This is a story that takes pce a little before Dent-san takes us outside.

  ---

  "Hey, Liberta. Why 't we level up?"

  "Yeah, it's weird to stay at level zero like this. We’ve been raising our skills as much as we , so it doesn’t make seo keep our level at zero."

  After clearing t Crelemont's ment, our pockets are quite full. On top of that, we’ve figured out how to use the items we obtained. Plus, we’re pnning to go on an expedition with Dent-san and the others in two weeks, so today we’re gathered iable again, preparing for the journey.

  This time, we’ll be traveling by carriage, so we take a bit more luggage with us. Potions, campis, ingredients, cooking utensils—there’s a lot to prepare for the trip. With Jinku-san’s advice, we’re handling the preparations on our own.

  When your hands are busy, your mouth naturally gets bored. And when your mouth gets bored, you naturally want to talk about something.

  "Alright, let’s take a break and I’ll expin why we shouldn’t level up yet, and talk about leveling in general."

  This time, to clear up the doubts of the two girls who still ’t accept being at level zero despite having gohrough such a tough quest, I pull out the wooden stick I once used to teael and start writing on the ground. Of course, I’m writing in this world’s script, which for some reason I write. Though what I’m writing looks more like Arabiumerals.

  "In this world, strength is basically determined by your level. But that’s not absolute. A small level difference be easily overe with equipment or skills."

  "We know that. Even at level zero, we defeat dungeon bosses every day."

  "Though it’s the weakest boss."

  I write "1/10." This means a Css 1, Level 10.

  "Right. So here’s a question: There are two men, both Css 1, Level 10. Both have only the swordsmanship skill, and their skill levels are the same. They’re both equipped with wooden training swords and shields. But for some reason, whewo fight, one wins more often. Why?"

  I tap the ground with the tip of the stick as I pose the question to the two girls, who tilt their heads in fusion.

  "They’re the same level, right?"

  "Yep."

  "And their skills and equipment are the same, so their strength should be about the same, right?"

  "From what I see, they’re bao be about the same."

  "Is there a height difference?"

  "Physique is almost the same. They could be twins."

  "Is one of them less fident or something?"

  "Both are equally aggressive."

  I answer each of their questions one by one, adding ditions as I go. I keep dropping hints, and Amina is the first to e up with an idea.

  "Ah! I got it! One of them has their base stats focused on stamina, while the other has them evenly distributed! That’s why one loses more often!"

  She beams with a triumphant smile, as if she’s hit the jackpot, and puffs out her chest as if to say, "How about that?" But this question is iionally tricky. Unfortunately, the correswer is something else, and I see Nel looking frustrated out of the er of my eye.

  "Good thinking, but unfortunately, that’s not it."

  "Eh!?"

  Both Nel and Amina are shocked. "That’s not it!?"

  "Both of them have definitely allocated all their base stats to stamina. To add to that, her has any special equipment, nor are they beily helped by allies. It’s not just about skills—they haven’t undergone any special training, and there are no traps itlefield that only one of them knows about. And of course, her is being bckmailed or anything like that."

  "??????"

  As I systematically eliminate all possible expnations, the two girls are left with nothing but question marks floating above their heads.

  "Ugh, I give up!"

  "Me too, I surrender. Just tell us the answer."

  After thinking for about a minute, Nel looks frustrated, and Amina looks tired and gives up.

  "The answer is, one of them used a special method to level up and was able to allocate more stat points."

  "Wait, what?"

  "That’s cheating! How were we supposed to know that?"

  Of course, they’re going to pin when I give them that answer.

  "That doesn’t make sense! When you level up, you only get one point! Sometimes you might get more as a reward from the gods, but that only happens when you defeat a strong boss or something like that!"

  Nel’s words are probably on sense in this world. Amina nods in agreement, so it’s clear that’s how things are supposed to work.

  "But actually, that’s irely true."

  However, I have knowledge that overturn that on sense. If the gods created this world’s system, then it should work the way I know it does. That’s why you shouldn’t level up carelessly.

  What Nel said about occasionally getting more points is just a matter of meetiain ditions.

  "What Nel calls a 'reward' isn’t something you get by ce. It’s a bonus you earn up to the maximum if you meet the ditions."

  "What do you mean?"

  I tap the ground with the stick again, and their attention shifts bae.

  "When you level up, you get BP—Build Points. These be used for both stats and skills, but there are actually two types of BP."

  I write "BP" on the ground in this world’s script, and then add somethio it.

  "EXBP—Extra Build Points. These are additional BP you earn by meetiain ditions."

  I write "EXBP" and tap it.

  "This is the gods’ reward for your efforts. By meeting the ditio for each css, you earra points."

  What a fitting name for a reward from the gods. At the start of the game, we, like hought that you might randomly get more points if you were lucky. But when the analysis team discovered that there were certain ditions for earning EXBP—points that were either the same as or eveer than regur BP—we were blown away.

  Redoing your character creation break a pyer’s spirit. The number of times the developers aired pyers’ pints fueled e is tless, ahe developers, unafraid of losing pyers, never fixed this hiddeure. It made us wonder what else they were hiding, and that fear still haunts me to this day.

  "Extra rewards!"

  Nel’s excitement snaps me out of my dark thoughts. Her mert instincts ki at the word "reward," and her earlier pints vanish. If there’s a ce to earn more, she’s willing to put in the effort. Maybe she has the makings of a hardcamer like me.

  Her eyes sparkle, aail wags excitedly.

  "W-Whoa, calm down, Nel. Liberta’s going to expin it to us now."

  Amina stops Nel, who’s practically breathing down my ne excitement. I decide to hurry up and expin before things get out of hand. Not because Amina is gring at me to hurry or anything.

  "The ditions for earning EXBP are set for each css. The number of ditions increases with the css rank—one for Css 1, two for Css 2, and so on. If you meet the ditions and level up, you’ll earn EXBP in addition to the regur BP."

  "So, for Css 1, you earn up to 100 BP in total?"

  "Exactly! The max level for Css 1 is 50. If you meet the ditions while leveling up, you earn double the usual amount—100 BP."

  This hiddeure is a great deal. Simply put, you beore than twice as strong as someone who levels up without meeting the ditions. And as your css increases, the gap widens even further.

  "That’s why I’ve been avoiding leveling up until now. There aren’t many pces around here where I meet the ditions."

  This system rewards you for putting in the effort early on. That’s why I’ve been so stubborn about not leveling up. Seg skill slots art of it, but this is the main reason.

  "I see."

  "Huh, I didn’t know that."

  "It took me a lot of effort to figure this out."

  tless pyers worked on analyzing this, and it was only after a lot of effort that this truth came to light. There’s a lot of hardship behind this discovery.

  I y arms and nod solemnly. It’s not like I’ll get punished for it.

  "So! What are the ditions for leveling up?"

  But Nel, unaware of the struggles it took to uhis, leans forward and asks straightforwardly. I could tell her about the hardships, but it doesn’t feel necessary.

  "For Css 1, the EXBP dition is simple: for each level, you must defeat at least three different types of monsters before leveling up."

  "Three types? Like Motchi, Goblins, and Tanuki?"

  "Sounds like a hassle. Moerritories usually only have oype of monster."

  "That’s right. Moerritories usually only border oher type of monster. It’s rare to find an area where three types overp."

  The distin betweehree types of monsters is based on their species. Sihey’re different monsters, it’s easier to distinguish them by type.

  "That’s why there’s a bit of leeway in the cssification. For example, Goblins and Hobgoblins are sidered different species. Even though Hobgoblins are evolved from Goblins, they’re treated as separate. If Goblins were all lumped together, meeting this dition would be a pain."

  "If that’s the case, other people should have figured it out by nht?"

  "Yeah, but I’d never heard of it until Liberta told us."

  But even so, you’d still have to defeat oype of monster and then travel to another monster’s territory. Our theory as pyers is that the system is desigo make you fight a variety of moo gain experience, rather than fog on just oype.

  It’s a system that seems ineffit faining experience. For hardcore pyers, it might not be a big deal, but for casual pyers, it’s a turn-off.

  I kept pying FBO because I loved the world, but among the pyers I knew, many quit because of these tedious systems. They all said the same thing: if it weren’t for these annoying systems, it would be a great game.

  That mystery remained unsolved until the servers shut down.

  "Ohing to be careful about is the cssification of moypes. Like I said earlier, Hobgoblins and Goblins are easy to distinguish, but Goblins are Css 1 monsters, while Hobgoblins are Css 2. So they’re cssified as different monsters based on their css. And a istake is thinking that Goblins with bows are called Archers, oblins that move stealthily are called Scouts, but they’re all still just Goblins."

  "I see. So Hobgoblins are evolved, but Goblins with different appearances are still the same species, just with different roles."

  "Does 'type' mean they’re different as living beings?"

  "That’s a safe assumption. Though there are usually exceptions to these kinds of rules."

  It’s a bit frustrating not knowing for sure, but sidering the situation we’re in now, all that effort feels worth it.

  "Exceptions?"

  "Yeah, exceptions. Probably some kind of relief measure from the gods."

  No gamer leaves hardship unaddressed. People will always look for the most effit way to achieve the best results.

  And there will always be those who explore those possibilities.

  "Relief from the gods?"

  "Yeah. If things are too difficult, fewer people will take on the challenge, so the gods prepared some ve monsters."

  "The gods sure love their trials."

  "Yeah. My dad said that if there were no monsters, humans could expand their living areas more."

  These exceptions were discovered by those pioneers.

  "So, the pce Liberta suggested we go is where these exception monsters are?"

  The pce Amina is asking about is the famous leveling spot for Css 1 pyers starting in the southern ti.

  "Yeah, that’s right."

  Its niame is the "Shape-Shifting Haniwa."

  That’s where we’ll get stronger.