Chapter 81 - Status Remake
[The Garden of Divine Creation]—this field, located beyond the beginner area known as the [Trial Spheres of Partition], is a ridiculously vast map where all players gather, regardless of faction. It’s truly worthy of being called Arcadia’s main stage.
It’s not just ridiculously vast; it’s practically endless. Or rather, to be precise, even now, three years after the service began, not a single player has reached the edge of the map, so no one really knows how big it is.
That’s just plain nonsensical. Is this really a game map? At this point, I wouldn’t even be surprised if someone told me I was being summoned to another world through the [Arcadia] hardware.
While this Garden of Divine Creation is full of unexplored territory that stretches to near infinity, there is existing map data centered around the city where Sora and I were transferred, the 'Safe Area.' This data is a testament to the three years of hard work by the pioneers before us.
Honestly, the fact that this map is still considered unexplored is what I can’t wrap my head around. It's just that huge.
I was told it was sold cheaply as an item, so I bought it from a shop in town… and it was as big as a rug that a large family of ten could comfortably stretch out on. I laughed.
It was the epitome of user-unfriendly, so I immediately converted the item back into data and tucked it away in my interface.
If I had more inventory space, I might have kept one as a gag item, but I’ll have to wait until my storage situation improves in the future.
Anyway, on the super-vast map data I acquired, several spots that could be beneficial to me were marked, thanks to Kagura-san's advice.
Over the next week, I’ll visit as many of these spots as I can, gathering materials suitable for my equipment and accumulating diverse combat experience to strengthen my avatar… Frankly, this is pretty much a death march. And I'm starting to get excited!!
"And with that, I've arrived at the memorable first spot!!"
A short while after parting with Kagura-san and finishing my preparations for this life-or-death journey, I arrived at one of the spots closest to the city. I stood before a towering spire, so tall I had to crane my neck back, feeling full of bravado.
Standing out in the dense forest, it was a vivid crimson that rivaled even Kagura-san’s hair. Its twisted, imposing form looked like a flashy, gigantic anthill.
[The Spiral Crimson Tower]—apparently, it’s an “ultra-sadistic dungeon” that has remained unconquered since its discovery in the early days of the game.
I’m a freshman who just graduated from being a beginner, so it’s obvious this is an impossible game for me. But of course, I didn’t come here with a time limit just to waste my time.
According to Kagura-san, "I doubt you can clear it, but in a way, it might be the most beneficial for you."
For my part, I wanted to confirm the meaning of those words and experience for myself just what the “sadistic difficulty” in this game was like.
—And so,
"Alright… time for the debut of the new me. Let's go out with a bang!"
Upon clearing the [Trial Spheres of Partition], I unexpectedly hit the level cap as a reward (?) for my S-rank evaluation. With that came the unlocked Status Remake system—in other words, the stat reallocation feature I’d been secretly waiting for.
In terms of lore, it's for reasons of physical and mental stability… but in reality, it's probably to prevent players from messing with their stats willy-nilly without any risk. The system allows you to reallocate your status points once a month.
――――――――――――――――――
◇Status◇
Name: Haru
Lv: 100(150)
STR (Strength): 140
AGI (Agility): 500(+10)
DEX (Dexterity): 200(+10)
VIT (Vitality): 5
MID (Mind): 5
LUC (Luck): 50
◇Skills◇
・All-Weapon Aptitude
・《Blink Switch》
・《Piercing Dart》
・《Quit Counter》
・《Floating Leaf》
・Embodied Protection
・Heavy Attack Manipulator
・Combo Accelerate
・Idaten
・Swallow Flight
・Fataless Jumper
・Rhino's Heart
・Guardian's Cradle
・Telepathy
――――――――――――――――――
In other words, a ridiculous status spread like this one has…
――――――――――――――――――
◇Status◇
Name: Haru
Lv: 100
STR (Strength): 300
AGI (Agility): 350(+10)
DEX (Dexterity): 100(+10)
VIT (Vitality): 0
MID (Mind): 0
LUC (Luck): 300
◇Skills◇
・All-Weapon Aptitude
・《Blink Switch》
・《Piercing Dart》
・《Quit Counter》
・《Floating Leaf》
・Embodied Protection
・Heavy Attack Manipulator
・Combo Accelerate
・Idaten
・Swallow Flight
・Fataless Jumper
・Rhino's Heart
・Guardian's Cradle
・Telepathy
――――――――――――――――――
Oh, what a marvel! It has undergone a magnificent transformation into a wonderfully balanced status build—wait, what is this?????
No, wait, calm down. I haven’t lost my mind. My thought process was extremely calm and rational.
First, I significantly reduced my excessive AGI.
This was a given. The original insane value of 500 looked nice and clean, but in reality, it completely exceeded my capacity. I’d only gone all-out at max speed a handful of times.
In fact, on those few occasions, I almost always had an accident, so I ended up sealing it away.
So, that's fine. Even with this value, my AGI is on par with the players known as the fastest in the world, so hey, following the example of my predecessors is a nice round number in its own way (?).
Next, DEX. This is also fine.
Well, in terms of Arcadia's AGI & DEX mechanics, it’s a huge problem, but in my case, I can use Idaten to momentarily double the value.
Plus, thanks to practicing how to handle excessive AGI even with a DEX deficiency from the start, I can now manage a difference of more than double with sheer willpower.
…I can. Can I? Yeah, I… I can do it. I think…!!
Averting my eyes from my anxiety, next up is STR, which has made a huge comeback.
My theory so far has been that even without muscle, if you hit something with a weapon at incredible speed, it'll be powerful. However, after frequently getting a STR boost from Sora via 《Scareless》, I realized a simple truth.
If you slam a weapon with incredible speed and incredible muscle, it's even more powerful.
Therefore, muscle is justice. All good.
Following that is LUC, which hasn’t so much made a comeback as it has mutated. I just figured I didn't need VIT or MID anymore. If that’s the case, wasn’t dumping everything into luck the only option left by process of elimination?
Eh? Shouldn’t I have invested a bit more in DEX?
That—… That, you’re right.
I see. So that’s where I lost my mind… Hm? VIT and MID? Nah, they were probably never destined to be with this avatar. All good.
Anyway, I have to live with this status build for at least a month. There's no choice but to force myself to master it.
Or rather, I have a feeling I foolishly pruned my own path, but I'll try to stay positive.
"Let's do this—the real game starts now, Arcadia!!"
《Idaten》 — When AGI is operating at high speed, it doubles the DEX value required for support.
By the way, the pre-evolution skill 《Acrobatics》 gave a fixed +100 DEX with no activation conditions.
Please take a look at the protagonist’s current DEX value.
…Idaten-kun?