To the Imperial Palace – 1

[Stats]

[Level] 62(+37)

[HP] 1

[Mana] 1

[Faith] 1

[Stamina] 1

[Proficiency] 1

[Strength] 1

[Magic Power] 10

[Divine Power] 10

[Durability] 7

‘Hmm…….’

I placed my hand on the Stat Confirmation Orb and checked my status, pondering how to distribute my points. This was a dilemma that had continued for three whole days.

The experience points I gained from subjugating Lucia, the experience points from subjugating the God-forsaken Creature, and the additional experience points from newly opened areas poured in far more than I had imagined.

My level had risen by a whopping 37, reaching 62.

Even considering that leveling up was relatively easy until level 100, and the true hell began around level 200, it was by no means a negligible number.

‘The place I actually need to go now is the final part of the field, though.’

I sighed inwardly. After finally clearing the Abyss Dungeon, the final part of the DLC field in the Holy Nation, now I had to head to the Imperial Palace, the final part of the main story’s field.

Of course, since I wasn’t going to have a big fight with the knights in the Imperial Palace, arguing about such things was meaningless, but it still left a bitter taste.

‘Let’s get a grip.’

I pulled myself together and focused on the status window. Anyway, the story getting tangled was something I had prepared for ever since I had to catch the God-forsaken Creature at this timing.

Since things had come to this, even if I couldn’t follow every minute detail, as long as the main plot flowed correctly, it would be fine.

‘How much Strength should I put in?’

The build itself had been decided long ago. Clerics, an extreme late-bloomer build, and Mages, who often struggled with mana shortages while fighting enemies, were close to useless in Darkra Mode, so a melee character was the only option left.

The real thing to worry about was stat distribution. I would have to use buff magic later, so should I invest in Mana and Faith beforehand, or just think about it when the time came?

‘Because buffs are absolutely necessary.’

In Vanilla, buffs were nice to have but not essential, but in Darkra Mode, enemies’ HP had significantly increased overall, so the difference between having minor buffs and not having them was quite severe.

Hadn’t I even touched Magic Power and Divine Power just to utilize the Blood-stained Sword’s buff? In any case, since I had already invested stats, I had to make the most of them.

Though the story had gotten so tangled that the time to discard the Blood-stained Sword came much faster than I expected.

Anyway, in Darkra Mode, HP was just a dump stat. I just had to think of it as putting the same amount of stats I would have put into HP in Vanilla into Mana and Faith instead.

After much deliberation for a while, I finally made a decision and brought my finger to the blue status window.

[Stats]

[Level] 62

[HP] 1

[Mana] 10(+9)

[Faith] 1

[Stamina] 5(+4)

[Proficiency] 1

[Strength] 25(+24)

[Magic Power] 10

[Divine Power] 10

[Durability] 7

‘I’ll put points into Faith later if I get the chance.’

Although it was a bit regrettable that I couldn’t properly use the Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse I had acquired, they could be replaced by other magic. There was no immediate need to invest stats in Faith.

If I really needed to beat up demons, there was always the option of just asking the Holy Nation for help. The Holy Nation wouldn’t refuse to beat up demons, would they?

Especially since the Pope and I had even developed ‘that’ kind of relationship.

Stamina was something I realized during the boss battle against the God-forsaken Creature. It was better to have a little more leeway with the number of dodges rather than keeping it barely enough.

In a game, it didn’t matter if you just pushed through tightly as long as you memorized the patterns, but here, there was no telling what variables might arise.

I gazed intently at the numbers that appeared next to the stats before finally confirming them. My stats had jumped significantly in an instant, but I didn’t feel any remarkable change right away.

I swung my arm around. It was the same. There was no feeling of my strength suddenly becoming immensely powerful.

I took my hand off the orb. The blue light that had filled the room faded. 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 Stat Confirmation Orb and returned to the castle’s training ground. As soon as I arrived, I found Iris and Rije, who were sparring, their momentum building.

“Haaah!”

Iris’s longsword swung from the upper right to the lower left, then came back up near her right shoulder with a tremendous whirlwind raging from her left side.

In that state, she thrust her arm with all her might. The gray wind wrapped around the sword blade shot towards Rije, practically splitting the training ground in half. A thunderous boom of “Kwakwakwang!” echoed.

Rije didn’t just stand by and watch either. She crossed her left arm to the right and her right arm to the left in front of her chest, then swung them horizontally. A sheet of sharp frost covered the training ground floor.

Along with the sharp sound of shattering glass, a thick blue mist rose. Cold air mixed with the wind swirling in all directions. The whirlwind and the frosty mist collided head-on.

Recalling the ways to counter those attacks in my mind, I approached Claudia and Erica, who were quietly resting in a corner of the training ground. Erica, with a face much thinner than before, greeted me.

“You’ve arrived, Mr. Delta.”

“How are the preparations? Are they going well?”

“……I’m so nervous I feel like I’m going to die.”

Erica made a tearful face. Even Claudia, who was usually so boisterous and carefree, was sitting with her back half-bent, her interlocked hands propped under her chin, looking extremely tense.

“You’ve worked in the Imperial Palace before, haven’t you? And you’re still like this?”

“It’s because I have that experience that I’m even more nervous. It’s been a really long time since I’ve returned to the Imperial Palace.”

The content of the edict issued by Kaikilia was simple: Aurora and the Silver Dawn Knights were to come to the Imperial Palace in three days to have an audience with her. A teleportation scroll for that purpose was enclosed with the edict.

The Captain-nims obeyed the edict without a word. Only Aurora, who suddenly found herself having to meet His Majesty the Emperor with us, made a grimace, complaining that her work had increased.

Of course, the Captain-nims didn’t show it outwardly, but it seemed their insides were burning with anxiety. Even the reason why the sparring suddenly began was related to the edict.

They had been preparing to go to the Imperial Palace for over a full day, and when there was nothing left to prepare, they became restless and were now doing that, claiming they were clearing their heads.

I, too, was equally anxious during the conversation, not knowing what Kaikilia might do, but not as much as the Captain-nims. In fact, my worries even felt relatively tame.

At this point, I was starting to get curious about Kaikilia’s reputation.

I sat between Claudia and Erica, watching the other two spar, when a thought suddenly occurred to me, and I turned my head. With Claudia here, it was a chance to test my Strength stat.

“Captain-nim Claudia. Could you please lend me your sword for a moment?”

“My sword? Why?”

“There’s something I want to try.”

“Go ahead. But you won’t even be able to lift it, will you? The others struggle to lift it, so how could you, Delta-“

Claudia offered her sword with a beaming smile on her face, but then she saw me lift it with one hand and immediately shut her mouth.

‘Wow, I can lift this.’

My arm holding the greatsword trembled, shaking precariously as if I’d drop it if I let my guard down for even a moment, but the very fact that I could lift this greatsword was what mattered.

I truly felt how much my Strength stat had increased. If it had been the old me, it would have been uncertain whether I could even move it by using my whole body, let alone barely lift it with one hand.

‘What was the required stat for this again?’

I think it was 36 or 37, but since my current Strength stat is 25, I can lift it reasonably well.

Because a warning pops up saying it’s too heavy to lift when my stat is less than half of the weapon’s required stat. This meant I could lift weapons with a Strength requirement of up to 50 with one hand.

I was once again struck by the weight of Claudia’s greatsword. It was a terribly large, terribly thick, and terribly heavy sword. I wondered how on earth she managed to swing it.

Still, now, it wouldn’t be a completely unusable weapon for me either. If I held the weapon with two hands, my Strength stat would be calculated at 1.5 times, so I could swing it without damage reduction.

Well, I had no intention of using any weapon other than a one-handed sword, if only for parrying. I plunged the tip of the greatsword into the floor with a thud, then tilted the hilt and offered it to Claudia.

“Here you go. It’s incredibly heavy, as expected.”

“…….”

Claudia stared at me with a blank expression, her mouth agape. Considering her personality, it was a very rare expression for her.

No, it wasn’t just Claudia. Even Erica, who was sitting right next to her, and Iris and Rije, who were clashing swords and half-destroying the training ground, were staring at me, frozen stiff in their places.

“What’s wrong with everyone? Do you have something to say?”

“How could you, Delta, that thing……”

“This isn’t the first or second time I’ve done something like this, is it? You can just take it as it is and move on.”

I smiled broadly and met Rije’s gaze, who was looking at me with a shocked expression. Though I was originally far from having such a personality, I felt like my shamelessness was increasing day by day.

As expected, the Captain-nims’ reactions were like, “Just you wait.” It seemed like they would kidnap and confine me until I revealed that secret if I changed my attitude later.

“…….”

Perhaps because of my actions, the atmosphere felt somewhat relaxed. It wasn’t an action intended to refresh the mood, but since the result was good, it was good.

Even after that, time flew by. Although there was an incident where Rije was hit directly by Claudia’s remark asking her to “experiment” at night, wondering if her “bedside strength” had also improved, and then sank.

Before long, only about an hour remained until their departure for the Imperial Palace.