"Babel Tower... it has been a while."
Looking up at the magnificent, heaven-piercing structure before him, Noah felt a complex surge of emotion.
He let out a quiet breath and crossed the threshold into the grand labyrinth city's central hub.
This time, he harbored no plans to explore the treacherous depths of the Dungeon beneath.
He intended to return to the familiar comfort of the Hephaestus Familia's base.
...
Deep inside the goddess's personal workshop, surrounded by the blistering heat of the eternal forge, a familiar figure wiped a layer of soot and sweat from her brow.
Gods existed as eternal, unchanging beings, locked into the divine forms they possessed since the dawn of time.
Yet, this particular deity—Hephaestus, the Goddess of Forging—never stopped pursuing higher realms of craftsmanship.
Creating weapons within a restricted mortal vessel that could rival true, heaven-forged divine artifacts stood as her ultimate, burning ambition.
Hearing the heavy oak doors open, Hephaestus turned around.
Seeing the young man enter her domain, a relieved warm smile graced her lips. Despite the chaotic events that had transpired, the boy stood whole and healthy before her.
As the two drew closer, a look of raw surprise washed over the goddess's features.
Her pupils narrowed, examining every inch of the young man from head to toe with the piercing scrutiny of a master appraiser.
"Noah?"
"Yes," Noah responded, his voice calm and steady.
Seeing his patron goddess locked in a somewhat dumbfounded trance, he offered a small smile.
"What's wrong? Is there something strange about my appearance, Hephaestus?"
'Strange? That was not the right word.'
The issue lay in the subtle aura of difference radiating from the young man.
She had witnessed similar phenomena with a handful of her exceptional children in the past—that distinct, undeniable shift that occurred after mortals passed through their respective crucibles and welcomed a true transformation.
Mortals of the lower world possessed a unique capacity for change.
They evolved when faced with hardship.
These transformations manifested in the subtle details: the set of the shoulders, the weight of a gaze, the rhythm of a breath.
When an insecure novice gained true confidence, their posture straightened, the corners of their mouth lifted, and their entire being radiated a newfound, spirited energy.
Over the course of more than two years in the Rakudai World, Noah had undergone this exact kind of metamorphosis.
Furthermore, he had survived a grueling life-or-death battle.
The scent of blood and steel still clung to his soul.
"No," Hephaestus murmured, her expression softening. "I just feel that you've grown."
"Ah?"
"Hehe, don't mind my rambling. So, what brings you to my workshop today? You wouldn't visit me without a purpose, would you?"
"Uh..." Noah scratched the back of his head, a sheepish look breaking his stoic facade.
Her teasing made him sound like an ungrateful son returning home only when he needed something.
"Today, I want to update my status."
"Understood." Hephaestus pulled a heavy wooden chair to the center of the room and patted the backrest.
"Come, sit down."
Noah removed his upper garment, folding it over a nearby workbench.
He sat in the chair and bent forward, presenting his bare back to his patron goddess.
Hephaestus pricked her finger, allowing a single drop of divine blood to fall upon his skin.
The Falna reacted instantly, illuminating the dim workshop with a soft, ethereal light.
She began the process of updating his ability values, tracing the shifting runes with a practiced eye.
She harbored a deep curiosity to see the extent of Noah's growth now that his 'curse' was lifted.
However, she never expected to witness a spectacle of this magnitude.
"What... what is this?"
The rapid, cascading changes in the numerical values dazzled her eyes, forcing her to blink against the glare.
The numbers were not just climbing, the very letters defining his ranks were shifting and rewriting themselves!
This was no mere increase of one or two hundred in status points.
"Noah... what exactly did you do?"
Until this moment, the young man's growth trajectory had been nothing short of brilliant.
He held the record for the fastest advancement to Level 2 in the entire history of Orario.
Beyond his combat prowess, he had earned fame throughout the city under the moniker "Artisan Spirit," forging a strong lucrative alliances with the Astraea Familia and the powerhouse Loki Familia.
Finding such an exceptional child felt like a miracle even measured against her long, immortal life.
But the glowing text sprawling across his back shattered the boundaries of "exceptional."
'As expected' Noah thought.
He felt no surprise at his goddess's shock. The dramatic spike in his stats confirmed his speculation.
Since the alternate universe existed as a tangible reality, and his projection operated as a physical body, his experiences in that world translated into excelia points upon his return.
To the inhabitants of Orario, a mere night had passed.
For Noah, two and a half grueling years of relentless training had forged his spirit.
Although he engaged in limited actual combat and lacked encounters with high-tier monsters, the sheer volume of time spent honing his craft and pushing his limits made this explosive growth an undeniable reality.
Noah closed his eyes and directed the Truth Seeker skill inward to appraise his own soul.
[Name]: Noah
[Level]: LV.2
Strength: B725 |
Endurance: B769 |
Dexterity: A833 |
Agility: A819 |
Magic: S949
[Development Ability]: Enchanment H
[Magic]: 「Yog-Sothoth」
Can activate while maintaining consciousness in dreams.
Chanting 'Yog-Sothoth' allows the user to project themselves into the multidimensional universe, utilizing dreams as a springboard to absorb knowledge from other worlds.
Successful projection generates real identity information. All experiences during projection reflect on the source body, including physical injury, death, and mental collapse.
Utilizing one life from an alternate world as a sacrifice alongside the chant terminates the projection.
If the projected body suffers death, the inscribed identity information faces permanent destruction, barring reentry into that specific world.
[Skills]:
「Truth Seeker」
Appraises object, proximity enhances the effect.
During equipment repair, grants a probability of comprehending the user's battle experience, facilitating personal growth.
During item crafting, grants a probability of elevating the finished product by one distinct grade.
「Spell-Weaver」
Grants direct, conceptual manipulation of raw magic power.
Grants direct, conceptual manipulation of elements.
Grants direct, conceptual manipulation of souls.
「Denier」
Grants immunity to one instance of fatal damage and purges all abnormal status effects. Activates once every 24 hours.
'I see.'
'No wonder Hephaestus struggled to form a coherent sentence.'
Before this update, despite his varied experiences, his ability values stuck at the E-rank limit—stagnating at a proficiency of 499 across the board.
To the goddess, the ledger told an impossible story.
It declared he had skyrocketed his base stats to A and S ranks and leveled up his Development Ability, Enhancement, from 'I' to 'H' over the course of a single weekend.
Generally, adventurers considered it a monumental triumph to raise a Development Ability to 'G' by the time they hit Level 4 or 5.
Raising Enhancement to 'H' required over two years of blood, sweat, and relentless forging.
Yet, to the rest of the world, less than a hundred hours had ticked by.
Breaking the laws of reality was one thing.
Stacking multiple impossible phenomena in perfect harmony bordered on the divine.
"A great deed has also been recorded in your history... This is truly incredible!" Hephaestus exclaimed, her voice a mix of awe, worry, and intoxicating excitement.
With these stats, she possessed the power to perform a level up right this second.
She could push him across the threshold, elevating him to Level 3.
Reaching Level 3 meant entering the core strength of Orario's fighting force.
Many captains of large, respected Familias rested at that exact tier.
The timeline terrified her the most.
Progressing from Level 1 to Level 2 had taken him a full year.
Factoring in his tireless work repairing weapons and absorbing residual combat experience through Truth Seeker, that timeframe made sense.
But from Level 2 to Level 3?
He had achieved it in a fraction of the time.
Hephaestus harbored a fleeting suspicion that the curse still lingered, mutating into something powerful enough to devour and accelerate the Falna itself.
No other logical theory fit the phenomenon.
"Hephaestus, thank you. I will hold off on leveling up for now." Noah said.
He reached for his shirt, pulled the fabric over his head, and picked up the fresh parchment detailing his updated status.
The inked translation matched his internal appraisal perfectly.
Save for one glaring anomaly.
Under the magic section, the sacred divine text had collapsed into a chaotic mess.
The reality-bending magic of "Yog-Sothoth" belonged to a cosmic system that the standard sacred text failed to interpret.
It rendered on the page as a string of corrupted symbols: "□□□□□□□..."
"Noah, I must ask you as your goddess... are you well?"
"Don't worry, Hephaestus. I will explain everything. I'm still the same person, and I'm perfectly healthy."
He harbored no reservations about sharing a sanitized version of the magic with his Goddess.
He framed it as a unique spell that allowed him to conduct intense, hyper-realistic training within his dreams.
While the resulting stat boost felt outrageous, the city of Orario thrived on shattered common sense.
In a realm where miracles occurred daily, bizarre magic was just another Tuesday. For instance, the infamous magic Princess Who Sings of the Tragic World, capable of peering into the script of fate itself, rivaled the absurdity of Yog-Sothoth.
Hearing his calm explanation, Hephaestus fell silent.
The "curse" that had baffled even the city's greatest healer, dea saint, was merely the chaotic byproduct of a new spell awakening within him?
"While it grants immense power, it also possesses strict limitations," Noah added.
He kept his expression neutral, choosing to hide the risks associated with the projection process.
"Limitations?"
Even Noah felt a lingering confusion regarding the spell's mechanics.
The magic harbored a strict cooldown period.
It was not a matter of a simple timer, upon waking in Orario, he had attempted to cast it again.
The spell activated, but his consciousness only manifested in the pure, empty white space.
The barren planet and the gateway to the alternate dimension remained sealed, barring his entry.
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