I’m Just Leveling up Efficiently, but for Some Reason, the People Around Me Seem to Be Looking at Me With Disapproval

“Let’s go, Yushuu.”

“Yeah.”

I grip the sword handle Dad handed me again.
It’s really heavy.
Well, maybe it’s just how my body feels it.
I only put the bare minimum into strength.
But it’s not too heavy to swing around.
Actually, the longer blade compared to the survival knife gives me better reach.
More reach means the distance for my [Vital Spot Insight] light stretches out too.
Not a bad weapon upgrade.

I run through the village with Dad leading.
Fires are still smoldering here and there.
Black smoke rises up and covers the night sky.

“Yushuu. That way.”

Dad points. Three ugly pig orcs.
They’re chasing villagers who got left behind.
Experience points are still out there.
With Gald dead, these guys must be panicking too.
The bottom ranks of a unit without its commander are just moving treasure chests to an efficiency gamer.
Every little bit adds up.

“Dad, I’ll take those three.”

“…Got it. You handle the villagers. I’ll look for another group.”

“Understood.”

The second I answer, I step forward.
My strength is low so I don’t jump.
I run the shortest path, low to the ground, almost brushing along it.
Thanks to endurance I don’t get out of breath.
Thanks to technique my footsteps stay quiet.
Thanks to durability I won’t get hurt even if I fall.
It’s a good build.
It fits my current body size just fine.
Heavy stuff doesn’t suit a kid who’s still growing.

First one.
He hasn’t noticed me coming up behind him.
I slide the sword tip into the light at the base of his neck.
The gap in the cervical vertebrae.
Gulp.
Ping.

The second one turns around, but I’m already in range.
Before his hatchet can swing up, I reach the light in his heart.
Ping.

The third one tries to run.
Smart move.
But too slow.
The difference in endurance shows in moments like this.
I catch up and slash the light behind his knee.
As he collapses, I drop the sword tip into the thin spot at the back of his head.
Ping.

Three times.
Three pings total.
After Gald, it’s honestly a lonely sound.
That numbing feeling in the back of my head barely comes at all anymore.
But even small gains add up, and stacking is justice.
An efficiency gamer doesn’t have “that’s enough” in his vocabulary.
I pick up every single experience point I can get.

“Ah… thank you… thank you so much…!”

The villager I saved drops to his knees and thanks me.
I don’t know his face.
But he’s definitely one of the village people.

“Run. The local guards should still be guiding evacuations on the other side of the square.”

“Y-yes…!”

I watch him run off and move on right away.
No time for aftertaste for an efficiency gamer.
Next.
Next.
Next.

＊＊＊

Yujin ran while glancing sideways at his son’s fight.
He couldn’t believe it.
His son wiped out three ugly pig orcs without the slightest hesitation.
No doubt in his movements.
No fear.
Every action from start to finish was perfectly tuned toward one single point — “kill.”

That wasn’t the way a warrior fights.
Warriors hesitate more.
They have extra movements.
They show more emotion.
Yushuu was different.
It looked exactly like a butcher slaughtering livestock—.

No. Yujin shook that thought out of his head.
He didn’t want to picture his son that way.
But the truth was, that’s how it looked.

(When did he become like that?)

Thirteen years.
His son, who he’s lived with for just thirteen years.
Until yesterday he was just a normal kid who clung to his mom, played in the forest with Avi, and waited at the door for Yujin to come home.
And now.

(Did receiving a blessing really change a person that much?)

Yujin bit down hard on his back teeth.
He could almost hear his common sense crumbling apart.
Maybe it was because of us… because of me…
Because we’re so pathetic, Yushuu had no choice but to become like this.
Such thoughts kept running through his mind.

But he didn’t have time to dwell on them.

“Yujin! Over here!”

Another local guard’s voice.
Yujin gripped his sword tighter and ran.
He no longer even had time to feel ashamed of being protected by his own son.

＊＊＊

By the time I finished off the last one, the eastern sky was starting to turn faintly white.
I stab the sword into the ground and breathe from my shoulders.
I’m not out of breath.
But my nerves are worn out.
I didn’t count how many I took down.
Counting isn’t the efficiency gamer way.
There’s no point distinguishing one from another anyway.

“Status”
――――――――――
Level：59
Exp：12480/59000
Stamina：50
Magic Power：54
Endurance：63
Strength：40
Technique：75
Durability：56
Reasoning：51
Faith：36
Remaining Status Points：106
Learned Skills：Dagger Art: Vital Spot Insight
Skill Points：134
――――――――――

Hmm.
Just like I thought, gains are slow after Gald.
I leveled up from hunting small fry, but the curve for required experience is getting steeper.
Classic early-game slowdown sign.
With only the experience left in this village, bigger jumps will be tough.
It means we’ve entered the phase where I should think about moving to the next stage.

For now, level 59 doesn’t feel like a clean number.
I want to hit 60.
Gamers get uneasy with awkward stopping points.
I was thinking one more would do it — but by then the presence of the ugly pig orcs had completely vanished.
The stragglers either ran away or got finished off by the local guards.
Oh well.
Knowing when to call it quits is also part of the efficiency gamer code.

Instead, I think about how to spend my skill points.

“Skills.”

The window pops up.
134 points.
Not exactly overflowing, but pretty good for the early game.
I quickly scan the list of skills I can learn.

…There they are.
Finally some non-combat skills I can reach.
Before this I could only call up skills during fights, so just getting [Vital Spot Insight] was already the limit.
But now that the battle’s over, I can take my time choosing.
Attack skills aren’t the only ones that matter.
Detection, stealth, appraisal, status effect resistance.
This is the time to build a solid foundation.

I pick three without hesitation.

[Presence Detection]
— Roughly senses the presence of living things outside your field of view, including distance and direction.

[Appraisal]
— Reads the level and part of the status of any target you touch or stare at.

[Dagger Art: Footwork Correction]
— When equipped with a dagger, foot movement naturally optimizes itself.

That brings me to four skills total.
I have 32 skill points left.
I’ll keep running with this setup until I save up more experience.

…I wish I had picked up Appraisal a bit earlier.
If I could have seen Gald’s level, I might have planned the fight better.
That’s a point to reflect on.
I’ll make use of it next time.