The roguelike game I used to play, "Demon King and Hero Party," was a game with incredibly high freedom.
With hundreds of weapons and thousands of skills, the protagonist could freely choose among them, creating an enormous number of possibilities.
For gamers, finding the optimized class was almost like destiny. After all, with so many options available, who wouldn't want to try them all?
Thanks to that, during my nearly thousand playthroughs, I've developed characters with an incredibly diverse range of classes. I even optimized several efficient classes and faced the Demon King dozens of times with them.
I narrowed down a few and used them as my main classes.
If you want the most stable class, it's definitely the Paladin. Consistent healing, self-buffs, and additional damage against demons made the Paladin a monster. The Paladin also automatically increased favorability with humans, making the game run very smoothly.
For the strongest one-on-one class, it's the Magic Spearman. The ability to create countless variables using magic, flashy techniques based on spear fundamentals, and high damage output. It's a class that shines more in the late game, so I chose it often.
For the class with the strongest firepower, it's obviously the Mage. Broad response capabilities centered around the four elements, and powerful one-shot skills through fusion and elemental enhancement were enough to make even the Demon King suffer.
All of the above classes have faced the Demon King multiple times and defeated him. They all have sufficient potential.
But... if I had to pick the strongest class, the one with the highest ceiling when maximally developed, I would choose without hesitation:
'Dark Mage.'
Specifically, the Regeneration Self-harm Dark Mage.
This hybrid-sounding class, despite its name, hadn't faced the Demon King many times.
That's because the difficulty is too high. Learning dark magic automatically lowers your favorability with NPCs. The dangerous nature of dark magic also reduces stability. With many bizarre and difficult-to-use skills, it was a class that required walking a tightrope at every moment.
Still, not wanting to give up, I continued researching every day until one day... an idea suddenly struck me.
-Wait, if stability is low, can't I just patch it up with healing skills?
I immediately implemented this idea. Starting a character from scratch, matching skill sets and items. After forcibly developing the character halfway, I couldn't help but be amazed.
-Holy crap, what is this overpowered character?
To be honest, that playthrough didn't go well. Due to decreased favorability with NPCs, I couldn't obtain most useful items, and skill acquisition didn't go smoothly either. To make matters worse, the order of the Four Heavenly Kings got messed up, causing me to lose all party members.
Two died, one retired with permanent damage, and one left the party. In a game that started with the goal of saving four heroines, suddenly no one remained by my side.
-Sigh, should I just delete this save?
At that moment, I was hit with a strong sense of regret and was about to abandon this playthrough for the next one. If that feeling hadn't come after defeating the last of the Four Heavenly Kings, I definitely would have deleted the character.
-No. I've come this far, it would be a waste. I should at least see the Demon King before deleting.
So I headed toward the Demon King's Castle.
There was no Saintess to bless him.
The Knight who used to protect him had retired with severe injuries.
The Rogue who disarmed traps was dead.
And the Mage soon followed.
All alone. Facing this game's final boss with nothing. The lonely figure heading silently toward the Demon King's Castle looked incredibly desolate.
I naturally thought I would lose. I expected to be destroyed without even putting up a fight.
-No way.
But the result...
-How is this a draw...?
He defeated the Demon King. Without proper skills, items, or companions, he went down together with the Demon King.
The manifestation of dark magic through risk, patching up that risk through regeneration, and adding several powerful skills that stack damage—these three had insane synergy.
After confirming the potential, I focused on developing Dark Mages from then on.
'But I never properly developed one.'
As I mentioned earlier, the operational difficulty was too high. Dark magic is a rejected discipline, making it hard to learn in the first place, and even healing skills are rare. It's difficult enough to acquire these two types of skills, but having to do it with severely decreased favorability... it's practically impossible.
But that's why there's no better timing than now.
'Favorability?'
That's already screwed beyond repair after sacrificing my Bond, isn't it? It's already negative, so it doesn't matter if it drops further.
'Healing skills?'
Although it's a replica, I have the high-level skill, "Regeneration."
And the difficult-to-learn dark magic?
That was solved too.
"Bloodcraft"
"Pain Arts"
They're right in front of me.
The fundamental skills of the Regeneration Self-harm Dark Mage.
Of course, it's a gamble. It's crazy. I might not even make it past the Four Heavenly Kings due to operational issues, let alone the Demon King.
But if I can't save those girls with other classes, then investing in the most promising option makes sense.
This is it. This is the only class that can clear my thousandth playthrough.
Confident in my choice, I immediately picked up the book.
[Due to the effect of Heavenly Martial Body, your comprehension has greatly increased!]
Now it was time to learn.
*
[Congratulations!]
[You have learned Blood Flow Acceleration!]
[You have learned Pain Memory!]
[You have learned Blood Power Conversion!]
[You have learned Pain Imprint!]
.
.
.
.
.
"...Phew."
About 10 hours later.
After thoroughly reading the books, I let out a light sigh.
Thanks to the help of Heavenly Martial Body, I easily understood the content of the books.
Of course, the depth of the books was probably shallow as well.
As expected.
Most of the dark magic books here only contained the basics.
This means I couldn't gain deep insights even if I learned from them.
"Still, I learned most of the core skills."
The fortunate thing was that I could learn the basic skills for the Regeneration Self-harm build. Now I just needed to gradually develop these skills and focus on the late game.
There are separate principles for Bloodcraft and Pain Arts... but that's something to discuss later.
Anyway, maybe it's because I learned multiple skills after a long time, but a sense of achievement filled my heart. It felt like I had finally entered a proper growth path.
But that feeling was short-lived. Looking around, I couldn't help but frown.
"...Hmm."
I could see the subtle flow of mana emanating from my body.
The blue mana, which had been as refreshing as a summer sky, now emitted a strange turbidity.
It was a side effect of learning dark magic.
Dark magic, with its black color, gradually dyes the user's mana black as they learn more.
At this rate, I'll definitely be caught...
But it's okay.
In the deep history of dark magic, there are techniques to hide oneself from others.
"Inhale... exhale..."
I breathe in and out. Each time, the vast amount of mana sleeping inside me stirred. I could feel my mana awkwardly mixed with dark magic.
Looking at it from a step back, it was like watching paint that hadn't properly mixed with water.
I planned to separate this black paint spread all around and let it settle at the bottom temporarily.
I suppressed the turbid black mana to the innermost part, then stacked my original mana on top of it like building a tower.
It's a difficult task.
Sorting out two colors of mana that are mixed together was like untangling a heavily knotted thread.
But while difficult, it wasn't impossible.
Perhaps because I had "Mana Control," it was more manageable than I had thought.
"Phew..."
After some time had passed, when my mana appeared clean 'on the surface,' I stopped the process. Then I quietly smiled to myself.
'I really am a genius.'
At this level, there's absolutely no way I'll be caught.
I got up and prepared to return.
Before that, I made sure to gather other books including "Bloodcraft" and "Pain Arts." Since I was in this growth space, I needed to take advantage of everything I could.
As a mage, Valkan had a wide range of books on magic: how magic manifests according to mana flow, magic enhancement spells, efficient ways to use magic, and so on...
I gathered all those books without missing a single one.
Knowledge is always helpful.
So I returned to them with my black mana thoroughly hidden, thinking I definitely wouldn't be caught...
*
"Kyaaaah! Dark magic!"
"You foolish guy! You've finally crossed the line!!"
"...How disgusting."
But I was immediately caught.
'Haha, fuck.'
It seemed like today was going to be another exhausting day.