Chapter 66
Hello.
I'm Hideo Akagi—A-rank Explorer #61, bourgeois explorer with total assets exceeding 1 billion yen, Platinum member, and factory manager of the EXP Factory.
Today, I've got some wonderful loot to report.
Okay, boom.
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'EXP Lighter'
It's the age of storing experience points.
50,752,534,744 / 999,999,999,999
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"Djiii!"
"Gii!"
I've acquired 50 billion experience points.
Both Shimaenaga-san and Gii-san are absolutely thrilled.
The metal monster-kun I just took down had all this on him—what a naughty boy. Hiding away so much of that shiny powder that makes you feel so good... tsk tsk, truly a bad boy indeed.
By the way, he was actually quite strong.
I knew that half-hearted attacks wouldn't work on metal, so I started off by letting him take a hit from 'Blasphemous Gaze' before I attacked.
HP: 10 million
DEF: 10 million
Absolutely monstrous specs.
A defense stat of 10 million? That's just straight-up bonkers.
But, well, my skills had grown too, so it wasn't that hard.
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'Super Metal Assault Lv6'
A sturdy shield is a troublesome weapon.
But that doesn't mean it's completely impenetrable.
Reduces the enemy's defense by 100% for 15 seconds.
Usable once every 168 hours.
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So first, we use this, okay?
Boom, 10 million defense down. Good game. Yup. Yup.
Then I just slam 20,000 HP worth of 'Finger Snap Lv5' into him.
ATK 500: HP 1
ATK 10,000,000: HP 20,000
And that's that.
Thanks for the match.
I kinda wanted to interview him about how it felt to get smashed after his precious defense got zeroed out, yeah.
Thanks to that, one of my skills leveled up a bit.
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Hideo Akagi
Level 156
HP 11,151 / 32,523
MP 4,125 / 5,743
Skills
'Finger Snap Lv5'
'Phobia Syndrome Lv8'
'Single Strike Lv6'
'Steel Spirit'
'Probability Time: Coin Lv2'
'Super Metal Assault Lv8'
'Blue Pulsation Lv2'
'Black Swamp's Severer'
'Super Catcher Lv3'
Equipment
'Blue Blood Lv3' G4
'Proof of the Chosen One' G3
'Labyrinth Conqueror' G4
'Adolphene's Holy Shroud' G3
'Mugen High-Load ver5.0' G4
'Bloodstained Comrade' G4
'Metal Trap Room Lv2' G4
'EXP Lighter' G3
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Can you tell what evolved?
Yup, it's our good ol' 'Super Metal Assault'.
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'Super Metal Assault Lv8'
A sturdy shield is a troublesome weapon.
But that doesn't mean it's completely impenetrable.
Reduces the enemy's defense by 100% for 15 seconds & reduces max HP by 20% of their maximum defense.
Usable once every 168 hours.
Unlock condition: DEF 10,000,000 (Kill an enemy with over 10 million defense)
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It's so focused on defense that now it's started reducing HP too—like, what even is this backwards nonsense? The higher your defense, the more your HP gets nuked. What a demonic mechanic. Can't wait to use it...... (dark chuckle)
Still, it was rough not being able to kill it inside the magic circle.
Thinking I could've doubled that 50 billion EXP to 100 billion just stings.
I tried my best to lure it into the EXP Factory, but the thing had decent brawn and kept running, so in the end, I had no choice but to kill it.
It also dropped a massive crystal.
I'm looking forward to the appraisal. It was a pain to carry, so I tossed it into the EXP Factory.
Oh, and it dropped an anomalous substance too.
The item name is 'Thousand-Style Metal Kit'.
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'Thousand-Style Metal Kit'
An interdimensional machine installed in metal war machines.
Greatly boosts the user's defense.
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This one's a wristband-type anomalous substance.
Let's try wearing it for now.
Wonder what'll happen.
Hmm, the wristband writhes, then these fang-like things suddenly spring out and stab into my wrist and burrow inside my body...... wait, whaaaaaaat?!
What the heeeeeck?!
"Chii chii chii!"
"Gii!"
"Ugh, ah, it's going deeper into my body......!"
Crawling under my skin, moving from my forearm to upper arm, shoulder, chest, and finally stopping near my heart.
"Hah, hah, hah...... what the? Am I okay......?"
"Gii."
Gii-san shoves a tentacle into my wrist.
It's an insane sight, but surprisingly, I'm pretty calm.
"Gii."
"Huh? What's the diagnosis result?"
"Gii."
"Are you okay? Really?"
"Gii."
According to Dr. Gii, there's nothing to worry about.
He said it'll heal if I just spit on the wound. Is he just making stuff up?
"Finger Man... I feel like I just witnessed something utterly surreal."
"It's just your imagination. More importantly, is your wound alright?"
"Yeah, thanks to you, I'm feeling great."
Violence-san suddenly sat up.
Thanks to Shimaenaga-san using 'Blasphemous Regeneration', Violence-san made a full recovery. Thank goodness.
"Finger Man... what do you plan to do now?"
"There's nothing to plan. I'll just keep exploring."
"Wha—you still intend to go on? (Translation: With that kind of strength, you're still not satisfied?)"
"Huh? Well, yeah. No way I'd be satisfied with a stage like this. (Translation: This is just the 18th floor, you know? I can still keep diving, so I'm definitely heading onward.)"
"I see... They say being obsessed is the true form of strength—well said. Finger Man, I want you to have this."
Violence-san removes a small badge next to the ruby brooch and hands it to me.
From the seriousness in his eyes, I can tell it's something important—even I can recognize that.
"My name is Tsuruo Hasegawa. I was once a member of the National Diet. This badge is a representative's badge. After many years of wearing it, my convictions have infused it, turning it into an anomaly."
"You're really giving me something so important?"
"Yes. I want someone like you, an explorer, to have it... Besides, I no longer need it."
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'Traces of a Dream'
The will is steadfast, yet fragile.
That's why we must keep dreaming.
Reduces all damage taken by 20%.
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Attaching 'Traces of a Dream' to 'Adolphene's Holy Shroud'.
Beside the brooch stained with black, red, and rusted blood, the timeworn representative's badge glints quietly. My chest area's getting pretty crowded now.
"Well then, I'll go help the other explorers."
"I'll help too."
"No, that's not necessary. You should follow your own path. Humans can only run while they still have the strength to. So, Finger Man, go—run."
"...Understood. In that case. Thank you for the badge. I hope we meet again."
"Yes! I'm cheering for you, Finger Man!"
And so I left the 18th floor and descended to the 19th.
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——Tsuruo Hasegawa's perspective
Finger Man runs off.
Watching his back disappear, Tsuruo Hasegawa turns to rescue operations.
His body was fine.
('Blasphemous Regeneration'—it felt like life was being breathed into my damaged soul. And then, the necrotic cells from overusing narcotic-class recovery potions rapidly came back to life. It's truly strange. This method is far removed from existing recovery theories.)
"Does Finger Man use that kind of skill as his go-to healing? ...Hah, hahaha, I see now—everything about him is on a different scale."
Tsuruo Hasegawa then provided first aid to explorers who had fallen in battle against the metal monsters.
Later, rescue arrived, and miraculously, not a single life was lost. All the explorers safely returned to the surface.
That night, Tsuruo Hasegawa came home late.
In the living room, his favorite meat tofu was waiting in a well-simmered pot.
"Welcome home, Tsuruo-san."
"Yeah, I'm home."
The Justice Representative gently removed the ruby brooch from over his heart.