Equal? Not even close!

Dilan was far from being normal.

He was no ordinary Ascender and knew that using [Bearer of Pain] and [Bracing Pain] to replenish his mana and to amplify his stats would be more than enough to defeat the Gold Tier-1 Minotaur.

Even his Strength would reach the same as the Minotaur's the moment he utilized [Bracing Pain] to its full potential.

But was that really the right way, to always use his occupational abilities to overwhelm his opponents with higher stats? Would that always be helpful to survive the future dangers he was bound to face?

Dilan didn't think so.

It was quite obvious that there would be times when even his strongest state was, at most, on par with his opponent's as he would advance further.

There would also be times when his stats would be lower than the monsters and other beings he faced.

While the latter would be in his favor, the latter would be a disadvantage but was something Dilan couldn't avoid.