It was even more of a reality in this world.
An adventurer's level required them to accomplish glorious Great Feats that even the gods would praise.
-This was the only path to the next stage.
But what constituted a Great Feat?
The miracle of the weak defeating the strong, the resolve to survive by courting death, the heroic feat of single-handedly carving a bloody path out of the abyss of despair.
In other words.
An increase in level was not merely an increase in physical strength, but growth in body, mind, and capacity.
It was a process of being hammered repeatedly on the anvil of life and death until one could contain divine power of a higher order.
Once someone had something to depend on, once they had a way out.
To survive, they learned to seek benefits and avoid harm, learned to circle within safe zones, and became firmly trapped in a comfort zone like a frog slowly boiling in warm water.
The sparks struck at the edge of life and death would then go out.
The vessel of the soul would change as a result.
This caused many adventurers, over the long years, to become permanently locked into the ranks of lower-tier adventurers.
Precisely for that reason.
If Falna was the spark.
Then an adventurer's own will was the firewood.
Only those who dared place themselves over the furnace of life and death and let its raging flames scorch them had a chance to burn through that barrier and see the sights of the next level.
That was why, before bringing Onigawara Rin, Kikakujō Mary, and the others to this world, he would ask that question-whether they had the resolve to sever their past completely and stake their entire lives on the gambling table.
Chapter 69: The Threshold