Upon Shirou's reminder, the shocked goddess Hephaestus finally remembered that she still needed to update his status.
Despite having countless unanswered questions, Tsubaki, knowing it was time for Shirou's status update, wisely left the room. Even as the captain, she shouldn't snoop upon the divine blessing of her fellow familia member.
Tsubaki had always sensed that Shirou had more than just the magic [Unlimited Blade Works]—he probably had some other undisclosed skills. But since neither the goddess nor Shirou had mentioned it, she refrained from asking.
She left the room reluctantly, looking back every few steps, which made the boy feel a bit puzzled.
"Shirou, what do you think of Riveria?" Hephaestus couldn't help but ask.
"Well, I think she's pretty cute," Shirou replied. "Probably the cutest girl I've ever met." This was because, so far, "Riveria" was the only girl Shirou had encountered in this world who was younger than him. To him, other girls—whether it was Ryuu or Anya—were more on the "beautiful" side rather than "cute." Riveria, on the other hand, was more "cute" than "beautiful."
"Cute?!" The goddess was shocked. Without realizing it, a slight hint of admiration appeared in her eyes as she looked at Shirou.
At first, Hephaestus thought the issue lay with Riveria, the mature elf. But now, it seemed her child was not so simple either. Gods could easily detect lies in mortals, and Hephaestus was certain that Shirou was speaking from his heart—he genuinely found Riveria "cute."
"Shirou," the goddess said softly.
"Yes, goddess?" Shirou responded.
"No matter what kind of person you like, as long as it's mutual, I'll support you!" Hephaestus didn't fully understand Shirou's preference, but she chose to respect and bless his feelings.
Shirou: "Uh… thanks?"
At least, now she didn't have to worry about Shirou being deceived by a bad woman. Although Riveria might have some questionable fetish, but her noble character was trustworthy…probably.
After all, human-elf relationships was one of the more common cross-race relationships, and an age gap of less than a hundred years shouldn't be that big of a deal for elves, right?
Should I start crafting some accessory, what sort of gifts would an elf like? The goddess's mind began to wander.
"Goddess, I'm ready." Shirou had taken off his shirt, exposing his solid back.
"Oh, ok." Snapping back to reality, Hephaestus pricked her finger and pressed it against Shirou's back.
The emblem of a volcano and a forging hammer appeared, followed by the sacred hieroglyphs revealing his updated stats.
Shirou Emiya
Level: 1
Strength: H139 → H180
Endurance: G246 → G278
Dexterity: E447 → D507
Agility: H128 → H162
Magic: F311 → E410
Development Ability
Magic
- [Unlimited Blade Works]
Skills
- [Oath under the Snow]
- [????? (Roadless Valhalla)]
Hephaestus rubbed her eyes in surprise at the sudden surge in Shirou's stats.
"Shirou, this is your updated status. Be honest with me, what exactly did you do today?" she asked seriously.
Shirou thought for a moment and replied, "Maybe it's because I killed a Minotaur?"
"What? A Minotaur? Did you go down to the middle floors?" Hephaestus's tone became more serious. "We agreed that you'd only go as far as the twelfth floor."
If this kid really underestimated the dungeon because of his abilities and acted recklessly, then Hephaestus will get really angry.
Shirou quickly explained, "No, it's not like that. A Minotaur somehow wandered up to the twelfth floor. That's where I ran into Riveria—she got separated from her team."
"I see."Hephaestus's expression relaxed as she processed the situation. A Minotaur showing up on the twelfth floor was rare but not impossible.
Most likely, it was the result of the Loki Familia clearing out monsters in the middle floors, that caused the Minotaur to flee upwards.
Riveria, with her noble character, likely followed it to ensure no adventurer was hurt due to their mistake.
"So, with Riveria watching over you, you took on the Minotaur?" Hephaestus concluded.
"Yeah, that's pretty much what happened," Shirou confirmed. He hadn't realized it at the time, but "Riveria" had indeed been watching him when he killed the Minotaur.
Hephaestus thought this was a smart move. Having a high-level adventurer watch over their fight meant that even if Shirou had failed, nothing irreversible would have happened.
"So that's why Riveria set her sight on Shirou."She couldn't help but feel conflicted, knowing that this encounter might be what drew Riveria's attention to Shirou in the first place.
"Strange, did you defeat the Minotaur on your own? If that's the case, you should be able to level up," Hephaestus realized a crucial point.
Shirou's dexterity had already reached D-rank, and defeating a Minotaur as a level 1 adventurer, should have counted as an "achievement" worthy of leveling up, or at least triggering the "ready to level up" status in his blessing.
"Perhaps killing the Minotaur didn't count as an "achievement" for me? I did use a little gimmick, so defeating it wasn't that difficult…."Shirou thought for a bit, and then replied with a hint of uncertainty.
At this moment, Shirou had gained some understanding of the concept of "achievement."
The cow girl Niran earned her "achievement "by single-handedly taking on three orcs with minimal help and combining that with the "achievements" she had accumulated in the School District, allowed her to level up.
But for Shirou, such a challenge wouldn't help him accumulate any significant "achievement" because killing Orcs was simply too easy for him. Orcs had strong vitality but lacked high defense, unlike the Minotaur's tough hide. Even with just a bow, Shirou could easily kill a large number of Orcs.
For someone like the pallum Koni, with his physical strength and endurance, even at Level 2, it would be a challenge for him to solo three orcs. At Level 1, even facing a single Orc could count as an "achievement" for him.
The standard for an"achievement" wasn't entirely determined by one's level but also by one's abilities. An "achievement"was something that involved surpassing one's limits, like defeating an opponent stronger than you.
As for the Minotaur, based on the significant rise in Shirou's stats, it was clear that he had gained a lot of high-quality experience from that battle. While killing a Minotaur did count as an "achievement "for him, one alone wasn't nearly enough.
"All of my basic stats, have increased by about 30 points each, and my magic stat had increased by nearly 100 points." Shirou immediately realized the reason behind this—it was because he had attempted to project a Noble Phantasm for the first time.
—————
Cute Riveria
https://danmemo.boom-app.wiki/entry/chara-343