Regarding BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense—
It was commonly referred to as the Shield Heroine Dungeon.
Arthur didn't know every detail about it. He had watched the anime casually and skimmed through the manga at some point, but he'd never fully committed to the original work.
Still, he had to admit...
The light novel itself was surprisingly engaging.
While the game mechanics were occasionally absurd, the world-building was solid, and the characters were memorable. More importantly, this story had given birth to what could only be described as one of the most unbalanced characters ever written.
Even Kirito would struggle against her.
After all, how do you deal with someone whose defense borders on absolute?
The story of the Shield Heroine was, at its core, very simple.
It followed a group of players, mostly girls, who possessed borderline cheat-level abilities while playing a VRMMO.
At the center of it all was Maple.
A complete beginner to gaming, she was recommended the game by a friend. Lacking any real understanding of mechanics, she made a single, disastrous—or rather, miraculous decision:
She put all her stat points into defense.
And maxed it out.
From there, through a chain of coincidences and absurd luck, she obtained multiple defense-specialized passive skills at a level that could only be described as broken.
Thus, the "Mobile Fortress" was born.
Among players who encountered her during events, however, she was more commonly known by another title—
The Final Boss.
Because Maple wasn't just hard to damage.
She possessed devastating counterattacks and lethal skills, turning her into a walking, humanoid raid boss.
Compared to her, even Kirito seemed balanced.
Arthur checked the public records.
The Shield Heroine Dungeon had existed for less than a year, and after accounting for rotation schedules, it had only been available to Reincarnators for under two months.
Yet despite that, it remained extremely popular.
After some investigation, Arthur understood why.
Strictly speaking, this dungeon should have been a 3rd-floor dungeon, not a 4th-floor one.
However, as an online game world, its power system had an unusually wide range, allowing for extreme growth paths.
As a result, its upper power ceiling exceeded that of many dungeons on the 5th floor and above.
For most 3rd-floor Reincarnators, its difficulty was comparable to something like Highschool of the Dead on the 1st floor.
And the reason was simple...
This was a [Reincarnation Instance].
You weren't entering it to play casually.
Failure meant losing reincarnation points.
And the harder the dungeon, the greater the penalty.
Who would willingly grind through a dungeon, earn dozens—or even hundreds—of points, only to lose them all just for "playing a game"?
Yet despite that risk, Reincarnators continued to flock to it for one fundamental reason:
It was an online game.
Classes.
Races.
Items.
Weapons.
And most importantly...
Skills.
Skills obtained within this dungeon could be redeemed and brought into reality.
Even though doing so required reincarnation points, the value was undeniable.
For those still in the early stages, most available dungeons were ordinary worlds.
Even in special cases like Highschool of the Dead, there were no meaningful skills to acquire—no systems to exploit, no growth paths to follow.
Compared to that the Shield Heroine Dungeon was a goldmine.
So for ordinary Reincarnators, being able to obtain a stable source of skills in this dungeon was an enormous advantage.
Yes, clearing it was difficult.
But as long as you succeeded—
Given the dungeon's overall difficulty, the rewards were naturally generous.
And on top of that, you could directly purchase official in-game skills, converting them into real combat power.
A risk with guaranteed returns.Effort with visible growth.
Why wouldn't you do it?
Because of this, among all the Reincarnation Tower floors below the 10th floor, commonly considered the beginner tier.
The dungeon "BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense" stood out.
It might not be the most dangerous dungeon.And it might not be the most famous one either.
But without question It was the most popular.
It could practically be called a welfare dungeon for beginner Reincarnators.
Almost everyone would attempt it at least once.
Even if they failed, they still got to enjoy a relatively relaxed, non-oppressive online game experience.
And if they succeeded?
They would obtain a skill in a stable and reliable manner.
The profit margin was absurd.
"It really does sound good…"
Arthur currently possessed very few skills.
In fact, he only had a single one.
The Grandmaster-level sword art passed down by Master Busujima.
Objectively speaking, that skill alone already placed him far above most Reincarnators.
But as a veteran gamer who had played hundreds of RPGs in his past life, Arthur felt instinctively dissatisfied.
Skill hoarding was in his blood.
After all, even MOBA characters had at least five skills. (Yes, I'm talking about you Lee Sin!)
One was simply not enough.
"Then the next step is figuring out how to achieve a perfect clear…"
At present, the highest publicly known clear rating for the Shield Heroine Dungeon was B-rank.
It wasn't impossible that someone had quietly achieved an A-rank clear—but no one had ever reached S-rank.
Because any clear rating of S-rank or above would be globally announced.
While clear ratings themselves weren't always reliable as a measure of strength, the accumulated mission intelligence left behind by previous challengers was extremely valuable.
After briefly reviewing the shared experiences of other Reincarnators, Arthur was already 90% confident.
A perfect clear was well within reach.
"Alright then," he muttered. "Before entering… it's time to spend some points."
He hadn't forgotten—
He still had over 200,000 Reincarnation Points sitting in his account.
By the way, after clarifying a few doubts with the system regarding the contract linked to Saeko, Arthur finally understood something crucial.
Saeko Busujima was now a true Reincarnator.
At the same time...
She was also Arthur's companion.
This meant that not only could she enter dungeons independently and complete missions to earn her own Reincarnation Points, but she could also join Arthur in dungeons—for a cost.
Even more impressively, she could challenge dungeons alone and receive clear rewards just like any other Reincarnator.
In simple terms: She could live independently. Earn her own resources. And grow stronger by her own efforts.
And most importantly If Arthur wished, he could also use his own Reincarnation Points to directly strengthen her.
Arthur leaned back slightly, a satisfied smile forming.
"This really couldn't be better."