I've been grinding my Skills like crazy.
I mean, they just keep going up and up.
It's been ages since I actually sat down and focused on levelling up — last time was probably back at my first My Home, but back then I was only raising Spider Silk.
Honestly, I didn't even properly understand my Skills back then.
I've got more Skills now than I did then, and above all, Appraisal's Level has shot through the roof.
So of course I can do efficient levelling now.
I also looked through my Skill list, picked out Skills I might be able to acquire, and tried doing actions that would raise their Proficiency.
As a result, I ended up getting a whole bunch of new Skills.
Man, Appraisal, you're seriously amazing.
Hunting down specific Skills to acquire — that's totally cheating.
Oh, and to secure food, I set up a few traps.
They're simple traps — just sticky thread stuck to the floor — but if a Monster steps on it, they go splat.
I left them alone for a while, then went to check on them.
And sure enough, Monsters had gotten caught.
They were weak Monsters, so I just finished them off right there.
And the star of the show that finally saw the light of day was none other than Poison Thread!
A thread that inflicts poison — my strongest offensive tool, surpassing even Slashing Thread.
All I have to do is wrap it around my target's body, and the poison deals damage over time, slowly but surely.
No, seriously, this is incredible.
It's really incredible.
But whether it'll actually get any use in the Middle Layer… I have no idea.
What kind of unfair world is this.
Anyway, I Levelled up from that.
Yeah, don't go saying "Huh?" at me.
Even I was like "Excuse me?!"
Because I only killed a single measly trash Monster and Levelled up — that's absurd, right?
What a shock.
I guess this is all thanks to Pride, but still.
Level up from a single trash mob? Just how ridiculous is this growth bonus?
After that, Monsters kept getting caught in my traps no problem.
Thanks to that, I never ran out of food and never had to worry about Stamina depletion.
Every now and then there were signs that a Monster had escaped from a trap, but that was fine by me.
I really don't want to tangle with a Monster strong enough to break free from my sticky thread.
So the only Monsters that remained in the traps were the safe ones, and I was able to pick them off nicely.
My Levels were climbing steadily too, which was fantastic.
So with all that, here's what my Status looks like now: 『Small Poison Tarantecto, Level 5, Name: None Status HP: 83/83 (Green) MP: 181/181 (Blue) SP: 82/82 (Yellow) SP: 82/82 (Red) Average Attack: 92 Average Defense: 92 Average Magic: 135 Average Resistance: 168 Average Speed: 830 Skills 「HP Auto-Regeneration Level 5」「MP Recovery Speed Level 3」「MP Cost Reduction Level 2」「SP Recovery Speed Level 2」「SP Cost Reduction Level 2」「Destruction Enhancement Level 1」「Slashing Enhancement Level 1」「Poison Enhancement Level 2」「Fighting Spirit Level 1」「Spirit Power Infusion Level 2」「Deadly Poison Attack Level 3」「Poison Synthesis Level 7」「Thread Talent Level 3」「Spider Silk Level 9」「Slashing Thread Level 6」「Thread Manipulation Level 8」「Throwing Level 6」「Three-Dimensional Movement Level 3」「Concentration Level 9」「Prediction Level 8」「Parallel Thinking Level 4」「Arithmetic Processing Level 6」「Accuracy Level 7」「Evasion Level 3」「Appraisal Level 8」「Detection Level 6」「Stealth Level 7」「Naraku」「Heterodox Magic Level 3」「Shadow Magic Level 2」「Poison Magic Level 2」「Abyss Magic Level 10」「Pride」「Overeating Level 7」「Dark Vision Level 10」「Visual Range Expansion Level 2」「Destruction Resistance Level 1」「Blunt Resistance Level 2」「Slashing Resistance Level 3」「Fire Resistance Level 1」「Deadly Poison Resistance Level 2」「Paralysis Resistance Level 3」「Petrification Resistance Level 3」「Acid Resistance Level 4」「Corrosion Resistance Level 3」「Stun Resistance Level 2」「Fear Resistance Level 6」「Heterodox Resistance Level 3」「Pain Nullification」「Pain Reduction Level 7」「Vision Enhancement Level 8」「Hearing Enhancement Level 8」「Smell Enhancement Level 7」「Taste Enhancement Level 4」「Touch Enhancement Level 6」「Life Level 7」「Magic Power Level 8」「Burst Level 7」「Endurance Level 7」「Brute Force Level 3」「Toughness Level 3」「Protection Level 3」「Idaten Level 3」「Taboo Level 4」「n％I＝W」
Skill Points: 180』
Yeah, I've gotten seriously strong.
For real.
With these Stats, I think I could hold my own in a straight-up fight against even Upper Layer Monsters.
One thing I noticed from my Stats is that each ability value seems to go up through means other than just Level-ups.
I went running to raise my Skill Levels, and my Stats went up from that too.
It looks like the whole "train and you get stronger" thing works the same as in my original world.
The difference here is that with Stats, it's easy to see exactly how much you've grown.
As for Stat growth from Level-ups, the increase has doubled compared to before.
I know that probably doesn't make sense, but I didn't understand what had happened to me either!
I mean, it's thanks to Pride's effect, but still.
When my Speed Level went up by one, it jumped by 42 points.
Yeah, that's pretty shocking.
It seems like Pride's growth correction doubles the growth value from all other Skill growth corrections included.
Pride — just how amazing are you as a Skill…
My Skills have been levelling up like crazy too.
Now look at the poison-related ones.
See how Poison Attack has become Deadly Poison Attack, and Poison Resistance has become Deadly Poison Resistance?
That happened when they hit Level 10 — the Skills evolved.
I was honestly impressed that Skills can actually evolve.
The effect is simply an upgraded version of the original Skill.
It'll probably be my main weapon in the Middle Layer, so having Skills evolve here is a big deal.
Huh?
You're asking why my Poison Resistance went up?
Because I whipped myself with Poison Thread, obviously!
I mean, that's the only way to raise the Skill Level.
If it's for the sake of Skill Levels, I'll put up with a little pain.
Everyone would do the same.
I did it too.
What, just me?
No way — surely not.
Probably.