"Uwaaaaaah!"

  Lately, I've been waking up easily as soon as the sun rises, probably because of that. But today, I felt the lingering fatigue from running around the dungeoerday, and I let out a big yawn, something I hadn't done in a while.

  Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I crawled out of the straw bed, remembering my promise with Nel.

  Then, as I pushed open the heavy door and stepped outside, heading to the well to wash my face...

  "You're te!!"

  "Sleepyhead, huh?"

  "Nah, you two are just too early. The sun just came up, you know?"

  Sure, I overslept a bit, but it was still just after sunrise.

  Seeing the two of them already fully prepared, I couldn't help but think their energy was insane.

  " I at least wash my face?"

  "Fine, hurry up."

  "Quickly!"

  Wait, did Nel wake up before dawn and then go get Amina as soon as the sun rose?

  As I hurriedly drew water from the well, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and got ready, the two girls stared at me ily. This is... kind of embarrassing, isn't it?

  "Ready?"

  "Uh, I haven't eveen breakfast yet."

  "You'll be fihout breakfast."

  "No way, breakfast is important. It's the energy for the day. You 't fight on ay stomach."

  Nel ractically boung with excitement, and Amina was right there with her. If it were just Nel, I could probably handle her, but with the peer pressure from both of them, my words weren't getting through.

  "But, but!"

  "Yeah!"

  This was no longer about logic—it ure emotion.

  Well then.

  "Ah, I was going to tell you something amazing and do something incredible for you, but if yoing to rush me like this, I guess you don't , huh?"

  I decided to appeal to their emotions too.

  "Something... amazing?"

  Their earlier enthusiasm vanished in an instant. They didn't eveo notice how deliberately I eaking, their minds immediately jumping to what this "amazing thing" could be, and they quickly ected it to the dungeon.

  "Yeah, it's something that will absolutely be useful for Nel and Amina's future."

  "Absolutely?"

  "Yeah, absolutely."

  Humans are weak to words like "amazing" and "worth it." Limited-time gacha and revival gacha are prime examples.

  Those words seemed to work on both Nel and Amina. Their focus shifted slightly from going to the duo wanting to hear this useful information.

  "So, what is it?"

  For a moment, I wondered what kind of face they'd make if I told them something useless. I thought about teasing them a bit, but Nel was looking at me with pure curiosity, her tail wagging, and Amina ractically vibrating with excitement, waiting to hear more.

  Seeing them like that, I couldn't bring myself to be mean.

  "It's about the Css 0 Bonus Time!"

  "Bonus... time? Amina, do you know what that is?"

  "Nope. I don't think I do."

  Despite my fideion, the two girls didn't seem impressed.

  "Is that really amazing?"

  "It's amazing!"

  "How amazing?"

  "If two adventurers of the same css and level fought a huimes, and one knew about this while the other didn't, the one who knew would win every siime."

  Maybe it would be faster to just show them.

  "Actually, seeing it might be quicker. Check this out! Status Open!!"

  "Eh!?"

  As speak louder than words, so I immediately dispyed the status I had acquired yesterday.

  "Why does Liberta have a status!? Did you sneak ahead!?"

  "That's cheating!! You promised to level up with us!!"

  "Uh, that's what you're fog on?"

  I thought they'd be impressed, but apparently, that wasn't the case.

  "Calm down, seriously. Look at my status. Especially the level part!"

  "Level?"

  "Ah, both css and level are zero."

  Relutly, they seemed ied enough to look at the status s I dispyed.

  "?????"

  The status s they were looking at was different from what they knew. Css, level, HP, MP—everything was zero. The only thing that showed up was the skills, which made the whole thing feel off.

  "Why?"

  They both asked at the same time.

  "This is the Css 0 Bonus Time!"

  I emphasized the term "Bonus Time" again.

  "You both know this, but skills have a limit to how many you acquire. But you still learn a det hat means you have to train a lot of skills."

  I tio expin what I wao say.

  "For example, if you're a mert, you o learn a lot of mert-reted skills. Eae is important, and it takes time to train them."

  "Right."

  "Same for singers! If you focus on singing skills and their derivatives, you'll naturally end up with imbances or deys in skill development."

  "Yeah, that's true."

  "It's hard to fix that, but there's a way to mitigate it!"

  This was starting to sound like a telemarketing pitch. Since I was already oh to being the stro, I couldn't help but get passionate about expining this.

  "Use BP? It's nonseo allocate limited points to anything other than base stats!! Skills should be leveled up using training bracers and enhanced with items. That way, you allocate all your remaining BP to base stats!"

  BP, or Build Points, are points you get when you level up. There's a limit to how many you earn, and if you waste them on skills, your character's base stats will weaken, making you truly weak. However, training skills takes time. But if your skills are weak, your character won't be stroher.

  "And Css 0 is the perfect time to use training bracers to develop two skills simultaneously. Those who don't know about this are at a huge disadvantage."

  There's a way to improve this during the Css 0 period. Teically, other csses do it too, but the effid resourption are on a pletely different level.

  That's why FBO pyers call the Css 0 period "Bonus Time."

  "Alright, Nel, question!"

  "Eh!?"

  "Between a strong enemy and a weak enemy, whie gives more EXP wheed?"

  "Uh, uh, the strong one?"

  "Correext, Amina!"

  "Eh, yeah?"

  "Betweeing a monster of the same css and level when your css and level are lower versus when they're the same, whie gives more EXP?"

  "Uh, uh...?"

  FBO has a system called the "Level Bonus," which adjusts EXP based on the level difference.

  If you defeat an enemy while your level is lower than theirs, you get a bonus to the EXP you earn.

  "When your level is lower?"

  "Correct!"

  Amina answered hesitantly, and I made a big circle above my head to indicate she was right.

  This bonus system increases the more the level difference grows. To simplify, if your css is one level lower, the EXP roughly doubles. Additionally, for every level difference, you get a 1% bonus.

  For example, if a Mochi gives 1 EXP, defeating it at the same level would give you exactly 1 EXP. But if you defeat it at Css 0, Level 0, you get a 100% css difference bonus, and if the Mochi is Level 5, you get an additional 5%, totaling 105% bonus EXP.

  For weak ehe differeween 1 and 2 EXP might not seem like much, but think about it—there are bosses I defeat even at Level 0.

  Yes, the Kagami Mochi.

  The Level Bonus increases even more if the enemy has the "Boss" attribute. The css difference bonus doubles, and the level difference bonus triples.

  Acc to the analysis team, the Kagami Mochi is Css 1, Level 15. So, if you defeat it at Level 0, the EXP bonus is an insane 250%. That's 3.5 times the normal EXP.

  But it's the weakest boss, right? The EXP 't be that much, it? Wrong.

  The analysis team's research shows that the Kagami Mochi's base EXP is 500. With a 3.5x bonus, that's 1,750 EXP.

  Of course, there are plenty of other mohat give simir amounts of EXP. You might think it's not worth stoppio spend time training skills, but hold on. Remember, this is Bonus Time.

  The training bracers I'm wearing have an effect that prevents my base level from increasing but boosts skill EXP by 100%. If you enhahem through synthesis, you increase that to 200%. Equip one on each hand, and you get a total of 400%.

  And the equipment bonus isn't additive—it's multiplicative.

  Normally, you might think the Level Bonus of 3.5x plus the 400% equipment bonus would make it 7.5x, but the calcution table is different.

  It's (Monster Base EXP × Level Bonus) × Equipment Bonus.

  So, for the Kagami Mochi:

  (500 × 3.5) × 4 = 7,000.

  That's an insane amount of EXP for the early game. And there are even more ways to increase it.

  "So, that's what Css 0 Bonus Time is all about."

  "W-wait!! Amina 't keep up with this!!"

  "Uh, uh, base? Bonus? Numbers are...?"

  Oops, I got carried away and expined everything in a rush. Nel, being a mert, could follow along, but Amina was pletely lost.

  "In short, in this situation, if you prepare a bit more, you make your skills incredibly strong!"

  "Okay, I get that!"

  "Amina, are you sure?"

  "Yeah, it was too plicated for me, but I uood that Liberta isn't saying anything bad."

  If the plicated stuff is too much, as long as you uand that you effitly train your skills now, that's enough. Amina seemed to think that way, and Nel was worried if that was okay.

  "Well, if that's fine. But Liberta, there's only one key, right? Are we going to have to find another one?"

  "Actually, this key be used multiple times after a short cooldown. It's a special item that works well with the 'Weakling's Proof,' and the only pce you reliably get it is in the Mochi Dungeon."

  But since Amina was okay with it, Nel relutly accepted it and pointed out that the key might be a able, but I had already solved that problem st night.

  "Let's aim for your ideal skill setups. I'll teach you everything I know."

  In that case, let's go all out and traio their fullest. It might be arrogant, but I 't stand seeing people who try to walk the path of weakness.

  I don't go out of my way to help everyone, but for Nel, who shared a meal with me, and her friend Amina, I'll help them bee strong with me.

  "Ideal skill setup? Liberta, do you know a lot about skills?"

  "Yeah, I do. I even know how to get them."

  "Then, then! Do you know a lot about singing skills for me?"

  "Of course! I'll teach you the stro songstress build I know!"

  "Stro songstress! Amazing! I bee that!?"

  "Yeah, the road is tough! But if you reach it, you'll definitely be among the top!"

  "I'll do it! I'll definitely do it!!"

  Pying games alone is fun, but pying with others is just as enjoyable.

  "That's not fair! Me too! Me too!"

  "Of course, oo! I'll teach you how to bee the stro mert!"

  "Really?"

  "Yeah, I don't lie! But if you promise even a little, you'll regret it immensely. If yoing to do it, it fully."

  "Then I'll do it! I'll bee the world's greatest mert!!"

  "Me too! I'll bee the world's greatest songstress!"

  Aiming for the top with your panions. Not as named characters, but as mob characters—the three of us.

  Not bad. I'm starting to feel excited.

  "Alright! Now that that's decided, let's eat breakfast, have a strategy meeting, go shopping, and then head into the dungeon iernoon!"

  "Ooh!!"

  A wellside meeting behind the shop—who would have thought we'd aim for the top from a pce like this? I know the road ahead will be tough because of the knowledge I have.

  But that's exactly why.

  "Hey, Liberta."

  "Yeah?"

  "Why are you looking at us with such kind eyes?"

  "Yeah, I was w too."

  "It's just a rite of passage. Don't worry about it."

  For now, it's enough if they're happy. I smiled gently at them.