I Am the Great Feat

Thor turned his gaze toward Bell, who was still radiating a heavy, gloomy aura, and asked in a calm tone, "Bell, how much longer do you intend to wallow in this depression?"

Bell seemed not to hear him; he buried his head lower, shrinking into his chair.

Thor leaned in slightly and whispered into Bell's ear, "This time... we earned 30,000 Valis."

The sentence struck Bell like an electric shock.

He shuddered violently, his lowered head snapping up instantly, and those dim red eyes ignited like stars, suddenly bursting with astonishing brilliance!

"Lord God!" Bell shouted, his voice laced with incredulous urgency, "Did we really earn 30,000 Valis!?"

A smile curled the corners of Thor's mouth as his fingers nimbly produced a heavy coin purse from his robes.

Bell's eyes were glued to the purse, his excitement practically overflowing from his face.

However, a question quickly washed away the ecstasy.

He looked at Thor in confusion, "Lord God, where did we get so much money?"

He remembered clearly that the number of monster stones he had hunted was limited and their value nowhere near this amount, and many of them had already been used by his Lord God to refine Stardust.

"For that, we must thank the kind Miss Ais," Thor explained. "She left all the monster stones from the Minotaur they subjugated to us."

Bell suddenly understood.

But immediately after, worry replaced his joy, and he looked at Thor nervously, "Lord God! If those monster stones were all traded for money, then your Stardust..."

He was worried that Thor had sacrificed the accumulation of his power for this sum of money.

Thor calmly opened his palm, where two glowing pieces of Stardust were slowly rotating.

"Rest assured," he said lightly, "I have already condensed a second piece of Stardust. These 30,000 Valis were exchanged using the remaining monster stones."

Seeing the number of Stardust increase, Bell breathed a complete sigh of relief.

The immense sense of wealth and the harvest of power instantly dispelled all his previous frustration and gloom.

Looking back at this perilous trip to the Dungeon, the final harvest was unexpectedly bountiful!

He even felt that even if he were insulted by that fierce werewolf youth again... it didn't seem like such a big deal anymore.

If only... adventures like this could happen more often!

This thought quietly surfaced in Bell's mind.

As the joy of obtaining a fortune through adventure gradually faded.

Bell looked at the heavy purse in his hand, and amidst the excitement, the stern warning from Miss Eina—"Please do not enter the Dungeon on your own again!"—suddenly echoed clearly in his ears.

Though he had been depressed, he hadn't been completely deaf to her words.

He couldn't help but turn to Thor, his face filled with concern.

"Lord God... what Miss Eina, the Guild advisor, said... is it really okay for you to go into the Dungeon? Aren't the gods forbidden from entering?"

Upon hearing this, Thor remained composed, though a smile with deep meaning curled his lips as he countered, "My dear child Bell, take a guess: why don't they stop me from entering the Dungeon? Is it because they can't?"

He paused slightly, his gaze seemingly piercing through the roof to look toward some invisible height, "No, it is because they dare not."

"The rule that gods may not enter the Dungeon is, in the final analysis, merely a pact and rule among the gods themselves. Such trivial regulations have no binding power over me, like dust. The Guild is even less capable of punishing me."

His words carried an air of natural, inherent arrogance.

After hearing this, the doubt in Bell's eyes instantly dissipated.

That's right, his Lord God is the creator of stars; how could rules meant to constrain ordinary gods ever bind him?

After a moment's pause, Thor continued to explain, "However, I do not follow you into the Dungeon to flaunt my power or break any rules. It is purely a matter of efficiency. In fact, it significantly increases the efficiency of my Stardust condensation, while simultaneously allowing you to level up faster."

Bell was somewhat puzzled, "Level up faster?"

Thor nodded and guided him, "Do you remember what I told you about how adventurers level up?"

Bell answered immediately, as this was a fundamental rule he kept firmly in mind, "Of course I remember! As long as an adventurer's status values reach a certain amount, they can level up after completing a Great Feat!"

"Correct, a Great Feat."

Thor emphasized.

"It is the indispensable key for an adventurer to level up. A Great Feat, as the name implies, is a magnificent achievement—whether positive or negative. Its full meaning is: an achievement that even in the eyes of the gods, would be considered great."

He paused slightly to let Bell digest the concept.

Thor continued to elaborate, "A Great Feat does not necessarily have to be combat; it could be other things, such as forging a powerful weapon or researching some unique invention, but defeating a powerful enemy is the most straightforward Great Feat."

Bell listened, his eyes widening slightly as a glimmer of realization flashed in their depths.

He seemed to have captured the hidden meaning in Thor's words.

Thor said, "In the Labyrinth City Orario, countless adventurers wander before the threshold of Lv.1 for their entire lives, not because their status values are insufficient, but because they exhaust their entire lives without finding, let alone completing, that Great Feat worthy of recognition by the gods."

"But!" Thor's tone rose sharply, "From the moment you stepped into the Dungeon following me, the rules changed for you. Every opponent you encounter, spawned by the malice of the labyrinth and far exceeding your level, is a wall of despair that would be fatal to other adventurers of the same level. But you,"

He looked straight at Bell, "As long as you defeat them, every victory itself is the laying of the foundation for what is called a 'Great Feat'!"

Seeing that Bell still didn't quite understand, Thor decided to speak even more plainly.

"In other words, the very act of me, a being of my stature, stepping into the labyrinth is, in the eyes of the gods, an incredible, unknown, and extremely dangerous 'Great Feat'!"

"The result is that as long as your various ability stats reach the standard threshold for promotion, the path to a higher level will have no obstacles for you whatsoever."

To put it more bluntly.

He himself was the Familia's ultimate cheat. With him following along, anyone's level limit would be easily shattered.

Bell understood everything in an instant!

He never imagined that his deity would insist on following him into the perilous Dungeon, hiding such deep consideration to pave the way for his promotion!

Everything, it turned out, was for the sake of his faster growth!

Unprecedented gratitude and determination surged within his chest.

Thor watched the flames reignite in Bell's eyes and continued, "Of course, the increase in efficiency is two-way. Because of my deep involvement, the Dungeon will react violently, generating resources far beyond the norm, including more and stronger monsters and higher-quality magic stones."

"This is crucial for me, as I am in urgent need of restoring my strength. I estimate that this will increase the efficiency of gathering Stardust by at least 500%, if not more."

Bell's heart warmed, and just as he was about to express his gratitude and his determination not to let Thor down, "My Lord..."

At that moment, the door to the reception room was pushed open.

Eina walked in carrying a tray of fresh snacks.

She placed the snacks in front of Thor and sat in the opposite chair, clearly prepared to offer more advice.

However, Thor stood up immediately, cutting off the words she was about to speak: "It's getting late. Save the snacks for next time; we still need to save some room for dinner at the Hostess of Fertility."

He signaled to Bell.

Eina was stunned for a moment, watching as Thor truly prepared to leave, and then it dawned on her.

Thor had asked her to get snacks earlier simply to avoid her lecture and stall for time to find an opportunity to slip away.

Thor had already led Bell to the door.

But he suddenly paused, turned to the side, and let his gaze fall calmly on Eina, offering a well-intentioned reminder: "Oh, right. A word of advice: my deep entry into the Dungeon does indeed cause anomalies, but this incident with the Minotaur breaking into the upper floors had nothing to do with me."

Having said that, he didn't linger, leading Bell straight out of the reception room.

Eina remained alone in the room, Thor's final words echoing repeatedly in her mind.

The appearance of the Minotaur wasn't because of this willful deity?

Then what exactly was the reason for such a serious situation?

Her brows furrowed as she sank into even deeper questions and contemplation.