Only I’m the solo player

Chapter 5 – Dopamine Deficiency

—–CROW—– 

As usual, I woke up in the afternoon, stretched, ate breakfast, and immediately went hunting.

[Challenger, the Tower of Trials is calling you.]

I ignored the message that always popped up when I entered the labyrinth and immediately moved forward, looking at the map that encompassed everything in the open community.

After yesterday’s hunt, I reached level 18, and after changing my equipment once, the goblins were nothing but small fry to me, who had become even stronger.

Not only regular goblins, but even stronger monsters like goblin centurions were all one-hit kills.

Only the elite monster, the goblin captain, could withstand two of my attacks.

Of course, the goblin captain’s attacks couldn’t even scratch me.

As I was leveling up by defeating monsters with such overwhelming power, I suddenly felt something strange.

Seo Jinhyuk Lv.20 (Jobless)

HP: 320/320

MP: 220/220

Strength: 28 (20+8)

Agility: 22 (20+2)

Durability: 26 (20+6)

Intelligence: 22 (20+2)

This is my current status. I was able to reach level 20 not long after I started hunting.

However, even though I hunted quite a few goblins after reaching level 20, my level didn’t seem to increase.

What’s going on? Is it impossible to level up beyond level 20 on the 1st floor?

I immediately opened the open community and started searching for information related to levels. The answer came quickly.

[Level Difference Experience Penalty Multiplier Table (Under Research)]

“Ah, fuck.”

What I thought was right. It’s said that it’s almost impossible to level up further on the 1st floor.

There was a system where the amount of experience gained was halved when there was too much of a level difference with the monster.

Of course, it’s not that you can’t get any at all, just that it’s halved, so if you simply catch an enormous amount of monsters, you’ll eventually level up.

But the efficiency would be terrible.

It’s only been a few days, and my stat growth has already been hindered. Nothing ever goes as planned.

Of course, this is because my growth rate is abnormally fast, so I can’t really complain.

And, actually, if you think about it, my stat growth hasn’t been hindered.

Challengers who entered around the same time as me are probably only around level 10. But with my item bonuses, I’m practically level 30.

Besides, leveling up isn’t the only way to increase stats. Whether it’s through items or whatever, as long as you can increase your stats, that’s stat growth.

And, since I’m monopolizing the entire tower, I can become much stronger than I am now just by focusing on farming treasure chests.

“So from now on… I should just shut up and farm treasure chests.”

I opened the open community again and spread out the map that encompassed the locations of the treasure chests.

I’ve gotten quite a few treasure chests so far, but there are still a considerable number of treasures remaining in the labyrinth area.

There must be treasure chests that the 1st generation Hunters acquired and were not recorded here. If you add those, there’s still a lot left to get.

From now on, let’s focus on quests and chest farming instead of hunting.

**

The result of focusing on treasure chest farming all day was fruitful.

I got 11 small chests that gave gold and material items, and 6 medium chests that gave a large amount of gold and items.

And I got 2 large chests today, the most important ones, and as expected from large chests, the rewards were very good.

[Royal Knight’s Straight Sword]

Attack Power + 52 (Slashing)

Critical Damage: x 1.5

Durability 250/250

Enhancement Attempts Available: 7

A rare weapon that far surpasses my main weapon, the [Steel Straight Sword], appeared.

It has two more enhancement attempts available, and its basic attack power is far superior.

The critical damage multiplier is a bit lower, but since there are more enhancement attempts, I can just add [Sharp] enhancements.

When I searched the open community, it’s said to be the best weapon you can get on the 1st floor, excluding unique weapons.

My level is stuck at 20, but considering the increase in stats, it’s like I’ve gained 5 more levels.

The satisfaction is a little less because the stat numbers in the status window don’t change immediately, but this is still a great achievement.

[Author: Seo Jinhyuk#2661]

[Title: Hey guys, I’m a newbie, is this good?]

(Photo)

I got this on my first try from a treasure chest, is it usable?

– No, it’s shit, just sell it to the store.

– You got that on the 1st floor?? Which server has treasure chests left on the 1st floor?

– Ha, this 2661 bastard’s flexing is really something else ㅋㅋㅋ

– Is this for real?

– The Royal Knight’s Sword is the best straight sword on the 1st floor~ It has +2 attack options, so if you enhance it a little, you can use it until the 4th floor.

–  This guy isn’t asking because he doesn’t know.

Today, I also shamelessly flexed in the open community and booked a room, leaving behind countless requests for handshakes.

My level is stuck, so I think it would be okay for other challengers to come in now, but the number in the 2661 tower chat channel is still stuck at 1/1.

As usual, I looked at the community until dawn and fell asleep.

**

The next day, as soon as I woke up, I went to the blacksmith and enhanced my new weapon.

This time, I put in the maximum amount of materials, but I was a bit unlucky, and the result was +6 with one failure.

Still, it’s much better than the +5 Steel Straight Sword I was using before, so I decided not to complain.

Anyway, since almost all goblins were one-shotted with the Steel Straight Sword, there was no urgent need to increase my attack power right away.

After the enhancement was finished, I ate the breakfast set at the inn and headed straight to the labyrinth.

The number of times a medium treasure chest spawns is limited, and once someone gets a large treasure chest, it never spawns again.

Therefore, the number of treasure chests I can get is bound to decrease day by day.

Today, I went quite deep into the labyrinth, but I couldn’t find a single large chest until the end.

In the end, I had to end the day without any significant growth other than weapon enhancement.

[Tower of Trials #2661 (1/1)]

And the next day, still no new challengers came in. I ate breakfast as usual and headed to the labyrinth.

While searching for treasure chests, I entered a place where a large number of goblins spawned, and after a few swings of my sword, I gained a level.

It was my first level up in two days. This made me level 21, but the increase in stats was, of course, insignificant.

And I got another large treasure chest, but the item that came out was a [Mithril Wand]. It’s a weapon used by the mage class.

It has unbelievable performance for an item from the 1st floor, but it’s useless unless I change to the mage class.

If I wasn’t alone in the tower, I could have auctioned it off, but right now, it’s just a sturdy metal rod to me.

And the next day, I diligently focused on farming treasure chests, but the results were bad.

I couldn’t get a large chest this time either, and a few equipment items came out of the medium chests, but they were all things I was already wearing at full enhancement.

I was annoyed that the chests weren’t being found easily, so I tried hunting as a way to vent, but my level didn’t increase.

[Tower of Trials #2661 (1/1)]

New challengers still haven’t come. It’s already been several days, but I’m still alone.

And the next day, the day after that, and the day after that, there were no great achievements. I earned a lot of gold and enhancement materials, but that was it.

After a few more days, I reached level 22. It was the result of repeating the daily quests every day.

And so, two weeks after I entered the Tower of Trials.

“Fuck, I can’t do this anymore.”

My stats were completely stagnant.

**

If you look at novels or manga, there’s always a scene like that.

The main character trained like this every day and became incredibly strong, but they don’t show you how they actually did it.

It’s incredibly difficult to do something habitually every day without rest, but they just gloss over the process as if it’s nothing.

I want to ask. How were you able to endure such boring things every day and become strong?

Seo Jinhyuk Lv.22 (Jobless)

HP: 340/340

MP: 230/230

Strength: 30 (22+8)

Agility: 24 (22+2)

Durability: 28 (22+6)

Intelligence: 24 (22+2)

It’s been several days since I reached level 22, but there’s no sign of my level increasing.

I’ve searched almost every treasure chest in the labyrinth, but all the items I get are duplicates.

Both hunting and farming have become repetitive tasks with no visible returns. Now the only way to dramatically increase my strength is through job change.

But I can’t change jobs. If I change to a normal class now, I’ll be at a disadvantage when I try to change to a unique or epic class on higher floors later.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that I’ll find such a hidden piece, but it’s a waste, so I can’t.

And what do I do after I become stronger through job change? In the end, my stat growth will be blocked until I go up to the 2nd floor anyway.

Then there are only two options left. Continue this pointless grind and slowly level up.

Or clear the boss mob alone and go up to the 2nd floor.

“This is it.”

My choice was obviously the latter, and so I stood in front of the firmly closed 1st-floor boss room.

To cut to the chase it was a very stupid choice.

—–CROW—–