Chapter 479: A Step Forward
Chapter 479: A Step Forward
Day 1 Adrift.
I was anxious about being left alone, but surprisingly, exploring the dungeon by myself was manageable.
There were two things I had to watch out for.
First, I had to avoid the ground and walls where troublesome plant-type monsters had taken root.
Second, since I couldn't get a mana recharge from Diana, I had to be extra careful with my mana management.
As long as I was mindful of those two things, I didn't have much trouble dealing with monsters.
Of course, these were 4th-layer monsters, so some enemies managed to pierce my defense and deal damage, and others didn't go down so easily from my Saint skills.
However, such enemies were usually large monsters that traveled alone. If I dragged the fight out, they would end up dying from sexual overexertion faster than my own life force could run out.
Naturally, the key to maintaining this combat style was keeping my life force above a certain level.
So, after every battle, I would hide using Stealth until my life force was fully restored, only moving on once I had completely recovered.
My pace was already slow from having to kill monsters by myself, and this made it even slower, but it was far better than risking my life.
It wasn't just that I valued my own life, but more importantly, if I died, my girls would be devastated.
I may like to tease and mess with them, but I could never make them cry like this.
Day 2 Adrift.
When I opened my eyes and checked the map, I found that I had drifted a considerable distance from where I had fallen asleep.
And in the opposite direction of where I was headed, no less.
I mean, come on. A guy’s got to sleep, right?
So I slept. I figured if a monster attacked, I’d just take a hit, wake up, and fight back.
I just used Stealth and went to sleep, and surprisingly, it seemed to work perfectly. I wasn't attacked once while I was out.
Does this mean that even if my Stealth skill level is much lower than my opponent's, the chance of being detected drops drastically if I use the skill and remain completely still?
A good thing to know. I should use this if a troublesome enemy like a Transcendent Species shows up.
The downside, however, was that I was so oblivious to being carried away by the current.
I had considered anchoring myself somewhere, but that would mean tying myself to the terrain.
But the thought of getting caught by a plant-type monster if I got too close to a surface… I just couldn’t bring myself to go near them.
And I still felt the same way.
Drifting away like this while I sleep is still better than getting caught by a plant-type monster.
I felt a little depressed at the thought of having to re-trace the path I’d worked so hard to cross yesterday, but what could I do? Time to get going.
Day 3 Adrift.
It’s surprisingly stressful when the scenery doesn’t change at all.
Well, according to the map, I was definitely making slow but steady progress.
But nothing was changing. The scenery, that is.
Water in front of me. Water behind me. Water on both sides. Water above and below. Water, water, water, water. I’m sick to death of it.
Since I was staying away from the surfaces to avoid the plant-type monsters, the scenery felt even more monotonous.
I’d never experienced thalassophobia in my life, but at this point, I was starting to understand how people could be afraid of the deep sea.
Not that I’m not still perfectly fine, of course.
Day 4 Adrift.
I need a change.
Or if not that, at least something to focus on.
Swim, meet a monster, kill it with my Saint skills, then swim again.
It’s so boring. I’m bored to death.
I never felt this way even when I was grinding in games.
No matter how many monsters I killed with my Saint skills, my Saint level wouldn't rise, so it didn't even feel like I was grinding. This was the worst.
If at least my Martial Artist or Assassin level were going up, I’d feel a sense of accomplishment.
Since my combat job levels are low compared to my girls anyway, I could even tell myself it was a form of training.
But my Martial Artist and Assassin levels were far too low to fight the monsters here.
Those penguins, with their high levels but pathetic health and defense, were perfect for this sort of thing.
Sigh… I guess I’ll just keep going for now.
Day 5 Adrift.
I can’t take this anymore.
I need something. Something to focus on.
Right. Should I just rely on my defense and spam my Martial Artist skills?
No matter how little damage I do, I should be able to kill it eventually, right?
The story of killing someone with a spoon isn't just a myth, is it?
Alright. I’ve made my decision. I’m going to beat the next thing I meet to death.
I’ll show it who’s boss… wait. Anything but a killer whale. Not a killer whale.
Of all the things to pop out, why did it have to be that?
Tch! The one after that one, definitely!
Day 6 Adrift.
Khahaha! Piranhas! Piranhas! Yes! This is what I’ve been waiting for!
Here, have a little taste of my fiery fists!
…To get straight to the point, I won.
Besides, the piranhas’ attacks weren’t even strong enough to drain my life force, so I took no physical damage.
However… the mental damage from thinking about how long I fought enemies that would have just keeled over from my Saint skills… Ugh.
What am I even doing? I should be rushing back to the city to put my girls at ease.
Finally snapping out of it in the middle of the long battle, I threw a punch wreathed in Saint’s Touch at the last remaining piranha.
But thanks to fighting with only Martial Artist skills just moments before, I ended up uselessly using a Martial Artist skill to throw the punch. Tch. What a waste of mana… huh?
And in that moment, I realized.
The last one definitely died from an orgasm… but my Martial Artist experience went up?
Could this be… a loophole in the level system?!
I need to check this! I absolutely have to check this!
Forgetting that I was adrift, I started searching for monsters to run some tests.
First, I’d nearly kill a monster with my Saint skills, then deliver the finishing blow with a Martial Artist skill while Saint’s Touch was active.
My Martial Artist experience did go up. But considering the monster’s level, the amount was definitely small.
So that kind of cheap trick doesn’t work. In that case…
For the next experiment, I continuously attacked with Martial Artist skills while Saint’s Touch was active, making the opponent die from orgasm.
This time, I definitely gained an amount of experience appropriate for the monster’s level.
With this, with this, I can rapidly raise my Martial Artist and Assassin levels!
I had always used punches and kicks when using my Saint skills, but my Martial Artist level had barely risen until now.
But by using the skills in tandem like this, the Martial Artist job suddenly received all the experience.
This was clearly a system loophole.
I’d never found a bug like this while playing games, but to think I’d discover a system loophole after being thrown into another world.
Right. I’d always felt it was a bit unfair that my job levels didn’t go up when I was the one killing monsters with my Saint skills.
With this… wait. Saint? Could it be…
Though I was thrilled by my new discovery, I realized there was one more thing to verify.
Maybe this wasn’t a system loophole at all.
That possibility had just occurred to me.
Next, I need to try killing a monster using a mix of Martial Artist and Assassin skills.
Day 7 Adrift.
The final experiment, which I couldn’t do the day before because I hadn’t found any piranhas.
As soon as I ran into a school of them, I used my Saint skills to take care of all but one, then immediately began my test.
The result was that the experience the piranha would have normally given was split between my Martial Artist and Assassin jobs at a certain ratio.
It wasn't even a 50/50 split.
It was roughly 80/20. It was probably based on the proportion of damage the Martial Artist and Assassin skills each dealt to the piranha.
The meaning of this result was obvious.
The fact that other jobs gain all the experience when I use Saint skills in tandem with their skills isn’t a system loophole.
It’s simply that the Saint level doesn’t gain experience from such things, so the other job takes it all.
In other words, it’s possible the Goddess intentionally designed it this way as a consideration to make the Saint’s growth easier.
And without knowing that, I’d been throwing away all that potential job level experience every time I fought a strong enemy.
Dammit! This is, this is too much!
Goddess! Shouldn’t this have been the very first thing you told me when we last met?!
Why did you prioritize praising my achievements?!
It’s not like you gave me a reward or anything, you just said ‘good job’!
For the first time since coming to this world, I had a strong suspicion that the Goddess might be the true villain.
…Well, I guess I’m just venting at the wrong person.
In the first place, this wasn’t the first time I’d used Saint skills and other job skills together.
In other words, it’s stranger that I’m only noticing now.
Why on earth didn’t I notice before?
Is that it? Because I was always with my girls, I prioritized checking on their condition rather than meticulously checking my own experience gain.
Which means I was only able to notice this because I was alone.
When I think of it that way, maybe being adrift isn’t so bad after all… as if!
Ah, dammit. No. Let’s not get depressed. If I get depressed in a situation like this, it’ll be truly irreversible.
Positive mindset. Now is the time for a positive mindset.
Right. I’m good at that, aren’t I?
Messing around and playing without any regard for the time or place.
Of course, that requires someone else to be there… no. I mean, positive mindset!
Right. What matters is that I learned this important fact now.
Alright. From now on, at least I’ll have the fun of raising my job levels!
…There was a time when I, too, thought that.
Day 18 Adrift.
To hell with grinding job levels. I want to see a person.
No. I’m not even asking to see one. I just want to hear a person’s voice.
“Ah, of course, I haven’t forgotten that you’re here with me, Paulson.”
I spoke to my one and only conversation partner, Paulson.
Loneliness, as it turns out, is surprisingly fatal to a person.
After getting stranded, I came to truly understand the meaning of the phrase “man is a social animal.”
To soothe my solitude, I tried everything. I’d talk to monsters whenever I met them, I’d talk to myself constantly—I tried it all.
I was so desperate that I even took out Diana’s video to watch by myself before bed.
But even though it was an erotic video, instead of getting turned on, I was just overwhelmed by a sense of longing, so I sealed that method away after that one night.
It just made me miss her more, and the aftereffects were no joke.
Anyway, for that reason, I was going crazy from missing people.
I now completely sympathized with why Diana used to mumble to herself.
It was surely a habit she picked up while researching magic alone.
You have to do things like that, or you can’t endure it.
No. Even doing that, I found it hard to endure.
Therefore, I decided to just make a conversation partner for myself.
I recalled a scene from a movie I’d seen once.
I didn’t have a ball, but instead, I took a lung from a monster I’d killed, inflated it with air, and tied both ends to carry it around.
His name is Paulson. Well, it literally means ‘person.’
At first, I thought I was crazy for doing it, but now, I think it was a very good decision.
Having even an imaginary conversation partner was a great help to my mental stability.
“Tch. Another monster. Just wait a minute, Paulson. Your big bro will take care of it and be right back.”
Of course, I would never do something like putting my friend in my inventory.
I can’t even imagine what the inside of an inventory looks like.
In my old world, there was a game that forced you to do psychopathic things like forcibly capturing animals, calling them your friends, and then keeping them in a tiny ball except when it was time to fight. I’m not a psychopath like that