**Day 23 – Night – Cave**
"Puhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
This is bad. The ossan ratio has gotten way too high lately—am I starting to ossan-ify? Is it contagious? Maybe I should wipe them out too. If this keeps up, the ossan ratio might interfere with causality and turn me into an ossan…? Yeah. Exterminate. Decided.
But man—I finally got to use the jet bath I made. I even used wind magic to make jet bubbles. It took over ten days just to get in, but no regrets. No remorse, no sorrow, no tragedy, no self-reproach, no lingering disappointment, no penitence, no bitter regret. Why? Because for those ten-plus days, twenty high-school girls were using it nonstop. Actually, I do have regrets—deep, gnawing remorse—about letting those idiots use it yesterday. I wish I'd gone first…
"Guess no visitors today?"
Savoring the jet bath, post-bath wild-berry juice—
"Puhhaaa—"
Yeah, the ossans must be eradicated. That's a biohazard. Can't let it spread. When did I start posing with my hand on my hip? Full ossan mode. Dangerous progression!? I'm still only 16!? Am I gonna turn!? …Gotta search for anti-aging herbs.
"Illusion-Reality" works on kobold speed too. Shortest-path technique—staff just goes up and down. Range: half-step max one step. Combine every bit of power, speed, acceleration, gravity, magic, skills—condense, compound, fuse—and slam down in the single fastest, shortest strike. If I can't chain it, it's just a one-shot finisher.
Merge one step and one swing into the same motion.
Make it muscle memory.
If I can swing as naturally as walking…
Body remembers, head forces, magic wraps the body, forces the form.
Anyway—today I came absurdly close to death. Scraped through the razor's edge purely on luck. Thanks, Mega Luck-san. Normally I'd be dead.
Though midway through… I felt like something hot-blooded or just plain idiotic possessed me…
Come to think of it—was I infected by those idiots' idiocy!? "My arm isn't torn off, legs aren't crushed, eyes aren't gouged, stomach has no hole—so I'm fine." No, that's not fine at all! Mentally it's already over! Not fine!! A graze is instant death!! …What if "Idiot" gets added to my status…? Ossan too…? No…
**Status**
NAME: Haruka Human Race
AGE: 16
Lv: 11 (1 Up)
Job: --
HP: 164 (44 Up)
MP: 170 (48 Up)
ViT: 154 (36 Up)
PoW: 158 (41 Up)
SpE: 166 (48 Up)
DeX: 165 (49 Up)
MiN: 174 (44 Up)
InT: 181 (47 Up)
Luｋ: Max (Limit Break)
SP: 311
**Martial Arts**
"Staff Arts Lv9" (2 Up)
"Evade Lv8" (2 Up)
"Discern Lv9" (3 Up)
"Magic Wrap Lv8" (2 Up)
"Illusion-Reality Lv2" (New 2 Up)
"Instant Body Lv1" (New)
**Magic**
"Temperature Lv4"
"Movement Lv7" (Up)
"Weight Lv7" (Up)
"Packing Lv7" (Up)
"Four Great Magics Lv6" (Up)
"Wood Magic Lv6" (2 Up)
"Lightning Magic Lv4" (Up)
"Ice Magic Lv4" (Up)
**Skills**
"Health Lv5" (Up)
"Sensitive Lv5" (Up)
"Gymnastics Lv8" (3 Up)
"Walking Lv7" (Up)
"Control Lv5" (Up)
"Appraisal Lv8" (2 Up)
"Clairvoyance Lv7" (Up)
"Divine Eye Lv1" (New)
"Presence Detection Lv8" (Up)
"Search Lv8" (Up)
"Magic Control Lv8" (2 Up)
"Presence Conceal Lv6" (Up)
"Stealth Lv8" (2 Up)
"Concealment Lv8" (2 Up)
"Map Lv5"
"Focus Lv8" (2 Up)
"Physical Resistance Lv6"
"Magic Recovery Lv8" (2 Up)
"Stamina Recovery Lv7" (Up)
"Parallel Thinking Lv6" (2 Up)
"Serial Thinking Lv6" (2 Up)
"High-Speed Thinking Lv7" (6 Up)
"Rapid Dash Lv5" (3 Up)
"Air Walk Lv5" (3 Up)
"Instant Speed Lv5" (4 Up)
**Titles**
"Hikikomori Lv5" (Up)
"NEET Lv5" (Up)
"Loner Lv5" (Up)
"Magician Lv8" (3 Up)
**Unknown**
"Report-Contact-Consult Lv4" (Up)
"Jack of All Trades Lv5" (Up)
"Wooden Puppet Lv5" (3 Up)
**Equipment**
"Tree Staff?"
"Cloth Clothes?"
"Leather Gloves?"
"Leather Boots?"
"Cape?"
"Contacts?"
"Ring of Bound Souls"
"Item Bag"
"Bracelet PoW+31% SpE+19%"
"Black Hat"
Finally leveled up and it's only +1? Quantity or quality? Someone publish a strategy guide already—this makes no sense. My own skills make even less sense.
As expected—stat gains are huge now. I had a hunch. Confirmed it in town. Verified today in the forest. Culprit: Potency Mushrooms. They're the reason stats go absurdly high. I ate them. Goblin Kings ate them. Emperors ate them. I'm the only one who put soy sauce on them. More luxurious than an Emperor. Delicious.
HP/MP mushrooms are ultra-premium. And Potency Mushrooms don't exist—at least not in human society. No one knows about them. No one's seen them. If they rarely spawn, goblins eat them → become Kings/Emperors → form hordes → humans can't approach. So the general store lady and guild buyback staff don't know. Without extreme luck, no one would ever find or eat them. And I'm the only one who knows how insanely good they are with soy sauce. The only one who's eaten them that way. Fufufufu—excellent.
Goblin Leaders drop +1% monster bracelets. Kings +3%. Emperors +6%. Same pattern with kobolds. Jackpot. Seems monster bracelets combine? Merge into one when together? Doesn't get heavier?
For exp, killing tons of trash is better—quantity difference. Deep forest has strong ones but few. (If there were many I'd be dead.) But bracelets are delicious. Even +1% × 100 = +100%. More reliable than level ups.
"Illusion-Reality Lv2" (New 2 Up)—freshly made and already Lv2 is good, but after all that only Lv2? Mediocre? Or room to grow?
"Instant Body Lv1" probably from repeated high-speed movement and body control. General version of Illusion-Reality. "Instant Speed Lv5" with 4 ups—must've pushed hard.
"Gymnastics Lv8" +3 ups—I was wrong. I seriously did morning calisthenics every day, but it's about body manipulation… Should've said so. The forced movements of Illusion-Reality probably spiked it. Doesn't mean my actual gymnastics improved. Even at Max I won't become Gymnastics Onii-san.
Yeah—externally forcing the body to move. Kills wasted motion and power, but still forced.
But what's "Divine Eye Lv1"? God's eye? See gods? If I spot that old geezer I'm lecturing him!!
There's only so much I can do. Things I can't do, I can't.
Only so much possible. Some things just aren't possible.
Guess, I'll find out.
**End of Day 23**