In the past, when Riezel first entered Danmachi, he was indeed quite interested in Bell Cranel, the protagonist of the original work.
As far as he knew, in the original work, Bell was the only person who had broken through the limits of status, raising all basic abilities to SS and even to SSS.
Perhaps in the past, there had been others who also surpassed the limits of status, raising one or two basic abilities to SS or even SSS, but someone who had raised all abilities to that rank—Riezel only knew of Bell.
In addition, Bell's growth speed was equally inhuman, and he might soon catch up to Riezel. In the past, Riezel had paid him considerable attention and had been very curious about whether this person, once fully grown, could become his opponent and bring him excitement.
But Riezel, who had once thought that way, had forgotten something—his greatest cheat was not his status that broke through limits, nor was it his endlessly burning fighting spirit, but the Dimensional Magic Cube that spun steadily in his mind.
With the Dimensional Magic Cube, he could perform dimensional travel, entering one world after another and gaining power within those worlds.
Dimensional travel also allowed him to create a time gap between himself and the worlds he had visited. While others in those worlds felt that only a day or a few days had passed, he had already spent several months in other worlds, continuing to grow rapidly.
Under such conditions, no matter how fast Bell's growth speed was, how could he possibly catch up to someone who kept growing and becoming stronger across different worlds?
When Bell had been Level 1, Riezel had already been Level 5.
Now that Bell had reached Level 2, Riezel had already advanced to Level 8.
Not only had the gap not narrowed, but it had instead become even more exaggerated.
And this was only a simple comparison of level differences, not even taking into account Riezel's numerous astonishing magic abilities, nor his Breathing Styles, nor the combat skills and experience that he had honed to the point that even Ottar had to praise him.
Hence, although Riezel had not completely lost interest in Bell, he no longer regarded him as a rival.
At present, the only ones Riezel considered true rivals were the supreme powerhouses who had once stood in his way and left him in a miserable state.
For example, Fairy Knight Gawain.
For example, Fairy Knight Lancelot.
And for example... Morgan.
Even Koyanskaya, the Beast of Cherishment, had caught his attention.
As for those struggling to catch up behind him, he already did not care much, since his gaze rested only on what lay ahead. If those behind him wanted to draw his attention, they would at least have to touch his back first.
Riezel did not know that his state of mind coincidentally aligned with Ottar's.
Ottar was the same: he always looked forward, and what he saw in his eyes was not the current Orario, but the past—when the Zeus Familia still existed, when the Hera Familia still existed, when Level 8 and Level 9 had roamed freely.
Only those who had once made him taste defeat and left him in disgrace were regarded by him as rivals.
And Riezel was simply an exception.
Although the members of the Loki Familia did not know his state of mind, they still dismissed Tiona's view.
"You think everyone's a monster like this guy?"
Bete leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and snorted in disdain.
"Going from Level 1 to Level 2 in like a month and a half right after getting a Falna is pretty impressive, sure, but compared to Riezel, the gap's still kinda huge, right?"
Tione sat upright beside Finn's desk, keeping a subtly measured distance from Finn's position, and expressed her opinion.
"I don't think that Little Rookie can even compare to our Liberator."
"Raul's right. Mr. Riezel only took seven days to jump from Level 1 to Level 2 back then. Just that alone already puts that Little Rookie way behind Mr. Riezel."
Raul and Anakitty were also present in the office, standing near the door as if in the least prominent positions, and they spoke in turn.
"But... that kid also broke Ais's previous fastest level-up record, didn't he?" Tiona, seeming to feel the fire was not being stoked enough, suddenly hugged Ais, who was sitting beside Riezel. "Ais, you saw that kid fight too, right? It kinda felt like watching another Riezel—terrifying, but you just couldn't look away."
"Mm... he was really strong..."
Ais, seeming to recall that moment—the sight of the white-haired, red-eyed rookie adventurer who looked like a rabbit fighting a ferocious bull to the death—nodded in agreement.
Everyone in the room knew that earning her acknowledgment was no easy thing.
If possible, Ais had even wanted to seek the rookie out for advice and ask how he had managed to grow so quickly.
Unfortunately, everything suffered when someone better existed.
Compared to that rookie who had earned the alias Little Rookie, Ais was more inclined to seek guidance from the partner beside her, who had been recognized by various gods for his great achievements and had been granted the alias Liberator—someone very similar to her in many ways, and someone with whom she shared a strong tacit understanding.
And he had indeed made her stronger, as shown by the benefits of learning Wind Breathing, which had already been fully proven through her own experience.
If possible, she hoped she could continue to grow stronger together with him, strong enough to fulfill her long-held wish, to reach the depths of that darkness.
Recalling everything she had seen on the 59th Floor, and recalling that brutal battle, Ais quietly clenched her hand.
Especially when she thought of that Corrupted Spirit who was still pursuing her and pursuing her mother, she couldn't help but feel frustration and complex feelings. Whenever she thought of that existence, she felt that she still had to become stronger, or she would not even be able to defeat that being who shared the same blood.
Fortunately, after the expedition to the 59th Floor and defeating the Demi Spirit, she had also obtained extremely substantial growth.
...
Ais Wallenstein
Level 6
STR: I75 → F375
END: I88 → F388
DEX: H101 → E417
AGI: H114 → E417
MAG: I99 → E422
Hunter: G
Abnormal Resistance: G
Swordsman: H
Spirit Healing: I
...
By the fact that the total increase in proficiency across all basic abilities exceeded 1500, this was unquestionably an extremely exaggerated increase.
It should be known that since Ais had advanced to Level 6, she had been training together with Riezel the entire time, either by diligently studying Wind Breathing or by engaging in intense sparring with him, and she had even gone into the Dungeon to train before the expedition.
During that period, she had also experienced the incident on the 24th Floor, yet even so, before the expedition, the total increase in proficiency across all her basic abilities had been less than 500.
And that had already been the result of her training hard for an entire month.
But now, after only a single expedition lasting less than half a month, her growth was several times greater than what she had achieved in the previous month, which fully demonstrated just how brutal the battle against the Demi Spirit had been.
Although she had not leveled up, defeating a monster of that level and specification meant that the excelia she obtained was absolutely not small.
Who could have imagined that the Sword Princess, who had only recently leveled up, had already raised several of her basic abilities to E-rank, leaving her just one stage away from the minimum requirement of D-rank for leveling up again?
Of course, this still could not be compared to someone who could grow rapidly just by casually hunting monsters, or even grow continuously without fighting anything at all, by relying on the all-day training effect of Sun Breathing's Total Concentration - Constant.
Just like that, everyone continued discussing the topic of Little Rookie, constantly comparing him to Riezel.
If even the Loki Familia was like this, one could easily imagine how people across Orario would be discussing and comparing the two.
Until—
"Hey, the captain and the others are here!"
Raul, who had been guarding the door, suddenly called out, causing everyone to fall silent at once.
"You all arrived already?"
Finn was the first to walk in, smiling at everyone.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Riveria entered without her staff, instead carrying a stack of documents.
"Well, not bad at all. At least you didn't go gettin' hammered at the feast. If you'd gone missin' on me, I'd have had to drag you all in tomorrow and give you one hell of a lecture, y'hear?"
Gareth walked in with his usual bold manner, stroking his beard as he spoke casually.
"Captain!"
"Lady Riveria!"
"Uncle Gareth!"
Everyone present stood up almost in unison, looking at the three top executives who had entered, their eyes faintly shining.
It couldn't be helped.
Like everyone else present, these three had also stepped into a new stage, a new realm.
Level 7—the true pinnacle of Orario as it stood now, the same level as the one hailed as the strongest, King.
Now, the three top executives, who were deeply respected and admired by the members, had all entered this domain together, causing the members to cheer with pride for them countless times throughout the day.
It could be said that after returning from this expedition, the thing that made the members of the Loki Familia most delighted was not that Riezel, Bete, Tiona, and Tione had advanced to Level 6, nor that Raul and Anakitty had advanced to Level 5, but rather that Finn, Riveria, and Gareth had advanced to Level 7.
In fact, the topic most fiercely discussed outside of Orario was also the level-up of Finn, Riveria, and Gareth.
Among all the hot topics that could compare to these three big shots of the Loki Familia who had reached the pinnacle, perhaps only Riezel obtaining a new alias and reaching Level 6 within fifty days, as well as the existence of the one known as another monster rookie, could be mentioned in the same breath.
Because of this, the gazes the executives directed at Finn and the other two had become different from before, filled with pride and admiration.
And the most proud and satisfied of all was naturally the goddess of the familia.
"Hehehe, kiddos, your mommy's here too, y'know?"
Loki, still holding a bottle of wine in one hand, had already started spouting nonsense as she followed behind Riveria, her body practically leaning against her. If Riveria had not been pushing her away with an expression of disgust, she might already have been hanging off Riveria's body.
With that, the group of four walked together toward the main desk under everyone's gaze.
Finn took his seat behind the desk.
Riveria stood at Finn's side.
Gareth sat down on a chair nearby.
Loki simply collapsed onto the desk, grinning foolishly as she continued to drink.
"Sorry to call everyone together so late."
Finn spoke with an approachable smile, apologizing to everyone.
"I have a few matters I'd like to discuss with everyone."
Hearing this, everyone stopped talking and waited for Finn to continue, causing the entire office to become quiet, as though a formal meeting had officially begun.
===
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