If you ask an adventurer what kind of change he most looks forward to in his ability score, his answer would mostly be just one.
That is, leveling up.
Not gaining magic that could be called a supernatural miracle, nor gaining a skill with strange effects, nor significantly enhancing his basic abilities, but rather the evolution of mind and body, the advancement of levels.
Especially for a novice adventurer at Lv.1, leveling up is undoubtedly what they look forward to the most.
Because, it is from this step that one truly steps onto the path of transcendence.
The divine blessing exists as an accelerator for growth, a catalyst for becoming stronger.
In other words, it is not about making someone who cannot become stronger break through their limits to do so, but rather about accelerating those who can still become stronger.
Therefore, whether a person can grow actually depends on whether they have the potential to grow.
If there is potential for growth, then the divine blessing can accelerate this process by accumulating experience points to promote growth, serving as nourishment for growth.
If there is no potential for growth, then unfortunately, even if one receives a divine blessing, they cannot grow.
This is also why those who have trained their basic abilities to the S stage are rare, and even fewer manage to reach the A and B stages.
They have exhausted their potential and cannot grow anymore. As such, no matter how many experience points they accumulate, they cannot increase even 1 point of proficiency.
In light of this, though there is a difference between strong and weak at Lv.1, those at this level still belong to the "mortal" category.
They can grow to the limit of the human body, to the limit of the human race through accumulating experience points, but they still cannot truly transcend and possess non-human-like power.
Especially for humans without any racial advantages, even if one trains to the limits of the human body, at most they can only break a rock; can they also split a mountain?
Impossible.
The human body ultimately has limits, no matter how it grows, it will not become non-human.
But once one has leveled up, it's different.
The so-called "evolution of mind and body" is exactly as the words imply, genuinely transcending the ordinary and officially entering the realm of the non-human.
Be it humans or demihumans, even if they have exhausted their potential at Lv.1 and trained to the limits of the human body without any further progress, once they successfully level up, they undergo a transformation that can truly be called "evolution of mind and body."
This transformation is not only manifested in increased strength but also in the expansion and broadening of one's own "vessel."
After leveling up, one will ascend to another level, at which point new potential, new possibilities will emerge, giving one who has reached a bottleneck the opportunity to grow and become stronger again.
That is leveling up.
Loki once said, leveling up is about approaching their (the gods') level.
The higher the level, the more times one has evolved, the more sufficiently one's mind and body have evolved, the closer one will get to the parents (the gods).
Thus, the phenomenon of leveling up can also be seen as a step-by-step approach to becoming a deity.
Given this, who would not desire to level up?
However, levels cannot be casually increased.
"Generally speaking, to level up, two conditions need to be met,"
Loki, swirling the wine bottle in his hand, said casually.
"One is to raise one of your basic abilities to the sixth stage, that is, the D stage."
"Another is to obtain experience points higher than usual, achieving great feats."
The first condition provides a sufficient foundation for leveling up.
If the foundation is not solid enough, it would be like a high-rise building with an unstable foundation; even if you build upwards, collapse is the only outcome.
Similarly, to facilitate the evolution of mind and body, to facilitate the individual's ascension, it is impossible without a certain foundation.
The second condition provides ample nourishment for leveling up, for evolving.
Just as ordinary experience points can act as nourishment to promote the growth of basic abilities or even awaken magic and skills, leveling up also requires enough experience points.
However, at this time, the required experience points are not something ordinary experience points can satisfy, but as Loki mentioned, they must be high-level experience points.
This high-level experience points, are the great feats mentioned by Loki.
That is, defeating opponents stronger than oneself.
That is, undertaking adventures that are a matter of life and death.
That is, initiating grueling challenges.
Once these actions are accomplished, the recipients of divine blessings will obtain experience points that are far superior to usual, achieving what are called great feats.
And when these feats accumulate enough, the evolution of mind and body will be triggered, and people will be able to advance to a higher realm, step into a higher domain.
This is leveling up.
"Defeating an opponent stronger than oneself, huh?"
A smirk inadvertently curled up at the corner of Reiger's mouth.
Seeing such a Reiger, Loki sobered up.
"Good fellow, it seems this not only didn't scare you, but also excited you, huh?" Loki commented, "Generally speaking, hearing that you need to defeat an opponent stronger than yourself would make anyone back off, right?"
"You really jumped the gun, not just beating the retreat but almost too eager to sound the war horn,"
Right?
Facing an opponent stronger than oneself usually means no chance of winning, right?
No chance of winning means a high likelihood of dying.
Who wouldn't flinch upon hearing such conditions are necessary for leveling up?
Only Reiger, who actually laughed.
"It's alright," Reiger quickly restrained his uncontrollable smile and said, "Even if the opponent is stronger, there are numerous examples of the weak overcoming the strong. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many high-level adventurers in this world."
Indeed, though the requirements for leveling up are harsh, there are still many who ultimately meet their goals.
Why?
Because being weaker than the opponent, one can compensate with skills, turn the tide with tactics, and even use plenty of schemes and plots.
To put it more directly, isn't Magic a killer weapon that can perform miracles?
If you really face an opponent stronger than yourself, then, desperately using a long incantation magic of widespread annihilation, unleashing the power capable of Burning Sky and Boiling Sea, wouldn't you still be able to burn a stronger opponent to death in one go?
These are all possibilities of the weak overcoming the strong.
Of course, there's an even simpler method.
"I suggest you find someone to form a team with," Loki advised. "Facing stronger enemies in a team format to challenge and harness the collective strength to conquer the opponent is actually a shortcut to gaining high-level experience points and achieving great deeds."
In a nutshell, if you can't handle a duel, then a group beatdown will do.
Challenging stronger opponents in this way can also lead to great achievements.
However, doing so, the experience points will be distributed among all members of the team, potentially leading to insufficient accumulation of high-level experience points to level up in one go.
But if it doesn't work once, why not just try a few more times?
This is why the conditions for great achievements are so harsh, yet there are still many people in the world who manage to level up successfully.
Challenging in team form is both safe and stable.
"Fortunately, there are many members in this clan, and you have many high-level seniors who can completely lead you forward and ensure your safe leveling up," Loki looked at Reiger and said, "If you need, you can directly ask me."
The meaning of his words was clear, nearly telling Reiger straight up that if he needed, Loki would help arrange teammates to swiftly boost him.
This is also one of the benefits of joining a large clan; having mentors, caretakers, guides, protectors. You only need to worry about whether your potential is sufficient.
In a weaker clan, even finding a companion to form a team with is a major issue.
In this sense, Reiger's initial choice to join Loki's clan was undoubtedly a wise one.
Otherwise, why would so many people hope to join a large clan?
It's not just because of the better networks and resources.
Yet...
"Forming a team, huh..."
Reiger instinctively furrowed his brow, leaving Loki speechless.
"Having someone to boost you isn't good enough? You really must be a bit odd!" Loki struggled to resist the urge to smash Reiger's head with a wine bottle to see what it was really filled with, he said breathing heavily, "Forget it, expecting you to grow step by step in a conventional way is definitely out of the question, since your abilities haven't reached their peak yet. Before you max out, let's first get you used to team combat, and we can plan in detail when you need to level up!"
Observing Reiger's rate of growth, undoubtedly, he had not yet fully unleashed his potential at Level 1.
Following this trend, it's certain that Reiger will raise his basic abilities to an A Stage, and even reaching the highest S Stage is within the realm of possibility.
But leveling up from an S Stage and leveling up from the bare minimum D Stage, could their powers be the same after leveling up?
Although both are leveling up, the strength gained from leveling up would surely be greater for those with higher ability scores at the previous level.
"I'm actually quite excited to see if you can achieve the miracle of reaching S in all ability values,"
Loki laughed heartily.
"All values at S?"
Reiger murmured softly.
That would indeed be a miracle.
At least, as far as Reiger knew, even in the source material, only one person had ever come close to this achievement.
The one hailed as the ultimate weapon of Eurale, a legendary figure of level 7, had four of his ability values reaching the S Stage, just one short of achieving all values at S.
Apart from that person, no one in the source material had such formidable potential.
Of course, the main character of the source material was definitely an exception.
That person not only achieved all values at S but even reached a realm unheard and unseen by the gods themselves.
Reiger looked at the parchment in his hand, his eyes flickering.
Compared to that person, could he touch the possibility that would make the gods rejoice?
"Indeed, it's something to look forward to."