Level-up Maniac, Level up in Modern Dungeons - Episode 57

　While waiting for Kawabata-san’s left arm to heal from the effects of the potion I had taken, I was engaged in small talk with Mogi-san and the others.

 

　Mr. Mogi and his friends are all colleagues who work at the same company, and apparently, they act as explorers on their company days off.

 

　The reason he became an explorer was that he was being subjected to terrible power harassment by his boss and wanted to punch monsters to relieve stress.

 

“By the way, we also broadcast under the channel name ‘Shachiku Busters’, so if you’d like, I’d be happy if you could take a look.”

 

“…Is that channel name okay? It sounds like we’re just trying to bust ourselves.”

 

　I was worried that the stress had built up so much that it was driving Mogi and the others crazy.

 

“Haha! It’s okay. It was about six months after I started working as a YouTuber that I stopped getting bullied by my superiors.”

 

“Well, um… did your boss get fired or something?”

 

“No, that’s not it. I think it’s because they watched our stream.”

 

“…Ah, I see. So, you’ve become a fan of Mogi-san and the others?”

 

“Well, it seems he saw us fighting and got scared.”

 

　It wasn’t because I became a fan or for any heartfelt reasons. I was just scared of the signs of violence.

 

“In truth, if you kill monsters a lot, even on the surface where there are no status benefits, it feels like you could easily take out one or two bosses if push comes to shove.”

 

　Well, I’ve gained experience in killing, which is more intense than fighting. Even if my physical abilities aren’t that well-trained, I think I can overwhelm my opponent with determination, practice, and technique.

 

“It seems that violence solves everything after all…!!”

 

“Yeah, that’s right…!! Even if I don’t use violence, I feel like having that kind of violence makes me feel more stable. Even if my boss is bullying me, I think, ‘But I could do that to him just as easily if it came down to it.'”

 

　Hmm, I see, that’s great…!!

 

　I think that anyone who is currently being bullied by their boss should go into the dungeon. If we do that, the day when bullying disappears from this world won’t be far away…!!

 

　I continued listening to the story with admiration.

 

　However, during that conversation, I heard something that bothered me a bit.

 

　Mogi and his friends have been explorers for about a year, and are around level 12 to 13. Like Hinata, Mogi and his friends originally mainly explored other dungeons, but they had become quite accustomed to fighting, and so they came to the Shinjuku dungeon in search of the 《Life Magic》 skill orb.

 

“I’m at a high enough level to explore the fourth floor, but I wasn’t confident enough to fight the Goblin Wolf Riders. I’m really glad that Jankiniki came to help me. Thank you.”

 

“No, no…But you’re level 13.”

 

　I had some doubts and thought deeply about it.

 

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

 

“… No. I just want to ask you something. Do you have the 《Fighting Spirit》 skill, Mogi-san?”

 

“Oh, yeah, I have it.”

 

“If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine, but can you tell me your skill level?”

 

“Oh, yeah. I don’t hide it during streams, so it’s fine. … I’ve raised it to the maximum level, for now.”

 

“Is that so……”

 

　If I recall correctly, when I was level 13, my 《Fighting Spirit》 skill was at level 4. Because I had allocated points to 《Goblin Killer》, I was unable to raise it to its maximum.

 

　As a warrior-type explorer, Mogi-san is likely using an orthodox skill distribution. In other words, he first maximizes the skills that increase damage when equipped, and then increases the unlocked 《Fighting Spirit》 skill.

 

　But if that’s the case, Mogi-san should be able to momentarily demonstrate higher ability values ​​than I did when I was level 13. Well, I also have 《Madness Enhancement》, and above all, I have 《Goblin Killer》, so I would have been overwhelming in terms of damage to goblins…

 

　On a different note, I checked how many experience points I had gained after defeating the Rider. The amount was 850.

 

　When multiple parties cooperate to defeat the same monster, the experience points are first divided equally among the parties that participated in the attack, and then those experience points are further divided equally among the parties.

 

　In other words, the experience points of 850 were split between Mogi and his party, so that rider’s total experience points are 1,700.

 

　A monster’s experience points can be calculated by multiplying its species value by its level by its class value.

 

　The Goblin species’ base stat is 10, so we can calculate the level x class value by dividing 1700 by 10. Then, we can divide that by the rider’s class stat of 10, which we found on the strategy wiki, to calculate the level of the Goblin Wolf Rider.

 

　1700 divided by 10 divided by 10 means his level is 17.

 

　If we refer to the strategy wiki again, we can see that a level 17 rider’s agility score is 70. The highest ability score is “Agility”, followed by “Strength” and “Dexterity”. Both of these are listed as “65”…

 

　I calculated the rider’s level in my head, and after thinking that far, I… Huh?

 

　–You’re an idiot with an Intelligence of only 6, so how can you do arithmetic in your head?

 

　………….

 

　Hey, stop making fun of me!!

 

　I’ve calculated experience points in a lot of games. I can do simple arithmetic in my head!

 

　Anyway.

 

　What I want to say is…

 

“You guys could have beaten the Riders without me having to help you, right?”

 

　That is what it means.

 

　They weren’t opponents like the Goblin Knights, on whom physical attacks were nearly ineffective, and if they used their 《Fighting Spirit》, their ability scores should be equal to or slightly higher than Rider’s. Furthermore, even though Kawabata-san was injured, there were still five of them.

 

　”I thought we could have won this easily,” I explained to Mogi and the others.

 

　The following rebuttal was then received:

 

“No, no, no! Even if our ability values ​​are similar, there are many differences in body size, distance, number of attacks, etc.. If we look at pure attacking power, Rider is much heavier, so he would lose!”

 

“You can’t often fight in close combat with an opponent like that!”

 

“Plus, when you use 《Fighting Spirit》, you lose 5 HP in 10 seconds! You don’t have any way to recover it, so you can’t use it often unless it’s your last resort!”

 

“What’s more, this is an opponent with no margin of safety! If we take even one hit in our basic state, we’ll instantly lose all our HP or be on the brink of death, and even if we increase our Endurance with Fighting Spirit, the result won’t change much because of the double whammy of damage and the loss of Fighting Spirit! We might indeed be able to win, but even if we do win, some of us will die!”

 

“Shh, amazing.”

 

“Even if there are ways to recover, there are very few people like Junky-niki who continue to use their 《Fighting Spirit》 even when their HP is in a dangerous range!!”

 

『Normally, you would take a safety margin so that your HP doesn’t fall below half, and adjust the number of battles too!?』

 

“You won’t die instantly if your HP hits zero, but if you lose all your status in the dungeon, that means you’ll die in the not-too-distant future!!”

 

“If it’s like a game, and your teammates die or your HP goes into the red zone, but you can still win, the only option is to run away, that’s normal!!”

 

“I mean, if you encounter an opponent that strong, you’ll be so scared you’ll panic!!”

 

“Not all explorers can fight like Junky Niki, tap dancing on a minefield, you know!?”

 

“In addition, for some reason, Junkie-Niki defeats most enemies with one hit, but normally you can’t defeat a monster with one hit, so it’s common practice to have multiple people defeat a single monster!! If you don’t do that, there’s a high chance that you’ll take damage with each attack!”

 

“Dungeon monsters attack even if they die, but explorers have to fight multiple times, so it’s no good if you have to avoid getting hit as much as possible, even if you’re fighting small monsters!”

 

“O-ohhh…!?”

 

　There was quite a bit of opposition back then.

 

　I was pretty confident in my analysis, but when I’m confronted to this extent, I lose confidence in my thoughts.

 

　Certainly, if my comrades were going to die, I wouldn’t fight…

 

　Also, unlike when I fought the Goblin Knight, even if I use 《Fighting Spirit》, the agility value will only be slightly higher. If the rider has a high dexterity value, the actual value may be higher.

 

　Either way, it’ll be difficult to avoid attacks from such an opponent… Yup.

 

“I was wrong. I’m sorry…”

 

　I rolled my eyes and admitted my mistake.

 

 

　●◯●

 

 

　We continued to chat and kill time for a while, and it seemed that Kawabata’s condition was improving considerably.

 

　Kawabata-san was pale-faced and shivering, but his complexion seems to be improving now.

 

“Ah, I feel much better now. Thank you so much, Janki-niki.”

 

　He thanked me, to which I replied, “No, don’t worry about it.”

 

“No, really, I was worried for a moment, but now I don’t have to take the day off from work tomorrow!”

 

“……teeth?”

 

　Kawabata-san muttered with a deep sense of relief. Mogi-san and the others replied, “That’s good for you!”. The comment section of the stream also saw multiple comments like, “That’s good for you!”, “Good for you, Kawabata!”, and “That was a close call!”

 

　Hearing that, I was shocked in my heart.

 

　Is that your first impression after your arm healed?

 

　Not only did no one think it was strange, but everyone just went along with it as if it were natural.

 

　Not only Kawabata and his colleagues, but even some of the viewers are probably corporate slaves to the core.

 

　No, it’s scary.

 

　It’s too late to do anything about that, much less about power harassment…!!

 

　They’ve been saying I’m weird and all, but these people are probably weirdos too.

 

　Although I was terrified by the darkness of Japanese salarymen, I returned to the surface that day with Mogi and the others.

 

 

　Oh, by the way.

 

　It was a gift from Mogi and the others, but I thought it would be rude to refuse, so I decided to accept it after all.

 

　But not with money, with things.