A few days later, I took a short break at the place where I had evolved earlier to sort some things out.
First was the food. During the recent battle, I killed eight mutated beasts and about a hundred baby lizards, so the amount of food I had was practically piled up like a mountain.
After the fight ended, I had this strange sensation again. I'd experienced it once before—back when I made a pact with the spirits. Because of that, I immediately knew something had changed in my stats, so I used [Appraisal] on myself to check.
<
HP: 295/295
MP: 215/215 (+300)
SP: 340/340
Attack: 3327 (+387)
Defense: 3640 (+380)
Magic: 1857 (+379)
Speed: 3463 (+427)
Nai waaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!
Oh my God??!!
Did I see that right?
Th-three thousand…??
Is this real???
Dear heavens!!!!
"What are you screaming about?" Seina spoke up, annoyed by my yelling.
I quickly entered the [Virtual World] and showed them my stat screen.
"What's going on????"
Even Seina widened her eyes in disbelief at the numbers, while Suzu kept covering her mouth in shock.
Exc had come in to peek and couldn't help but exclaim,
"You're the strongest spider I've ever seen now! You're not even a mutated beast, yet your stats already surpass most of them. You know, even long-time mutated creatures don't necessarily have stats like these."
That strong, huh? How do I compare to your master?
"Hmph, getting cocky just because you achieved a little? Let me tell you, your stats may be higher than most normal creatures, but they're only about one-tenth of my master's."
Nai wa.
That strong??
"And those are just his base stats! They don't even include bonuses from skills and titles."
Oh, so there are skills and titles that boost stats?
If I could get one of those, that'd be great.
"Don't you already have one?"
Oh, maybe he's talking about the skill that boosted my stats. But I still want to learn about other options—what if I meet the requirements for another one?
"You're seriously greedy, you know that?"
Hehe.
"Let me think... There are tons of skills and titles that boost stats, but one stood out as so broken I still remember it to this day."
Oh, which one? Tell me!
"It's a title called [Peerless]."
How do you get it?
"I'm not entirely sure, but my master got it after returning from the battlefield. That year, the demon race launched a large-scale invasion against the empires and city-states of the Mesa Continent, and my master was among those who killed the most demons on the battlefield. Eventually, he received that title."
Wow… So your master was really powerful.
"Obviously!"
So basically, if I keep killing monsters until I reach some threshold, I could receive the title?
"I don't know. That guy never tells me anything important, but that's probably it."
If that's the case, then how long will it take me to reach that number...
I let out a sigh.
"Don't worry too much. Back then, my master only killed about a million demons. And if you include all the other creatures he's killed throughout his life, I'd estimate the total is somewhere around two to three million."
After hearing that from Exc, my mood got even gloomier. I had just been feeling so cheerful, and now it was completely ruined.
At this point, all I could do was accept what I had... but I still didn't know which skill was responsible for these insane stats?
I really couldn't wait for [Appraisal] to level up anymore.
"Didn't [Support Evil Eye] just level up? Go ahead and use it."
Oh right, I totally forgot until Seina mentioned it.
Logically, I should be leveling up [Appraisal] to gain more information, but given the current situation, there are a few other skills that are just as important to level up. So for now, I'll pass on [Appraisal] and focus on something else.
Hmm...
Which one should I choose?
"Isn't it obvious? We need [Prediction] to level up as soon as possible, so use it on that," Seina said.
Yeah, you're right.
So I used the upgrade on [Prediction], bumping it straight to level 8. After celebrating for a bit, I returned to the outside world to take care of a few unfinished tasks—mainly the huge pile of lizard meat.
I really didn't want to keep eating lizard meat forever, so I used a portion of it to set traps and earn some side income, and just left the rest in the cave.
With that handled and nothing better to do, I once again entered the [Virtual World] to hang out with Seina and Suzu. Conveniently, we also discussed some things about the next journey.
Seina still hadn't forgiven me for drinking that lizard's blood, and Suzu… for some reason, kept pressing against me.
Is something wrong, Suzu? You look like you want to say something.
"Ah... no, it's nothing..."
Come on, just say it already.
I casually threw an arm over Suzu's shoulder, but for some reason, she started getting all flustered. In this [Virtual World], we could change our appearance freely, but we all mostly kept the form of my past human self.
Now that I think about it, I used to be really pretty.
A total beauty.
Still, seeing myself like this felt weird—especially when I noticed some strange expressions on my own face...
Hey Seina, do you think I'm pretty?
She glanced at me, but instead of replying, she shot me a sharp glare and turned away.
Still mad, huh...
I scratched my head, realizing for the first time that pleasing someone else could be so hard—especially when that someone is literally me.
Still mad?
"I'm not that petty, you know."
You totally are, though.
"You… That's it! Now I'm really mad!"
Seina turned away and ignored me completely.
Hey Suzu, don't you think she's acting strange?
"I... I don't know…"
Ughhh, to be honest, Suzu seems kinda off too.
Is there something you want to tell me, Suzu?
"Huh…??? I… I…"
What the heck is going on…
Why is no one acting normal?
"You're the one who's not normal! Your whole family's not normal!"
Okay, okay—no need to yell like that…
I stepped away from Suzu and walked over to Seina.
"Ah…"
Hmm? What is it?
I barely even touched her and she already made a sound.
"N-no, it's nothing…"
Seriously, what's going on with you? Why do I have to soothe every single one of my own personalities…?
"Who asked you to soothe anyone! Just get ready to move out!"
Right after saying that, Seina kicked me out of the [Virtual World].
That hurt!
Whatever, I was too lazy to argue. They're all me anyway, so I guess things will work themselves out eventually.
After that, I just waited for Seina and Suzu to reconstruct a new map leading to the cave where the "monkey monkeys" lived. Honestly, I still had no idea what that name even meant.
Maybe it had something to do with their appearance? I was really curious to see what they looked like.
One day later, Seina called me back into the [Virtual World] and told me the map had been successfully reconstructed.
Even just a quick glance showed me that many parts of it were different. How could the place have changed so much in just a few days? And the changes happened so quietly too—I didn't notice a thing, even though I was camped barely a day's walk away.
This dungeon isn't simple at all.
From regenerating terrain and monsters to silently reshaping the environment—none of that is easy to pull off.
I suddenly thought of the mysterious figure who had helped me before… Could all of this be their doing?
Nah, thinking about it just tires me out.
…
Following the map, it didn't take me long to reach the monkeys' den. Unlike the lava lake before, I could already hear their constant screeching even from a fair distance away.
Such noisy little pests.
I used [Sensing] to scout the area and discovered there were only five mutated ones, but the number of baby monkeys far outnumbered the baby lizards—probably over 400 of them.
Oh my, all of them are future stat points for me.
Just imagining it made me feel oddly cheerful.
"Stop rambling and just finish them off already," Seina urged me.
Alright, so what's the plan this time?
"You serious? With your stats, why would you need a plan? Just charge in and wreck everything."
Yeah… I guess that makes sense…
"Such a carefree life," said Exc.
Wait, Exc… don't tell me you want to fight too?
"This lot isn't even worthy, but fine—I'll stretch my legs a bit."
Clearly, he wanted to fight but was just pretending otherwise. Then, with a bit of reluctance, I handed over half of my SP to Exc, and he gleefully flew off.
Not long after, I started hearing the monkeys' screams echoing from inside.
Ugh, their screeches are seriously annoying.
I guess it's time for me to join the fray too.