Chapter 137.2

137 Part 2

And Exhaustion Resistance…

That skill was already at MAX.

“How come these skills are so high already…?”

Haruki tilted his head to the side, and opened the skills’ details.

{Energy Power (Increases Energy power) MAX 30}

{Energy Compatibility (Increases tolerance to continued Energy use) MAX 10}

{Energy Manipulation (Increases control over Energy) MAX 10}

{Exhaustion Resistance (Increases tolerance to lack of Energy) MAX 5}

Skill composition and description were pretty much like any other skill.

However, thinking of this “Energy” as “the power of one’s soul to accomplish things” or “willpower”, it’s easy to see what the skill governed.

Energy Power was “the strength of his willpower”.

Energy Compatibility was “the durability of his willpower”.

Energy Manipulation was “how freely he could use his willpower”.

Furthermore, by comparing “Energy” with “willpower” made it easier to see what “Exhaustion resistance” entailed.

And as Haruki kept relating the skill to “willpower”, he quickly understood why his Energy skills were so high.

“My job…?”

There was no doubt.

It was all thanks to his experience working in a printing company.

Maximum monthly overtime hours = 200 hours.

Maximum hours of continued work in a row = 72 hours.

Minimum monthly days off = 0 days.

You have to do it even if you have no willpower left.

If you don’t keep moving even if you have zero energy, the print line will stop.

Haruki continued to fight day and night without sleep in these conditions.

That experience had manifested itself in the values ​​of 5 for Energy Compatibility and MAX for Exhaustion Resistance.

With most efforts, a Skill normally wouldn’t increase to 5 naturally.

In fact, Haruki’s highest skill to have increased naturally was “Stealth” at 4.

“Even though Stealth had increased to 4 naturally, this other skill is at level 5 already… How hard I have been forced to work…”

－Technique ＜－＞

├ Equipment Mastery

│├ One-handed Sword 5

│├ Throwing 2

│└ Light Armor Mastery 5

├ Kicking 2

├ Stealth 4 → 5

└ Imitation 4

Correction.

His Stealth level had naturally increased to 5.

“Gaaaaahhh!!”

Haruki screamed as if he was being killed right there and then.

He collapsed on the spot to endure the intense pain of such a shocking event.

“Is it because I’ve been too stealthy? Have I been too stealthy!? …Dammiiiitttt!!”

Starting from when he left the confinement room until when he entered the dungeon.

Also, from the moment he left the dungeon until his return to the confinement room.

Haruki had been moving around while making full use of his stealth the entire time.

Haruki was in a situation where he had to do so.

It had been Haruki himself who decided that there was no other way around it, and put it into practice.

However, that had caused his Stealth skill to increase…

At the time, Haruki never thought that doing so might get his Stealth level higher.

He only wanted to help the Self-Defense Force.

That was the only thing going through his mind at the time.

Hot tears ran down Haruki’s cheeks, dripping from his chin and creating stains on the floor.

“I never thought… This is too much…”

No matter how much he wanted to have a strong presence, the world seemed to be going all out on erasing Haruki’s existence.

Contrary to Haruki’s intentions, his Stealth had increased so much that he couldn’t believe it.

Having narrowly escaped the tragedy of seeing his Stealth skill increase once again (thanks to Exhaustion Resistance), Haruki swiped on his Skill Board until he reached the Enhancement screen.

[Item Enhancement]

[Enhancement Points] 1448 → 4964

He had obtained 3516 points, which was a little higher than what he got in the Asahikawa dungeon.

And the reason why he had gotten only 1000 points in the garage dungeon was because that one had been a pseudo-core.

“I’m still quite far from fully enhancing my mask…”

The points he had currently obtained weren’t enough for him to enhance the mask to the next stage.

And there was another stage after that as well.

He felt as if he wasn’t going to get his mask fully enhanced any time soon.

If he kept enhancing the mask, his presence would surely increase.

Holding on to such a dream, Haruki felt that the amount of points that could be obtained from cores wasn’t going to be enough.

However, the energy from the cores that he had already absorbed should replenish itself eventually, so they wouldn’t be as difficult to obtain as Skill points.

He just had to be patient and take his time to keep enhancing his mask.

。

Looking at other items that could be enhanced, Haruki found that there were some new names in the list.

Silver Wolf Short Sword 0

Synthetic Leather Gloves 0

Synthetic Leather Boots 0

The Synthetic Leather series that appeared under the Silver Wolf Short Sword were part of the “Ichi” series armor purchased from Akane.

These items hadn’t appeared on previous enhancement lists.

“Does that mean that they became available for enhancement after the upgrade?”

As the Skill Board had been upgraded, the number of items that can be enhanced had increased as well.

If this is the case, it could be possible to enhance other items that could not be enhanced before.

So Haruki keeps swiping the screen, but the Lizardman Scale Coat and the Magic Sword still wouldn’t appear.

“I could do these Ichi series, but nothing new other than that…”

The Magic Sword’s origin was unknown, and the Scale Coat wasan item dropped from a monster found on the 30th floor.

And the Werewolf Short Sword hadn’t appeared yet.

Compared to the grade of store-sold equipment, the current item enhancement still made it impossible for his gear to match that of a higher-level “Ichi” series.

Even if he were to enhance them, they would probably turn into something that was of a much higher level than the one being sold, so he wouldn’t be able to equip them.

“I see, so that’s why enhancement restrictions are important.”

If an item was graded higher than the adventurer’s level, the adventurer would not be able to equip the item.

That enhancement limit must have been some kind of safety function that prevents the equipment qualification from being lost due to the upgrade of the item.

“That means that if the Skill Board continues to upgrade itself, it may be possible to eventually enhance the Scale Coat and the Magic Sword…”

He wanted to make them as strong as possible, should he become able to enhance them as well.

The anticipation made his chest puff up.

His dream was big.

But he couldn’t let himself be carried away by his dreams.

In the end, he knew that what he needed wasn’t to make his armor stronger.

What he needed was to gain experience as an adventurer.

Even if he were to get stronger armor, it would be very embarrassing to lack the power to match.

Until that time, Haruki vowed to continue to grow as an adventurer, so as to not be ashamed of wearing enhanced armor.