The Self of That Time

One "Goliath".

Upon hearing the name, Loki, who had been sucking blood from his finger, immediately spat out his finger and saliva.

With drool at the corner of her mouth, her usually squinty eyes suddenly widened as she stared blankly at Leo.

That look in his eyes was like watching his own unlucky child suddenly have a fit and run into the wall, smashing their head in.

Who... who are you talking about?

Loki's voice even changed tone.

"Goliath," Leo said calmly. "I've already told you, who else could be the floor master of the 17th Floor besides Goliath?"

The tone was so natural, it was as if they were talking about Goliath, not Goblin.

"Are you crazy?"

Seeing that Leo Loki n't seem to be joking, Loki immediately stood up.

Do you know who you're talking about?

"The floor owner! That's the floor owner!"

"If you, this unfortunate kid, still don't know what a floor master is, then at least you should know that it's two levels higher than the highest-level monster on that floor, right?"

Loki couldn't help but grab Leo's shoulders and shake him violently, as if trying to wake him up, in a rather hysterical manner.

"That's a super-large Lv.4! You, a Lv.2, are challenging something like that as an opponent? You're not planning to accumulate great achievements, you're planning to become a negative example, aren't you?"

Level 4, and a super-large monster at that. Even if you assembled a team of all Level 4 members to defeat that kind of boss-level monster, you'd probably need a ten-person team to succeed without any major mishaps.

After all, Goliath is a floor master specializing in "durability". In terms of "durability" alone, he can rival Lv.5. Even a ten-person team of all Lv.4s would have to work hard to wear him down. A mere Lv.2 would be crushed in one stomp against a monster of that level.

"You could even challenge a regular Lv.4 monster. The kind of monster that the floor boss is not just about its classification level. Not only is it huge, but it's also incredibly tough. Even Ais would have a hard time cutting through it, let alone killing it. And you, a Lv.2, actually want to take on that kind of thing one-on-one?"

Loki was so angry his lips were trembling, and he blurted out a curse.

"You've definitely gotten too cocky, haven't you? Tell us you've gotten cocky because you've grown up too fast and too smoothly! That way we can give you a good wake-up call without any hesitation!"

It's no wonder Loki reacted this way; the idea of one-on-one combat with the floor master is simply too outrageous, even if Goliath is the weakest floor master.

There are countless adventurers in Orario, but currently, there is only one adventurer in Orario who has successfully soloed the floor master.

That is Ottar, the strongest adventurer in the city, Orario's only Lv.7, the leader of the Freya Familia, known as the ultimate weapon, and nicknamed "The Brave".

No, even that [Brave] Ottar failed to kill the floor master.

He only managed to beat the floor master half to death before his fellow members of the clan intervened, preventing him from completing his feat of defeating the floor master alone. It is said that he has always regretted this, and even lashed out at his fellow members of the clan for it, even resorting to violence.

Of course, the floor master who challenged them was not Goliath, who was classified as Lv.4, but the strongest of the four floor masters discovered so far, located on the 49th Floor — Balor.

The highest classification of the monsters on the 49th Floor is Lv.5, and the floor master there is undoubtedly Lv.7, with some even reaching Lv.8. Even the strongest in Orario would find it extremely difficult to defeat such monsters alone. Under such circumstances, having their monster stolen halfway through is bound to make them furious.

Therefore, no one has ever accomplished the feat of single-handedly defeating the floor master. Perhaps one of the two clans that once ruled Orario did it, but they did not report this achievement to the guild, and the guild has not made any public announcement about who did it. So even if someone did it, it was done in secret.

At least, no one has publicly accomplished this feat yet.

Even the Lv.7 [Brave] hasn't fully succeeded in a one-on-one duel with the Lv.7 level 15 [Warrior], let alone Leo, a Lv.2 [Warrior].

I have to challenge a level 4 floor master, which is two levels higher than me?

Isn't this just getting carried away?

However, Leo was actually quite calm.

"Right now, the only worthy opponent I can think of is Goliath, isn't there?" Leo said, looking at Loki. "With my abilities, who else in the middle ranks could I defeat to achieve a level-up?"

Upon hearing this, Loki was speechless.

Judging from Leo's stats, he probably really has no rivals in the mid-tier right now.

Although he was only Lv.2, his abilities had already broken through the limits when he was Lv.1. His four basic ability parameters reached SS, and his best one even reached SSS. This allowed him to accumulate very powerful potential abilities after leveling up, making him much stronger than a typical Lv.2 who had just leveled up.

Now, his stats have once again broken through the limits, with four stats at SS and one at SSS, which means his strength has exceeded the level of Lv.2.

Loki believed that with Leo's current abilities, he would not be at a disadvantage even against a Level 3 opponent.

Lv.3 is already stronger than the mid-level difficulty, and according to the guild's strategy, it's perfectly feasible to venture into the lower levels.

With his abilities, it would indeed be difficult for him to find a worthy opponent in the middle management.

Unless he encounters an unusual situation, is targeted by the Dungeon, or faces a crisis far beyond what a Lv.2 can handle, it would be difficult for him to take risks, achieve great feats, and complete the upgrade in the middle level.

But such unusual situations are not something you can encounter whenever you want.

Given this, it's understandable that Leo would be chosen as the floor leader.

After all, Goliath, the master of the 17th Floor, appears every two weeks and never leaves the room where he was born. Unless you are attacked, you will definitely encounter him if you go to that room.

In this situation, will Leo choose to take a chance and deliberately create unusual events to increase the difficulty of the battle, or will he choose to challenge this inevitable opponent?

The answer is obvious.

"But... but that's the floor owner! You're only level 2!"

Loki didn't let go of Leo's shoulder, his face full of conflict.

"Although I'm only Lv.2, with my current stats, most Lv.3s can't compare to me, not to mention I have magic. In terms of firepower alone, I'm already on par with Lv.4, right?"

Leo spoke to Loki with a sense of relief.

Even a regular Mage, who could raise their "Demonic Power" parameter to the highest level of S during leveling up, would still be much weaker than Leo is now.

Leo raised his "Demonic Power" parameter to SSS at Lv.1, two stages higher than the highest S. He's currently at Lv.2.

He's still two stages higher, and with both factors combined, his potential "Demonic Power" parameters are probably not much lower than Lefiya Viridis's current Lv.3.

Even with H-stage "Mage" support and an Emerald Staff better than Lefiya Viridis's Leo Staff, if we disregard the magical amplification effect of her skill [Fairy Song], her current firepower probably isn't much higher than Leo's.

Given Lefiya Viridis's "Demonic Power" strength, even without skill support, her firepower would not be inferior to that of an ordinary Lv.4 Mage.

After all, most Mage don't have that much potential to raise their "Demonic Power" parameter to the highest S level at each level. Some can only raise their "Demonic Power" parameter to the D level required for leveling up before reaching their limit. Even if such Mage level up, they will be much weaker than Mage level up with higher potential "Demonic Power".

Some Mage haven't even mastered the "Mage development" ability required to prove themselves as high-ranking Mage. Even if such Mage is only Lv.4, the power of their magic cannot possibly surpass that of Lefiya Viridis.

Naturally, the current Leo would not lose to a "guaranteed" Lv.4 level Mage.

He now possesses magical firepower capable of damaging monsters classified as Lv.4.

In other words, he has already acquired the basic qualifications to deal with floor masters classified as Lv.4, and is not so incapable of even breaking through their defenses.

Even if Goliath has the "Endurance" trait, I can increase the power of my magic by expending extra mental energy, which I believe will be enough to damage it.

This is why Leo wanted to fight Goliath.

[Meteor Dance]'s normal firepower is already at level Lv.4. As long as Leo is willing to risk his mental strength, it won't be difficult to raise the firepower to level Lv.5 and damage Goliath, who has the "Durability" trait.

"But can your mental strength withstand that?"

Loki frowned, but still didn't budge.

"I'll bring plenty of supplies," Leo said bluntly. "If our mental strength is insufficient, we'll rely on plenty of magical potions to sustain us."

I refuse to believe that this isn't enough to challenge the floor owner.

Loki didn't say anything more and began pacing back and forth in the Divine Room.

Leo wasn't in a hurry; he quietly watched Loki, waiting for her to make a decision.

If the Chief God disagrees with my undertaking of such a risky act, then it is understandable.

Even Leo himself had the thought that this was suicidal, after all, it was a challenge that crossed two levels, and the opponent was the floor master.

He didn't actually have to take such a risk.

After all, barring any unforeseen circumstances, his skill [People of the Alien Star] has the effect of reducing the difficulty of leveling up, so he doesn't need to take such a big risk to challenge monsters of that level in order to achieve the great feat of leveling up.

Leo still wanted to give it a try.

He wanted to do this for no other reason than to revisit that special, safe floor and tell his past self, who was lost and uncertain about the future, that a year later, he was no longer the person who needed someone to guide him out of the building with trepidation.

Even though he was nothing back then, a year later he was able to create a legend that left the world speechless.