kscans

Chapter 81 - Status Remake

The [Garden of Divine Creation]—this field, located beyond the beginner area known as the [Trial Spheres of Partition], is an absurdly vast map where players from all factions gather, truly worthy of being called Arcadia's main stage.

And when I say absurdly vast, I mean it's practically endless. Or rather, in the three years since the service started, no player has ever reached the edge of the map, so the exact size remains unknown.

It's just plain incomprehensible. Is this really a game map? At this point, I wouldn't even be surprised if I was told the [Arcadia] console was actually summoning me to another world.

While this Garden of Divine Creation extends into an almost infinite expanse of unexplored territory, there exists a map data, a testament to the three years of work by pioneers, centered around the city Sora and I were transported to, the 'Safe Area.'

Honestly, the fact that this is still considered unexplored is what I find baffling. The map is ridiculously huge.

I heard it was outputted as an item and sold cheaply, so I bought one from a shop in town, but… it was as big as a rug a family of ten could comfortably sprawl out on. I had to laugh.

It was the height of inconvenience, so I immediately re-outputted it from an item to data, and it's now neatly stored 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 of use to me were marked, thanks to Kagura-san's advice.

In the remaining week, I am to visit as many of these spots as possible, gathering materials suitable for equipment while accumulating diverse combat experience to strengthen my avatar… frankly, it’s pretty much a death march. And I'm starting to get excited!

“And so, I’ve arrived at the memorable first spot!”

Sometime after parting ways with Kagura-san and finishing my preparations for this desperate journey, I found myself standing before a colossal spire, so tall I had to crane my neck to see the top, full of bravado.

Standing out in the dense forest, its crimson hue was as vibrant as Kagura-san's hair, if not more so. Its twisted, towering form looked like a gaudy, gigantic anthill.

[The Spiral Crimson Tower]—apparently, it's an “absurdly brutal dungeon” that has remained unconquered since it was first discovered.

It’s obvious that it's an impossible game for a first-year graduate of the tutorial like 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’ll be able to 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 also to experience for myself the level of “brutal difficulty” in this game.

—And so,

“Alright… let’s have my reborn self's grand debut end in a blaze of glory!”

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 redistribution function I had been subtly waiting for.

In terms of lore, it's for reasons of physical and mental stability… but realistically, it's probably to prevent players from messing with their stats willy-nilly without any risk. So, I can reallocate my 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, this ridiculously unbalanced set of stats…

――――――――――――――――――
◇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
――――――――――――――――――

And what do you know! It has transformed into this wonderfully well-balanced set of stats—what is this?????

No, wait, calm down. I haven't lost my mind. My thought process was extremely calm and rational.

First, the point about drastically reducing my excessive AGI.

This was a given. My original, insane value of 500 looked nice and round, but in reality, it completely exceeded my capacity, and I had only gone all-out at maximum speed a handful of times.

In fact, on those few occasions I went all-out, I almost always had an accident, so I ended up sealing it away.

So that’s fine. Even at this value, my AGI is on par with the players known as the fastest in the world, so see, it’s a nice round number in the sense of following the example of the pioneers (?).

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 momentarily double the value with Idaten.

Plus, thanks to practicing how to handle excessive AGI even when my DEX was low from the start, I can now manage with sheer grit as long as the difference isn't more than double.

…I can. Can I? No, I can… I can do it. I should be able to…!!

Ignoring my anxiety, next up is STR, which has seen a major promotion.

My theory so far has been that you can be strong by hitting with a weapon at incredible speed, even without muscles. But after frequently receiving STR boosts from Sora's 《Scareless》, I realized a simple truth.

It’s even stronger if you hit with a weapon at incredible speed and with incredible muscle.

In other words, muscle is justice. Fine.

Next up is LUC, which has undergone a sudden mutation, for lack of a better word. I just thought I didn't need VIT or MID anymore. So, by process of elimination, wasn’t dumping points into luck the only option left?

What? Shouldn't I have invested a bit more in DEX?

That—… Yeah, that's a good point.

I see, so that's where I lost my mind… huh? VIT and MID? No, they were probably destined to never be a part of this avatar's life, so that’s fine.

Anyway, I’m stuck with these stats for at least a month. There’s no other way but to force myself to master them.

Not that there's no other way, but I feel like I've foolishly pruned my own path. I'll try to be positive.

“Let's get fired up—this is where the real game begins, Arcadiaaa!!”

---

《Idaten》—During high-speed AGI operation, doubles the DEX value required for support.
Incidentally, its pre-evolution skill, 《Acrobatics》, had no activation condition and gave a fixed +100.

Now, I'd like you to take a look at our protagonist's current DEX value.

…《Idaten》-kun?