"Lv.4"
Twilight Manor, top floor of the Central Tower, Divine Room.
In the somewhat cluttered room, Leo had taken off his shirt, revealing his back, and had Loki drip bright red divine blood onto it, unlocking the Lock of Falna and revealing the inscription with the image of a clown.
"Tick-tock----"
As the second drop of divine blood fell, the inscription on Leo's back rippled like water.
The Divine Script began to float up.
A bright, ghostly light began to illuminate Loki's face, which was positioned directly behind Leo.
Loki, who was manipulating the stats on Leo's back with his finger, suddenly paused at a certain moment.
After a long while, Loki's voice seemed to come from a very distant place.
"Just as I expected."
The Chief God didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and in the end could only simply state the facts.
Congratulations, you're leveling up again.
--
Leo Eligos Lv.3
Strength: H144 → SS1031
Durability: H107→SS1027
Dexterity: H189 → SS1069
Agility: G235→SS1094
Demonic Power: F346→SSS1386
Mage: H→G
Magic Attack: I→H
These are Leo's final stats at Lv.3.
"As always, all basic abilities have broken through their limits. Four abilities have reached SS level, and the one he excels at has reached SSS level. Even two of his development abilities have improved. He must have used a lot of magic on this expedition, right?"
Loki translated and copied down the ability values, handing the parchment to Leo while muttering these words with a smirk.
--
"I can't avoid it even if I want to." Leo took the parchment, his eyes fixed on its contents, and said, "My role on this expedition is that of a rear-guard Mage. I basically won't have the opportunity to leave the rear and fight on the front lines. Until we reach the 50th..."
"In the very deepest layers, without using magic, I would have no chance against the monsters there."
"Therefore, we have no choice but to use it."
Leo's words earned him only a glare from Loki.
"Are you saying that even though you haven't used your basic melee abilities much, you've still managed to raise those four basic abilities to the point where they can break through their limits?"
If you want Versailles, just say so here. Don't go outside and say it, or we're afraid you'll get beaten up.
Although Loki didn't say it aloud, he conveyed the meaning.
"I just wanted to say that I can't survive without doing this," Leo replied irritably, then crumpled the parchment in his hand and said, "Since you can level up, then help me level up."
97
Since my stats are already maxed out, there's no need to wait any longer.
"You've decided, right?" Loki didn't see anything wrong with it, and after confirming it one last time, said, "Then we'll just upgrade you directly."
As he spoke, Loki manipulated Leo's back, which was emitting a flickering red light, and with a few swipes of his fingers, he sent all the floating Divine Script flying back and reforming them into the inscription.
That's good.
Loki, having relocked Leo's stats and restored his back to its original smooth state, wrote down the new stats and handed them to him.
Leo Eligos Lv.4
Strength: 10
Durability:10
Dexterity: 10
Agility: 10
Demonic Power: 10
Mage: G
Magic Attack: H
Mind Healing: 1
The enhancement of his abilities has been successfully completed, and his level has been confirmed to have increased. All his basic abilities have been reset, and the abilities from the previous level have been transformed into potential abilities and accumulated, building an increasingly solid foundation for Leo.
Lv.4 is the highest level below the first-level adventurer.
With fewer than forty Level 1 adventurers in the entire Orario, these adventurers are the backbone of the city, representing the strongest combat force besides the fewer than forty high-end fighters.
An adventurer of this caliber would be a core member of the Second Army even within the Loki Familia, and would certainly not be an unknown soldier within the Freya Familia.
Perhaps, in the eyes of many first-level adventurers, adventurers of this level cannot be considered true powerhouses, but they will not ignore the existence of this level and will regard them as "chasers" who have caught up with them.
They will ignore adventurers who are only level 1.
They will look down on adventurers who are only at level 2.
When they see a level 3 adventurer, they will look down at them.
It can be seen that most of the adventurers who have reached level 4 have already begun to take things seriously.
--
This is the value of Lv.4.
It only took Leo two months to go from receiving the Falna Body to reaching this level.
Loki was at a loss for words to express his feelings about this.
"You're a freak, I guess I'm impressed."
That was all she could say.
Leo ignored Loki's behavior and turned his attention to his newly acquired developmental abilities.
"Mind Healing"—is that it?
This developmental ability also has another name: "Mental recovery".
As the name suggests, this is a development ability that has the effect of automatically restoring mental energy.
Once Mage have exhausted their mental energy, if they want to recover it, they generally either take a magical potion to restore it through its effects, or they enter a deep state of rest, such as sleep.
However, after acquiring the "Mind Healing" development ability, Mage can restore their mental energy without deep rest. They can automatically restore their mental energy while using magic, replenishing it as they use it. The degree of restoration depends on the level of the development ability.
If the "Mind Healing" ability level is high enough, it can even recover faster than it consumes.
To put it simply, with this ability, given enough time, one will no longer need magical potions. Therefore, for Mage who consume a lot of mental energy, this ability is an extremely valuable and rare ability. At least within the entire Loki Familia, apart from Riveria, no one else possesses this ability.
"This is a development ability that only appears in the very late game. We've never seen it triggered at Lv.4 before. We don't know if it's because no one mentioned it, or if it can be triggered at this level but the conditions are quite demanding. No one has managed to do it yet."
Loki was also amazed by this.
"Of course, it's also possible that you're special and only you can do this?"
Loki was incredibly curious when he thought about Leo's special ability, which he still couldn't figure out.
Upon hearing Loki's words, Leo also had some doubts about whether the [People of the Alien Star] were behind it all, which was why he had triggered this development ability at Lv.4, but it was undoubtedly a good thing.
I am more dependent on mental energy than others, and I have lost count of how many times I have encountered situations where my mental energy was insufficient and I could only recover by guzzling magical potions.
But what if I run out of magic potions during a battle?
Then all the magical abilities I was so proud of would probably be useless.
"Mind Healing | This ability to automatically restore mental energy came just in time, greatly alleviating Leo's urgent needs."
Once it's elevated to a certain level, accelerating the recovery speed of mental energy, then the situation of insufficient mental energy should become much less frequent, right?
Looking at his various development abilities, and the "Demonic Power" item that had reached the SSS stage again before the upgrade, Leo became thoughtful.
"My magical abilities are already strong enough; perhaps it's time to improve my melee skills."
Leo never forgot that his role was not that of a pure defensive Mage, but a magical swordsman who could fight on the front lines and break free from the protection of his comrades.
Now, my magical abilities are already quite strong. At Lv.3, I possessed firepower comparable to Lv.5, and at Lv.2, I was able to defeat the floor master with it. Now that I'm Lv.4, my abilities in this area have definitely increased significantly, far exceeding what I should have at my current level.
All three of his developmental abilities are related to magic, and even his skills are related to magic, so his enhancement of magic has already exceeded expectations.
So, the next step should be to improve his melee abilities and fully transform into a mature magic swordsman, so that he won't be like this expedition, where he could only cast spells in safe areas, and even when facing female monsters, it was Ais charged into battle while he could only keep his distance and avoid their attacks.
"To improve your melee combat skills, simply conquering Dungeon and constantly defeating monsters to accumulate experience points isn't enough."
Leo thought for a moment, and suddenly an idea came to him.
"Perhaps I could ask the captain for a favor?"
Unlike Ais, who had no idea how to teach and could only correct others' mistakes through sparring, Finn was a true master of technique.
The physical potential of the Prum is inherently weaker than that of other races, even surpassing that of the mediocre humans in all aspects. Finn, knowing this, has honed his skills day after day for decades, using technique to compensate for his physical shortcomings. This has allowed the Prum captain's combat skills to reach a state of perfection, making him a contender for second or even first place in the entire Orario. Even the [Brave] of Freya Familia wouldn't dare say that he is definitely stronger than him in this aspect.
Finn's "Agility" has also reached S, which is enough to prove that he is very strong in terms of combat skills and qualities.
I can absolutely consult this master of technique and let him hone my combat skills and improve my close-combat abilities.
"I'm not lacking in stats now. Even if I can't match 'Demonic Power,' my 'Strength,' 'Endurance,' 'Dexterity,' and 'Agility' have all broken through their limits at each level, reaching the SS rank."
"Therefore, I don't need to deliberately train my basic melee abilities. In terms of physical fitness, I am absolutely outstanding among those of the same level, even surpassing those true melee masters."
"What I lack is skill, the ability to perfectly utilize my close-combat abilities."
With that thought in mind, Leo had already made up his mind.
A few minutes later, Leo left Loki's Divine Room.
It was quiet outside the door. It seemed that apart from Leo and Ais, no one else had come tonight, as if they were in a hurry to update their ability values.
Therefore, when Leo left Loki's Divine Room and came to the outer corridor, only Ais had already completed her renewal, was there.
The girl stood by the window, gazing at the night sky. The night breeze blew through her hair, causing her long golden hair to sway in the wind, creating a scene of breathtaking beauty.
However, Leo could clearly sense that Ais was not in a good mood at the moment.
No, it should be said that Ais was in a terrible mood.
This greatly diminished Leo's joy about the upgrade.
"Is it over?"
The girl noticed Leo's presence, turned around, looked at him, and her tone did not change significantly.
--
But Leo could still sense that Ais was suppressing her emotions, trying her best not to reveal them in front of him.
Unfortunately, she didn't know that after spending more than a year together, Leo had learned to discern her true inner thoughts from subtle changes in her expressions and eyes.
So Leo stepped forward and asked the question directly.
What's wrong with you?
Leo knew perfectly well that there was no need for any roundabout tactics when dealing with this girl.
Asking directly might be the best approach than any other method.
Ais raised her eyes slightly, remained silent for a while, and then handed Leo a piece of parchment that she had been holding in her hand.
"Can I see?"
Leo knew what was written on it, which is why he asked the question.
Ais didn't say anything, she just nodded and handed the parchment to Leo.
Leo looked closely and immediately understood why Ais was in such a bad mood.
Ais Wallenstein Lv.5
Strength: D549→D555
Durability: D540→D547
Dexterity: A823→A825
Agility: A821→A822
Demonic Power: A899
Hunter: G
Abnormal Resistance: G
Swordsman: 1
These are Ais's current stats, and they are from the latest updated version.
However, the improvement in these newly generated ability values is far too small.
--
Leaving aside the fact that his development ability hasn't improved at all—after all, that's a skill that's inherently difficult to improve, and not everyone can improve as easily as Leo —his basic abilities have also barely improved, at least not to the next level. What's the difference between that and no improvement at all?
All skill proficiency increased by a total of 16 points, but the "Demonic Power" proficiency remained completely unchanged.
The expedition lasted about half a month. As the undisputed main combat force of the Familia, Ais slaughtered countless monsters, including powerful monsters inhabiting the deep areas and beings with female bodies. However, she was unable to improve any of her abilities to the next stage. This was clearly telling Ais that she had not grown at all this time.
How could a girl who yearns to become stronger possibly feel good after witnessing something like this?
Leo returned the parchment to Ais, and after considering it for a moment, he finally spoke.
"That's perfectly normal. You've already reached the highest level of Lv.5, so further advancement is inherently difficult."
The closer a person's proficiency in basic skills is to 999, and the closer they are to the highest rating of S, the smaller their growth potential will be, and the more difficult it will be to improve. This is something everyone knows.
Ais's "Demonic Power" is already close to S, and her "dexterity" and "agility" have reached A. However, "strength" and "endurance" are not her strengths, so it is naturally very difficult for her to improve them.
Leo's words only elicited silence from Ais.