Enjoy~
TL: ALT
Chapter 74 – Where Your Strengths Lies
As I entered the grounds of the Danjiojinja,
“Oh, it’s been a while.”
I was greeted by a little girl with fox ears.
She was a white-haired young girl in a luxurious Japanese traditional dress, with the air of a child sitting on a tatami mat.
She had bushy fox ears and a fox tail sticking out from behind her waist.
There were no signs of life that could not be detected by Presence Detection.
According to her own words, she is the God of this country.
The God sat on the edge of the main shrine with both legs hanging down.
“Are you bored?”
“To suddenly asked me if I was bored. As a person who has lived for a long time, I am used to boredom.”
The God swung her legs lightly and jumped off the edge of the porch with a bounce.
She looked me up and down carefully and then said,
“You seem to be doing well.”
“Thanks to you. Have you been watching me?”
“No, I was just reading.”
“You can do that?”
“Of course I can. Who do you think I am?”
You are God, aren’t you? I’m a fool, I guess.
“What do you want from me today?”
“What are you talking about? You are the one who has business with me.”
It was true that I was in the middle of a problem.
I didn’t want to ask God for help, but my deepest psychology might have led me to this shrine…
“Will you help me?”
“I have some free time.”
The God said teasingly.
“I’ll let you ask me if you want.”
I try to sort out what’s on my mind.
“I’ve been thinking about training in weapon skills, but I haven’t found anything that meets the criteria I’m looking for.”
Currently, the candidates would be Sword Technique or Spearmanship in combination with One-Handed.
The other is Archery for long-range physical attack and plunder efficiency.
But even for those, I don’t feel like there’s a right or wrong thing to do.
Compared to magic and special attack skills, I can’t help but feel that they are inferior.
“There are many explorers who specialize in each of these skills. I’m a mage, so I feel like I’m only halfway there if I compete on the same playing field.”
“I see.”
“I’m sorry if this is a common problem.”
I feel that this is a problem that all people face, not just explorers.
A day is 24 hours long, and there are limits to our energy and stamina.
There are also issues of talent, aptitude, personality, and preference.
In such a situation, what do you put your energy into?
Or what do you give up without putting energy into it?
If you want to go from high school baseball to the pros, you will sacrifice your study time, and if you want to pass the bar exam, you will sacrifice the time you spend having fun with your friends.
Roughly speaking, a concentrated investment in the area you’ve decided to focus on should lead to a more specialized job, right?
“From God’s point of view, nothing is too common for the concerns of the children of men. But that is all right. You are now in touch with one of the universal concerns of humanity.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Being troubled by what you call ‘common problems’ will help you understand the other children better. Only those who are seriously troubled can understand the feelings of others who are troubled.”
“Maybe so.”
“I said something rather preachy. Let us consider the answer to your problem together.”
“Together? Not a prophecy?”
“A real consultation. There is no need to make it a prophecy. But don’t worry. I offer to lend you my wisdom that has watched over the children of men since prehistoric times.”
“You are right. Yes, please.”
I nodded,
“How do you know what your strengths are? No, what is strength even if you don’t know it?”
“Strengths…?”
I thought for a moment,
“Something unique to me that no one else can beat… or something else?”
“Hmm. If there is such a thing, it would certainly be an absolute advantage.”
From the way God spoke, it was obviously not the right answer.
“In your case, you actually have a peculiarity that is extremely close to that…”
“You mean the incredibly high efficiency in earning SP and the almost unlimited skills?”
“Yes. But can you say that it is really absolute? Can you say that there is absolutely no one with more skills than you?”
“Probably not, but I can’t say for sure.”
“Because strength is always relative. No matter how hard you look at your navel, your strengths will never show up. Even if you see something that looks like a strength, it is just an illusion that has no basis in reality. They are your strengths…or they are nothing more than the product of a self-righteous desire to believe that they are your strengths.”
“That’s harsh…”
But I see what she’s saying.
“Even if a student who is the best in his class in middle school believes that his strength is his intelligence, this does not necessarily mean that he will be the best in high school, where students of the same level are gathered. Rather, sports or the arts may be his ‘strength’ there.”
“Hmm. You are as quick to understand as ever.”
“You say that strengths can only be understood if there is something to compare them to.”
“In reality, there is no such thing as an unassailable advantage. Even if you become the best explorer, your strengths will change depending on what you are compared to. Reality is incredibly complex. If you cling to false ‘strengths’ that are nothing more than wishes, you will eventually find your footing.”
“But that doesn’t mean we should just give up our strengths, does it?”
“Of course not. Even if it’s relative, what would you do if you didn’t make the most of your ‘strengths’? The key to winning a battle is to exploit the enemy’s weaknesses with your strengths.”
“My “strengths” change depending on the enemy… No, that’s right. Which of my skills will be my “strength” depends on the enemy.”
It’s obvious when you think about it, but I didn’t realize it because my mind was stuck on “Which weapon skill do I need to develop?”
“Then does that mean I should stand around and use my relative strengths depending on the situation? Or create relative ‘strengths’ depending on the situation…?”
If my opponent uses a sword, I can use a spear or a bow.
If my opponent uses a bow, I can use my skills to shoot arrows or spray them with magic.
I have a lot of skills, so I can choose a relatively strong option in response to the opponent’s move.
It’s like rock, paper, scissors.
Sure, that is strong.
The fact that I can change my “advantage” according to the situation means that I can always put myself in a “stronger” position than my opponent.
“But doesn’t that make you a dexterous person?”
I consider myself a clumsy person.
I am not the type of person who can use a variety of skills dexterously.
I think I’m better at honing a single skill in an honest way.
It’s difficult for me to use each skill individually and to make a quick decision to use several skills at the same time.
“It must be true that you have lived a clumsy life. No, it seems that you are still living a clumsy life. But I think it is better for a man to be a little clumsy than to be overly brilliant.”
“If so…”
“But you are not forgetting anything, are you? It’s just a matter of how you live your life. What is your ‘status’? Do you still think you are clumsy when you look at your ‘status’?”
“I-I see…!”
I am now outstanding in Agility and Luck.
My Agility is over 300,000, and my Luck is almost 750,000.
These two have a positive correction from Escape, so they should grow even more in the future.
Even though I haven’t taken any skills to enhance these two stats, they still beat the rest of my stats.
“Status-wise, I’m dexterous now!”
Agility is not only related to how fast you move but also how accurate and dexterous you are in your movements.
Luck is said to be related to hit and dodge, as well as a critical ratio.
“You didn’t have to tie anything to a weapon skill, did you?”
“In fact, why should I? Compared to other explorers, my ‘weakness’ is that I am not very good at using each of my skills. On the other hand, my ‘strength’ is my ability to handle a variety of skills. To limit my fighting style to one is to block out my ‘strength’ and fight with my ‘weakness.'”
“The idea of overcoming your ‘weakness’ is… a no-no. You can only fight at a disadvantage compared to other explorers.”
The fact that I am not very good at using my skills is a ‘weakness’ that inevitably accompanies my ‘strength’ of being able to handle a lot of skills.
If I try to overcome this “weakness,” I will end up killing a rare “strength” that currently has no equal.
On the other hand, if we make the most of this ‘strength’…
“Thank you for your help. I think I see the way forward.”
“Mm-hmm. You look like you’ve cleared up your doubts. Then you have nothing to worry about.”
“Well, now that you mention it, let’s give it a try…!”
I was about to go to the portal behind the main shrine when I heard,
“Oh, wait a minute. I have one thing on my mind.”
God grabbed me by the waist of my cape and held me back.
“W-what is it?”
“The state of the dungeon has been disturbing for some time.”
“Disturbing…?”
“Mm-hmm. It seems that an excessive amount of resources are flowing into some of the dungeons.”
Resources. When I depleted the Thicket Dungeon, the Voice of Heaven told me that it would remain depleted until the “resources” were stored.
Excess resources would be the opposite of depletion.
“No way, flood?”
“If it were a flood, the changes in the dungeon would be more natural. But this is a very strange behavior.”
“Could it be the aftermath of the last double flood?”
“No, it has nothing to do with that. It has already subsided.”
“Is this something that even God can’t see?”
“Even I cannot see everything. I think there is something at work that is different from the activities of ordinary human children.”
“…I’m curious about that.”
“I think you’ll be fine, but be careful.”
“I understand. I’ll keep that in mind.”