she showed me her stats display, this was what it said:
Amane Hana
Level: 521 SP: 4,750
HP: 3,820/3,820 MP: 1,390/1,390
Attack: 820 Defense: 900 Speed: 820
Intelligence: 940 Resistance: 820 Luck: 820
Skills: Stock LV 1, Enhanced Strength LV 3, Mana Manipulation LV 3, Mana Boost LV 5.
Stock LV 1
Conditions: Directly touching a target copies their skill, so long as it is LV 1 or below.
Copy capacity: Maximum one skill.
Copy duration: Maximum ten minutes (touching the target again lengthens the effects).
The first time I saw the scope of her growth, it shocked me. A whole year of leveling only got me to level 200, but she’d surpassed it with one win. That much growth within a few days of obtaining her stats surely put her among the fastest levelers in the world. The question now was how she would use those new levels, stats, and SP.
Hana said she wanted the power to protect herself and other people—and I wanted to help her achieve her dreams. That was why I brought her to this dungeon. There was no better battle advice than that given while in action.
“This spot should be good,” I said after confirming this floor (the second) was clear of adventurers. “How about we get started?”
“I’m ready!”
First, she needed to decide how to spend her SP pool. We stood together and read over her display screen, checking how much SP each skill level required.
Obtained Skills
Stock LV 1 → LV 2 (SP needed: 1,000)
Enhanced Strength LV 3 → LV 4 (SP needed: 40)
Mana Manipulation LV 3 → LV 4 (SP needed: 800)
Mana Boost LV 5 → LV 6 (SP needed: 1,200)
Every skill but Enhanced Strength required a huge investment to bump it up to the next level. Stock was particularly expensive, ringing in at a shocking 1,000 SP to boost it to LV 2. Considering how promising the skill was, the high cost was a given, but it still felt like a gut punch.
Hana turned to me. “Oniichan, which skills do I need?”
“Honestly? All of them.”
The unique skill was the obvious front-runner, but Hana’s other skills were highly versatile and stood on their own. That was my professional brotherly opinion, at least. Mana Manipulation would make mana much easier to handle when casting spells, for example. It was a technique-enhancing skill along the lines of Swordsmanship or Spearmanship, but for mana. Manamanship? No, that sounded stupid. Anyway, it was perfect for increasing the base damage behind magic attacks and improving the adventurer’s agility with them.
Basically, it increased mastery.
I reined in my galloping thoughts and refocused on which skill she needed to choose today. The answer jumped right out at me.
“You’ve got plenty of SP to play with, so start by boosting Enhanced Strength to LV 10. That’ll open up three stat-boosting skills called Herculean Strength, Endurance, and High-speed Movement. They’ll help you make the most out of Stock and give you some wiggle room in close combat.”
“All righty then, I’ll go with that.”
Hana trusted me from the bottom of her heart, so she boosted Enhanced Strength to LV 10 without hesitation, for a total cost of 490 SP.
Next would be the real game changer.
“Let’s address Stock,” I said. “You know this skill is the key to becoming a strong adventurer, right?”
“I know, oniichan. If I learn how to use it, it could help me beat much stronger opponents than me,” she replied attentively.
“Exactly. The caveat that you can only copy skills at LV 1 is too limiting to be useful, realistically. If possible, you should aim to copy skills as high as LV 5.”
“So I gotta level up Stock as much as I can?”
“Yeah. Try boosting it to LV 2 first to get a feel for the kind of change it’ll give.”
“Okay.” Hana boosted Stock to LV 2.
With a flicker, the description on her display changed.
Stock LV 2
Conditions: Directly touching a target copies their skill, so long as it is LV 2 or below.
Copy capacity: Maximum 2 skills.
Copy duration: Maximum 20 minutes (touching the target again lengthens the effects).
“So, this is the kind of change it yields…” I mused.
The maximum skill level Hana could copy elevated to LV 2, and her copied skill capacity increased to two as well. Plus, the duration changed to twenty minutes! She won the jackpot when it came to skill leveling.
“Oniichan, is this a good or bad thing?” she asked.
“It’s great. Better than great! You’re gonna get some solid milage with this.”
“Really?!”
Hana beamed from ear to ear. Call me corny, but her smile made me melt inside.
We decided she should elevate Stock to LV 3 and save the remaining SP for later. We’d figure out next steps after I saw her fight with my own eyes.
With the both of us fired up, we set off to find a monster for her to eliminate.