Chapter 1: Prologue
The day after I treated Yua and the others to yakiniku, my wallet was looking considerably thinner.
After getting plenty of sleep and allocating my BP, I was now in my usual stomping grounds: the Hellhound Dungeon.
“...Hah!”
I nocked a transparent arrow—created with ‘Magic Arrow’—onto my bow and fired it toward the door.
The shot arrow passed straight through the door and flew directly toward the High Kobold waiting on the other side.
‘Level has increased by 8.’
Oh, leveled up.
I came to the Hellhound Dungeon to grind for the first time in a while, but at this rate, can I hit my goal of Level 1000?
Since I’m fundamentally a solo player, I figure I need about that much of a safety margin before I tackle the next C-rank Dungeon.
For the record, the safe levels for clearing each rank of Dungeon are Level 50 for F-rank, 150 for E-rank, and 300 for D-rank.
And then, C-rank suddenly jumps to Level 1000. It’s ridiculous.
By the way, to dive into a C-rank Dungeon, you need a higher-tier Explorer’s License issued by the Explorer’s Association, but that’ll take a while to explain, so let’s save it for later.
Well, those levels are just a rough guide for solo play. If you're in a party, the required level is a bit lower, and you can fight monsters higher than your level, which makes leveling easier.
But still, at this pace, I might hit Level 1000 pretty soon.
With those thoughts in mind, I spent the day repeatedly defeating High Kobolds, retrieving the drops, defeating them, and retrieving them.
Today’s haul was Level 156, plus a decent number of High Kobold Magic Stones.
I’ve been leveling up steadily, so gaining this much is a good result.
My goal: Surpass Level 1000!
Day Two.
Still aiming to surpass Level 1000, I decided to do boss-farming in the Hellhound Dungeon again today.
Just like yesterday, I kept defeating High Kobolds and extracting Magic Stones to raise my level.
And today, I gained 106 levels.
Day Three.
Hunt, hunt, hunt.
I kept defeating High Kobolds with the fervor of wiping them out completely, all for the sake of leveling up.
At one point, I thought I saw a White Kobold, but there was no way it could catch up to my enhanced Agility stats, so I was able to lure it outside the door and cheese it from a distance.
The item I got was a halberd with an effect similar to the Swiftstrike Dagger... Don't need it!
And today’s level-up was 75. Just barely short of Level 1000...!?
Day Four.
Finally. Finally, it’s done.
“I finally surpassed Level 1000!”
In these four days, I went from 635 to Level 1003.
It’s a bit of an awkward number, which is a bummer, but still, this is the long-awaited moment of surpassing Level 1000.
“With this, I can finally challenge the Silver License!”
The Silver License. This is the higher-tier license required to dive into C-rank and B-rank Dungeons, a step up from the standard Explorer’s License.
You don’t just apply for the Silver License and get it; you actually have to take an exam and pass.
However, there’s a prerequisite for taking the Silver License exam.
That is your level.
If you take the exam as a five-person party, the requirement is Level 650. Four people need 750. Three need 850. Two need 950.
And for solo play, the requirement is Level 1000—the same as the safety margin.
Well, I suppose it can’t be helped, as this is meant to prevent under-leveled explorers from challenging higher-rank Dungeons and dying.
Anyway, I’ve finally met the condition to take the Silver License exam.
By the way, the Silver License exam isn’t a written test like the Explorer’s License was.
First, there’s a practical skills exam.
This is apparently where they verify your combat technique.
It’s a test designed to check whether you've ‘power-leveled’ your way up forcefully.
They say that when taking the Silver License exam, if you haven’t just power-leveled your way up, every explorer will have their own combat style, which they can use to determine if you didn't forcefully power-level.
And the test you take before the practical skills exam is an interview.
They also check your personality and character here, and apparently, you can be failed based on that.
Well, as long as I act normal, there shouldn’t be any problems with that, so I probably won't fail unless something major happens.
Once the practical skills exam and the interview are over, you’ll officially have the Silver License in hand.
...Alright!
“Silver Exam, I’m gonna crush it!”
Kaede Amamiya
Level 1003
HP: 10050/10050 MP: 6035/6035
Attack: 1075 (+52)
Defense: 1025 (+12)
Agility: 2817 (+2167)
Dexterity: 1180 (+152)
Mental Strength: 2972 (+2332)
Luck: 50
BP: 0
SP: 2005
Skills: 【Magic Arrow Lv.20】, 【Archery Lv.10】, 【Hawk Eye Lv.10】, 【Item Box Lv.7】, 【Lock-On Lv.10】, 【Appraisal Lv.5】, 【MP Boost Lv.10】, 【MP Recovery Speed Boost Lv.10】, 【Dagger Arts Lv.7】, 【Enemy Detection Lv.9】, 【Stealth Lv.5】
Putting all that fighting spirit aside, I left the Hellhound Dungeon and came to the Dungeon Association branch to apply for the Silver Exam.
The application for the Silver Exam went smoothly, and then it was time for the Silver Exam!
“...Is what I thought would happen, but who knew the Silver Exam was actually suspended!”
Back from the Dungeon Association, I flop onto my bed and mutter to myself.
Yes, I was able to apply for the Silver Exam, but the date for when I could actually take it wasn't specified.
The reason was the cleanup after a Monster Surge...
Well, I can’t exactly blame the Association this time.
The receptionist who handled my Silver Exam application had dark circles under his eyes, so it really seems like they’re struggling.
Apparently, all the Dungeon Association staff are busy dealing with the investigation into the abnormal Monster Surge—an ‘Irregular’—plus all their other routine work.
Because of this situation, the receptionist said it was difficult to secure the personnel needed to run the practical skills exam for the Silver License, which is why it was suspended.
But... that bastard again! Tagaya and his cronies!!!
They seriously cause nothing but trouble.
“Now then, if that’s the case, what should I do...?”
They said they'd contact me once the exam date is decided, but... I’ve got nothing to do until then.
Well, first things first.
“Status!”
Kaede Amamiya
Level 1003
HP: 10050/10050 MP: 6035/6035
Attack: 1075 (+52)
Defense: 1025 (+12)
Agility: 2817 (+2167)
Dexterity: 1180 (+152)
Mental Strength: 2972 (+2332)
Luck: 50
BP: 0
SP: 2005
Skills: 【Magic Arrow Lv.20】, 【Archery Lv.10】, 【Hawk Eye Lv.10】, 【Item Box Lv.7】, 【Lock-On Lv.10】, 【Appraisal Lv.5】, 【MP Boost Lv.10】, 【MP Recovery Speed Boost Lv.10】, 【Dagger Arts Lv.7】, 【Enemy Detection Lv.9】, 【Stealth Lv.5】
I gotta spend all this stockpiled SP.
With this level-up, my stats have generally risen, and they're all in the four-digit range now. Especially Agility and Mental Strength, where I’ve been allocating my BP, have significantly increased.
So, I should use the SP now to raise skill levels or acquire new ones, thinking about the future.
Well, I've pretty much decided how to use it.
I'm gonna use this SP to acquire and level up the necessary skills for solo-clearing a C-rank Dungeon.
Here are the results:
【Status Ailment Resistance Lv.10】: 280 SP
【Prediction Lv.10】: 280 SP
【Evasion Lv.10】: 280 SP
【Dagger Arts Lv.10】: 135 SP
【Enemy Detection Lv.10】: 50 SP
【Stealth Lv.10】: 200 SP
【Archery Lv.20】: 775 SP
Since I had a lot of SP this time, I was able to acquire various new skills and level up my existing ones.
But seriously, to solo-clear Dungeons, auxiliary skills like these are indispensable. The newly acquired ‘Status Ailment Resistance’, ‘Prediction’, and ‘Evasion’ are those auxiliary skills.
To explain the three: ‘Status Ailment Resistance’ is a skill that increases your resistance to status ailments like Poison, Paralysis, and Curses.
Since my Mental Strength is high already, long-range status attacks, like magic, often don't affect me.
However, in the C-rank Dungeons and above that I'm aiming for, there are monsters that will close in and bite, directly injecting poisons and other ailments into your body.
For a solo player like me, getting inflicted with a status ailment means that the equation Status Ailment = Death is highly likely to hold true, so a counter-status ailment skill like this is essential moving forward.
Next, ‘Prediction’ is a passive ability, like ‘Hawk Eye’, that allows you to predict an opponent’s movements and anticipate the trajectory of attacks.
And finally, ‘Evasion’.
This skill improves your ability to dodge enemy attacks.
Specifically, it’s a skill that grants a slight boost to your Agility stats when you perform an evasion maneuver.
Thanks to these three skills, my combat concept—‘Absolutely evade, then strike with a powerful, guaranteed hit attack’—
I think it’s no exaggeration to say my combat style is closer to completion.
Since the effectiveness of all these skills increases as I level them up, I have high hopes for the future.
As for the remaining SP, I used it to raise all my skills, except for ‘Item Box’ and ‘Appraisal’, to Level 10, and also raised the skill level of ‘Archery’ to 20.
‘Item Box’ and ‘Appraisal’ were fine as they were, and since the other three are combat-related, there’s no harm in leveling them up.
And there’s a reason why I raised the ‘Archery’ skill to Level 20 instead of ‘Lock-On’.
“They mainly look at combat technique during the Silver Exam. I need at least skill Level 20!”
Even if I’m taking the Silver Exam, I’d fail the practical skills test if I didn’t have a minimum level of combat technique.
Naturally, I can’t use the cheat-like ‘Lock-On’ skill during the exam, and I don’t want to be called ‘immature’ or accused of ‘power-leveling’.
So, the current performance of ‘Lock-On’ is already sufficient, and this time, I chose to raise ‘Archery’.
Well, in any case, I've gotten a lot stronger all at once, but...
“What am I gonna do until the exam...?”
My initial problem of what to do until the Silver Exam was far from solved.
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