《Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill『Overeating LV4』has become『Overeating LV5』》 Oh.
I ate a ton of monkeys and my Overeating skill level went up.
Well, yeah.
Of course it would.
Eat this many, and it's bound to go up.
I've probably devoured three digits' worth of monkeys by now?
And yet my stomach never bloats.
It's one of those strange phenomena that happen during Overeating activation and right after Evolution, but seriously, where does all that food disappear to?
And on top of that, even after eating this much, I can still keep going.
Well, for now, let me just keep eating with the momentum of wiping out every last monkey.
While I eat, I'll check up on my skills besides the poison-related ones.
My skill levels went up a lot this time.
The ones that make me happiest are Spider Silk and Thread Manipulation leveling up together.
Along with the new skill Poison Attack, those are the core skills that support me.
Spider Silk was already really tough to level up, but once it hit high levels, it basically stopped increasing at all.
Getting a level-up now is a real treat.
Concentration went up too.
This one should've been at a lower level before I fought the monkeys.
That just goes to show how intense those battles were.
Concentrating deeply means better Proficiency gains too.
The deeper the experience, the better the Proficiency increase.
Accuracy and a few others have been ticking up bit by bit too, so that must be it.
Come to think of it, when I was hiding from the Earth Dragon, both Stealth and Fear Resistance skyrocketed.
I was literally desperate at the time.
Oh, and two types of magic besides poison also went up.
Let's see?
『Heterodox Magic: Magic that directly violates the soul. Available magic varies by level. LV1: Discomfort LV2: Phantom Pain LV3: Phantom Madness』
『Shadow Magic: A lower-tier dark magic that manipulates shadows. Available magic varies by level. LV1: Dense Shadow LV2: Grand Shadow』
『Phantom Madness: Directly implants madness into the soul』
『Grand Shadow: Changes the size of shadows』
How do I even put this— Heterodox Magic is seriously heterodox.
Wait, what?
Implants madness?
You mean forcibly driving someone insane?
That's brutal.
I want to use it.
Shadow Magic, on the other hand, is mediocre.
This is just like Dense Shadow at LV1—without pairing it with higher-level magic, it's pretty much useless.
Either way, I can't use it yet, and it looks like a real pain to level up.
Because there's just no practical use for it right now.
Either way, I can't use it, though!
That's important, so I said it twice!
The resistance skills have been creeping up too.
Let me check the new ones I just acquired: Stun Resistance and Heterodox Resistance.
There might be cases where the name and the actual effect don't match, like with Corrosion.
Well, just from the name alone, you'd wonder what Heterodox Resistance even means.
『Stun Resistance: Makes you harder to stun』
『Heterodox Resistance: Increases defensive capability against effects that directly violate the soul』
Exactly as expected.
Hmm.
Heterodox Resistance is fine, but would Stun Resistance be effective against sleep attacks?
Well, I don't even know if sleep attacks exist.
If something like that existed, wouldn't it fall under Sleep Resistance instead?
What's the deal with Stun Resistance in cases like that?
Hmm.
If I run into an enemy with sleep attacks, I probably shouldn't rely on Stun Resistance too much.
Alright.
Next up are Life, Magic Power, Brute Force, and Toughness.
I can pretty much guess what these do.
『Life: Applies an HP bonus equal to the skill level』
『Magic Power: Applies an MP bonus equal to the skill level』
『Brute Force: Applies a bonus to average attack power equal to the skill level × 10. Also applies a growth bonus equal to the skill level upon leveling up』
『Toughness: Applies a bonus to average defense power equal to the skill level × 10. Also applies a growth bonus equal to the skill level upon leveling up』
Yep, just as expected.
They really are stat-boosting skills.
The ones I'm happiest about are Brute Force and Toughness, of course.
Since Strength and Durability got merged, I had a rough idea that the reinforcement-type skills would work like this, but I didn't expect them to come with a growth bonus like Idaten.
The Title『Monster Slaughterer』really is an upgraded version of the『Monster Slayer』Title after all.
Monster Slayer gave me Strength and Durability.
If I'm being greedy, I wish Strength and Durability had stayed separate instead of getting merged.
Given my pathetic stats, I'll take any boost I can get.
Especially defense.
I almost died fighting those monkeys.
Hmm.
But if they got merged and the Proficiency was combined, doesn't that mean I can level them up faster?
When I think about it that way, maybe the merger is actually better?
Well, it's a moot point now anyway.
Alright.
This is the last one.
Yes, the last one.
I saved it for last on purpose.
Of course I did.
This thing kept disappointing me from the very start, and just when I thought it was finally performing well, it went and pulled this.
And just when I'd finally started to think it might actually live up to my expectations, it hits me with this treatment.
Do you have any idea how let down I feel?
Hey, Appraisal-san?
Your level went up, didn't it?
But you haven't really improved much, have you?
Well?
Sure, you can see Skill Points from the Status screen now.
That's convenient, I'll give you that.
But compared to the huge leaps everything else has made lately, haven't you been slacking?
Things have been going well recently, so you got a little too comfortable, huh?
Hey, what's the deal?
Sigh.
No good.
Can I say it for the first time in a while?
Useless.
Ugh.
Well, the fact that it displays Skill Points is genuinely convenient, so I'll tolerate it.
Let me have it Appraise the Skill Points while we're at it.
I've been using them without really understanding them, so I might as well check the overview at least.
*Click.* A whole list came up.
What's this?
Let me take a look at the contents…
…
…
….
Appraisal-san, no, Lord Appraisal!
I'm sorry for speaking out of turn! Please forgive me!
You were magnificent!
This insignificant being failed to fully comprehend your greatness!
I humbly beg your pardon!
What was displayed there was a list of all the Skills that could be acquired with my current Skill Points.