[Musou] Max

"Level 31."

Lu Qiming looked at his Panel. The mission counter had already reached 73,000, meaning he'd killed around 70,000 monsters in the rampage on the 17th Floor today—fewer than the 100,000 he'd expected.

Still, he'd anticipated as much. His vision had been packed with monsters at the time, so it was only natural that his rough estimate was off. Besides, the experience required to level up had become a little ridiculous. He was only Level 31, and already needed a whopping 200,000 experience to reach the next level.

From what he'd observed, the experience required increased tenfold every ten levels: 100 from Level 1 to 10, 1,000 from 10 to 20, 10,000 from 20 to 30, and 100,000 per level from 30 to 40.

At this rate, the experience he needed would keep growing. The system was practically forcing him to venture deeper into the Dungeon and hunt powerful monsters!

But that was just what he wanted. The deeper he went, the more monsters he'd encounter and the higher their levels would be, allowing his strength to keep rising at a rapid pace. He'd also be able to complete his mission faster.

He'd nearly completed a tenth of the mission in just two days, but it would be a while before he encountered another Floor Boss rampage. Floor Bosses weren't like ordinary monsters; they took a long time to revive after dying.

Lu Qiming didn't really mind. He'd already made up his mind: during this expedition with the Loki Familia, he wouldn't just try to complete the mission—he'd aim to finish at least eighty percent of it. Of course, if he got the chance to complete it outright, even better.

"Right, I've got three skill points left."

Lu Qiming was about to close the Panel when he noticed the three skill points on it. A bold idea came to mind. He tapped [Assassin] near the bottom of the Panel, and an inverted skill tree appeared.

The five skills he'd already unlocked shimmered as if they were hungry children, eagerly waiting for Lu Qiming to give them another point.

"Tap, tap, tap!"

Without a moment's hesitation, his pale, strong fingers tapped the Panel three times. [Musou] flared brightly, and the level displayed beside it began to blur. At last, [Musou] Max appeared before Lu Qiming's eyes.

"Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have obtained your first max-level skill."

"[Musou] skill effects have been updated as follows: When activated, all attributes increase tenfold, and the host gains the Musou Aura. Those whose Mental Strength is less than half the host's will die instantly or fall unconscious. Those whose Mental Strength is at least half the host's will be suppressed by the host's aura, weakening their combat abilities. The degree of suppression is determined by the enemy's Mental Strength. Those whose Mental Strength exceeds the host's are immune to the Musou Aura.

While the Musou Aura is active, the host is immune to mental control, illusions, mental attacks, and similar effects.

Magic Power consumption has decreased from 1 point per second to 0.5 points per second, and the duration has increased considerably."

Listening to the mechanical, mature female voice in his mind, Lu Qiming gained a detailed understanding of [Musou]'s new effects. Simply put, activating Musou didn't just increase his strength tenfold anymore; it also gave him something like Conqueror's Haki.

From now on, throwing waves of enemies at him would be pointless. If he encountered another Dungeon rampage like today's, he'd only need to activate Musou, and every monster except the Floor Boss, Goliath, would fall unconscious. Monsters with particularly weak Mental Strength might even have their souls crushed by his aura.

And now, Musou's cost had been cut in half. His Mental Strength was 18.1, giving him 181 points of Magic Power. After the tenfold boost from Musou, he'd have a whopping 1,810 points. With the reduced cost, he could keep Musou active for a whole hour.

Invincible!

Lu Qiming stared blankly at the Panel. He didn't even know how to describe himself anymore. Just the tenfold boost from activating Musou would make his physical abilities over a hundred times greater than an ordinary person's.

Too bad he still couldn't use magic. With this much Magic Power, he could've acted as an artillery platform and passed himself off as a Magician—then, when an enemy got close, he'd transform into a berserk Assassin and swing the forty-meter-long Divine Judgment to cut them down in one blow.

Just imagining the scene made the corners of Lu Qiming's mouth stretch into a huge grin.

"Hey, Qiming, what are you thinking about? Why are you grinning like an idiot? You're even drooling."

Just then, Eina finished estimating the price of the Magic Stones and turned to find Lu Qiming sitting there, grinning to himself.

"Nothing, nothing!"

Lu Qiming hurriedly wiped his drool and looked at Eina as if nothing had happened.

"Eina, how much are the Magic Stones I brought back worth?"

"Eighty million Valis. Including the ones you asked that pair of adventurers to bring back earlier, that comes to eighty-four million Valis in total."

"Only eighty million?"

Lu Qiming heard the figure and regretfully reached up to touch the top of his head. A huge Magic Stone was lodged there—the one left behind when Goliath died. He'd planned to save it as a snack for Divine Judgment, but it looked like he'd have to part with it.

"Here, Eina. Could you exchange this one for me too?"

Lu Qiming took the Magic Stone from the top of his head and handed it to Eina.

In the end, Lu Qiming received a total of ninety million Valis. Goliath's Magic Stone had sold for six million Valis.

"Thanks, Eina."

Lu Qiming tossed the large sack in his hand. It held all the Valis he'd earned this time. Eina had initially planned to give him a card like a bank card, but for some reason, Lu Qiming had asked her to exchange it for cash instead.

"Aili, catch!"

Lu Qiming took a hundred coins worth 10,000 Valis each out of his pocket and placed them in front of the two little girls.

"Senior, isn't this too much?"

Aili stared dazedly at the million Valis in front of her. It was the first time she'd ever seen so much money. Her Kin was a small one, and after paying to repair their equipment and restock their potions, they usually had very little Valis left.

"It's fine. The extra is for you two little girls."

Lu Qiming smiled and patted Aili and Ailin on their little heads. To him, this amount of Valis was nothing—he could earn it in just a few minutes in the Dungeon. And the little girls were so cute. What was wrong with giving them a little extra?

"Thank you, Senior!"

Aili and Ailin smiled sweetly, gathered up the Valis in front of them, and ran toward their captain.

Watching the two happy little girls, Lu Qiming felt a little healed himself. He was lucky that after coming to this world, he'd first met Tiya, then Eina, and now had little girls who admired him.

Otherwise, he wasn't sure he wouldn't lose himself in the endless slaughter.

Smiling, Lu Qiming took another 500,000 Valis from the sack and headed toward the adventuring party waiting for him not far away.