[Stats]
[Level] 62(+37)
[Health] 1
[Mana] 1
[Faith] 1
[Endurance] 1
[Skill] 1
[Strength] 1
[Magic Power] 10
[Divine Power] 10
[Durability] 7
“Hmm……”
I placed my hand on the ability confirmation orb and pondered how to distribute my points while checking my status. This dilemma had been going on for three whole days.
The experience points gained from subjugating Lucia and the Creature Abandoned by God, along with additional XP from the newly opened area, had exceeded my imagination.
My level had soared by 37 to a total of 62.
Before reaching level 100, raising levels was relatively easier, but considering that true hell began around level 200, it was still not a number to be overlooked.
“But the place I really need to go to is at the very end of the field.”
I let out a sigh internally. After clearing the Abyss Dungeon, which is the final field of the DLC in the Holy Kingdom, I now had to head to the final field of the main storyline, the Imperial Palace.
Of course, since I wouldn’t actually be fighting the knights there, it didn’t hold much significance, but it still felt stomach-churning.
“Get a grip.”
I focused my mind back on the status window. I had already prepared myself for the story getting tangled ever since I had to catch that Creature Abandoned by God at this timing.
Since it had come to this, it was enough if the big picture flowed correctly, even if I didn’t follow every detail closely.
“How much strength should I invest?”
I had already decided on my build. The extreme late bloomer build of Cleric and the Wizard who often struggled with mana in Darkest Light Mod were almost trash, leaving only the close-combat character as an option.
The real dilemma was the allocation of stats. I still needed to use buff magic later; should I invest in mana and faith early or think about it when the time came?
“Bust should definitely be included.”
While in Vanilla, it was nice to have but not essential; in Darkest Light, the enemies’ health had significantly increased, so the difference between having minor buffs or not was quite pronounced.
Right away, I intended to utilize the Blood-Stained Sword’s buff, and I had even touched my Magic Power and Divine Power. Since I had already invested stats, I had to make the most of them.
The point in time when it would be okay to discard the Blood-Stained Sword had arrived much sooner than I had expected.
In Darkest Light, health was just a wasted stat anyway. I could think of putting the stats, which I’d allocate to health in Vanilla, into mana and faith instead.
After a lengthy internal struggle, I finally made my decision and brought my finger to the blue status window.
[Stats]
[Level] 62
[Health] 1
[Mana] 10(+9)
[Faith] 1
[Endurance] 5(+4)
[Skill] 1
[Strength] 25(+24)
[Magic Power] 10
[Divine Power] 10
[Durability] 7
“I’ll invest in faith when the opportunity arises later.”
It’s a bit disappointing that I couldn’t properly utilize the solar eclipse and lunar eclipse I had obtained, but that could be replaced with other magic. There was no need to invest in faith right now.
If I really had to take down a demon, I could just request help from the Holy Kingdom. They wouldn’t refuse to take down a demon.
Considering that I had gotten into a certain relationship with the Pope, that seemed like an option.
Stamina was a lesson learned from the boss battle against the Creature Abandoned by God. It was better to have a little cushion than to narrowly keep my rolls to a minimum.
In a game, it wouldn’t matter if I moved fast as long as I memorized the patterns; here, I had no idea what variables might arise.
I quietly gazed at the numbers next to my stats and confirmed my decision. My abilities had jumped instantly, but I felt no substantial change at the moment.
I swung my arms around. Nothing had changed. I didn’t feel immensely stronger.
I withdrew my hand from the orb. The blue light that had filled the room faded away. Now all that was left was to hope that Minerva, whom I would soon encounter in the Imperial Palace, wouldn’t take an interest in my changes.
I left the room with the ability confirmation orb and returned to the castle’s training ground, where I immediately spotted Iris and Lize engaged in a spar, radiating strong spirit.
“Haah!!”
Iris’s longsword swung from the upper right to the lower left, then whipped back up near her right shoulder amidst an overwhelming whirlwind of energy.
With all her might, she thrust her arm forward. The grayish wind coiling around the sword sliced through the training ground, causing a thunderous KWA-BOOM!
Lize didn’t just stand by and watch. She crossed her left arm to the right and her right arm to the left in front of her chest, then swung horizontally. A sharp frost-covered field spread across the floor of the training ground.
With a sound like shattering glass, a dense blue mist billowed up, mixing with the chill air swirling around. The whirlwind and icy fog collided right in front of me.
As I thought about strategies to counter those attacks, I approached Claudia and Erica, who were quietly relaxing in a corner of the training ground. Erica greeted me with a much slimmer face than before.
“Delta, you’ve arrived!”
“How’s the preparation going? Is it going well?”
“…I feel like I’m going to die from anxiety.”
Erica pouted. Even Claudia, who usually showed no signs of tension, was sitting there hunched over with her hands clasped under her chin, looking tense.
“You’ve worked in the Imperial Palace before, right? And yet you’re this nervous?”
“That makes it even more nerve-wracking. It’s been ages since I last returned to the Imperial Palace.”
The decree given by Kaiquilia was straightforward. Aurora and the Silver Dawn Knights were to come to the Imperial Palace three days later to pay their respects to her. The decree included a teleportation scroll for that purpose.
The Knight Commanders accepted the decree without complaint. Only Aurora, having been suddenly thrust into the situation of having to meet with His Majesty, looked distressed.
Of course, the Commander Knights were hiding their anxiety, but they appeared to be burning with it inside. The reason for the sudden spar was also related to the decree.
After preparing to head to the Imperial Palace for over a whole day, they seemed restless and were letting loose their pent-up anxiety.
I was also worried about where Kaiquilia might jump next during our conversation, but I wasn’t nearly as anxious as the Knight Commanders. In fact, my worries seemed relatively tame.
At this point, I was starting to get curious about Kaiquilia’s reputation.
I sat between Claudia and Erica, watching their spar, when a sudden thought struck me. With Claudia present, it was a good chance to test my strength stat.
“Claudia, could you hand me a sword for a moment?”
“My sword? Why?”
“I have something I want to try.”
“Go ahead. But you won’t even be able to lift it, will you? Other kids struggle just to lift it—how can you, Delta?”
Claudia smiled sweetly as she offered her sword, then fell silent as she saw me lift it with one hand.
“Wow, I can lift this.”
My arm gripping the greatsword trembled slightly, and if I relaxed even for a moment, it felt like I would drop it right away. Nevertheless, the fact that I could lift this greatsword was significant.
I realized just how much my strength stat had increased. In the past, I would have barely managed to lift it using both hands, and it would have been questionable whether I could move it at all.
“What was the required strength for this again?”
Was it 36 or 37? My current strength stat was 25, but it was certainly within lifting range.
I had received warnings about not being able to lift weapons whenever my stats fell below the required strength, meaning that now I could lift weapons with a required strength of up to 50 with one hand.
I felt the weight of Claudia’s greatsword for the first time. It was ridiculously large, thick, and heavy. I couldn’t help but wonder how on earth she wielded it.
Still, I couldn’t say this weapon was entirely unusable for me now. If I gripped it with both hands, my effective strength would be 1.5 times greater, allowing me to swing it without reducing damage.
Well, I had no intention of using anything other than one-handed weapons for parrying, though. I planted the sword’s tip firmly on the ground and tilted the hilt toward Claudia.
“Here you go. It’s ridiculously heavy, huh?”
“……”
Claudia was staring at me with her mouth agape, her expression a rare one considering her personality.
No, it wasn’t just Claudia. Erica, who was sitting right next to her, as well as Iris and Lize, battling it out and almost destroying the training ground, were similarly stunned, staring at me dumbfounded.
“Why is everyone like this? Do you have something to say?”
“How did you….”
“I’ve done this many times before. Just think of it as that.”
I smiled sweetly as I met Lize’s astonished eyes. Originally, I was far from having a character like this, but somehow I felt like my audacity was increasing over time.
The reactions of the Knight Commanders were just as expected—they looked like they wanted to observe me for a while. If I changed my attitude later, it seemed they’d consider kidnapping or imprisoning me until I revealed the secret.
“……”
Because of my actions, the atmosphere seemed to lighten a bit. I hadn’t intended to ease the mood, but as long as the results were good, that was fine by me.
Time flew by after that. There was a rather amusing incident where Claudia, feeling a sudden boost in strength, asked me to test out a bed-related ability at night, but I digress.
Soon enough, only about an hour remained before we were set to depart for the Imperial Palace.
