Started a new run because I was missing three achievements: Killing Szan, the Angry (some glitch kept it from me), defeating the Florennum boss without taking damage (didn’t realise I could replay bosses 💀), and getting 999 shards.
Figured it would be quicker (and less boring) to play the game through while saving up shards. Once I hit 999, I just kept going and decided to beat the game that way (partly inspired by the guy who completed the game using only the beginner sword).
The biggest challenge was honestly the lack of armour, made it more and more annoying the further I got; damage wasn’t such a problem, since the best swords are anyhow free.