"Hmm... So killing it without taking out any of its spawn wasn't the challenge, then," I muttered as I explored the treasure chest. It contained a tower shield, of all things. Like the first chest, the thing looked quite valuable, but it was utterly useless to me. The previous chest had contained a skill point crystal, which was nice, but it was only worth a single point, which reinforced how much better rewards were when conquering dungeons than clearing them. Still, at least it wasn't useless.

  On that previous attempt, I'd been sure to kill all the matriarch's spawn, but that hadn't awarded me the conqueror Mark either. Killing it without killing any other monsters in the dungeon was beyond my abilities—I hadn't killed every mob in the dungeon this time, but I needed the way to be clear when I ran for my life during the boss's second phase. Not using magic was similarly impossible, and if there was another island out there somewhere, it wasn't visible from the shore of this one. I was out of ideas that I could realistically attempt.

  In retrospect, dipping a finger into the acid had been a mistake, even if it had just been the tip. Thankfully, [Heal] had repaired the damage, but no way would I be taking a swim in the stuff.

  Alas, [Dungeon Pioneer] hadn't offered any hints. Teleporting out of the dungeon and briefly poking my head back in didn't reveal any useful information.

  It simply told me the date on which the dungeon had last been cleared, along with the class of monster it contained and the current occupancy. Not useful information for the Acid Grove, for which I knew the answers to be a minute ago, creepy crawlies, and me. Equally unhelpful, even outside of the dungeon, [Dungeon Tamer] had given me no feedback whatsoever.

  And yes, I'd found myself running the dungeon again. The further away from the dungeon I travelled, the sparser the acid crawlers and acid moths grew, and the more braccus raptors and groping pulsators I'd needed to deal with. The experience rate of the dungeon was better than killing groping pulsators, and with the knowledge from my first clear, along with investing some more stat points into physical Stats and Mana, it was far safer than dealing with braccus raptors. Those raptors were too cunning for my peace of mind, and I'd found myself sleeping in the dungeon simply to avoid waking up in the middle of another ambush.

  I'd also wanted to ensure I was somewhere 'safe' when I hit two-hundred-and-fifty Memory. Thankfully, my worries in that area had proven unfounded. I'd reached the point that should have granted [Eidetic II], and nothing whatsoever had happened. No sudden burst of memories. No evolution of [Fragment of the Past]. No glitched messages. Nothing whatsoever.

  Given how worried I'd been about it, it was pleasantly anticlimactic.

  Despite all the levels I'd gained over the past couple of days, I'd left [Danger Sense] at the end of D-rank. I'd wanted to save the skill points to buy [Archmage] in case of an emergency, but with that last level, I had the points to bring [Danger Sense] to the end of C-rank and still have the ten points [Archmage] cost left over. It was finally time to unlock my next Path, and, all going well, purchase either it or [Archmage].

  Exactly as promised, the moment [Sixth Sense] hit the final stage, I was offered the new Path.

  I stared at that list of evolutions with something that was best described as hunger. It was short, yes, but it gave me both physical combat and magic. Yes, it wasn't really a superset of [Archmage], since it wouldn't evolve my spells for 'free', but that was a trade I was willing to make in exchange for not sacrificing physical combat. It also lacked the huge Mana boost, but in return, it had no malus to physical Stats. Likewise, it didn't give a discount on learning or advancing Skills, as [Archmage] had, but in return it gave an additional skill point per level. For Skills above C-rank, that was more valuable.

  I was surprised it didn't offer an evolution for [Sixth Sense], given that it had been an explicit requirement. Then again, [Mapping] and [Adept Foraging] had been listed as alternatives. It was possible the Path wanted to merge them all into some sort of super-Skill. If I took this Path, I'd have to bring the pair to the end of C rank and see if anything interesting happened.

  The negatives it had in exchange for its perks were rather large, starting with [Lone Wolf] dialled up to eleven. Forget a penalty to maximum party size, this ruled out joining official parties completely. The experience penalty for sharing a kill was bigger, and worse, while [Lone Wolf] explicitly referred to slaying monsters, this had no such restriction. I'd lose half of my assassination experience bonus. Presumably, I'd lose half my experience even if I farmed in a team.

  On top of that, beating monsters in a team counted as one rank lower. It did explicitly add 'for the purposes of Mark qualification', so presumably that meant things like not being able to get [Monster Slayer IV] by fighting B-rank monsters in a team, rather than a further experience reduction.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  Finally, I'd miss out on dungeon clear bonuses if I cleared one as part of a team. Presumably that meant Marks again; I wouldn't get one from the dungeon, nor would it count toward something like [Dungeon Sweeper II]. I doubted it would be so petty as to not let me use the teleporter, but treasure chests were a more interesting question. It wasn't as if a dungeon could spawn half a chest, so would no treasure spawn at all, causing everyone else to miss out? For that matter, a literal reading of the text implied the others wouldn't get Marks, either—it clearly said no rewards would be given, without referring to me personally. The text didn't mention conquering a dungeon, but I suspected the penalty would apply equally there, too.

  How bad was all that? Parties had their advantages, but you didn't need to be in one to fight together. As far as I'd seen, it was simply a tool to ensure healers and supporters got their fair share of experience. Likewise, I'd never intended to team up with others long term. The growth rate difference made it unviable. The Path wouldn't stop me joining forces with others to fulfil a job or overcome a particular emergency, but it might stop me joining forces to claim a particularly valuable Mark, depending on the Mark's requirements. I'd lose out on some experience from any such team-ups, but such situations didn't form the bulk of my experience income. I'd also grown beyond the point where assassination experience outweighed kill experience, when grouping with Daniel's Party aided me by providing me with a distraction.

  Missing out on a way to claim Marks that were too tough for me alone was the biggest negative. A dungeon's bonus task might literally require multiple people, depending what it was. Then again, the wording of the Path didn't forbid traversing a dungeon with others. Only fighting the boss. There could be workarounds.

  Every Path had a downside, but this was one I could live with far more easily than a penalty to my physical Stats. In terms of perks, an extra skill point a level was nice, but not huge. It was the way the evolutions it offered spanned physical combat and magic that sold it, especially given that both Skills evolved into superior generic forms, without loss of function. It was a pity it wouldn't evolve [Expert Stealth], but there was at least a future chance of it evolving [Sixth Sense] further.

  Yup, finally, I'd found one that was me.

  Maybe.

  I'd accepted that joining a party for any length of time would be detrimental to both sides, but it didn't automatically follow that I didn't want to. [Ancient Soul] may have effectively denied parties to me, but was I happy with that?

  The description of the Path claimed that I neither needed nor desired others. Needed was one thing. Desired was another. Even if circumstances forced me to operate alone, did I wish that things were otherwise? Maybe in the future I'd want to hang around with others just for the company, efficiency be damned. This Path would make that harder.

  A voice in the back of my head screamed how silly that was. I'd be sacrificing my growth for pleasure. Power was more important, especially if I was going to keep getting thrown into world-shaking events. Kicking back and enjoying life would just get me killed.

  Another voice argued that living a life like that wouldn't be living at all.

  A third voice pragmatically pointed out that given where I was—the Jungle of Braccus—where there were many monsters and a rather extreme shortage of people, the first voice had a point. There was no point in planning for leisure if I didn't make it out of the jungle alive.

  What route would past-me have taken? I couldn't remember his life. He obviously knew his way around magic, but hadn't he—or I—said something to the black knight about getting physical? Was 'past-me might have chosen it' a valid basis for turning down a Path?

  Had bringing [Sixth Sense] to its final stage brought me one step away from any other Path unlocks? I'd already found one unknown Path. Perhaps there was something even better?

  Nope. Two new Paths had appeared, but both had been in the Path compendium. [Ninja] was actually a fairly interesting Path, and would rank roughly the same as [Weapons Master] if I was forced to sort them by preference, but it would do nothing to improve my magic, and would increase the Mana cost of spells. [Shadowdancer] was an upgraded version of [Ninja] that did throw a little magic into the mix, one step away from being unlocked thanks to also having [Noise] at the final stage, but the penalties would cripple my use of [Heal] and [Lightning Shock]. Besides, even if I did want either of them, it wasn't as if I had any weapon proficiency skill crystals available.

  Screw it. Given my situation, pragmatism was most important, and [Solivagant] offered the most advantages.

  I promptly fell over.

  Back before I'd first fled Cargellen, I'd almost made myself sick by spending too many skill points at once. I had a lot more Processing now than I did then, and thought nothing of dumping ten points at once into [Danger Sense]. Spending ten points on [Solivagant] was a very different experience. One that left me reeling. [Dagger Grandmastery] crammed my head not so much with knowledge, but with instincts and experience. As if I'd been fighting for decades. In dungeons, in defence of others, on the front lines of wars, as an assassin catching my victims unaware. I couldn't actually remember any of it, but... I could remember remembering? I didn't know how to describe it. The experience was weird.

  Even so, it wasn't as bad as [Mana Mastery]. [Mana Mastery] was horrific. What had previously been a sort of abstract sight—letting me 'see' mana within a limited sphere in a way that resembled vision—was suddenly a whole lot more. I could still 'see' it, albeit with increased range and fidelity, but in addition I could now also see it, my eyes getting in on the action for real. It was as if suddenly the usual rainbow of colours visible to my eyes had doubled in size. Tripled, even, with even mundane objects that I'd believed held no mana glowing with alien tints. There were so many shades and combinations shrouding everything that I was left effectively blind. Had there always been so much mana everywhere? How the heck was I supposed to comprehend it all? How much worse would it be if I advanced the Skill further?

  Alas, neither 'on the floor' nor 'effectively blind' were descriptions that were ideal for describing myself when a pack of braccus raptors jumped out from behind every tree, apparently having been watching for an opening.

  Patreon.