Looking at the boy's joyful face, Miyah said, "Kopii, you better level up now than later." Hearing this, his eyes widened in incomprehension.
"What? Why?"
"I understand you, who wouldn't want to reach the limit and then level up?"
"What's the risk?" He didn't understand what risk there could be if he simply reached the stat limit and then leveled up.
"Ah, Kopii, everyone has a soul, and they are all different," he didn't understand what Miyah was getting at. "And every soul has a limit to how much they can withstand," looking at Kopii's confused face, Miyah continued, "Imagine, Kopii, you raise all the stats to SS, but there's a catch: can your soul withstand it, Kopii?"
"My soul?" he asked.
Miyah nodded, "Yes, Kopii, your soul. If it can't withstand it, then…it can greatly affect your mental and physical state. So, I recommend that you level up now to avoid any risk. But remember, Kopii, the choice is yours."
"I'll think about it, Miyah-sama," Kopii said, bowing and leaving the room.
"Yes, Kopii, that's right," Kopii heard Miyah say after him. Wishing Naaza a good morning as he left the Blue Pharmacy, Kopii didn't know where he was going, but one thing was on his mind:
"Does this justify the risk? Or is it better not to risk it?" he thought, continuing to walk in a random direction. He needed to prioritize well. He had two choices: try to raise his stats further, and perhaps his soul would withstand it. But if it didn't, Kopii didn't want to think about it. Kopii didn't doubt that the consequences would be too serious.
With these thoughts, without expecting it, he reached the park. Looking around the park, Kopii noticed that there were many people, as always, but even so, there were free spots. He sat on a bench and pondered: "What should I choose?"
"What to choose?"
"What?" looking at the source of the voice, raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Are you stalking me, Raven?"
"But first, hello," approaching Kopii and sitting next to him, Raven replied, "Something's wrong with you hmmm, Kopii, you look kind of tense."
"It's none of your business, Raven," looking at Raven with irritation.
"Yes, yes, I understand." There was silence, which no one broke. They looked at the floating clouds, each thinking about their own things. Kopii was the first to break the silence:
"I have a question for you."
"Oh, no way, you decided to be the initiator of the conversation," Raven said, continuing to look at the clouds. "Well, what did you want to ask, Kopii?"
He shifted his gaze from the clouds to Raven, he had the same slight smile.
"If you can become stronger, but this choice could ruin your whole life, would you go for it?"
"No," Raven replied without hesitation, continuing to look at the floating clouds. "I would refuse."
"What? Why?" surprised by his sharp answer, Kopii said. "Strength is very important for a hero."
"That's your opinion, Kopii. I have a different view on heroes," looking Kopii in the eyes, Raven said. "A hero doesn't have to be strong, to be better than others, to be more beautiful than others. A hero only needs one thing." After pausing for a moment, he continued:
"Kopii, answer, what does a hero associate with for you? Who is he to you?"
Kopii thought about it, there was a lot to think about, but only one answer came to his mind:
"In my understanding, a hero should be associated with strength and the willingness to sacrifice everything for what the hero wants to protect."
"A good answer, but it's different from mine. For me, a hero is associated with hope."
"Hope?"
"Yes, Kopii, with hope, to be the one who can give hope for happiness, for a better future. That's what a hero means to me."
"I see," he said, returning his gaze to the passing clouds. "Well, Raven, I have to go, see you, bye," he waved goodbye before leaving.
Kopii was returning back, he decided that he would update the level now. He understood one thing from the conversation with Raven: "Why risk so much if he will even find out in the future that his soul can withstand it?"
"But it won't be that important, because I'm not going to regret the choice, because that's the most useless thing in the world. If I had chosen this, it would have been better." Kopii felt sorry for those who thought so, they could not fully understand that regretting the choice made is the most stupid idea. "We are not gods to change it."
With these thoughts, he returned to the Blue Pharmacy, going up to the second floor, entering Miyah's room without knocking and found that he was not there. He went downstairs, approaching Naaza:
"Naaza, do you happen to know where Miyah-sama is?" looking into those sleepy eyes, he said.
"He said he wanted to take a walk. That's all he told me."
Hearing this, his mood dropped.
"Okay, thank you, Naaza," Kopii said before leaving. He decided to wait for Miyah outside, but after forty minutes, Kopii got bored. Then he remembered that he had not visited Rosa yet. Starting to walk towards the guild, he thought: "Maybe she has already forgotten me, we haven't seen each other for a whole month." He hoped it wasn't like that.
Time after.
"Hello, Rosa-sama, long time no see."
"Hello, Kopii-san, what can I help you with?" As always, this cold look, but he was already used to her look, but he didn't show it in any way.
"Not for any reason, just decided to show up so you know I'm not dead."
After a little silence, Rosa spoke:
"What floor did you go down to?"
Kopii was not surprised by the change of topic:
"The eighth floor."
"That's good, there's no need to rush anywhere."
"I also wanted to ask…"
"No, no one has broken the record of the sword princess." Kopii's eyebrows jumped in surprise, he asked this question every time during their conversations, and she still remembers this question, but a month has passed since their last meeting.
"Alright. Then I won't bother you, Rosa-san."
The next day Kopii got out of bed, he didn't wait for Miyah yesterday and fell asleep. Quickly leaving the room and entering Miyah's room without knocking, Kopii said:
"Good morning, Miyah-sama. I thought about it and realized that there is no need to risk it, so I want to level up."
"Okay, Kopii," approaching Kopii, Miyah continued, "Come on, take off your upper clothes."
"Yes," sitting with his back to Miyah, feeling the touch of his hand on his back.
"That's it."
"What, so fast?"
"I didn't feel anything. I think I'm still the same as before."
"That's natural, Kopii, so don't worry, I'm more worried about the fact that you didn't get any skill."
"What do you mean?" Or said incomprehensibly, turning to Miyah, looking into his eyes.
"Well, when you level up, you are given a choice of skill, but you were not given anything."
His face stretched with surprise, he heard about this for the first time, no matter how many books he read, it was not there.
"I wasn't given any skills to choose from?" Kopii asked again.
"Yes, Kopii. Well, never mind, don't be upset, the most important thing is what will be waiting for you soon."
"What will be?"
"Well, Kopii, you broke Aiz Wallenstein's record, so you'll become quite popular."
"I thought about it, Miyah-sama, but there's nothing wrong with that, because they don't know what I look like."
But this was Kopii's mistake. The next day, the whole of Oraria was shocked by who was able to break Aiz Wallenstein's record by a large margin. Was able to reach the second level in just three months.
He stood at the bulletin board in the guild. After all, Miyah was right, after reading that he had broken a new record. But Kopii was confused by one fact, the fact that he was looking at his drawing.
"The guild is mocking," he thought. All hope that no one knew him collapsed.
"You deceived me, Kopii-san," turning around, he saw Rosa with the same cold face. Kopii heard whispers behind his back:
"Is that him? How was he able to level up so quickly?"
"Yes, I can't believe that some boy was just lucky to be born a genius."
"Maybe there is divine power involved here? Count it yourself, Miyah has a huge debt, and he had to do something about it."
"Don't talk nonsense. Gods can't use their abilities, it would be noticed immediately," Kopii heard, but decided not to pay attention to them.
"What do you mean, Rosa-sama? I didn't deceive anyone, I just didn't finish telling, that's all."
"It's the same thing. I thought you were smart, but you're just like everyone else."
"But I'm alive, so nothing terrible happened."
"Goodbye," Rosa replied, coldly looking at his face.
"Aha-ha," Or laughed, trying to soften the tense atmosphere.