"Nah, this is not gonna cut it, Riezel."
Inside her room, Loki sucked on the finger she had just pricked until it bled, giggling mischievously to herself.
"It's already been two months since you leveled up, but in these two whole months, your total basic ability proficiency hasn't even gone up by 2000 like before. Riezel, this kinda growth speed seriously doesn't live up to the name Liberator at all, y'know?"
Hearing this, Riezel burned the parchment in his hand after translating its contents into the common language, then put on his shirt while rolling his eyes at Loki.
"And whose fault do you think that is?" Riezel replied irritably. "Isn't it because the familia's been busy dealing with the Man-Made Dungeon this whole time? I haven't had any proper opportunity to accumulate excelia at all."
Since reaching Level 8, Riezel had participated in exploring the Man-Made Dungeon Knossos with his familia. After that, he continued following the familia's strategy, constantly searching throughout the Dungeon for entrances that led into Knossos.
During that period, Riezel had indeed experienced several major battles, such as the confrontation with the Kali Familia outside the city gates and the incident in the Entertainment District.
However, while those events seemed extraordinary on the surface, for Riezel—who had already reached Level 8—they were not particularly difficult challenges.
In other words, those events did not provide him with very much excelia.
As a result, after two entire months, Riezel's total basic ability proficiency had increased by less than 2000.
Of course, that was already considered an extremely fast growth rate.
For any other Level 8, achieving such clearly visible growth within just two months would have been practically impossible.
At Level 8, ordinary training and combat no longer produced significant excelia.
The fact that all the battles Riezel had fought and all the events he had experienced had only resulted in this level of growth was solely because it was him. If the same situations had been given to Ottar, who was also Level 8, they might not even have been enough to push a single basic ability beyond I-rank.
The fact that Riezel, in just two months and without undergoing any particularly noteworthy adventures, had raised STR and END to F-rank, while DEX, AGI, and MAG had all reached E-rank—approaching the minimum level-up requirement of having at least one basic ability reach D-rank—was largely thanks to the extraordinary growth speed granted by Fool's Obsession.
In addition, Sun Breathing's Total Concentration - Constant functioned similarly to the swordsmanship of the Akasha Continent, circulating magical energy throughout the body to temper it continuously, effectively keeping Riezel in a constant state of refinement and improving his status proficiency around the clock.
Because of this, he had been able to achieve this level of growth even without engaging in any major adventures.
Therefore, Riezel was actually quite satisfied with his progress.
Naturally, Loki understood this very well, but even so, she still wanted to pick on him.
It couldn't be helped.
"Here I am, the goddess, stuck all day on that boring battlefield acting like some damn mascot, not even gettin' a single sip of booze, and you—just look at you. Stirring up trouble every now and then, runnin' all over the place, paired up with my Ais all the time. You even dragged Lefiya into your mess, too, and now she's practically tagging along with you every damn day. What the heck's your deal, kiddo?"
Loki grabbed a bottle of wine and took a big swig from it, grumbling in obvious dissatisfaction.
"I'm telling ya, you're slackin' off big time. Straight-up lazy. If you've got enough free time to run around flirtin' with cute girls, then you might as well use that time to go adventuring instead. You'd definitely grow way more than this."
What she said was, in fact, true.
If Riezel had not been running around everywhere over the past two months and had instead continued as before—sealing his true combat power while endlessly fighting monsters in the deep floors—his growth would certainly have been much faster.
However...
"Didn't I already say? Because of the Man-Made Dungeon, I simply haven't had any spare time."
Riezel felt somewhat exasperated.
What did she mean by flirting with cute girls?
When had he ever flirted with them?
Although it was true that he had been acting together with Ais during this period, and Lefiya had also often accompanied them, the three of them had practically formed a fixed party and had been going everywhere together.
But they were not out having fun—they had been handling serious matters the entire time.
Unfortunately, when faced with this sulking and unreasonable goddess, Riezel understood that trying to argue logically with her was completely pointless, so he decisively changed the subject.
"You didn't drag me here just to check my growth progress and take a few jabs at me, did you?"
Riezel cast Loki a somewhat suspicious glance.
"I'm just saying a few things here—what's wrong with that?" Loki immediately shot back, glaring at him with a faint hint of annoyance in her eyes. "As your goddess—basically your parent here—can't I say a thing or two to you? Kids these days seriously don't listen anymore. Tch, guess this is what they call a rebellious phase, huh?"
Hearing this, Riezel did not respond. Instead, he simply stared straight at Loki, causing her expression to gradually become increasingly unnatural.
"Fine, fine! I did wanna talk to you about something."
After several dozen long seconds of stubborn silence and visible reluctance, Loki finally gave in and started rambling.
"Kids these days... really ain't cute anymore..."
She continued grumbling under her breath for a little while longer, muttering one complaint after another before finally getting to the real point.
"You've been publicly known as Level 6 for around two months now, yeah?"
At these words, Riezel paused slightly before giving a small nod.
"To be precise, it's been exactly sixty days. Why?"
"Nothin', nothin'," Loki replied with a grin, casually waving her hand. "I was just wondering... maybe it's about time we announced you've reached Level 7?"
Riezel's brow lifted slightly upon hearing that, and he immediately formed a rough idea of why Loki had specifically called him here today.
"You want me to publicly announce that I've reached Level 7?"
Riezel asked directly, looking at Loki without much change in expression.
"Yeah, somethin' like that."
Loki answered in an ambiguous tone, neither fully confirming nor denying it outright, but the expression on her face already made her true intentions obvious enough.
"Even though you're already Level 8, we still can't make that public yet—we don't wanna make those trashy gods suspicious and get 'em sticking their noses where they don't belong. But after a whole two months, with your absurd growth speed and all, even if it's still kinda outrageous, it should already be believable enough to announce that you've hit Level 7 by now, right?"
Loki spoke casually while continuing to drink, her posture relaxed and carefree as ever, as though she were merely chatting about something trivial. But despite the laid-back attitude she displayed on the surface, the real reason behind her words was clearly something else entirely.
"Is it because the Man-Made Dungeon operation is about to begin? Is that why you want me to announce it now?"
Riezel quickly saw through the reasoning hidden beneath her seemingly casual proposal.
Loki did not bother trying to hide it and admitted it straightforwardly without any hesitation.
"Y'know, this operation's probably gonna be our final battle against those underground bastards," Loki said, slightly narrowing her eyes. "To be honest, I've got a bad feeling about this. Ever since all the changes in the Entertainment District, they haven't made a single move. They're just letting us keep pushing forward with the operation. Doesn't feel like they've run outta options at all."
Riezel fell silent.
In truth, he felt the same way.
Ever since he had interfered with the progress of the Gate of Heaven, more than a month had already passed, yet aside from their single move during the Entertainment District incident, the enemy had taken no further action.
In his eyes, that was clearly abnormal.
For more than a month, his side had been steadily advancing the operation against Knossos, while the other side remained hidden underground, doing absolutely nothing.
It was difficult to believe.
At times, Riezel had even wondered whether, after seeing him easily deal with the Demi Spirit Phryne, they had concluded that eliminating him on the surface would be far too difficult and had instead chosen to temporarily lie low while secretly planning something else behind the scenes.
Now that Loki seemed to share the same suspicion, it proved that he was not merely overthinking things.
Faintly, Riezel could feel that because of his actions, certain events were already beginning to deviate from the original storyline, quietly unfolding in directions unknown behind the scenes.
Although this did not make him feel threatened, it did cause his vigilance to rise even further.
And under those circumstances, Loki made her proposal.
"I've got a bad feeling about this. Feels like whatever's hiding underground is cookin' up something real nasty," Loki said casually. "I know a god's intuition doesn't exactly sound reliable, but I really don't wanna gamble on it."
Because of this, Loki had specifically come to discuss the matter with Riezel.
"You wanna use the news of my level up to boost morale while also giving me more room to show off even greater strength?"
Riezel directly stated Loki's intention.
"Yeah, pretty much."
Loki replied with a grin while spreading her hands.
"If our side gets another Level 7 before the operation starts—and it's you, a Level 7 famous for punchin' way above your weight—that's gotta calm a whole lotta people down, right?"
"And you'll be able to show even greater strength during the operation and deal with the war more effectively."
"With your abilities, even if you start throwin' around power on par with a Level 8, it won't feel too sudden or unbelievable."
"So? Think you can pull it off?"
Could he pull it off?
Naturally, he could.
As long as he could present his strength reasonably, Riezel had no intention of holding back, nor did he plan to deliberately play weak just to lure enemies into a trap.
Moreover, he needed to remove even more of his restrictions and bring out greater strength in order to deal with this operation.
In that case...
"In that case, let's announce it," Riezel said without much hesitation. "Even if you don't, when the time comes, I'll still fight at full strength."
If it came to that, what he would display would not merely be Level 7 combat power, but strength capable of surpassing even Level 8.
After all, since reaching Level 8, the accumulation of his latent basic abilities and development abilities had already undergone a qualitative transformation, granting him genuine cross-level combat capability even under normal circumstances.
Even in terms of raw status alone, he could now stand on equal footing with the Level 9 executives of the former Hera Familia.
If his magic, along with the support and enhancement provided by numerous mystical artifacts, were also taken into account, then he could hardly think of any obstacle that he would be unable to overcome.
At least, within this world.
Unless the gods released their seals and regained their Arcanum, even if he were to face the One-Eyed Black Dragon—the existence feared by all mortals and gods within the world of Danmachi—he would not feel even the slightest fear.
Even if that dragon had single-handedly destroyed the Zeus Familia, which had possessed a Level 8, and the Hera Familia, which had possessed a Level 9, and even if its strength far exceeded that of an ordinary Level 9—possibly even surpassing Riezel himself—he still would not fear it.
At worst, he could simply resort to a 'cheat'.
With the level-boosting effect of Uchide no Kozuchi, his strength would surpass Level 9.
If pushed to the absolute limit, he would draw Rhongomyniad and see whether the weapon that had once forced back even the juvenile Beast of Cherishment could withstand that black dragon.
Uchide no Kozuchi and Rhongomyniad—these were two of the three greatest trump cards currently in Riezel's possession, while the third was the ultimate weapon forged by Hephaestus using the World Item Caloric Stone as its material.
Thinking of these three trump cards, Riezel felt somewhat reassured, yet at the same time, he recalled the third magic he had uncovered through the use of a grimoire.
'It's not useful in combat.'
Riezel temporarily set that third magic aside.
It was not that the magic itself was weak.
On the contrary, after personally testing it, he understood exactly how terrifying it truly was.
In a certain sense, it was even more frightening than Uchide no Kozuchi and Rhongomyniad.
Unfortunately, it was not something he could practically make use of for the time being, so it could only remain unused.
Completely unaware of Riezel's thoughts, Loki let out a chuckle.
"Good. As long as you agree."
Still wearing her usual carefree expression, Loki held her bottle loosely in one hand and looked at Riezel as she spoke.
"You've already become the backbone of the familia. Even without revealin' your real level, everybody already knows you're basically the strongest in the familia now."
"And who knows where the hell you learned all those weird-ass magics. You can probably handle most problems and lead everyone to victory in this battle, right?"
"I'm leaving everyone to you, okay? Riezel."
Loki said this with a smiling expression, her tone sounding light and casual as always.
"Make sure you protect your family."
—"Protect your family."
Hearing these words, even Riezel's usually calm gaze wavered slightly.
He fell silent, causing the room to fall silent for a brief moment, before he smiled calmly and composedly.
"Of course," Riezel said quietly. "I'll make sure everyone comes back alive."
As long as he was there, no one would be allowed to die—even if someone did die, they would still be brought back.
Riezel's tone remained calm from beginning to end, yet Loki could clearly feel the unwavering determination hidden behind those quiet words.
"Mm-hmm, I'm counting on ya—everyone's hero."
Loki reached out and patted Riezel's shoulder, and the eyes she had briefly opened slowly closed again, returning to their usual smiling shape. Right after, as if the heavy atmosphere from earlier had never existed in the first place, she suddenly raised her bottle again with an energetic grin.
"Alright, Imma tell everyone about your level up!"
With that, Loki dashed out of the divine room.
"Wait—"
Riezel instinctively tried to stop her.
It was only natural, since it was already the middle of the night, so it would have made more sense to inform everyone tomorrow instead.
Unfortunately, Loki moved faster than a rabbit, disappearing from the room in an instant.
Seeing this, Riezel could only let out a wry smile.
"Looks like I won't be getting much sleep tonight..."
As soon as he muttered these words, it was not long before Loki's voice rang out throughout the entire Twilight Manor.
"RIEZEL IS LEVEL 7 NOWWW—!!!"
The moment her voice echoed out, the previously quiet Twilight Manor instantly erupted into commotion.
Just like that, Riezel publicly announced his Level 7 status, and that level was now only one step away from his true level.
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[A bonus chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
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