Bonus Stats

[You have entered <Lair of Evil Spirits>.]

[As a resident privilege, your drop rate has increased tenfold.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have received 10 bonus stats. Check them now!]

It wasn't long after entering the trial before my senses returned and notifications began appearing one after another.

When I looked down, my hand kept flickering in and out of existence.

[You are currently invincible.]

After entering a trial, you temporarily become immune to damage like this.

This is to prevent you from getting caught in a fight and dying the instant you enter.

"Is this the trial area?"

"It seems so."

When I looked up, I saw a staircase descending endlessly underground and a long cavern.

The old stairs were covered in dust, crumbling and broken, with cracks running through them here and there as though they embodied the impermanence of time.

The cavern seemed quite deep; its end was nowhere in sight, and instead, thick darkness coiled there to face us.

After looking around once, the Saintess approached me and said,

"But will Seoyeon be all right?"

"She'll be fine. You don't need to worry."

Even Shin Seoyeon in her prime could clear the first trial alone without a party with stats like that.

She really did have a Transcendent-level ability for a reason.

'She could probably clear it bare-handed, and since I even gave her a weapon, she'll likely move on to the next area within a day.'

Even if she landed in an insanely harsh environment, the cold would be no problem for a fire wielder, and the heat would be no issue either since she was wearing short sleeves.

I had even split a generous supply of food and necessities from the shelter among three backpacks in case she ended up somewhere she couldn't find food.

I had handed one of them over to her, so there wouldn't be any problems there either.

'The moment you consider how absurdly overpowered her Unique Ability is, Shin Seoyeon's survival is practically guaranteed.'

It was no wonder she was S-rank material.

"Even so, this isn't right. Seoyeon will be hurt. She might be crying because she thinks she's been left alone by now."

The Saintess expressed concern that we'd made the wrong choice. Watching our kindhearted Saintess, I stroked my chin.

"Hmm. I'm not sure."

Shin Seoyeon hurt? I didn't think that was likely.

If anything, she was more likely to grit her teeth and sharpen the blade of revenge than to suffer a girlish heartbreak and cry.

Seeing my lukewarm reaction, the Saintess took something out of her bosom.

'Ah.'

It was the [Summoner's Letter Envelope], a Transcendent-grade item that brought a designated target to the user's location.

"I'll bring her here. You gave this to me, so I can use it however I want, right?"

Our kindhearted Saintess, who normally couldn't even refuse anyone, had puffed out her cheeks and was being strangely stubborn now.

I was glad to see that cute corruption unlike in the first run, but this was a little troublesome.

"Why Seoyeon? You aren't even that close."

"But this is a matter of trust. More than anything, being left alone like that must hurt so much…."

…Come to think of it, the Saintess had also been abandoned by her two companions and left behind in the tutorial.

I realized belatedly that I'd made a mistake. It had only been a few days ago, and she might have trauma from it.

"I have one. I'll summon her."

Since the Saintess was actually about to use the [Summoner's Letter Envelope], I hurriedly stopped her and pulled a replica out of my inventory.

'Damn it, I have to bring that Shin Seoyeon girl along.'

But if I didn't bring her here, the Saintess's cheeks would puff up even more and she'd become cuter. Hmm, should I tease her one more time instead of bringing Seoyeon here?

[You have used <Summoner's Letter Envelope : Replica>.]

Even as I thought that, I used the replica as promised.

The envelope, which looked like a banquet invitation, sprouted adorable wings and flapped them up and down.

It twisted space in midair, created a slit, and vanished neatly inside it.

'Even though it's a replica, it works exactly like the original.'

I counted silently. If I remembered correctly, it had taken about ten seconds.

'Seven, eight, nine, ten.'

Swish—the air split open again, and the envelope popped out, flapping its adorable wings inside.

It soon stopped in front of me, saluted formally like a subordinate saluting a superior, then opened its mouth wide.

It then brazenly dumped out everything it had carried in its belly right in front of me.

"Uwah! W-what is this?"

Shin Seoyeon came tumbling out and sprawled on the floor.

The letter envelope spat three times over Shin Seoyeon's head as if it had eaten something disgusting, then slipped back into the rift in space and disappeared.

"Seoyeon, you're here?"

"Huh? Black Dick?"

Our eyes met. I blinked and asked,

"…Shin Seoyeon, are you crying?"

A long, unmistakable stream had formed beneath each of her eyes. They were clearly tears.

Her face rapidly flushed bright red. She sprang to her feet and shouted,

"W-who said I was crying?!"

"You are crying."

"I'm not! I tripped and fell on my own while running after you guys to stop you from getting away! I hit the ground hard, and a little just slipped out without me realizing it, okay?!"

"That isn't a little. It looks like you were bawling."

"I said I'm not! Do you want to get hit for real?!"

When I stared at her, Shin Seoyeon raised a hand, briskly rubbed her cheek, and held it up in front of me.

"Look! How is this bawling?! There's only one tear!"

"Fine, let's say that's true. But you're not denying that you cried, are you?"

"……"

Trembling, Shin Seoyeon bit down hard on her lip and breathed heavily through her nose.

Oh, to think the day would come when I'd win an argument with Shin Seoyeon. I guess I hadn't wasted the past ten years after all.

"Hey! What's your MBTI type?!"

"Is that really what's important right now?"

Shin Seoyeon put a hand to her forehead and trembled.

Soon, she swallowed her anger on her own, turned away, wiped her tears, and muttered quietly.

"…That INTP bastard. There must be a T in there. Ah, shit. How embarrassing. And he had to see that."

After hurriedly wiping away her tears, Shin Seoyeon turned to me again.

"So what was that all of a sudden? You were leaving together—why did you bring me here?"

"Oh, that? Ms. Hana…."

At that moment, the Saintess stopped me and stepped forward.

"Mr. Minjun asked me to help tease you, Seoyeon."

"Haaah? Are you serious? You rotten bastard, there are things you can joke about, so you had to pull something like that?!"

Shin Seoyeon approached me and lightly thumped my arm with her fists. I let her hit me with those attacks that didn't even hurt and looked back at the Saintess.

"Ms. Hana, why?"

The Saintess simply smiled brightly.

Our Saintess really was kindhearted.

Compared to watching someone like Shin Seoyeon, looking at the Saintess put my mind at ease and healed me.

Compared to her….

"She's honestly only good for her body."

"Hey! Are you saying that about me?! Can't you keep your inner voice under control!"

"Oops, you heard that? Actually, I said it so you'd hear."

"You did what?"

Shin Seoyeon's punches got a little more vicious, but they still didn't hurt at all.

It was the difference between Shin Seoyeon's pathetic strength and my overwhelming vitality.

'Anyway, I was feeling a little uneasy, so I'm glad that worked out.'

Acting on impulse, out of the habit I'd developed from roughing it for ten years, I'd gone and done something thoughtless, then realized my mistake.

The moment we left Shin Seoyeon behind, disappointment had flashed across the Saintess's eyes.

'I can't burn down the whole house to catch a bedbug. I need to be more careful about my conduct from now on.'

I steeled my resolve as I watched the Saintess's face return to its original warm, sunny expression. When our eyes met, she looked at me with complete trust.

"So where are we?"

"[Lair of Evil Spirits]. You could call it a kind of dungeon."

I turned around and looked toward the top of the stairs.

There was a bright entrance with light pouring down from it. Shin Seoyeon had tried to go outside, but she couldn't move forward, as though she'd run into an invisible wall midway.

Accordingly, all our gazes turned toward the bottom of the stairs.

Toward the thick darkness whose end was nowhere in sight, no matter how deep it went.

"Move on right away?"

"No, let's allocate our bonus stats first, then move."

"Ah, right. We had those."

We all stared into empty space and fell into thought.

The strain on everyone's face made it obvious that they were agonizing over what to allocate.

"Hmm."

Perhaps because she didn't have to worry about being judged by the Status Window, the Saintess was taking it unusually seriously.

I approached the Saintess.

"Would you like some advice?"

"Huh? Ah… Yes, please."

"Put half into Vitality and half into Agility. Or put it all into Vitality this time and all into Agility next time."

The Saintess's [Healing Authority] consumes almost no mana.

It even provides full recovery.

Since the Saintess was also wearing [Lumina's Holy Garb], she could spam limitless heals, so there was no need to invest in Intelligence to increase her mana pool, recovery rate, or healing power.

Then what should she invest in?

'The thing a healer needs to be best at after healing is survival.'

Surviving by any means necessary and continuing to heal the party members.

If she could do that, she'd done her job.

In the past, perhaps because she'd invested heavily in Intelligence, the Saintess had such pathetic stamina that she would pant after barely moving and was always carried around by party members….

'There was no doubt she'd simply followed the other healers and invested in Intelligence without giving it much thought.'

But I knew all the circumstances, so I told her firmly,

"Put half into Vitality and half into Agility. Or put it all into Vitality this time."

"Yes, I understand."

Trusting my advice, the Saintess moved her finger through the air. Shin Seoyeon, who had been listening with perked ears beside us, was aghast.

"Hey, a healer investing in Vitality is one thing, but why would she put points into Agility? You've never played a game before, have you?"

"I know more than you do, so shut up."

"Haaah?"

"And you, Shin Seoyeon—don't max Intelligence. Put half into Vitality and half into Intelligence."

Shin Seoyeon already had high Intelligence and an outstanding [Unique Ability], so her skill power and efficiency were overwhelming.

There was no point in investing in even more Intelligence.

She'd kill them in one hit either way.

Even if she dealt damage with gentle damage-over-time skills instead of explosive attacks, it would only be a difference of one second versus 1.2 seconds.

"No way. I'm maxing Intelligence."

I snorted.

"Yeah, yeah. Do whatever you want."

She'd regret it only after struggling like hell because her low Vitality got her killed later.

"So what are you going to allocate?"

"I have an idea."

"Hurry up and do it. My stats aren't going up because you haven't allocated yours."

Ah, come to think of it, [Bond] was copying 20% of my stats for her.

Conversely, I was copying 50% of Shin Seoyeon's stats.

<Status Window>

Name : Kang Minjun

Level : 0

Strength : 22 (+3)

Agility : 26 (+5)

Vitality : 28 (+7)

Intelligence : 36 (+20)

Thanks to that, my Intelligence was absurdly high even though I hadn't invested in it. Shin Seoyeon really must have maxed Intelligence.

'This is a tough choice. What should I allocate?'

If I distributed my stats evenly like the Saintess, it would be stable, but anyone with a mediocre [Unique Ability] would become a jack of all trades and master of none by spreading their stats evenly.

It was better to specialize in one.

'My Unique Ability is [Bond].'

I thought about the people who would be traveling with me from now on.

They were the ones who would raise my stats through [Bond].

'Looking only at the Saintess and Shin Seoyeon, I absolutely don't need to invest in Intelligence.'

Investing in Vitality felt like helping Shin Seoyeon, so I ruled that out for now.

If so, was Strength the answer?

Max Strength?

'Not bad.'

Strength increased physical power and, as a result, played a central role in raising attack power.

Agility also increased attack power, but it focused on attack speed and nimble movement, while Strength came with a small amount of attack speed as well.

'So raising both would allow stable growth through synergy, but there wouldn't be any particular problem with leaning toward either Strength or Agility.'

However, in the first run, I'd focused on Agility, and as a result, I couldn't do anything during the Destroyer Dragon trial.

I had survived… but that was all.

Maxing Agility had its limits: even if it made dealing with mobs easy, it didn't let you play much of a role in boss fights.

"Maxing Strength is tempting. All right, I'll go all Strength."

If I needed other stats, I could copy them from the Saintess or Shin Seoyeon to suit the situation whenever necessary.

"Hey, you're putting points into Strength?"

"Yeah."

"Trying to become a muscle-bound freak?"

"Not really."

"Then what are you going to use max Strength for?!"

Shin Seoyeon threw a fit, saying I was investing in a useless stat, but I ignored her. As long as I was the one benefiting, who cared?

As I was thinking that, a notification window appeared before my eyes.

[First bonus stat allocation achieved.]

[As a resident privilege, you can redistribute your stats at any time in the shelter. Visit a tattooist.]

'Wow, you can redistribute your stats too?'

By now, I wasn't even surprised that the resident privilege handed out benefits like this.

This means I can think things through a little more comfortably.