...
Riezel Brynhart
Level 1
STR: C678 → SSS1285
END: C666 → SSS1273
DEX: B772 → SSS1327
AGI: B793 → SSS1309
MAG: F314 → SSS1280
...
Loki rubbed her eyes in disbelief, making sure she wasn't seeing things. Convinced it wasn't an illusion, she was finally dumbfounded.
She didn't even bother handing the translated parchment to Riezel; instead, she silently stared at his back, feeling dizzy.
"Loki?" Riezel looked at Loki's expression and tentatively called her, but she didn't react at all.
"Holy crap! What the hell is SSS—?!" Loki suddenly shouted, clutched her head, and screamed hysterically.
"SSS?" Riezel raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised but not as excited as her.
Loki, who didn't see his reaction, continued to hold her head in shock and shouted madly.
"What the heck is this?!"
"What the fuck is this?!"
"Are the proficiency limits for basic abilities 999 and S?! What in the fuck's name is this SSS?!"
"I've never heard of such a thing!"
Loki was genuinely shocked, really, really shocked.
Although she had only been in the lower world for a few decades, as Goddess of one of Orario's strongest familias, she naturally had a lot of information at her disposal. Thanks to her shameless personality, she dared to inquire and meddle in everything, and other Gods more or less gave her some face, revealing some of the lower world's secrets to her.
Thanks to this, her knowledge was quite extensive. As she managed one of Orario's strongest familias, she was very familiar with the blessing granted to the familia's children.
But even so, she never heard of basic ability breaking through the highest limit of S-rank and surpassing the limits of blessing.
At least, within her knowledge spanning a thousand years from heaven to the lower world, such a thing had never happened. Of course, it was also possible that it had happened, but she just didn't know about it.
However, this was indeed the first time she had seen such a possibility, naturally leaving her shocked.
'Leaving aside the SSS, the total proficiency increase of over 3200 is also absurd for fuck's sake!'
So far, Riezel's growth speed had been astonishing, even frightening. However, there had never been a time like this, where his basic abilities simultaneously increased by several thousand.
Especially 'MAG', it shot up from F to SSS straight away—couldn't be anything but absurd.
The rest of the basic abilities were the same—not progressing one rank at a time but directly leaping over four or five ranks. It was beyond absurd; it was the embodiment of absurdity.
'Could it be...?' Loki suddenly remembered something.
She recalled the effects of 'Fool's Obsession', which not only extraordinarily increased growth speed and growth limits but also enhanced its effects under specific conditions.
—The deeper the obsession, the stronger the effect.
—The effect is greatly enhanced when in dangerous situations.
'Fool's Obsession' had these two effects, and Loki had an epiphany.
In a life-and-death battle against a Level 2 Crocodile Dragon as a Level 1, a fight of this degree could definitely be considered a 'dangerous situation', right?
Considering how deep Riezel's obsession ran, Loki could understand. He must have become completely excited during his battle with a powerful opponent, igniting his inner fighting spirit and intensifying his obsession.
Both effects were triggered, naturally amplifying this skill to a significant extent.
That was why, the growth rate this time was so absurd, multiplying several times over, resulting in the current outcome.
All basic abilities at SSS!
The potential barrier for the mortal of the lower world known to the Gods, the limits of blessing, had been shattered to pieces!
"Loki."
Just as Loki was feeling absent-minded about this, Riezel's somewhat helpless voice reached her ears.
"Why don't you let me see my status?"
He was curious and eagerly anticipating his current status.
Loki took a deep breath, and shortly afterward, she looked at him with seriousness.
"Don't get too scared, okay?" Loki said with a hesitant tone.
At her words, Riezel smiled disapprovingly.
'Scared? Impossible.'
From her yell, he could probably guess what had happened.
'So, did my basic abilities upgrade to SSS?'
He wasn't shocked by this news. Because he had known about this possibility for a long time.
In the original work, the protagonist grew to this rank more than once after acquiring cheats, surpassing the theoretical limit of status. So, Riezel had long known that beyond S, there were the ranks of SS and SSS.
900-999 was S.
1000-1199 was SS.
1200 and above were SSS.
This possibility had been proven by the protagonist in the original work, and Riezel had also hoped that he could break through the limit of status, reaching a stage that no one else had reached.
As expected, when Loki handed the parchment with the translated text to him, he saw his status written on it.
"All SSS...?" Riezel muttered in surprise. He already anticipated that several of his basic abilities would reach 'SSS', but he didn't expect all of them to hit that rank.
If he remembered correctly, even the protagonist seemed to have only SSS in the basic ability he excelled in, which was 'AGI', while the rest of his basic abilities only reached SS at best.
And here he was, with SSS in all basic abilities, receiving a perfect report card.
In other words, was he stronger than the protagonist?
"Hahaha..." Riezel couldn't help but laugh.
"You can still laugh, kiddo?"
Loki had been watching him, observing his reaction. Seeing him only slightly surprised and calmly laughing, she couldn't help but comment.
"This is a big thing that could shake the entire Orario and even the entire lower world. I don't know how to handle it, how to react, and you're just laughing? You're truly a mad lad!"
"Well, what else can I do?" Riezel surprisingly remained calm as he smiled at her. "I've only received the blessing for a few days. You expect me to be shocked? I can't muster up shock that quickly."
Loki was momentarily speechless.
Indeed, considering the short time he had received the blessing, even if he were told that the limit for others was S and he broke through to SSS, he probably wouldn't grasp the magnitude of it.
Unlike her, who had spent decades in the lower world, handling countless blessings, witnessing something like this was bound to shake her worldview.
Back in the day, when she had just descended from heaven, she probably would have a simple thought like 'I've hit the jackpot' or something similar.
Unfortunately, she had operated a familia for decades, mingled in Orario for years, and had a deep-rooted understanding of blessing. It was inevitable that she would be shaken by such an extraordinary occurrence.
'Is this what they call the unknown potential of mortal?'
Loki sighed, holding her forehead tiredly. After a while, she finally chuckled.
'Okay, I guess I understand why those damn fellows are so crazy about the unknown and potential of the lower world. This kind of thing that even surprises me is indeed exciting.'
Having survived countless ages, Gods probably detested nothing more than things that never changed.
So, they needed entertainment.
So, they needed excitement.
For this, they didn't hesitate to not use their 'Arcanum', transforming into fragile being like mortals, indulging in the pleasures of the lower world, and chasing the unknown.
Loki was part of that, and after the initial shock, excitement and thrill filled her heart. As a result, she looked at Riezel differently now.
"Good thing you're in my familia, kiddo..." Loki said faintly. "Otherwise, if I found out there's a kid like you outside, I might not hesitate to use any means to snatch you away."
This was a choice that all Gods might make upon learning about the 'unknown' within Riezel's existence.
Riezel Brynhart, this child's body harbored something that the Gods pursued.
"Heehee... Hehehe..."
Thinking about having such a child in her familia, Loki couldn't help but laugh and relish the thought.
"Stop laughing." After confirming his status, Riezel rolled his eyes at her. "Besides gaining growth in status, is there no other aspect of gain?"
Due to the skill 'Self Redemption', he had a certain level of perception and understanding of his own status.
This skill, which granted him the ability to independently update his status, seemed to be telling him that what he gained went far beyond just this.
And indeed, it was.
"Challenging that monster at Level 1, how could you not have accumulated enough exploits?" Loki sighed emotionally. "Your high-rank excelia is already maxed out."
Riezel naturally understood the meaning of that statement.
"Level up." Loki said with a smile. "You can level up now."
Hearing this, his eyes lit up.
Obviously, this news was something to be happy about for him. Breaking the limits of his status was undoubtedly a good thing. However, the periodic improvement of basic abilities still couldn't compare to the boost from leveling up.
If one's basic abilities could rapidly push the body to its limits or even break through them, then leveling up changed one's life.
The improvements gained at that point far surpassed the ranks of a few basic abilities.
"How? Ready to level up now?" Loki confirmed with a smirk.
"Let's level up." Riezel nodded and replied without hesitation.
This wasn't just because he urgently wanted to enhance his strength, but also because he could feel that his growth had reached its limit.
At Level 1, his potential had been fully unleashed, leaving nothing untapped. In such a situation, staying at this level would be meaningless. Since that was the case, he naturally wouldn't hesitate.
However...
"Before leveling up, there's one thing that needs confirmation." Loki said while looking directly at Riezel's eyes. "You need to choose a development ability."
A development ability that only had a chance of appearing when leveling up.
Riezel successfully triggered it.