Chapter

arc5 · 078-ch78

Arc 5: The Immortal's Coup d'État

Episode 78: Skill Level

"Eh? What's this?"

When I checked my status, the skill that had been garbled was indeed displayed correctly. But more than that, there were plenty of things to question.

Name: Suzuka Jozenji

Level: 52

Vitality: 491

Mana: 488

Attack: 495

Defense: 490

Agility: 490

Dexterity: 491

Intelligence: 481

Storage: 205

Abilities: Swordsmanship (5), Body Arts (1⇒7), Body Control (5⇒7), Body Reinforcement (6⇒7), Mana Control (6), Evasion (1⇒5), Snatch, Holy God's Creed, Poison Magic (1), Thought Acceleration (2⇒4), Mana Perception (2), Presence Detection (4), Presence Concealment (2⇒4), Status Abnormality Resistance (2⇒6), Mental Resistance (6), Self-Regeneration (7), Pain Dullness, Night Vision, Map

"Eh, wait. My skills leveled up a ton... eh, this is amazing."

Wow-that's-amazing level of impression, coming from someone who couldn't even understand the content properly—worse than a child's reaction. I was running around in circles, not even knowing where to start checking.

"Well, first off, let's do this. Confirm the new skills... though there's a lot of them. That garbled skill seems to be 'Holy God's Creed.' So that's what it was called. The garbling's fixed too, so maybe I can use holy magic now?"

Thinking that, Suzuka opened the detailed information for 'Holy God's Creed.'

Name: Holy God's Creed

Details: Acquire the essence of holy magic and wield its power. Also, by imposing upon oneself the conviction of the Holy God Renoa to not hold weapons, one obtains the power of immortality that he yearned for.

"...Haaah, this is crazy. This is seriously crazy. I quit being human before existence evolution."

Before he knew it, Suzuka had obtained immortality. Even when written out, it's incomprehensible.

"Sure, I thought it was weird that I never died at all, but to think it was actually immortality..."

Garbled skill, you're excellent! With this, even infinite zombie attacks are possible!! Hya-haa!!! Suzuka, who had been charging in recklessly against the ape monkey with that mindset. No matter what attacks I took, I wouldn't die, and as long as it wasn't instant death, I probably wouldn't die—I charged in with such loose thinking, but it seems I didn't die because I was immortal.

That was close. If that had just been an auto-recovery skill and I'd charged in with that attitude, I might have died.

"'The power of immortality that he yearned for,' huh. Come to think of it, Renoa did say things like 'if only I were immortal, it would've been nice.' Maybe I got it because of that influence."

Even so, immortality as an ability seems a bit too much of a cheat. There's no room to doubt this ability. Suzuka's stats were nearly double the level difference of the District 5 monsters, but no matter how many of their attacks he took, he wouldn't die. Even the Cunning Demon Ape Monkey, the area boss, couldn't finish Suzuka off.

Truly immortal. Even if he took an instant death attack, he recovered immediately, and even if he bathed his whole body in a deadly poison that would rot his organs and kill him with a single breath, he recovered while rotting.

Furthermore, Suzuka had been fighting continuously for about a week without eating, drinking, or sleeping. It's said that if you don't drink water for several days, you'll die, but Suzuka hadn't been able to replenish even a single drop of water for 7 days.

The severe headache like being hit in the head with a hammer from dehydration, the dizziness from lack of sleep, the abdominal pain from hunger—all of these would recover once they exceeded a certain threshold, then recur, peak, and heal again in a cycle. 'Holy God's Creed' activated not just from enemy attacks, but whenever life functions were obstructed.

In extreme terms. Even if a nuclear war broke out worldwide and air pollution reached abnormal levels, only Suzuka would probably survive.

But not dying doesn't mean being invincible. This is the most important point.

Suzuka couldn't do anything against District 5's monsters, and in the end, he couldn't defeat the ape monkey either. He just wouldn't die. Suzuka himself wasn't strengthened.

Moreover, Suzuka knew from the manga he'd read until now how to defeat the undead. If they don't die, just seal them. Wrap them in a straw mat and sink them in Tokyo Bay, or cement them into a building's foundation together, or just throw them down a dry well in an abandoned village.

If you do that, even if they don't die, it's the same as being dead. Since they're not ageless, they'll eventually age and rot.

That's why you mustn't be complacent. Suzuka is still only level 52. That's lower than the average explorer.

"But honestly, I don't feel like I'd lose to an average explorer anymore."

Just when he should have been tightening his resolve, a complacent remark. The reason Suzuka is this full of himself is because of the holy magic that manifested together with the immortality ability. To be precise, it's the point of 'acquiring the essence of holy magic.' Rather, the main part of the skill is probably this side.

Holy God's Creed. The creed part derives from Renoa's conviction of 'not holding weapons,' and by taking on that restriction, he was able to obtain immortality. Renoa said this content was inherited in an interesting form. Since he also said 'normally,' I understand that this was an effect that wasn't supposed to be granted originally.

In other words, the original skill name was probably just Holy God. Holy God. This name brings to mind the most famous unique skill in Japan, 'Sword God.'

It's not just that the names are similar. Sword God is said to be a skill that grants the essence of the sword to those who manifest it. Holy God is also a skill that allows one to acquire the essence of holy magic.

"Recovery, protection, purification, blessing... yeah, I can use them all. With this, I could probably defeat the ape monkey."

This skill says 'acquire the essence,' but probably all of Renoa's cultivated techniques, skill, ideas, training, and experience are inherited. Being called Holy God and reaching those heights—Renoa's power is inherited. It's like a new game plus but strong. It's as if Renoa reincarnated.

Holy magic seems to be a defense-focused magic, and there were no attack magics that could be called attack magics. While that's unfortunate, the defensive performance is overwhelmingly high. Whether it's the ape monkey's fierce attacks, I could probably shut them down completely without taking a scratch.

The reason I can completely shut down the ape monkey despite the level difference isn't because holy magic is defense-focused. It's because even Renoa's experience is inherited. Precisely because he has the experience of someone who mastered holy magic—Renoa—he can easily completely shut down an area boss of level 120.

Holy magic has no attack magic, but Suzuka has fists. Just like Renoa cast buffs called blessings on his companions, if Suzuka casts buffs on himself, his attack power will improve dramatically. If that happens, he should be able to deal attacks that reach the ape monkey.

Overwhelming defensive power, and attack reinforcement through buffs. With these two, I'm confident I can defeat the ape monkey without problems even if he's the opponent.

"No way, it's good the trial's reward was a skill. If this had been some super strong sword or amazing armor item, I would've died for sure."

Even if I obtained a sword with terrifyingly high attack power that could cut anything, I was attacked at speeds I couldn't see, so I wouldn't have been able to do anything and would've been killed. I might have been able to defeat one or two, but since I was surrounded by a swarm of District 5's monsters, I would've been one-sidedly defeated by saturation attacks.

Conversely, even if it was armor that nullified any attack, it's suspicious. Ability-wise, it's close to immortal, but since the ape monkey is a monster that uses poison extensively, if I breathed and took poison into my body, it might not have been nullified and I could've died.

Plus, since I kept getting attacked by the ape monkey, it wouldn't be strange if I died from not eating or drinking.

I don't know if a trial that could be overcome by obtaining 'Holy God's Creed' was prepared, or if I was just lucky and managed to obtain 'Holy God's Creed.' Whichever it is, there's no doubt that I survived that situation thanks to 'Holy God's Creed.'

"But there's the downside, you know. Not being able to equip weapons is harsh."

Whether it's because 'Holy God's Creed' has the too-strong ability of not dying, or for some other reason, there was a downside of not being able to hold weapons. Since attacks aren't restricted, for those who fight mainly with magic, it would've been fine. But for explorers like Suzuka who use weapons like magic iron pipes, it's a desperate disadvantage. Especially since Suzuka operates solo. Unlike Renoa, who can rely on companions for attacks, it's quite a harsh disadvantage.

Thanks to that, when fighting the ape monkey too, I ended up fighting bare-handed—I don't know how many times my fists broke from the shock of punching. The ape monkey was so hard that damage didn't get in, and the one punching, Suzuka, often took more damage.

"Well, this part will probably be solved if I can use holy magic too. If I protect my fists with protection and reinforce my attack power with blessing, it should work... it should work, but when I look at this, I'm a bit torn on what to think."

Saying that, Suzuka took another look at the skill column.

"I've got four skills at level 7. Body Arts was at 1, and now it's already 7. That's insane."

While fighting the ape monkey, my movements became significantly sharper. That was probably not just because Suzuka got used to bare-handed fighting, but also because the skills influenced it. It even overtook Swordsmanship, which I'd kept using and leveling up.

For growth-type skills, there are three difficult walls to exceed. From 3 to 4, from 6 to 7, and from 9 to 10. Exceeding these walls is very difficult, and especially above skill level 7, the overwhelming majority of even mid-tier explorers don't possess it—those walls are that thick. It's even said that common skills with skill level 7 or higher are more valuable than half-baked unique skills.

Skill level 1-3 is intermediate level. In shu-ha-ri terms, that's shu. By having skills assist your actions, you can exert power beyond your actual ability.

Skill level 4-6 is advanced level. In shu-ha-ri terms, that's ha. You can exert power on the same level as top professionals in that field. With this skill level, you can respond to many monsters, so from here it's said that raising skill level is considerably difficult.

And skill level 7-9 is master level. In shu-ha-ri terms, that's ri. You possess power sufficient to establish your own school, and you have strength that can overturn differences in level or stats. The reason Suzuka was able to handle the ape monkey's attacks despite being significantly inferior in level and stats was because he received the benefits of skill level 7.

Skill level 10 is no longer a level that can be discussed. It possesses power that exceeds unique skills, and is even said to be an isolated skill. Even if it's a common skill, if mastered, it's a star of hope that leads to the strongest.

Amidst such skill level classifications, Suzuka has achieved level 7 in four skills: Body Arts, Body Control, Body Reinforcement, and Self-Regeneration.

"Body Arts and Body Control and Reinforcement too—they grew because they were needed to fight the ape monkey, I guess. No, that's amazing."

Because these three skills exceeded the level 6 wall, I was finally able to handle the ape monkey's attacks. Even so, since I still couldn't handle all of the ape monkey's attacks, you can see the ape monkey's strength.

Self-Regeneration goes without saying. Although 'Holy God's Creed' automatically recovers me, I was beaten so badly that it seems to have manifested as a separate skill too. When I investigated, I couldn't find any hits, so it's probably a unique skill.

Normally, I kept taking attacks that would kill me thousands of times, and each time I didn't die, so the skill level reached 7. If you want to manifest this skill, unless a high-level recovery magic user is nearby, no matter how many lives you have, it probably won't be enough. Those who manifest it are probably immortal-like existences like Suzuka, or just battle maniacs.

"Other than that, the skills I newly learned are Mental Resistance, Pain Dullness, and Night Vision. It stopped hurting partway through, so I thought my pain nerves were paralyzed, but..."

I thought I was getting so high that my pain perception was messed up, but it seems it was thanks to the skill's benefits. This side seems to be a rare skill that occasionally manifests in tank classes, but since I ignored pain and acted, it sometimes leaves serious aftereffects—it's a double-edged sword skill.

I don't know why Mental Resistance manifested, but it probably has some benefit. Since I was beaten to the point of going insane, maybe it was protecting my mind.

Night Vision—I probably learned it because I was fighting in the dim forest regardless of day or night. Since I started staying overnight in the dungeon, I had been working hard fighting in the dark to obtain the Night Vision skill, but it seems to have bloomed here. Night Vision is a considerably useful skill, so I'm grateful.

"I'm pretty happy that Thought Acceleration and Evasion, which weren't leveling up at all, finally leveled up. They seem to have a lot of benefits. It seems like I was able to avoid the ape monkey's attacks thanks to these too."

Quite a few useful skills have leveled up across the board. Even so, the reason I still couldn't beat the ape monkey is probably because the level difference is overwhelming.

Suzuka's level is 52. Meanwhile, the ape monkey is 120. There exists a gap that can't be filled just by a moderate amount of skill reinforcement.

"Though, it's amazing that this many skill levels went up even though my level didn't go up at all... I feel like this is a watershed moment. Let me think a bit."

Ending it with 'it went up, yay' would be too much of a waste. Suzuka, who always acts as his intuition directs him, seems to have decided that this should be analyzed properly.

"First, the usefulness of skills goes without saying. Precisely because my skills were this well-equipped, I was able to fight the ape monkey. At first, I couldn't even see the attacks because they were too fast, you know."

Of course, level and stats are important, but skills are equally important. There are many times when victory or defeat is decided by the difference in skills. In the fight against the ape monkey, Suzuka's level and stats didn't change, but because his skills grew, he was able to at least somewhat hold his own against the ape monkey.

"Also, when you get into a conflict with other explorers, what you're wary of is their skills and items. There's definitely cases where just one of those flips the battle situation, right."

Including 'Holy God's Creed,' powerful skills will likely greatly influence the battle situation. Items are the same way. Even if your level is inferior, if you have reinforced items like area boss drops, you can overturn your stats.

Rather, skills and items might be more important than level in the sense that they can catch the opponent off guard. Well, since you wouldn't intentionally disclose your level to your opponent, there's a difference in degree.

"If I remember right, skill level goes up after the culmination of training, or when you yearn for that skill, right."

That's what was written when I investigated before.

For example, let's reference the Parks members, who attend Hachioji Explorer High School. Parks' fighting style is to receive a monster's attack, then land a single hit on the monster whose movement has stopped, and retreat—a hit and away method. This method isn't limited to Parks; many explorers adopt this method.

The swordsmanship level of Parks, who fights using this method, is probably 3 at best.

That's natural. If you're only landing a single hit, there's no need for a skill level higher than that.

Repeating the same actions. Because they take a safety margin, it's a fighting style that doesn't require skill growth.

That's why they can explore safely and steadily, but it doesn't lead to skill improvement. Unless they fall into situations like the monster train encountered before, where growth is forced, skills probably won't grow.

On the other hand, Suzuka's swordsmanship level is 5. Fighting styles like crossing blades directly with the area boss Water Blade Weasel, or maneuvering against two Thin-Blade Mantises in District 4—these inevitably require skill levels.

It's precisely because Suzuka wishes for it, whether consciously or unconsciously, that his skills are growing.

Precisely because you take risks, you get returns. That's the skill level that came from weighing safety. There's no way it's the same skill level as explorers fighting with hit and away.

"In other words, the more risk you take, the easier it is for your skill level to go up... is that it!?"

The dungeon gives appropriate returns to those who take risks and challenge it. Whether it's stats, skills, or items.

If you level up carrying guns together with a high-level instructor like at a training facility, you only get slight stats. Conversely, if you challenge a dungeon alone with a metal bat in hand, you can obtain high stats.

A level 52 challenging a level 120 area boss—rather than high risk, that's a reckless challenge. That's probably why, to make that achievable, the skills are responding.

"But right now, I'm immortal, you know? Since I don't die, isn't that zero risk? Is that different?"

Risk in the dungeon directly relates to your life. If you force yourself to go deep into an area, you get surrounded by monsters and die. If you fight a strong enemy, the battle drags on and might lead to consecutive battles with other monsters. If you take even a single attack, depending on the situation, instant death is possible.

Precisely because you weigh your own life on the scales, you can obtain powerful returns.

If we go by that law, then what about 'Holy God's Creed'? Even if you make a reckless challenge, even if you make a mistake, you'll never die. What's placed on the scales isn't your life, just pain. Can that really be called taking risk?

"But my skill levels went up a ton, huh."

And yet, Suzuka's skills have actually improved. By continuing to challenge strong enemies, Suzuka's skills are growing.

If I explore District 4 like before while 'Holy God's Creed' is manifested and level up, I don't know if high stats will continue to be added as before. Perhaps that might be counted as risk being reduced.

But 'Holy God's Creed' is a skill and can't be removed. If this skill manifesting causes stats to become harder to raise, as Suzuka, that's helpless. The only countermeasure is to fill the stat gap with powerful skills.

"Well, at least looking at this skill's growth, it seems I'm judged to be taking sufficient risk against the ape monkey. If that's the case, then I just need to beat the ape monkey as I am at this level."

That's where the question of whether to use holy magic comes in. If I use holy magic, there's a high possibility I can defeat the ape monkey even in my current state. But is that really the right thing to do?"

"...That's probably not good. I can't help feeling like it would crush the buds of growth."

From here on, even if Suzuka's skills don't grow, as long as he has mastered holy magic and immortality, he can probably become plenty strong. But while there's room for his other skills to grow, crushing that possibility is too much of a waste.

"If skill levels go up because I'm trying hard in situations where I'd die, then if I use holy magic and don't die, skill growth will stop. In that case, I should seal holy magic."

There's also the feeling that I want to use the holy magic I finally learned. But hiding it as a trump card is also fun in its own way. The cornered Suzuka flipping everything with holy magic. That scene tickles my chuunibyou heart.

If that's the case, it's the same state as at the end of the year. Defeat the ape monkey without changing my level and without using holy magic. Last time I retreated because of the time limit, but if time permits, I wanted to keep fighting until I defeated the ape monkey as is. I don't know how much time it would take, but if I can defeat the ape monkey at level 52, the fact that I fled with my tail between my legs will also disappear.

Anyway, I was planning to defeat the ape monkey eventually. If that also leads to skill improvement, then I'll happily fight.

Normally, if you can't hold weapons and can't use magic properly, you wouldn't challenge an area boss. Even though I was able to escape from the ape monkey who is an area boss, to go challenge it again—that's insane.

But Suzuka was insane. Violence Marie Antoinette who says, if you can't hold weapons, just punch them.

"Just wait. Next time, for sure, I'll make all three of your faces twist in fear."

While muttering lines like a villain, Suzuka's exploration policy was decided.