After receiving part of his payment in advance, Liang Yue didn't bother with any nightlife. Instead, he quickened his pace toward his Familia.
He was looking forward to updating his status.
It was a way to verify the results of his recent dungeon training. If his overall stats could reach an average S-rank rating, he would be close to ascending. If he truly wanted to chase the limits, then he'd have to keep grinding in the dungeon for at least two more days!
"Almost there…"
"If I can raise my adventurer level to Lv2, I'll be able to handle missions more steadily."
As he walked along the abandoned streets, Liang Yue could vaguely sense a subtle shift in his mindset. Every day had been a grind in the dungeon—a different kind of daily labor.
Undeniably dull and monotonous.
Now, with a side job to break the routine, it added a bit of color to his life in Orario. This rare day off felt more fulfilling!
He'd earned enough to upgrade his weapons.
Next, he could start thinking about improving his overall quality of life—food, clothes, shelter. That was Liang Yue's motivation.
When he returned to the basement of the abandoned church, he was greeted by the sight of Hestia sitting on the bed, swinging her legs. She had already prepared everything for the status update.
She noticed the sound of his footsteps.
When Hestia looked up, her clear, sapphire eyes overflowed with a gentle warmth, and a bright smile lit up her face.
"You're back, Liang Yue-kun!"
"Yes."
He didn't bring up the details of the deal with Lili—unless she asked, there was no need to mention it. Smiling earnestly, Liang Yue looked at the girl before him.
Gone was the carefree air of a young girl. She now radiated the grace and kindness of a true goddess.
It was a stark contrast to the Hestia who had been drunk last night. With concern in his gaze, he asked, "Lady Hestia… after drinking, did you feel unwell today?"
"…"
Caught off guard by the mention of last night, Hestia's smile stiffened. Honestly, she had blacked out.
Her last memory was of saying something embarrassing before Liang Yue carried her to bed…
She blinked and tried to piece things together, but eventually gave up and switched topics with a firm shake of her head. "Thanks for worrying, Liang Yue-kun. But right now, what's more important…"
"…is updating your status!"
"Then I'll leave it to you, Lady Hestia." Liang Yue had a very simple goal—plant a seed now, and water it through their interactions so it could take root and grow.
He took off his gray-brown cloak, revealing a black short-sleeved shirt underneath, and quickly got ready for the status update. Then he lay on the soft bed.
With a pillow under his neck, he could even faintly smell a gentle fragrance.
"If you're always this polite, I won't know what to do with you. Updating your status is part of a god's duty."
Sitting at the edge of the bed, Hestia naturally shifted to sit on Liang Yue's back.
As she looked at the clearly defined muscles on his back, she forced herself to suppress the bold thoughts that emerged and got ready to proceed.
Her tone was a little bashful, and she added in a soft voice, "Besides, I'm very happy to do this for you, Liang Yue-kun!"
The process of updating status was straightforward.
With a drop of divine blood, she could overwrite the previous stats with the new ones gained through training.
It really was that simple.
As the soft glow of divinity lit up Liang Yue's back, Hestia's eyes were filled with anticipation. She grabbed a piece of parchment and began tracing his updated stats.
Liang Yue
Lv1
Strength: E497 → S911
Endurance: D531 → S970
Dexterity: E466 → S903
Agility: E499 → S955
Magic: I0
Development Abilities: None
Magic: None
Skill:Soul of the Sword
(Took some advice and consolidated all sword-soul related skills under one name: Soul of the Sword. Previous naming inconsistencies were hard to fix, so this is a formal note—feel free to give feedback in the comments. The author really wants to improve!)
"Hm?"
As Hestia's gaze scanned the stat-filled parchment, even her expression turned uncertain. She set the sheet down.
Then, placing both hands on Liang Yue's back, she compared the glowing values to the ones she had copied.
They matched exactly. According to the rules of divine blessings, there couldn't be any errors.
Which meant… the only possible anomaly was Liang Yue himself!
"Something feels off…"
Hestia's expression stiffened. She rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was seeing things, and checked the parchment again.
No mistakes!
Which meant—after just two days of not updating—Liang Yue's dungeon training had caused his stats, previously at an average E-rank, to skyrocket to S-rank across the board!?
She placed the updated parchment beside the bed. Now she finally understood why he'd been getting home later and later these past two days.
While a status update like this was definitely a good thing…
Even though Liang Yue was her first Familia member, Hestia had learned plenty from Hephaestus about how things worked.
She knew how difficult it was to reach full S-rank stats!
It should've been a joyful occasion, but Hestia couldn't find it in herself to smile. Because to leap up to this level…
How intense had his battles been?
"Liang Yue-kun…"
Hestia's fair hands trembled slightly as they touched Liang Yue's muscular shoulders. Her emotional reaction came from a very real, very tender place in her heart—she hated to see him go through that.
She kept her usual radiant smile, but her voice was full of firm resolve:
"Let's take tomorrow off, okay?"
A break was definitely in order. Liang Yue accepted the stat sheet handed to him, and when he saw all four of his stats—except magic—reaching S-rank, he knew that the effort had been worth it.
He hadn't learned any magic skills yet, so having low magic was a weakness. But his fully maxed physical stats more than made up for it.
Seeing Hestia's worried expression, Liang Yue responded with a relaxed smile:
"Lady Hestia, I really was planning to rest tomorrow."
"But before that…"
"I'd like you to help me ascend my adventurer level. The deeds I've accumulated in these past two days of dungeon exploration… should be enough."
"?!"
The massive stat growth had already left Hestia speechless. From the start of his dungeon exploration until now…
…it had only been seven days!!
And yet, in that short time, Liang Yue had achieved something most adventurers would never reach in their entire lives.
And now, not only had he maxed out his stats, but he'd even accumulated enough feats to qualify for a level-up!?
Hestia didn't speak. She simply let a few more drops of divine blood fall and examined the detailed record. As the divine glow faded, the records came into view.
"New adventurer single-handedly defeats rare variant: Blue Papilio swarm—effortless victory."
"Survived Monster Party, fought to the limit and completed the sweep."
Though gods weren't allowed in the dungeon, Hestia understood—Liang Yue's stat growth was clearly linked to these two extremely dangerous encounters!
Her eyes lingered on the two records—either of which would qualify as legendary feats worthy of ascension. She fell into brief silence as she counted the number of days since he had registered as an adventurer.
She couldn't even imagine how the other gods would react once word got out about his achievements at the next divine gathering.
As a goddess, Hestia wanted to share her joy—but reason took over, urging her to look deeper. She spoke gently:
"Liang Yue-kun, do you realize…"
"If you level up now, you'll have created a miracle! You'll break the record set by that Wallen-something boy and become the fastest adventurer in history to reach Lv2!"
She knew that Liang Yue's growth came from grueling, high-stakes battles. While she wanted him to slow down and not waste his talent, she also hoped he wouldn't burn out.
"But…"
She paused here—rarely showing such godlike seriousness and maturity.
"At the rate you're progressing…"
"I believe your potential goes far beyond this. Have you ever considered… maxing out all your stats in every single level before ascending?"
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