After parting ways with Ais, Leon intended to go straight back to his room for a good night's sleep.
Having already bathed at Babel, he didn't need to wash up much at home; he could simply strip off his equipment and dive into bed.
Unfortunately, Leon was unsuccessful.
Just after separating from Ais, he found his path blocked by his elusive primary deity.
"You're finally back! Leon!"
Loki lunged toward Leon with a ravenous, ferocious look on her face.
Startled, Leon instinctively stepped aside, letting Loki graze past him and slam face-first into the wall.
"IT HURTS—AAAAAAHHH!"
The impact caused Loki's nose to bleed instantly. She crouched down, clutching her face and wailing in pain.
"...What kind of performance is this supposed to be?"
Leon's lip twitched as he stood there, completely exasperated.
"Why... why did you dodge?"
Loki looked up with teary eyes, still holding her nose as she accused him.
"That question... why don't you go ask Ais and the others?"
Leon leaned his head against his hand, reaching his limit.
He knew his Goddess loved taking advantage of pretty girls, so she was always lunging at Ais and the rest whenever she got the chance. But he wasn't a pretty girl—so what was the point of lunging at him?
Had this degenerate goddess changed her nature? Had her conscience finally kicked in, leading her to stop pestering beautiful girls in favor of taking liberties with handsome young men?
Or had someone actually been capable enough to set this degenerate goddess straight?
Leon folded his arms, eyeing Loki up and down with suspicion.
"Hey! Brat! What's with that look?"
A god's perception was, after all, vast. Loki immediately understood what Leon was thinking, and she flared up in anger.
"Stop slandering me in your head! I just wanted to see if you did something earth-shattering again today!"
At this, Leon raised an eyebrow.
"You mean...?"
He began to guess the reason for Loki's visit.
"Time for a status update," Loki said, dropping the hand from her nose and grinning like a mischievous clown. "I want to see if that hellish growth rate of yours has actually held up."
Inside the deity's chamber on the top floor of the central tower of Twilight Manor.
As the sacred Hieroglyphs emerged from the crest on Leon's back, shifting and changing under Loki's fingers into a new form, her divine eyes opened silently.
Leon Eligos
—
Lv. 1
Strength: D557 → C623
Endurance: E496 → D545
Dexterity: D581 → C639
Agility: C644 → B717
Magic: B752 → A831
Looking at this fresh set of abilities, Loki's expression turned dazed.
The total proficiency gain across all stats was over 300!
"This god-awful growth rate... it hasn't slowed down at all?!"
Loki actually felt a bit dizzy.
In just one day, his total proficiency had increased by more than 300. If another nine days passed, wouldn't he—just like before—gain over 3,000 proficiency points in ten days?
Wasn't it said that the higher the base stats go, the slower they are to increase?
Almost all of his abilities had reached D or higher, yet he was still able to jump an entire rank in every category in a single day. What kind of growth rate was this?
At this pace, wouldn't this kid reach all-S rank stats in just a few more days?
It was simply unbelievable!
Loki felt a shiver of dread mixed with an inexplicable sense of excitement.
Even Leon felt a bit surprised after seeing the translated common-tongue values of his status. He hadn't expected that even in the latter stages of Level 1, he could still gain over 300 proficiency points in one day.
"Well, it's not that hard to understand."
Reflecting on his day of adventuring, Leon felt the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Although he spent a lot of time traveling—running three full trips between the exchange center at Babel and the 10th Floor of the Dungeon—his kill speed was incomparably faster than before.
He had filled his waist pouches twice over and a good portion of a third time. This was proof of how many monsters he had slaughtered and how much excelia he had earned today.
Thanks to that, he was able to maintain this rapid growth.
But—
"It probably won't be that easy from here on out."
That was Leon's assessment.
The closer one got to the limit of base stats, the harder they were to raise; that was an absolute rule.
Currently, all of Leon's stats were D or higher, with his strongest suit, "Magic," already at A. Next was S, the highest evaluation for an average adventurer, followed perhaps by SS and SSS. Thinking he could maintain this speed to reach those heights was a bit fanciful.
Furthermore, regarding the upper floors accessible to Level 1 rookies, Leon only had the 11th and 12th Floors left to explore. Once he finished exploring the 12th Floor, he wouldn't be able to advance further. He would be forced to linger on the 12th Floor until he leveled up, which would inevitably slow his progress.
Starting from the 13th Floor, the Dungeon officially entered the "Middle Floors," a domain only upper-class Level 2 adventurers could enter. Leon had no intention of being reckless; going there at Level 1 was a death wish.
The Middle Floors were a completely different realm. Despite being separated by only one floor, the difficulty of the 13th Floor was at least double that of the 12th. Not only would new species of monsters appear, but massive monster parades would occur incessantly. Even a Level 2 adventurer would find themselves struggling for breath, let alone a Level 1 rookie.
In the original story, when the protagonist dove into the 13th Floor as a Level 2 along with two Level 1 teammates, they immediately faced a crisis that nearly prevented them from returning. That was proof enough.
One had to remember that the protagonist wasn't an ordinary Level 2. His Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, and Magic had all reached SS before he leveled up, and his best stat, Agility, had reached SSS. With that latent potential, he was far stronger than a typical Level 2. Combined with his unprecedented rapid-fire magic and skills that allowed him to turn the tide in adversity, he still met a crisis shortly after entering the 13th Floor. This showed how dangerous the Middle Floors were.
Of course, the original protagonist's party met that crisis partly because the Take-Mikazuchi Familia performed a "Pass Parade," dumping a horde of monsters onto them. But look at the lineup the Take-Mikazuchi Familia had at the time: two Level 2s leading the charge with several Level 1s as support, and they were still driven to a dead end by the monsters of the 13th Floor. If Leon dared to go there alone at Level 1, dying would be the easy way out; if he survived, Loki and Finn would surely skin him alive when he got back.
Taking all this into account, Leon knew reaching all-S stats wasn't something that could be done in just a couple of days.
Moreover, his goal wasn't merely a set of S-rank stats.
Thinking of this, Leon's emotions settled.
"Wait... aren't you excited at all?"
Loki, however, was having a much harder time calming down. She gesticulated wildly as she shouted.
"It's only been eleven days! Not even two weeks! Less than half a month! And you've raised all your stats to D or higher? You even have Magic at A!"
Loki had every reason to be excited.
What did other children look like half a month after receiving Falna and becoming adventurers? At best, they might have one or two stats reach Rank H!
Leon hadn't even hit the half-month mark, yet his best stat was already at A. By the time two weeks actually passed, his Magic would surely reach S, wouldn't it?
On one side was an H-rank just breaking out of the lowest I-rank; on the other was the peak S-rank. There were eight full ranks between them!
What did that mean?
It meant that while others had just left the starting line by two or three steps, Leon had already sprinted to the finish line and was about to take the trophy!
S, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I—there were only ten ranks in total for base stats, and Leon was eight ranks ahead of everyone else. Crucially, his other stats weren't lagging behind; they were all growing at extreme speeds. He couldn't even be called a genius anymore; he was a freak, a monster!
Even Ais-tan, the greatest genius to date, was being thoroughly suppressed. Anyone else would have been dancing for joy, wouldn't they?
Yet, Leon remained as calm as ever.
"Reaching S-rank in my best stat in half a month—what's there to be excited about?" Leon said honestly. "I'm already capable of leveling up. Is there any need to get worked up over this?"
Loki's frantic movements came to a screeching halt.
Right. This kid could already level up. Why would he get excited over his base stats going up a single rank?
Compared to reaching S-rank in half a month, the fact that he could jump from Level 1 to Level 2 in ten days was the truly world-shaking event.
"Aren't you even happy?" Loki pressed, unwilling to give up. "Your current stats are at the very top even among Level 1s. That means you're already considered an expert among lower-class adventurers. Doesn't that make you happy?"
It was true. With his current stats, Leon was among the best of the Level 1s, far stronger than typical low-class adventurers.
Other rookie adventurers could struggle for years at Level 1 and never see a single stat reach Rank D. Only those with true potential who could continue to climb to higher levels would possess D-rank stats or higher. Leon had already caught up to them, becoming one of the top experts of Level 1.
Specifically, with his Magic at A and his status as a magic swordsman, if he actually fought another Level 1, he would have a chance of winning even if the opponent had all-S stats.
Compared to the Leon of eleven days ago—who didn't even have a Falna and was just an apprentice chore-boy in the Loki Familia—he had undergone a complete transformation.
If this wasn't worth being happy about, what was?
"I'm not unhappy; I'm just not excited." Leon glanced at Loki and said nonchalantly, "Since I can level up to Level 2 at any time, what's the point of getting worked up over whatever achievements I reach while still at Level 1?"
Unless he confirmed he could break the limits of the stats and reach SS or SSS, he might feel a tiny bit of excitement. Otherwise, even if he reached the all-S rank that Loki and the others expected, he wouldn't be too moved.
Even if the achievement of all-S stats was, in itself, quite staggering.
"Fine, you're just boring, brat."
Loki rolled her eyes and sighed.
If these results had been achieved by someone else—especially someone like Ais-tan, who had an abnormal obsession with getting stronger—her expressionless, beautiful face would probably crack from the excitement and she'd burst out laughing. This kid, on the other hand, thought it wasn't even worth getting excited about.
If she couldn't tell that Leon wasn't lying, she would have mocked him for "humble-bragging" or showing off.
"Whether you're excited or not, happy or not, remember to keep your secrets well. Don't let anything slip out accidentally," Loki suddenly warned, her tone becoming serious. "With this growth rate of yours, if it leaks, every god in Orario will go insane. If you get targeted by some of those thick-skinned bastards, you'll have a hell of a time."
"What?" Leon crumpled the parchment in his hand and looked at Loki with a smirk. "Is our great Goddess Loki incapable of protecting her own child?"
"Who do you think you're looking down on?" Loki sneered. "Of course I'm not afraid of anything. If anyone dares to lay a hand on you, I'll march straight to their door and show them what's what. I'm mainly worried about people plotting against you in the shadows. Among those bored-to-death gods, there's no shortage of bastards who aren't afraid to die. I wouldn't want you to surrender before I even get the chance to take revenge for you."
Having said that, Loki's tone shifted.
"Of course, generally speaking, those bastards won't dare to act recklessly. In this small patch of land called Orario, there aren't many people—or gods—who aren't afraid of the Loki Familia. Just be careful, don't fall for any obvious traps, and Finn and the others will handle the rest."
After witnessing Leon's staggering potential, both Loki and the executives like Finn had already begun viewing him as a future pillar of the Familia.
They had discussed matters for the entire previous night, considering various scenarios and deciding on strategies to safeguard Leon's growth.
The information regarding Leon's status was now considered a top-secret matter by Loki and Finn, something they wouldn't reveal even to most of the other members.
But they could only hide it for so long.
Once Leon officially ascended to Level 2, it would be almost impossible to keep his existence a secret.
That was why Loki was lecturing him now, telling him to stay alert.
"Understood."
Leon wasn't stubborn; he nodded in agreement.
He knew he was still weak. To grow smoothly, he needed the protection of the Familia.
Therefore, he would accept all of this dutifully.
He would wait until he was strong enough, then repay the Familia in kind.
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