Chapter 143
"Head Hunt!!"
After severing the head of the swamp dragon I'd hooked and watching it turn to ash, I confirmed the battle was over.
"Oh, with this, my Spear Saint Art should be maxed out."
The higher the skill level, the greater the attack power, so taking down swamp dragons has been getting faster and faster.
"Liberta!! I’ve finished leveling my skills too!!""Me too!"
Since we’ve been leveling together, our progress probably synced up.Angler and I gathered our gear and exited the dungeon.
"Good work, Liberta-sama. Here’s some water.""Thanks. Ingrid, did you max out your skills too?""Yes, I’ve successfully achieved it."
Just having the Head Hunt skill makes things this much easier.Well, if you can spam critical attacks that ignore defense, you can easily whittle down the enemy’s HP. Plus, Nel’s been wreaking havoc around the belly area, so it’s only natural.
"Man, hunting swamp dragons has gotten a lot smoother lately.""That’s because Liberta-kun’s damage output has increased, right?""And Nel’s defense debuff and Amina’s buff effects have gotten stronger too. We’re still using traps since we lack the firepower to take them head-on, but if Claudia-san joined, we could probably fight them normally."
As DPS increases, the time it takes to defeat enemies naturally shortens, and fatigue decreases too.
"I’ve secured all my skill slots. Just to confirm, we’ve got eight now, right?""Yep, all good.""Uh-huh! …Wait, Nel, you’re okay, right?""Check before answering so cheerfully."
With this, even the missing skill slots have been filled, bringing the total to eight.We’re ready to advance to Class 3.
After Amina’s enthusiastic reply, she grew uneasy and showed her status to Nel, who was standing nearby.Ingrid nodded in confirmation, so I left the checks to Nel and moved the conversation forward.
"Then, it’s time to prepare for the next step: advancing to Class 3.""Both Class 1 and Class 2 had their troublesome requirements. Does Class 3 have them too?"
We’ll need to secure EXBP for Class 3 as well.
The total BP obtainable at Class 3 is a staggering 600—150 BP from reaching max level (150) and 450 EXBP from fulfilling three conditions.
At this stage, the spec gap between us and characters leveled normally becomes absurd.
"Yeah, there are three EXBP conditions for Class 3."
And, of course, those three conditions are a pain.
"First, you must level up while having at least one passive skill evolved by one stage and having learned four or more skills. Normally, if you’ve maxed your level, you can barely meet this requirement.""Except we can’t get Skill Evolution Orbs, so that’s impossible."
As Nel pointed out, the only way to obtain Skill Evolution Orbs below Class 3 is through the Moti Dungeon.Without knowing that, fulfilling this EXBP condition is impossible.
Holding up my index finger, I explained the first condition, enduring Nel’s interjection, then raised my middle finger.
"Second, you must level up after spending at least one hour in a dungeon with a harsh environment.""What’s a harsh environment?"
Amina tilted her head in confusion as I made a peace sign.
"Simply put, it’s a place where conditions that hinder normal life are constantly active. For example, areas with perpetual fog, extreme heat or cold—basically, places deemed inconvenient for survival. A little chilly or warm won’t cut it.""Like when we fought that tree monster before?""Exactly. That was a visibility impairment harsh environment. There’s also total darkness, another type of visibility impairment."
Dungeons aren’t always designed with challenger-friendly environments.Sometimes, the dungeon itself has harsh conditions to make things harder.
The worst ones even deal damage just for entering—Lava zones with heat damage, blizzards in frozen wastelands causing visibility impairment and frostbite, or dungeons filled with toxic mushroom spores that poison you just by breathing.
Class 3 is testing your ability to adapt to these challenges.
"Ugh… we have to level up in places like that?"
After my rough explanation, Amina made a disgusted face.
"I’m not planning to jump into that right away, but we have Ingrid. No matter how bad the environment, as long as she’s with us, we’ll be fine! She’s a support-type maid built to handle any dungeon!""I’ll do everything in my power to assist.""Ohhh! With Ingrid-san here, heat or cold won’t be a problem!!"
As long as we have Ingrid, a support-type maid, harsh environments aren’t a major threat.Plus, if we can overcome them, we can allocate equipment resources meant for survival into combat stats, naturally speeding up our progress.
"Now, the third and final condition: while meeting the first two, you must level up by defeating an enemy without using any skills.""So, for me, no spears or axes?""Right. For me, no scythes or spears.""For me, that would mean no staves or swords.""And for me, no staves… wait, does that mean I can’t sing either?"
Who knows if the devs behind FBO were sadistic or just thoughtful.Forcing players to defeat enemies without their main skills to earn EXBP might seem cruel, but some theorycrafters speculate it’s meant to encourage expanding your repertoire and honing techniques.
Viewed that way, the first two conditions might have similar intentions.
First: A message to develop as many skills as possible.
Second: A trial to adapt to various environments.
Third: A warning to prepare alternative combat methods for emergencies.
"The key here is that it’s restricted to attacks. If you don’t land the killing blow, it’s fine. Amina’s buff songs are okay, and Ingrid’s support spells aren’t affected. But skills like Nel’s Cleaving Battle Axe, which deal direct damage, won’t count.""Phew… I was worried I wouldn’t be able to sing.""Amina’s fine, but how am I supposed to fight?""Nel, use Angler. Equip him with a club, and he’ll have enough attack power. Ingrid, just focus on tripping enemies with your broom—just don’t finish them.""That should work.""Understood. But if Lady Nel uses Golem, what will you do, Liberta-sama?""I’ll use a bow. I’ve had chances to use it lately, and it’s been cleaned of rust. I’ll stick with it during Class 3 leveling."
Our usual fighting styles will be awkwardly restricted, but we can treat it as a change of pace.
"By the way, what about the harsh-environment dungeon? Are we using the Human-Faced Tree one again?""That dungeon’s Class is too high for us right now. It’s definitely a harsh environment, but it’s way beyond us."
The problem now is that we don’t have a dungeon key for leveling.With the harsh-environment requirement, we can’t just grind swamp dragons or orcs anymore.
"What should we do?""Don’t worry about that. Once we’re back, we’ll get what we need and have Amina mix in the Mark of the Weak."
We’ll need to prepare a suitable dungeon for this.
"Leave it to me!"
Amina’s stats, alchemy skills, and equipment have all been upgraded, so there’s no risk of synthesis failure.
"This time, we’ll level up in the dungeon, so we won’t have interruptions like last time.""Wait, no. We’re only leveling up for the Class upgrade. Job refinement has to be done at Class 3, Level 1, so we’ll be stopping leveling again.""…Huh?"
We know what quests to do.And we also know that leveling interferes with job refinement.
"Liberta-kun, what do you mean? We’re not leveling up?"
Nel stared at me in shock, while Amina hesitantly asked.
"The titles you get when obtaining a job have level restrictions based on strength. The higher your level and class, the easier it is to get jobs, but at the cost of making top-tier titles harder to obtain."
The job title system is designed so that the strongest titles can only be earned at the lowest possible level.
"So, to get the best titles, you have to lock your level at Class 3, Level 1, clear the job trials, and then refine your title through selection."
And this is brutal.Even at the lowest level, there’s no guarantee.The highest-tier titles are part of a probability table, and you have to hit the right roll.
"The title Nel should aim for is Omnipotent. It affects all buying and selling, and only the Omnipotent Merchant can obtain the unique job skill—Fortune’s Beckoning. It’s broken."
But the rewards for overcoming this ordeal are immense.
The Merchant job stat boosts buying and selling effects—
Selling at higher prices.
Buying at lower prices.
In-game, this was a numerical effect, but here, it likely manifests as being naturally adept at trade.
With the Omnipotent title, this applies to everything—weapons, medicine, clothes, sweets, any product.
For a Merchant, it’s straight-up cheating.But even more broken is the unique skill Fortune’s Beckoning.
"Broken? What does it do?""Unique Skill: Fortune’s Beckoning—Duration: 1 hour, Cooldown: 24 hours. You can only use it once per day. But while active:
All monster drop rates become 10x.
Drop quantities increase up to 3x.
Monsters start dropping money.
Dungeon boss fights guarantee maximum treasure chests, with at least one gold chest.
Rainbow chest appearance rate becomes 50%."
This is, bar none, the most overpowered gold-farming and rare-hunting skill across all jobs.
Do you get it? Maxing out Merchant breaks the drop tables.In the game, you could raise multiple Merchant characters to farm rare items.
The only downsides are:
1 use per character per day.
Only lasts 1 hour.
Even cash shop items or unique skills couldn’t reduce the cooldown or increase uses.
"That’s… that’s amazing!!"
For a Merchant, it’s an unparalleled skill with unparalleled job bonuses.
Seeing Nel’s eyes sparkle, I felt a little guilty for what came next, but she needed to face reality.
"The Merchant job trial is simple: within three days of accepting the trial, you must donate money earned through your own efforts to the Statue of the Trade God. That’s how you become a Merchant.""That’s doable!""But, to get the Omnipotent title, you need to fulfill three additional conditions.""Three?"
The highest-tier title for Merchants.The requirements aren’t half-hearted.
Noticing my tone, Nel’s expression darkened.
"First, sell ten or more types of goods. Second, launch a new product. Third, donate 100,000 zeni or more in a single offering.""100,000 zeni!? That much!?""For a normal Merchant, 100 zeni is enough. But for Omnipotent, this is mandatory."
Earning the equivalent of 10 million yen in three days is ridiculously hard on its own.
"And even if you meet the conditions, it’s not guaranteed. If you fail to get Omnipotent and retry, the donated money isn’t refunded, meaning you have to earn it all over again. Plus, you need a new product idea every time.""……"
In short, it’s a 100,000-zeni, idea-fueled gacha.
Hearing this, Nel clenched her fists.
"I—I’ll do it!!"
She put on a brave face, but her voice wavered.