Chapter 43

I want to tell my past self to stop deciding skill increases by calculation. After all, the naru-style of going with your feelings and rough estimates is the strongest!!

A week has passed since the conquest of the <Seven-Colored Lava Cave>. We were busy with status appraisals, but the hectic situation has finally settled down, and we can take a breather.

Because of this, Rad and the others haven't tackled any dungeons since then. However, thanks to the conquest of that cave, Mana reached level ten, and the other members all shot up to level eleven. I had thought that "they wouldn't be able to break the level ten barrier," but it seems the boss's experience points were significant.

In any case, having obtained sufficient stats, the next step is skill training. There are two types of skills: "unique skills" and "class skills." The former doesn't require training.

Unique skills are acquired through level-ups or events and are often powerful, like the various light techniques of the "protagonist" or the <Light Magic Sword> of <Prince of Light Ein>.

...Actually, <Lone Adventurer Rex> also has a category of skills called <Freestyle Sword Techniques>, which I can use to some extent.

At level fifty, the skill available is <Sinful Cross>, a skill with an incredibly cool name. The effect is also elaborate, involving swinging a sword in a cross to create a cross made of dark flames and attack an enemy, a stylish technique. However, it's almost unusable.

It has low power, a slow activation time, and can't be manually activated since it's not an art. Despite all these disadvantages, it consumes a lot of MP and, to make matters worse, ends with a cool turn to the back, making you want to say, "Are you taking the battle lightly?!"

And the worst part is, it has the "dark" attribute!

The dark attribute is generally ineffective against the four elements of fire, water, wind, and earth, and is particularly weak against light attribute monsters like angels, which rarely appear in the later stages. Even worse, when used against undead monsters, which often appear early on, it can actually heal them.

It's a purely showy skill, one that you might want to see once because it looks cool, but using it in serious situations will only result in a negative outcome. It's a classic example of a useless skill.

It's probably meant to be a dark hero character to contrast with the "protagonist," but Rex is truly unfortunate, as if he's been dealt a bad hand in every aspect.

Well, regardless of Rex, others who strongly inherit their race's characteristics through pure blood or regression can receive <racial bonuses> and gain racial skills as they level up. Random characters can also have unique skills, but this is quite rare.

On the other hand, "class skills" are skills that anyone can learn by becoming a specific class. However, there are conditions. For example, just because you've become a Mage from a Magician, it doesn't mean you can immediately use Mage skills. You need to engage in many battles to gradually get used to the class and learn new techniques and magic.

...This is the official explanation and the common knowledge in this world.

However, in reality, you don't need to engage in battles. By repeatedly using the "basic skills" of a class, you can increase your class proficiency and learn higher-level skills and magic set for that class. While class proficiency can also increase through battles, making the official explanation not entirely wrong, it's not very efficient in terms of learning speed.

Therefore, I suggested to Rad and the others to do "skill practice." It's a monotonous and uninteresting training where you continuously use skills on dummies in the training ground, but surprisingly, Rad and the others readily accepted this training.

It seems they had various thoughts after the first dungeon conquest. They approached the skill training with surprising sincerity and seriousness, much to my surprise.

When I peeked into the guild's training ground, the first person I saw was Rad. Rad, who relies on manual arts for firepower, doesn't need to particularly increase his class proficiency. He was training as usual but with even more enthusiasm to increase the number of techniques he can use with manual arts.

Rad, who found it difficult to use manual arts by feel, chose to memorize the forms. While the learning process is not fast, he is steadily increasing the number of techniques he can use. Most importantly...

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Rad

LV 11

HP 294 MP 69

Strength 132 Vitality 126

Magic 48 Spirit 94

Agility 85 Focus 69

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The stats, which make you want to exclaim "strong" the moment you <Pierce> them, are what Rad has.

This is no surprise. He has high innate stats, is an advanced class <Brave Blade>, and is wearing growth-boosting equipment in three out of four equipment slots.

Among the four <Brave Blades>, Rad has the highest growth rate when leveling up. Even without doing anything too flashy, he will grow sufficiently to function as a core member of the party.

Next is Nuke. He is temporarily putting aside his training as a Mage and focusing on the special class <Item Specialist>.

Even if he masters Mage magic, the <Flare Cannon> available with the <Red Flare Rod> is far more powerful. Therefore, his immediate goal is to learn the <Maintenance> skill, which reduces the probability of item destruction, so he can use <Flare Cannon> without breaking the rod.

The stress of potentially breaking a 50 million wens rod was considerable, and he continues to train with a determined expression.

Incidentally, by further mastering the <Item Specialist> class, he can learn the ultimate skill <Final Break>, which deals massive damage to surrounding enemies based on the weapon's fixed attack power but breaks the weapon as a consequence. When I mentioned this, Nuke turned pale and fled.

It's a perfect skill for high fixed attack power weapons like the <Red Flare Rod> and <Goblin Slayer>, as it reflects the user's own stats, making it highly effective even in the early stages. However, it would be too much to ask the queasy Nuke to use it.

Incidentally, when I <Pierced> Nuke's stats, they looked like this:

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Nuke

LV 11

HP 196 MP 168

Strength 39 Vitality 72

Magic 142 Spirit 75

Agility 85 Focus 92

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Comparing this to Magee's stats before <Piercing>...

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Magee

LV 11

HP 160 MP 93

Strength 61 Vitality 54

Magic 67 Spirit 70

Agility 58 Focus 74

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The differences in each category are quite significant. While I don't intend to boast, these values confirm the correctness of my training plan.

Next, Prana is shooting targets with single-minded focus. I haven't given her any special instructions other than to increase her firepower, so she is learning bow-related skills.

Her stats are as follows...

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Prana

LV 11

HP 168 MP 77

Strength 99 Vitality 58

Magic 51 Spirit 51

Agility 99 Focus 163

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She is remarkably specialized in "Focus." This is due to her innate high "Focus" stat and the fact that she is wearing growth-boosting equipment in all four equipment slots, unlike the other three party members who can only wear three.

This "Focus" strongly influences bow attack power, similar to DEX in other games. She is growing steadily as a main attacker.

Finally, the most unique among the four is Mana. During the one-month training period, while everyone else was practicing "prayer" as part of their training, she performed it on a different level, achieving an incredible efficiency.

When I asked her about it, she casually mentioned that she had been a priest in her life and had been doing this since birth.

"It's nothing special. I've been doing this all my life."

Her casual response hinted at a dark side.

She finished her skill training early and continued praying during this period.

"Being here and meeting you is all due