An arithmetic sequence.
The floor-advancement rewards in the Demon King's Tower increase by 100 gold for every floor climbed.
So there's no reason to hoard money.
For now, pushing even one floor higher is the most efficient play.
And the earring is a stack-type item. Better to equip it right away.
Besides, even if the earring weren't a growth-type item, there was no need to save every last coin just to buy the Jet-Black Knotted Band first.
The Jet-Black Knotted Band's bonus stat is 90 Magic Power.
An absurd number that would require dumping all 30 levels' worth of points into Magic Power—but completely useless right now.
I've been pouring almost everything into Intelligence and Magic Power, yet I haven't learned a single spell.
So buying it wouldn't meaningfully improve my climbing stability.
And more than anything…
"Clear through floor 36 and that's 33,000 gold."
Push just 11 more floors from here and I hit the break-even point—100% recovery on whatever I invest in gear right now.
And 20 floors beyond that brings it to 124,000 gold.
ㅇㅇ(25F): btw gonna spend it all before moving on.
ㄴㅇㅇ(213F): well obviously…were you actually gonna save it?
ㄴㅇㅇ(451F): thought you'd just buy the earring and bounce lmaooo
ㄴㅇㅇ(312F): if you were that crazy you'd already be dead.
I picked up every item the nickname user had recommended.
"Purchase."
I pressed the buy button on the kiosk without a moment's hesitation.
[Payment complete. Balance: 97G]
A burst of light flared, and the items I'd ordered teleported onto the display shelf.
I immediately began picking them up one by one and equipping them.
"Oh, look at all the sparkle."
First, I slipped two rings onto my fingers.
The [Obsidian Ring of Insight], glowing with a dark light, and the red [Adventurer's Ring].
"Oh."
It was a subtle change, but I could feel that something was different.
My vision sharpened slightly, and a faint warmth spread through me.
Then came the third and final one—the moment I slid the silver [Ring of Arcane Might] onto my finger.
Hummm—!
A different effect from the first two kicked in.
"Huh?…Whoa!"
Starting from the finger where the ring sat, blood flow surged outward through every vein in my body.
Then it seeped into every corner of my muscles.
The sensation of strength filling my slender limbs.
With 32 Magic Power and a 10% Strength bonus, that's 3 Strength.
Only a measly 3 points, and I can already feel it this clearly?
"So this is what Strength does…"
There's a reason Strength sits at the top of the stat list.
"Gotta test it right now."
I swung the scythe.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
What had felt heavy was now a little lighter.
I could even manage it one-handed now.
"Wow…"
It'll only get better from here.
"And this is a 6,000-gold item."
It seemed to be worth every coin—a ring that even the gallery members in the 600s, who weren't exactly rolling in it, would need to save ten months of wages without spending a single gold to afford.
In that case…
The coveted Epic item, four times the price of this ring.
Something a gallery member on floor 400 couldn't buy even after saving for a full 50 months without spending a single gold.
What would 20,500 gold worth of power feel like?
[Magitech Cerulean Earring]
I placed it in my palm.
It was a design with a blue gemstone dangling from it, glimmering with a lustrous glow.
According to SSS-Rank Gear Chaser's description, Magic Power permanently increases every time you kill something.
Touching the earring didn't bring up an item description hologram.
I had to rely entirely on his knowledge.
Which meant I had no way of knowing the exact criteria for a valid kill, or the specific amount of Magic Power gained per stack.
"I'll only know once I equip it."
That must be why people crave Gear Chaser's explanations, and why he's equally starved for real post-equip reviews.
No item description is provided before purchase.
I picked up the earring and brought it toward my earlobe.
Just as I was about to pierce it—
I first felt around my earlobe with my fingertip.
"Ah… my ears aren't pierced."
The earlobe was smooth.
It seemed this female Death God had never worn accessories like this.
In that case, I'd just have to stab it through.
'And I don't even have an alcohol swab…'
That thought made me laugh.
"Ha."
Here I am, swinging this scythe and fighting monsters with my life on the line, and I'm hesitating over a little ear piercing.
Besides, I'm in a position where I need to cut my own throat—not just my ear—to learn an instant-kill skill.
"This doesn't even count as practice for the suicide run…"
Poke.
The sensation of soft flesh being pierced.
A bead of blood formed.
With a grimace, I pierced the other ear as well and finished equipping it.
"…"
"What the…"
I'd built up all this anticipation, but there was nothing.
It was the most expensive and troublesome item to equip, and yet—anticlimactic.
Probably because it's a growth-type item. Still, I'd expected at least something.
"Anyway, setup complete."
How have my stats changed?
I checked my Status.
[STATUS]
Race: Death God (死神)
Floor: 25
Level: 25
Condition: Normal
Strength: 21 (▲3)
Agility: 23
Vitality: 8 (▲1)
Intelligence: 45 (▲2)
Sense: 40 (▲2)
Magic Power: 32
Luck: 10 (▲1)
Defense: 5 (▲2)
Magic Defense: 13
Remaining Stat Points: 0
Trait: Unawakened
Skills: None
Weapon: Death Scythe
Equipped Items: [Ring of Arcane Might], [Obsidian Ring of Insight], [Adventurer's Ring], [Magitech Cerulean Earring (Charge: 0%)]
"Oh… now I actually look like a proper character."
There was a whole bunch of stuff hanging off me.
All preparations complete.
The target is floor 56.
Push all the way to floor 56 and I can earn 120,000 gold.
*
[Floor Advancement Battle begins]
I climbed the stairs and opened the door.
The floor guardian of the Demon King's 26th floor revealed itself.
[Defender: Hobgoblin Warrior (26F)]
Kreeeak—
Given that this is a 1,000-floor tower, this was still a bottom-of-the-barrel monster.
But it looked more dangerous than the orcs I'd faced before.
This was the first time I'd encountered one with proper equipment.
It was a goblin, but a goblin decked out in a full set of iron armor.
"Did you gear up too?"
Must've been loaded for a goblin.
Or maybe not. Something like this probably can't use the Golden Carriage.
"I'll have to ask the Gallery about that later."
The thing let out an irritating screech and raised its sword.
I kicked off the ground toward it.
And then—
Before the Hobgoblin Warrior could even bring its sword down.
Shhhhk—!
I swung the scythe and sliced across its unarmored face.
"Grraaagh!!!"
The creature clutched its face, spilling blood onto the floor, then shattered into light.
[Floor-26 Hobgoblin Warrior defeated]
[Advancement Reward: 2,500G acquired!]
And the moment I finished it off—
Swoosh.
The energy dispersing from the Hobgoblin traced a blue arc through the air and was sucked into my earlobe.
Zing—
My whole body stood on end for an instant.
"Hss—!"
[Magitech Cerulean Earring (Charge: 1%)]
It seemed like 1 Magic Power rose per 1% charge.
"So this is how the stacks build up… what happens when it hits 100%?"
And right after that—
The silver ring glimmered.
A faint sensation of my whole body tightening.
"Oh."
I was just standing there, and my Strength stat went up.
Probably because the earring's stack effect raised my Magic Power.
Magic Power went up, which triggered the ring's effect of adding 10% of that Magic Power as Strength.
Two items were synergizing with each other on their own.
"Insane… so it even applies to item effects."
Did SSS-Rank Gear Chaser recommend these knowing about this interaction? Impressive.
"Gold duplication, stat duplication—let's get this started."
*
Shhhhk—!!!
[Floor-27 Giant Venomous Spider defeated!]
[Advancement Reward: 2,600G acquired!]
Swoosh—!
[Floor-28 Cave Bear defeated!]
[Advancement Reward: 2,700G acquired!]
Floor 29. Floor 30. Floor 35.
The relentless push continued.
Each time, the earring flashed blue, and the silver ring responded in turn.
I didn't forget to invest my stat points either.
Slash—!
"I'm getting faster…"
The time it took to hunt was actually shrinking.
Floor 36. Floor 40. Floor 48.
As the floor numbers climbed, the rate at which the monsters grew stronger was slower than the rate at which I was growing stronger.
Part of it was that I'd developed a rhythm.
I'd built a combat pattern.
First, when I encounter a monster, I assess its attack type.
Two broad categories.
Melee or ranged.
[Defender: Elite Skeleton Archer (49F)]
If it looks like a ranged monster like this one, don't charge blindly—bait out an attack first.
Run horizontally relative to the monster and waste one turn of its ranged attack.
Shk—!
The skeleton's arrow passed behind my head.
Once I've dodged one shot like that, I close the distance slightly on the next pass.
Same thing—move laterally and wait for the second attack.
Shk—!
"That's the speed, then."
The goal is to gauge its attack rate.
It lets me judge whether my Agility stat is enough to close in on that ranged monster, or whether I'll be kited forever.
This time, too—closeable.
Thwack!
Crash!
The skeleton's bones shattered into pieces.
If I judge that the attack speed makes closing in impossible, I acquire an instant-kill skill.
That was my approach to ranged monsters.
[Advancement Reward: 4,800G acquired!]
Right after clearing floor 49, I drank a Fatigue Recovery Potion.
Now, floor 50.
This is where I'd been on suicide standby.
Just a gut feeling, but 50 is an absurdly symbolic number.
But it was a needless worry.
[Defender: Elite Orc (50F)]
Whip!
I dodged its wild haymaker and swung the scythe three or four times until the orc's arm was in ribbons.
It couldn't raise its guard.
Slash—!
And then I carved through its exposed neck.
Like this, there's only one way to handle melee monsters.
Swing the scythe until they're dead.
[Floor-50 Elite Orc defeated!]
"Phew…"
I couldn't even imagine how strong I'd be if I'd dumped everything into Strength, Agility, and Sense.
That would've been a genuine one-second kill.
[Magic Power stat increased by 1.]
[Intelligence stat increased by 1.]
[Sense stat increased by 1.]
"You two better start pulling your weight eventually, Magic Power and Intelligence!!!"
Those two are definitely cheetahs in the making.
For now, Sense is the only one carrying the household.
[Advancement Reward: 4,900G acquired!]
"Ooh, that's sweet."
The advancement reward gold growing in a staircase pattern.
And upon entering floor 51…
An ambush appeared.
[Defender: Shaman Sloth (51F)]
Its appearance alone was bizarre.
A magical beast that looked like a sloth. Entirely black.
It was hanging upside down from the ceiling molding, fast asleep.
'I was lying around without a care in the world too, not long ago…'
I thought I was lucky to catch it while it was sleeping.
But the moment I approached it with my scythe raised—
"Huh?"
My eyelids suddenly grew unbearably heavy.
My body became horrifyingly sluggish.
[Status Effect: Drowsiness]
A hologram notification appeared.
It seemed to be a spell the creature had cast. There was a reason its name was "Shaman" Sloth.
It was a status effect, but I'd let an attack land on me for the first time.
Thud.
In the end, I collapsed onto the marble floor after only a few steps.
It felt like I'd go from drowsy to fully asleep any moment now.
'Is my weakness really this severe…?'
I'd identified a weakness.
Mine, not the monster's.
It seemed like this Death God girl's body had a critical vulnerability to sleep.
"Is this the moment…"
I was about to use Death's Edge Invincibility, but there was one more thing I wanted to try first.
I hastily pulled a Fatigue Recovery Potion from my inventory.
Popped the cork and took a single swig.
No need to drink the whole thing.
I just needed to check whether the Fatigue Recovery Potion could also clear the drowsiness effect.
"Phew…"
Fortunately, the medicine worked.
After a few more sips, my eyes snapped wide open.
The status effect warning disappeared and my head cleared in an instant.
I gripped the scythe again and got back on my feet.
Time to split that sloth in two.
But.
The moment I turned toward it and started advancing—
"Huh…?"
Thud!
Three steps. That's all it took before I face-planted again.
It seemed like just approaching the direction the creature was sleeping triggered a wave of drowsiness.
"Are you kidding me, does this thing have NO cooldown…???"
This was genuinely absurd.
A monster capable of a broken ability like this just showing up out of nowhere.
Compared to the floors before, it should only have the ability to put things to sleep—that's the only way this makes sense.
In that case, maybe sleeping it off would work, but…
I'm currently on a time attack.
To earn 120,000 gold for the Jet-Black Knotted Band, I need to reach floor 56.
I had over an hour left, but there was absolutely no time to take a nap.
I racked my brain.
'Is this the moment…?'
It seemed like the right time to use the scythe to kill myself.
Cut my throat, go to the Death God Realm, and acquire an instant-kill skill.
Or…
One sip of Fatigue Recovery Potion per step?
'That's way too wasteful…'
It felt like I'd have to burn through all three of my Fatigue Recovery Potions just to walk over to where that sloth was hanging.
I couldn't throw the scythe from this distance to kill it either.
My Strength and Sense stats weren't nearly high enough for that.
"……!"
Then an idea struck me.
Lying flat on the floor, eyes half-open, I stared at the sloth.
'I'm a monster… and that thing's a monster too.'
There was something I could derive from that fact.
A solution came to me.