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Still, Rosen didn't dislike her. She was his follower, talent or no. If they had it, great. If not, so be it.
Miko's mood lifted after his reassurance.
Then it was Mai's turn. Rosen went through the same process and pulled up her panel:
[Contractor: Mai Sakurajima]
Rank: Junior God's Envoy
Strength: i0 → i18
Endurance: i0 → i20
Dexterity: i0 → i30
Agility: i0 → i15
Divine Power: i0 → i65
Skills: ..
Existence Erasure Erases one's presence from the world—not invisibility, but complete removal from reality. Cannot touch or be touched while active. No time limit, but prolonged use may become uncontrollable.
Master of Acting Greatly improved acting skill; can control microexpressions and move with greater fluidity.
Bunny Girl Wearing a bunny suit drastically boosts charm and lower-body strength.
Compared to Miko, Mai's boost was still modest but more evenly spread. Her Divine Power hadn't jumped as high, but still increased by nearly half.
Seeing her own numbers, Mai didn't seem fazed. She'd half expected herself to be a rapid-growth prodigy, but after watching Miko's results, she knew they'd be similar—and they were.
"So balanced! All your stats went up evenly. Totally fitting for you, Sakurajima-senio," Miko said, a little envious.
"No need to envy me. And drop the 'senio.' Just call me Mai."
"Huh? Really?"
"Of course. We're both Rosen's followers now—no need to be formal."
Mai knew Miko was a bit shy. Since they'd be partners from now on, it was better to get along early.
"Any other questions?" Rosen asked.
"Yes! Lord Rosen, if my stats went up, why don't I feel stronger?"
In games, when your character leveled up, you always noticed the difference. And in novels, getting stronger meant you felt it in your body. But here, nothing felt different after an update.
"Stats reflect your physical abilities, yes—but updating stats isn't the same as increasing them. You've been improving bit by bit through actual combat, so the change isn't as dramatic now. That sudden surge of power you're thinking of? That only happened when I first made you my follower."
"So… if that's the case, does it even matter whether we update or not?" Mai asked.
"It matters. Without updating, all that stored experience can't be turned into actual stat gains, and your base abilities won't improve. In the dungeon, an adventurer's strength depends directly on their stats and level. If they never visit their god for an update, their attributes will only improve at the pace of normal training."
He thought of Ryuu—after her goddess of justice left Orario, she never updated her stats out of guilt, staying at level four for years. Yet in that time, she'd single-handedly taken down multiple evil familias. With her feats and years of growth, she could have easily been level five, maybe even six.
But without updates, she remained level four—and so did her combat ability.
Rosen's own imitation of the Blessing system worked the same way.
The only reason they didn't feel any stronger was because their bodies had already gotten used to the changes.
"I'm good now," Sakurajima Mai said with a nod.
So it's really happening… from now on, she'd be tied to this man for good.Whether in love, or in marriage...
"After dark, I'll take you both out again," Rosen said casually.
The two girls exchanged a glance and nodded.The lure of getting stronger was still hard to resist.
And unlike working out at a gym, watching your actual stats go up on a screen was seriously motivating.
A while later, Rosen led them back into the city, hunting down wandering spirits.Along the way, he gave them tips on fighting the undead—things to watch out for.
Even though their bodies were now far beyond normal human limits, they could still get hurt if a ghost landed a hit.And honestly, their fighting style was a complete mess.The kind of wild, flailing punches people joked about calling "turtle fists."
If they ever ran into something tougher than the usual trash mobs, the two of them would need to coordinate instead of swinging blindly.
And considering this was a world where Miko Yotsuya existed, chances were, the stronger spirits from the original story were here too.Once those appeared, their bad habits from easy fights would start to show.
"..."
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