Toward the 100th Floor (1)
To climb this entire tower, you have to master every single field. That's the claim. This tower is home to a thousand different monsters, each with their own matchups, so you need versatility that ignores all counters. In the end, I decided to follow that advice.
I resolved to accept Taeheo Sunsinja's teachings. But that doesn't mean I'm signing up for every class starting right now.
Sure, I might have to someday, but not yet. At least not at this stage.
For now, it's a two-track approach.
Physics and magic.
Honing the combat styles that Death Verdict - Slash and Death Verdict - Gaze are geared toward.
At the same time, I'll use my Blood Knight to climb the tower and level up.
Then pour those stat points into accelerating my growth.
"Alright. Let's settle on a distribution policy first."
There were stats I could exclude from distribution.
Luck first and foremost.
The Luck stat was notoriously useless in this tower. It helped with enhancements, but the efficiency was abysmal. It was linked to skill success rates or something, but no real research had been done.
Then Defense and Magic Defense. I'd heard Defense could be covered by Magic Shield spells later on. More importantly, I had Death Boundary, my invincible trump card. Boost Agility and Sense to dodge enemy attacks, and tank unavoidable lethal hits with invincibility. That was my defense strategy.
So no points there.
If I wasn't getting hit, Defense was a dead stat. What about Vitality? I'd suspected it was needed for the Demon King Tower's 'Fatigue' penalty. But gallery testimonies and my experience enhancing the Life Necklace to boost Vitality showed Fatigue was handled by sleep and recovery potions—no relation to the stat. It wasn't entirely useless, but items could supplement it, and magic too.
Crystal clear, then.
"Right now, the stats to invest in are exactly five."
Strength, Agility, Sense, Intelligence, Magic.
I decided to even them out, flattening the curve.
My Magic was overwhelmingly high at 200 including earring buffs, with Intelligence and Sense also solid. Strength was 49 with the Mighty Ring bonus, Agility a measly 23.
Thus.
"Strength +1, Agility +27."
I dumped all 28 leftover stat points from my 11 levels.
Pop, pop, pop!
Strength stat has increased by 1.
Agility stat has increased by 27.
Strength and Agility both hit 50.
"Whoa..."
The Agility boost made my body feel insanely light. Like I could float right into the sky.
I tested it out immediately.
Whoosh!
"Holy shit, this is nuts."
Running felt almost twice as fast.
The Strength-Agility-Sense trio really packed a punch in terms of feel. Nodding in satisfaction, I snapped a selfie.
Time to announce my new policy.
The moment I hit post, the gallery exploded.
It was a historic reaction.
Maybe they were right—it could really be ruined.
But I couldn't blame Taeheo Sunsinja.
The idea was mine first, and so was the execution.
"Too late now anyway."
I couldn't stop grinning at the reactions.
So I decided to troll a bit.
"Hehe."
While scrolling comments, I spotted a fixed-nick reply that stood out.
Yeah, I'd definitely be using physical stat-based gear going forward.
He seemed happy about all the item reviews I'd post during boss rushes.
Come to think of it, the other fixed-nicks were quiet too.
Maybe they got preempted by the vanguard nicks.
Or like SSS Item Booster, they were secretly pleased I'd learn their specialties.
One thing was clear, though.
Our master seemed to have taken a heavy internal hit—full-on mental breakdown mode.
First time he looked pitiful.
"Wonder what would've happened if I said no black magic..."
Anyway.
Instant-kill derivative black magic.
With Magic at 200, time to learn the black magic our master kept pushing.
But first.
Looked like I needed circles.
"Meditation first."
I sat cross-legged and closed my eyes.
.
The plunge into meditation was miraculous. Way faster than my first time—Intelligence gains paying off. Eyes shut, consciousness sank into my inner world.
......
Soon, the barren plain stretched out. Black rings scattered on the ground like last time.
"Pick fast to save safe time."
About 10 hours of vacation left.
Had to find a big one. I crossed the plain.
…
..
.
"Black Shift."
Using the ribbon skill every 30 seconds, but no huge circles yet—longer than last time. Plenty of decent ones, but.
This was for life(?) in my body(?)—no settling for mediocre. I scoured the plain.
"Where's a fat one..."
That's when, mid-search.
"...!"
Vision sharpened suddenly. From squinting focus. A distant curve pulled in like it was right in front.
No idea why, but perfect for circle hunting.
"Nice, with this..."
…
..
.
"There!"
Found it.
Not bigger than my 1-circle, but overwhelmingly larger than others.
Statistically, hunting bigger would burn all vacation time.
I grabbed the circle.
Zzzzzzt!
KAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
…Someone's scream as expected, but ignored it. Shoved it into my dantian.
Vreeeeeng— Flash!
Back to reality, eyes open.
"Hoo!"
Hologram check: exactly 2 hours. 1-circle took 1 hour, but longer stay meant faster acquisition speed.
Intelligence stat earning its keep.
"At this rate, 3-circle's a breeze."
But shelved the idea for now. Because...
"Mm..."
"Ack..."
"Urk..."
My brain felt fried.
Couldn't adapt. One circle spinning vs. two was worlds apart.
Deeply alien and nauseating. Focusing on dantian, the two rings thrashed.
Whiiiine—! Woooom—!!
Meshed, but barely. Rotations irregular, rhythms off.
Like turf war.
New guy threw things off.
"Huuu..."
Deep breaths to control the spin.
.
After minutes of tuning, body calmed a bit. Posted a gallery update.
Shocked at no sea again and the speed. Then 710F asked about my condition.
Overload—probably that dizzy, nauseous feeling from before.
"Hoo..."
Apparently my side effects were light. And right now, writing this, breathing was fully stable.
Lucky me.
Evil eye?
Seemed I'd picked one up naturally.
Easier black magic—what did that mean?