SSS

"SSS"

Riezel Brihaut

Lv.1

Strength: C678 → SSS1285

Endurance: C666 → SSS1273

Dexterity: B772 → SSS1327

Agility: B793 → SSS1309

Magic: F314 → SSS1280

Loki rubbed her eyes vigorously. After confirming again and again that she had not seen wrong, she finally froze.

She did not even bother to transcribe and translate it into the common tongue for Riezel. She simply stared at his back, feeling dizzy.

"Loki?"

Seeing the state Loki was in, Riezel called out to her.

But Loki gave no response at all.

He had no choice.

"So what the hell is SSS---!?"

Clutching her head, Loki screamed hysterically.

"SSS?"

Riezel raised a brow, somewhat surprised and astonished, but nowhere near as agitated as Loki.

Not noticing Riezel's reaction, Loki merely stood there holding her head, looking as though she had gone mad and was about to start screaming.

"What is this?"

"What the hell is this?"

"Isn't the proficiency limit for Ability Values S at 999? How did something as absurd as SSS suddenly appear?"

"I've never heard of this!"

Loki was genuinely shocked.

Though she had only descended to the Lower World a few decades ago, as the chief god of one of Orario's strongest familias, she naturally possessed no shortage of information. Combined with her shameless personality, she would stick her nose into anything, daring to act and daring to ask. The other gods would more or less give Loki some face and tell her certain secrets of the Lower World.

Thanks to that, Loki was fairly well-informed. Having also built one of Orario's strongest familias, she undoubtedly knew a great deal about the Falna bestowed upon children—people of the Lower World.

Yet even Loki had never heard of a child's Ability Values breaking past the highest S stage, surpassing the limits of Falna.

At the very least, within Loki's knowledge, such a thing had never happened in the thousand years since the gods descended.

Of course, it was possible that it had happened before and Loki simply did not know about it.

But this was indeed the first time Loki had seen such a possibility, so naturally she was deeply shaken.

"More importantly, a total increase of over 3,200 across all Ability Values is already absurd!"

Until now, Riezel's growth rate had been astonishing—terrifying, even—but never had he gained several thousand points all at once.

Especially his Magic, which had surged straight from F to SSS. Wasn't that outrageous enough?

The other Ability Values were the same. Rather than rising by a single stage, they had leapt four or five stages at once. It was absurd beyond absurd—absurdity had come home to roost.

"Could it be...?"

Suddenly, Loki understood.

She recalled the effects of Fool's Obsession. Not only could it greatly increase growth speed and growth limits beyond normal bounds, but its effects could also be enhanced under certain conditions.

---"The deeper the obsession, the stronger the effect."

---"The effect is greatly enhanced when overcoming peril."

Fool's Obsession had those two additional effects, and Loki finally realized.

A life-or-death battle against a Crocodile Dragon classified as Lv.2 definitely counted as "overcoming peril," didn't it?

And Loki could sense just how deep this brat's obsession ran. He must have become completely fired up in that desperate battle against a powerful enemy, fully igniting the fighting spirit in his heart and making his obsession incomparably intense.

With both effects activated, Riezel's skill had naturally been amplified enormously.

That was why this growth had been so ridiculous, multiplying several times over and resulting in this.

All Ability Values at Stage SSS!

The wall of potential known to the gods—the limit of Falna for people of the Lower World—had been broken!

"Loki."

Just as Loki was left reeling from the shock, Riezel's rather helpless voice reached her ears.

"Could you at least let me see my Ability Values?"

Riezel was also very curious about his current Ability Values, and looking forward to seeing them.

Loki took a deep breath, then looked at Riezel seriously. Hesitating and stumbling over her words, she said, "Don't be too shocked, okay?"

Hearing that, Riezel merely smiled indifferently.

Shocked?

Not a chance.

From Loki's scream, Riezel could roughly guess what had happened.

"Have my basic abilities reached Stage SSS?"

He was not surprised by it.

Because he had long known that such a possibility existed.

After the protagonist of the original work gained his cheat ability, he had reached this stage more than once, breaking through the theoretical upper limit of Ability Values.

Thus, Riezel had long known that above S lay the two stages of SS and SSS.

900–999 was S.

1000–1199 was SS.

Anything above 1200 was SSS.

This was a possibility proven by the original protagonist. Riezel had also wondered whether he could, like him, break through the limit of Ability Values and reach a stage no one else had ever attained.

It seemed that he had succeeded.

Sure enough, when Loki handed Riezel the parchment translated into the common tongue, he saw his results written upon it.

"All abilities at SSS?"

That did catch Riezel somewhat by surprise.

If he remembered correctly, even the protagonist of the original work had only pushed his strongest attribute into Stage SSS. His other abilities had merely reached SS.

Yet all of Riezel's abilities had received an SSS evaluation, giving him a perfect report card.

In other words, he was even stronger than the original protagonist?

Thinking of that, Riezel could not help but smile.

"You can still smile?" Loki had been watching Riezel the entire time, observing his reaction. Seeing that he had only been mildly surprised before calmly smiling, she immediately started rambling. "This is an event that could shake all of Orario—even the entire Lower World! I don't even know how to handle it or react, and you're just smiling? You're really something!"

"What else was I supposed to do?" Riezel truly remained calm. Smiling at Loki, he said, "I've only had a Falna for a few days. Even if you want me to be shocked, I can't exactly feel shocked."

Loki was momentarily speechless.

Indeed, considering how recently Riezel had received his Falna, even if she told him that everyone else's limit was S and that only he had broken through it to reach SSS, he probably would not understand how significant that was.

Unlike Loki, who had spent decades in the Lower World, handled the Falnas of countless people, and now felt as though her entire worldview had been shattered upon seeing something like this.

If it had been her just after descending to the Lower World, back when she knew nothing of the world's vastness, she probably would have only thought, I've found a treasure.

Unfortunately, Loki had run a Familia for decades and spent decades in Orario. Her understanding of Falna ran deep, so being shaken by this was unavoidable.

"Is this what they call the unknown? The potential of children—of those in the Lower World?"

Loki could only rub her forehead. After muttering to herself for a while, she finally smiled as well.

"All right, I think I understand a little better why those damn colleagues of mine are so obsessed with the unknown and potential of the Lower World. Something that can surprise even a god really is addictive."

Having lived for who knew how many ages, the thing gods probably hated most was anything unchanging.

That was why they needed entertainment.

That was why they needed excitement.

For that, they did not hesitate to seal away their divine power and turn themselves into fragile mortal bodies, freely pursuing unknown things in this playground known as the Lower World.

Loki was one of them. Once the shock passed, what filled her heart was excitement—unrestrained exhilaration.

Even the way Loki looked at Riezel changed.

"Good thing you belong to my Familia." Loki spoke in a low voice. "Otherwise, if I found out there was a child like you out there, I don't know whether I'd resort to any means necessary to steal you away."

This was a choice any god might make upon learning of the "unknown" that existed within Riezel.

Riezel Brihaut—this child carried the very thing gods sought.

"Hehe. Hehehe."

Just thinking about how such a child was in her Familia made Loki want to laugh, the kind of laugh born of secret delight.

"Stop laughing."

Having confirmed his Ability Values, Riezel instead shot Loki an annoyed look and said, "Other than my Ability Values increasing, were there no other gains?"

Because of the skill Self-Salvation, Riezel possessed a certain degree of awareness and understanding of his own Ability Values.

That skill, which granted Riezel the authority to update his Ability Values on his own, seemed to be telling him that he had gained far more than just this.

And that was indeed the case.

"You challenged that kind of monster while still at Lv. 1. How could you possibly not have accumulated a great feat?" Loki sighed, sounding emotional. "Your advanced Experience Points are full too."

Naturally, Riezel understood what that meant.

"Level Up." Loki smiled at Riezel. "You can Level Up now."

Riezel's eyes lit up at that.

Clearly, this was welcome news to him as well.

It was certainly a good thing for Ability Values to break past their limits.

But in the end, the incremental growth of basic abilities still couldn't compare to a Level Up.

If a person's basic abilities allowed the body to train rapidly to its limits, or even surpass those limits, then a Level Up transformed the very level of one's life.

The improvement gained then was absolutely beyond what a few stages of basic abilities could match.

"Well? Do you want to Level Up now?"

Loki asked with a beaming smile.

"Let's do it."

Riezel nodded without hesitation.

This wasn't just because he desperately wanted to grow stronger, but also because he could feel that his growth had reached its true limit.

At Lv.1, Riezel's potential had already been fully developed, with not even the slightest bit left untapped.

Under such circumstances, there was no point in remaining at this stage any longer.

Naturally, he had no reason to hesitate.

However—

"Before you Level Up, there's one more thing we need to confirm."

Loki looked Riezel straight in the eye as she spoke.

"You need to choose a Development Ability."

A Development Ability that only had a chance to appear during a Level Up.

Riezel had successfully triggered one.