The Ability to Challenge Above One's Level

...Wind Spirit Sprint.

Just as everyone had said before, this wind-elemental auxiliary magic was very unusual.

No, it would be more accurate to say it was downright abnormal.

Ordinary auxiliary magic could enhance the caster's abilities and imbue both themselves and their weapons with magical attributes, but their effects were not usually so outrageous.

At the very least, an auxiliary magic with an ultra-short incantation like Wind Spirit Sprint should not have been particularly powerful.

Unless it was an ultra-long auxiliary magic whose incantation rivaled that of an enormous Area Annihilation Magic, the enhancement, reinforcement, and boosts provided by auxiliary magic would be quite limited.

But Wind Spirit Sprint was different.

This ultra-short incantation auxiliary magic, which could be activated with a single line, had absurd effects. Not only could it explosively raise one's abilities, but it also offered both offense and defense, making it nearly universal in application aside from lacking long-range attacks. It had already surpassed the bounds of auxiliary magic; even ultra-long incantation auxiliary magic vaguely fell short of it, let alone ordinary auxiliary magic, which could never produce such a tremendous effect.

An auxiliary magic that even ultra-long incantation spells could barely match, yet could be activated with a single line of chanting—this alone demonstrated how abnormal and unique Wind Spirit Sprint was.

The reason Ais, with only a Level 5, could bear the title of strongest Female Swordsman and become one of the city's strongest adventurers was because she possessed the support of this abnormal magical power.

It was a magic that allowed one to challenge enemies above one's level.

With this magic, with this abnormal "wind," Ais's own abilities might have only reached the upper ranks of Level 5, but she was enough to stand on equal footing with Orario's highest-ranking Level 6 adventurers, and was even stronger than ordinary Level 6s.

This was not like Lefiya, who had sacrificed her abilities in other areas to specialize solely in "Magic," raising it to the highest stage, then using skills and similar effects to amplify it before gaining firepower capable of crossing levels.

Without sacrificing any of her abilities, Ais could rely on the support of a single magic to gain the power to fight across levels. It was enough to astonish the world.

Frankly speaking, if only pure outward ability—that was, basic abilities—were considered, then even Level 6s like Finn and the others might not necessarily surpass Ais while she used "Wind."

Precisely because of this, the magic placed an excessive burden on both her body and weapon. One wrong move, and it could break her body down.

Rather than calling it a side effect of Wind Spirit Sprint, it was more accurate to call it the price that had to be paid to use this magic.

If power that immense did not burden its user, that would be the strange thing.

Thus, outsiders might not believe that a mere Level 1 novice adventurer could defeat a Level 2 Dragon species monster.

But the executives of the Loki Familia all knew that Riezel possessed that kind of power now.

"To begin with, that brat's Ability Value has already reached the upper ranks of Level 1. He wouldn't lose out even against seasoned Lower Class Adventurers."

"With the support of that abnormal 'wind,' it isn't impossible for young Riezel to defeat a Crocodile Dragon above his level."

"Not to mention, the brat has learned Lefiya's magic. He's even made up for the one weakness Wind Spirit Sprint lacks—long-range attacks."

Loki crossed her legs and looked at the Familia's executives present, grinning mischievously.

"I refuse to believe that, with this brat's growth potential, he'll be any worse than that lovesick pig."

At such a malicious remark, Finn and the other two immediately looked at their noses, then contemplated their hearts, acting as though they had heard nothing.

But they also admitted that, in Riezel, they saw the possibility of surpassing that person.

That made Finn and the others especially eager to see what came next.

"Looks like those brat boys and girls serving as officers are really going to feel the pressure."

Gareth grinned.

"Lefiya needs to work harder too."

Riveria closed one eye. Thinking of her direct disciple, she silently decided to give her extra lessons later.

Only Finn, biting his finger, suddenly asked Loki a question.

"Defeating a Level 2 Dragon species monster above his level—this absolutely counts as Great Achievements for Riezel, who's only Level 1, doesn't it?"

At those words, everyone fell silent.

"Loki." Finn looked at Loki and said, "Is he about to Level Up?"

Riveria and Gareth looked at Loki as well.

Loki's reply was only one sentence.

"Although I haven't seen his Ability Value yet, if nothing unexpected happens, then yes."

The impact those words had on Finn and the other two was easy to imagine.

"A Level 2 who received the Blessing less than a week ago?" Riveria murmured. "Orario is really going to be shaken this time."

Even Gareth gave a bitter smile. "Even Ais, the fastest, took a year back then. That brat only took a week. That's incredible."

"How is his accumulation?" Finn was somewhat concerned. "With his potential, he should be able to reach Stage S in every Ability Value. We can't let that potential go to waste."

When people of the same level fought, what factors determined victory or defeat?

Without question, it was the gap in basic abilities.

However, the Ability Values cultivated before a Level Up were also a decisive factor.

Just as had been said before, there was no need to explain who was stronger between someone who leveled up at Stage S and someone who leveled up at Stage D.

Everyone received the same boost when they leveled up. Therefore, the gap in their abilities before leveling up naturally became the gap between them afterward.

Of course, an adventurer's combat techniques, battle sense, tactics, magic, skills, and so on were also decisive factors. Pure basic ability values alone could not determine the final victor, but they were still an advantage. Naturally, it was best not to throw such an advantage away if possible.

Under such circumstances, unless Riezel truly could not continue growing any further, Finn was not particularly in favor of letting him Level Up now.

For members of ordinary familias, that would be one thing. Exploring the Dungeon was a life-risking endeavor, after all. Rather than obsessing over a few stages of basic abilities, it was more practical to greatly increase one's combat power through Level Up.

After all, the improvements gained from Level Up were utterly incomparable to the increases from just a few stages of basic abilities. On top of that, Level Up could unlock new potential and elevate one to an entirely new tier. Given those undeniable benefits, it was wiser to simply forgo growth at the current stage—one's current level—and focus directly on growth in the next stage—the next level.

However, Riezel's growth rate was simply astonishing, and his potential seemed bottomless. For him, spending some time building up his foundation was an extremely worthwhile investment.

That was why Finn had brought it up.

"He's already growing quickly enough. Letting him slow down a little isn't a bad thing."

That was what Finn thought.

Although Loki agreed wholeheartedly, she chose to respect Riezel's wishes.

"Let's talk about it after the brat wakes up," Loki said. "If he wants to Level Up, then as his family, we can't just stop him outright. This is his business in the end. We can only advise him—we can't make the decision for him."

Finn and the others immediately nodded.

"I'm already getting impatient," Loki said with a grin. "After this battle, just how outrageously will he grow?"

Loki, smiling with such eager anticipation, had no idea what she was about to witness.

Twilight Manor, Riezel's room.

When sunlight streamed in from outside, passing through the window and falling onto the bed, Riezel woke up.

"So bright."

Raising a hand to shield his eyes from the direct sunlight, Riezel narrowed his eyes and slowly sat up.

The moment he did, a faint soreness shot through his entire body.

Rather than spoiling Riezel's mood, this made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"Looks like the injuries aren't serious."

Since it was only soreness, it proved that it wasn't caused by his injuries. It was simply that his body had yet to fully recover from the strain of forcibly increasing the output of Wind Spirit Sprint.

That was still a problem, but compared to being injured, Riezel could endure a little soreness.

In any case, he had no desire to lie in bed for another month recovering.

"Lefiya's elixir worked incredibly well. If I have the money, I should keep some on hand. I could even spend energy to bring some back with the Dimensional Cube."

A miraculous magic potion capable of healing even fatal wounds was naturally best kept close at hand whenever possible, lest one become trapped in a difficult situation—or even a life-threatening one—after being injured.

Having fully experienced the effects of the elixir and unwilling to spend another stretch of time bedridden like before, Riezel seriously considered the matter as he got out of bed, dressed, and left his room.

His destination was Loki's God's Chamber.

Yesterday, after the goddess had come to see Riezel, she had told him to go find her once he woke up.

It was still early. Twilight Manor was rather quiet, and he had no idea whether everyone was still asleep or had already gone out.

Riezel did not encounter anyone along the way. He headed straight to the top floor of the central tower and arrived at Loki's God's Chamber.

At the moment, Loki still looked half-asleep.

"You're really up early."

The goddess stared at Riezel with a resentful expression, as though blaming him for disturbing her sweet dreams.

"Did you drink all night again?"

The instant Riezel entered the God's Chamber, he caught a sharp smell of alcohol. Then he saw several empty bottles scattered on the floor. How could he not know why this unreliable goddess had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed?

"Not all night. I just drank a tiny little bit more."

Loki held up her Fingers, making a gesture to indicate just a tiny amount.

Unfortunately, all Riezel could see between those two Fingers was an entire universe.

"Drink less."

Riezel offered a bit of advice.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Loki agreed verbally, clearly not taking it to heart. She merely patted the seat in front of her and smiled. "Come on, let's update your Ability Value already."

Riezel nodded, took off his shirt, and sat down in front of Loki.

"Oh, I'm really looking forward to this."

Loki appeared to be in an excellent mood. As she pricked her fingertip and began working on Riezel's back, she swayed her head from side to side and spoke aloud.

"Let's see what you've got this time, brat—"

Before she could finish, Loki suddenly stopped.

The next second, she cried out in shock.

"Th-this-this-this-this... what the hell is this—!?"

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