[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[+1 PP]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[+1 PP]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[Level Up]

[+29,046,990 MCP]

After farming the Red Ogre King Boss over three dozen consecutive times along with its two mutant subordinates that spawn with it in the boss room, I raise my level to 599. While dungeon walking back to the portal to face it again after every victory, I realized that along with excessive MCP gains, I started to gain an additional Proficiency Point every few matches too.

The conditions of this perk are that every time I defeat an opponent of a higher level than my own, there's a 5% chance they will drop 1 PP. Considering the only other way I can gain these points is the standard +1 per level up; fighting monsters one level above me to get a maximum chance of extra points would be the optimal method of farming.

Sharing the EXP gain with Maria and Abby in the boss room after I surpass the boss' maximum level spawn rate of roughly 598 allows me to farm this stat for longer.

Once I pass this limit and tell my teammates, Abby is the first to speak up.

"Alright, let's go, let's go to the labyrinth!"

They both take my wrists, and we teleport to the highest floor I have access to. The gargoyle dungeon on the 21st floor.

After my first kill, the notification box for upgrading my skill pops up.

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Lifesteal

Upgrade: Legendary Grade

[YES][NO]

After accepting and trying it out on my next opponent, I realize the range and strength of the skill have increased very drastically. As long as my base of mana control is much higher than my opponent, and they're within close range of my aura, their HP can be completely drained and added to mine in seconds.

Abby and Maria absorb the skill too and try it out on monsters that appear nearby as we make our way to the boss room that leads up to floor 22.

Before entering, I stop in place and voice a thought.

"Now wait for a moment, I need to check something."

I think to myself, activating my Dungeon Walker skill while opening my status and making a mental note of every available dungeon I still have on record and available for transport.

I look back at the swirling boss room portal, then to Abby and Maria.

"You climbed this dungeon before to rank up, right? If you were to estimate, how high up will we have to climb to reach the level 600 mobs?"

Maria scratches her head and ponders for a moment before responding.

"I think floor 27 or maybe 28. Around there is where we'll all start to level up again. Well- Assuming this Labyrinth goes that high."

I nod.

"It definitely should. I believe it's well over 40 floors if what Chester said about it a while back is true."

Abby interjects.

"So we're climbing? Or what?"

I nod.

"Yeah, but you two go on without me, I'll catch up before you make it to any of the exciting floors, I promise. I need to do a few errands and upgrade my skills while we have this leisure time."

"Sure, I guess we needed a head start anyway. Race you to floor 27."

Abby smirks and jumps through the boss portal.

Maria waves and jumps through too.

"Sounds good to me, Jay. See ya—"

Then I'm left in the silence of the light green gargoyle dungeon all alone.

I take a deep breath, then start my hunt to upgrade every single skill on my status that still has a dungeon available to farm it.

Checking through all 20 floors below me, then each dungeon I managed to get into in the wilderness of Sector 4 and the Solaran Dungeon Hub. After all of these, obtaining legendary Dual-Wielding and Dagger arts allow me to do similar subconscious movements following an attack line with both smaller and multiple blades like my swordsmanship skill. One of the most notable skills I gain is the legendary version of [Final Breath]. The skill used by the 19th-floor Berserker King Boss. All of the buffs from previously are boosted by an additional 100%, but so are the side effects.

I plan on never trying this skill again... It was hardly worth using the last time. However, it can't hurt to have the option in case of emergency.

After this, I circle back to the Vice Region in full disguise and blip in and out of the Vice City's available farming Dungeons with impressive skills. The most notable finds here were the slime dungeon and troll dungeon. With an upgraded plunderer skill, my speed and rate of MP absorption nearly quadrupled.

With every new breath I take, even outside the dungeons, a passive feature of the skill now takes in mana from any environment I'm present in until my MP bar is full.

Self-regeneration now has an added HP recovery feature to it as well. It takes up a considerable amount of MP and adds mental and physical fatigue to the user after the HP is restored, but this may come in handy if I'm without HP potions or any nearby enemies to steal health from.

Lastly, I do a final sweep of the dungeons in my hometown. There isn't much here that I don't already have, but manage to upgrade one more from an old bat cave dungeon I farmed with Abby a long time ago. Legendary Enemy Detection is obtained.

Instead of just the depiction of small dots on a map in my mind's eye, a crystal clear image of my enemy is visible to me like video footage as long as there is enough mana present in their body to pinpoint them. In this moving image, their level and skills are visible too.

I'm easily able to see around dark corners, or even halfway across a dungeon, pinpointing enemies before they know I exist. It feels like an upgraded version of my All-Seeing Eye combined with a basic Appraisal and Inspect Skill. However, it only works on living beings and cannot see the mana flowing through them, only an external image.

Happy with my incredible progress in just 2 hours of farming, I take a look at my skills while Dungeon Walking back to the 21st Floor of the Labyrinth.

Skills:

Absorption [Legendary Grade]

Swordsmanship [Legendary Grade]

Combat Magic [Advanced Fire Summoning]

Inspect [Special Grade]

Enemy Detection [Legendary Grade][New!]

Body Hardening [Legendary Grade]

Self Regeneration [Legendary Grade][New!]

Spatial Magic [Item Storage]

Plunderer [Legendary Grade][New!]

Telekinesis

Appraisal [Special Grade]

Conceal [Special Grade]

Berserker [Legendary Grade]

Dungeon Walker [Special Grade]

Intimidation [Legendary Grade]

Dagger Mastery [Legendary Grade][New!]

Stealth [Legendary Grade]

Bloodlust [Legendary Grade]

Equivalent Exchange

Combat Magic [Wind Summoning]

All-Seeing Eye

Extreme Strength [Legendary Grade]

Dual Wielding [Legendary Grade][New!]

Telepathy [Legendary Grade]

Final Breath [Legendary Grade][New!]

Combat Magic [Advanced Earth Summoning]

Combat Magic [Advanced Mana Manipulation]

Life Steal [Legendary Grade][New!]

Hibernation [Special Grade]

Combat Magic [Advanced Demonic Energy Manipulation]

Combat Magic [Advanced Ice Summoning]

Body Double [Special Grade]

Lie Detector [Legendary Grade]

Hush [Legendary Grade]

Craftsmanship [Mythic Grade]

There are still a few skills left on [Special Grade] and [No Grade],

but they're from very rare dungeons that have disappeared in break and labyrinths, while other skills were farmed directly from humans.

I'll have a hard time finding upgrade options for them, but now I'll be much more diligent and on the watch. If I'm completely out of luck, I can always upgrade them manually, but saving up proficiency points for a later date is a smarter decision for now. I don't desperately need anything to be upgraded for the time being.

I close my status and smile while opening up my item storage. Ember flaps his wings and flies up into the dungeon sky.

"Well, now that the hard part is all done, let's have some fun."

As I open our link, my fight companion responds.

"It seems you've been quite busy again. A solid amount of level ups... and..."

I see the black-scaled dragon's toothy grin from over 100 meters in the air as he raises a question, but clearly already knows the answer.

"Is that Qi in your body I sense?"