Ah, Nevermore. Sweet, sweet, Nevermore. An arc that totally turned out to be the exact intended length, something I’m sure we all appreciate. I have heard rumors claiming the opposite, all of which I will firmly deny, and will consider taking any measures possible, including occult rituals, against all who keep ferrying around this false narrative.With that out of the way, let’s revisit the start of Nevermore as Jake and his party members entered the first floor. For a little party member recap, we first have Jake, our main character, who I really hope you remember by now. If not, you have bigger problems and should seek medical attention; assuming you’ve read the prior ten books.Second, we have the Sword Saint, Jake’s fellow human from Earth and one of the people who’s ever gotten really close to killing Jake during the Treasure Hunt event. As his name implies, he uses a sword as a weapon, along with a mixture of time and rain magic, and before the system, he was already a really o

It was inarguable that the main portion of Nevermore was the many floors that seemed to continue endlessly. One had to remember the primary function of the mega-dungeon was to be a great leveling spot, and the entire Leaderboards part was just a fun extra event for an extremely small portion of those who attempted the C-grade version of the World Wonder.If Jake hadn’t cared about the Leaderboards, he could have entered Nevermore alone and probably done quite a few floors in fifty years. Shit, due to how his Path worked, he would potentially even have gained more experience faster that way, though it would have meant missing out on any exclusive rewards from getting a good record on the Leaderboards.Versions other than C-grade Nevermore, as a general rule, didn’t even have any Leaderboards, just a bunch of floors that people tried to either solo or do in parties. It was even considered pretty normal for people to do as many floors as they could solo before then joining up with others

Welcome to the Colosseum! Today, we have two New Bloods, both here to prove their worth! As they set foot on the sand soiled with the blood of their predecessors, who will come out on top!? Who will have a chance to move forward!? Perhaps... No! Not perhaps! Surely, today is the first match of a coming Champion!”The voice of the announcer echoed loudly throughout the entire arena as Jake stood behind a fenced gate leading up to the arena itself. After talking to the Battlemaster, the guy had looked him over once before agreeing he was ready and sending him down one of the many hallways leading into an arena. These hallways were a mishmash of spatial distortion, taking you pretty much anywhere in the arena without you even noticing. No one around seemed to comment on it either, as everything was indeed very low-fantasy. There weren’t even teleportation gates anywhere, and regular gates had replaced magical barriers everywhere. He also had to admit that all the large-scale magic going

To kick or not to kick. That is the question.Well, alright, it wasn’t really a question, but just Jake’s default way of handling any opponent he met in the arena. He knew full well that the situation couldn’t continue forever, but for now, his stats just outmatched everyone else’s by quite a margin.It quickly became apparent that most of his opponents didn’t even have 10 in all stats, much less 16 in even their lowest, like Jake. This meant Jake thoroughly beat any and all opponents he met just by easily overpowering them. He was, metaphorically speaking, an adult professional fighter beating up a bunch of kids to quickly advance in ranks. Had it been possible to simply skip ranks, he would have gone for that, and on the third day, Jake even tried to ask the Battlemaster if it was possible to meet a higher-ranked opponent for a Promotion Match.To which the middle-aged man answered in a totally-not-judgmental tone, “Oh, I am sure you would want that. Hey, do you think anyone else he

The next day, Jake woke up excited to get testing. It was still too early to head to the arena, though, so it was breakfast time first. After getting ready, he checked his menu quickly while heading out the door, seeing his objective for the day.Current objective: Be promoted from Veteran Fighter to Expert FighterCurrent rank: Veteran Fighter (0/5)Colosseum Points: 910Lives remaining: 10His Colosseum Points were slowly growing, and Jake had to admit he was curious about exactly what they were for. Well, it was obvious that they factored in when calculating how many Nevermore Points he would get from the Challenge Dungeon, but he also knew it wasn’t that simple. Case in point? The points had uses beyond simply being hoarded for some final reward.Something he was confronted with that morning at breakfast with Owen and Polly. Yeah, Polly had decided to constantly stick around after their first encounter, and while she did offer help with a few different things, Jake had yet to take