The claim that to climb this entire tower, one must master all fields.
The logic that this tower contains one thousand different monsters, and therefore requires versatility enough to ignore all type matchups.
I ultimately decided to follow that advice.
I decided to accept the teachings of the Taeheo Ascetic.
But that doesn't mean I'm going to register for every single course starting now.
Maybe someday I'll have to, but at least not right now.
For now, it's a two-track approach.
Physical and magical.
I'll train in the combat styles that [Death Sentence - Slash] and [Death Sentence - Gaze] each aim for.
At the same time, I'll use the Blood Knight to climb the tower and level up.
I need to accelerate my growth with the stat points I earn that way.
"Alright. Let's decide on the distribution policy first."
There were things to exclude from stat distribution.
First and foremost, luck.
The luck stat had a reputation for being useless in this tower. It supposedly helps with enhancement, but the efficiency is very poor. It's said to be related to skill success rates, but research on it seems poorly developed.
And then defense and magic defense.
I'd heard plenty that defense can be covered later with magic shield-type techniques. Above all, I have an invincibility skill called Death's Boundary.
The defensive strategy is to raise agility and sense stats to dodge enemy attacks, and use the invincibility skill to nullify unavoidable critical hits.
So I won't invest in them.
If I'm not going to get hit, defense becomes a useless stat.
Then what about stamina?
I had suspected I might need stamina because of the Demon King Tower's "fatigue" penalty.
But based on testimonies from gallery users and my experience raising stamina stats using the Necklace of Vitality as enhancement material, I concluded that fatigue is resolved through sleep and fatigue recovery potions, and has nothing to do with the stamina stat.
It's not a completely unnecessary stat, but it can be supplemented with items and I'd heard it can also be compensated for through magic.
Then it was clear.
"There are exactly 5 stats I need to invest in right now."
Strength, agility, sense, intelligence, mana.
I decided to proceed with a leveling operation to make these 5 stats even.
Currently, my mana is overwhelmingly high at 200 including the earring buff, and intelligence and sense are also quite high.
On the other hand, strength was relatively low at 49 with the Ring of Strength's correction, and agility was at 23.
Therefore.
"Strength 1, agility 27."
I poured in the 28 remaining stat points I'd saved from 11 level-ups.
Pop, pop, pop—!
[Strength stat has increased by 1.]
[Agility stat has increased by 27.]
Strength and agility were now both evenly matched at 50.
"Whoa..."
As the agility stat increased, my body became incredibly light.
It felt like my body might float up into the sky.
I tried moving right away.
Swoosh—!
"This is seriously amazing."
Running seemed almost twice as fast.
As expected, the strength-agility-sense trio has incredible impact.
After nodding with satisfaction, I took a selfie.
It was time to announce my future plans.
______
Title: Starting the 5-stat leveling operation.
Author: Anonymous(61F)
{Selfie of a silver-haired, blue-eyed girl}
[Status]
Race: Grim Reaper
Floor: 61
Level: 72
Condition: Normal
Strength: 50 (▲1)
Agility: 50 (▲27)
Stamina: 16
Intelligence: 79
Sense: 74
Mana: 200
Luck: 11
Defense: 13
Magic Defense: 14
Remaining Stat Points: 0
Trait: Unawakened
Unique Skills: [Death Sentence - Slash], [Death Sentence - Gaze]
Weapon: Death Scythe
Equipped Items: [Magic Ring of Strength], [Adventurer's Ring], [Magitech Blue-Green Earring (+2 / Charge: 44%)], [Twin-tail Black Ribbon]
Strength, agility, sense, intelligence, mana.
My goal is to level these 5 evenly. I poured in my remaining stats to match strength and agility at 50 for now.
Since my mana is already at 200, for the time being I'll learn black magic and kill mobs with magic.
I'll use the points from leveling up that way to balance the 5 stats equally, and from then on I'll raise them all together in a 1:1:1:1:1 ratio!
Master, I'm going to learn black magic first, so don't worry!
_______
The moment I pressed the submit button.
The gallery went absolutely crazy.
[Comments]
Anonymous(341F): Kekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekeke
Anonymous(262F): Is this right?????????????????
Anonymous(643F): Ruined~ Ruined~ Ruined~ Ruined~
Anonymous(465F): Legendary lmao kekekekekekekekekekekekekekekeke
Anonymous(465F): Wow, this is seriously fucked, what is that...
Anonymous(224F): Gueeeeeeeeek!!!!
Anonymous(358F): RIP ruined character
Anonymous(189F): Low-tier Low-tier Low-tier Low-tier Low-tier Low-tier Low-tier Low-tier Low-tier Low-tier Low-tier Low-tier
Anonymous(431F): What is this...
Anonymous(247F): They're actually doing it kekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekeke
______
It was truly an unprecedented reaction.
Anonymous(354F): Taeheo Ascetic <What the hell should I do with this kid? Kekekekekekekekekekekekekeke
Fenrir: GG I'm leaving the gallery. Got baited by that psychopath and now the newbie's ruined lol
They might be right that I'm truly ruined.
But I can't blame the Taeheo Ascetic.
The idea was mine first, and I was the one who executed it.
"Well, I've already done it."
I could only grin as I looked at the reactions.
So I teased them like this.
Anonymous(61F)(Author): The Golden Carriage doesn't sell stat reset tickets, right?
└ Anonymous(435F): ?
└ Anonymous(279F): You bastard.
└ Anonymous(143F): Kekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekeke
"Hehe"
As I was scrolling through the comments, I found a reply from a regular nickname that seemed to have a different opinion.
└ SSS-Rank Item Carrier: Yeah, they don't sell it lol
└ Anonymous(463F): Why is this guy so calm?
└ Anonymous(645F): Because he's the same kind of psychopath...
└ SSS-Rank Item Carrier: I'm happy because I'll get to see the newbie use various items, right?
Indeed, from now on I would be using items based on physical stats as well.
I'd be leaving various item reviews as I go through promotion battles, so he seemed to welcome that.
Come to think of it, the other regular nicknames didn't have much to say either.
Was it because they got beaten down by the advance team regular?
Or like SSS-Rank Item Carrier, were they secretly happy that they'd get to teach me their techniques?
But if there's one thing certain.
└ Death Note Scripture: ...You chose well to learn black magic first...
└ Anonymous(246F): This guy seems a bit dampened kekekeke
└ Anonymous(487F): Because what he's learned his whole life got denied keke
└ Anonymous(643F): Wait, isn't that a lie? How can you learn Death Sentence without being a Grim Reaper?
Our master seemed to have taken serious internal damage and become melancholic.
It was the first moment he looked pitiful.
"What would have happened if I said I wouldn't learn black magic..."
Anyway.
'Instant death-derived black magic.'
Since I decided to utilize my 200 mana, I first needed to learn the black magic that my master kept talking about.
And before that.
└ Anonymous(710F): You have a 4th-tier instant death skill but haven't learned any derived techniques, so circles are your most urgent need...
It seemed I needed to obtain a circle.
"Meditation first."
I crossed my legs and closed my eyes.
.
The speed at which I fell into meditation was remarkable.
Perhaps because my intelligence had increased much more than when I first meditated, my consciousness sank into the inner world the moment I closed my eyes.
...
..
.
Soon, a barren land spread out.
Like last time, black rings were scattered across the ground.
"The faster I choose, the more safe time I can save."
About 10 hours of vacation time remained.
I needed to find a big one during that time.
I crossed the plain.
...
..
.
"Black Shift."
I even used the ribbon's skill every 30 seconds while moving, but for quite a while longer than last time, no large circle appeared.
I saw several moderately large ones.
But since this was a circle I'd have to keep in my body(?) for life(?), I couldn't choose just any adequate one.
I spent time searching the plain.
"Isn't there something substantial somewhere..."
That's when it happened.
"...!"
Suddenly my vision became clear.
It happened as I squinted and concentrated.
Undulations in the far distance appeared pulled close as if they were right in front of me.
I didn't know why, but it would be tremendous help in finding a circle right now.
"Good, in this state..."
...
..
.
"There it is!"
I found it.
It wasn't larger than the 1st circle, but it was overwhelmingly bigger than the others.
Statistically, it seemed like finding something bigger than this would consume all my vacation time.
I picked up the circle.
Zzzzzzzt!
Kyaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
...This time too, someone's scream could be heard without fail.
But I had no choice but to ignore it and bring it into my core.
Whiiiiing—
Flash!
I returned to reality and opened my eyes.
"Phew!"
I turned on the hologram to check the time.
Exactly 2 hours.
It took 1 hour to obtain the 1st circle.
But since I stayed longer than that time, the absolute speed of acquiring a circle could be considered shortened.
It was a moment when the intelligence stat I'd been raising paid off.
"At this rate, I'll get the 3rd circle quickly too."
But I gave up on trying it right away.
Because...
"Ugh..."
"Ack..."
"Urk..."
My brain felt like it was malfunctioning.
I couldn't adapt.
Having one circle spinning versus two spinning was on a different dimension.
It was quite alien and unpleasant.
When I focused my consciousness on my core, two rings were going wild.
Whiiiiing—!
Wooooong—!!
They were interlocked, but that was all.
Their rotations weren't regular and the rhythm was off.
The two seemed to be fighting over territory.
It seemed to be because one was suddenly added.
"Huuu..."
I took a deep breath and tried to control the rotation.
.
After several minutes of adjustment, I soon calmed my body a bit.
I posted a report on the gallery.
______
Title: 2nd circle acquisition complete.
Author: Anonymous(61F)
It wasn't the sea again, and like last time, I acquired it in a barren land.
I heard a scream this time too, so it seems I have to keep stealing others' circles to get them...
...
..
.
[Comments]
Anonymous(543F): Black sea where...
Anonymous(468F): Circle victims will keep appearing kekekeke
Anonymous(646F): Seriously cheating;;; 2-hour clear is...
Anonymous(404F): Wait, does this mean you'll learn the 3rd circle in 3 hours? Kekekekekekekekeke
Anonymous(322F): Looks like you learned some magic eye-type magic in the middle.
Anonymous(124F): But is your body okay? From double circle onwards it's real hell.
______
Reactions of shock continued about not seeing the sea again and the fast acquisition time.
And a comment from 710F asking about my condition appeared.
Anonymous(710F): How's the overload?
Overload must refer to that dizzy, nauseous sensation I felt just before.
"Phew..."
└ Anonymous(61F)(Author): I did feel a bit motion sick and dizzy.
└ Anonymous(710F): No headache or anything?
└ Anonymous(61F)(Author): No. Nothing hurts.
└ Anonymous(710F): ...Is the second circle normally okay???
└ Anonymous(124F): ? When I went from 1st to 2nd circle, my head felt like it would split for almost two months;;;;
From what I heard, my circle acquisition side effects seemed minimal.
And right now as I'm writing, my breathing has completely stabilized.
└ Anonymous(61F)(Author): Oh. I think I'm much better now than before.
└ Anonymous(124F): This is ridiculous, seriously.
└ Anonymous(710F): ???? You just obtained another circle and you're already okay???
└ Anonymous(61F)(Author): Yes, I think the rotation is aligned now too.
I seemed lucky.
└ Anonymous(710F): Just overlapping two circles takes months of suffering, but this is... looks like you've already entered the settling stage.
└ Anonymous(702F): Kekekeke So you can get the 3rd circle today, right?
└ Anonymous(710F): And getting the magic eye is also absurd. Learning 2nd circle instant death-derived black magic will be a bit easier.
Magic eye?
It seems I naturally obtained something like that.
What does it mean that learning black magic will be easier?