In the time that followed, Leo's life settled into a routine.
Every morning, he'd get up and train with Ais in the courtyard, learning from this strongest female swordsman in Orario. Then he'd leave the Familia headquarters with Line, who'd have all the supplies ready, and head to the Dungeon to clear it for the entire day.
With Line's support, Leo could throw himself completely into clearing and combat, hunting monsters without pause, racking up excelia, training each of his basic abilities, and slowly absorbing the various techniques Ais had taught him through actual battle, raising his combat ability.
The spoils were piling up at a furious pace too. Leo was earning over 100,000 valis a day at this point, and once he reached floor 12 his efficiency went up even more. Sometimes he'd come back with over 200,000 valis, which left Line wide-eyed.
As for the evenings, after returning to the Familia headquarters, Leo would basically exchange a few words with Ais and Line and then head straight back to his room and crash. He had none of the rich nightlife of the other adventurers.
He fought all day, after all. He had no leisure to head out and party at night. That kind of thing could wait until he was stronger and had more energy to spare.
Loki, Finn, and the others seemed to be watching Leo the whole time, but they no longer came out to bother him.
Everyone knew that Leo had entered a high-speed sprint phase. As long as he kept raising his basic abilities, he could move on to leveling up and become one of the under-half of Orario's adventurers who were upper-class.
No one wanted to disturb him at a time like this, not even Loki.
She wasn't in any rush to update his Status either. When Leo himself felt it was time for an update, he'd come find her.
And that time didn't take long to arrive.
Half a month later, Leo came to the God's Chamber and found her.
"Update my Status."
Leo looked calm.
"Hee hee, finally, the day's here."
Loki let out a string of excited little chuckles, as if she'd sensed something coming.
She had a hunch. This time she was in for a big surprise.
But she had no idea just how big.
......
Leo Eligos
Lv.1
Strength: C623 → SS1054
Endurance: D545 → SS1011
Dexterity: C639 → SS1063
Agility: B717 → SS1142
Magic: A831 → SSS1279
......
"......huh?"
When Leo's latest Status appeared in front of her, this deity who did whatever she wanted in both Heaven and the lower world finally went dumb.
She rubbed her eyes. After confirming three times that she hadn't misread it, she just gave a dazed little laugh.
"Ha, haha... am I still asleep or something? Why am I lookin' at something this ridiculous?"
SS?
SSS?
What was this?
Were there ability ranks like this in the Falna?
Wasn't the ceiling for mortals just S?
What the hell were SS and SSS?
"Finally..."
While Loki sank into a daze she couldn't pull herself out of, even starting to question her divine existence, Leo was staring at the parchment in his hand, murmuring to himself.
Even he couldn't help feeling a little dazed in this moment.
He'd been expecting it, looking forward to it. But seeing his own Status really, truly break past the theoretical limit, just like the original protagonist, reaching SS and even SSS, Leo couldn't help feeling a small surge of excitement.
So this is my limit at Lv.1.
Not everything had reached SSS, but Leo was very satisfied.
The original protagonist's cheat was as broken as it was, and in the end only one of his abilities had reached SSS, with the rest also at SS. For Leo to catch up to him, to stand on the same line, was no small feat in itself.
Stranger from Another Star could remove Status limits and let him grow regardless of race and potential, but it had to have a ceiling. The fact that it let him hold his own against races like the Dwarves, Elves, Beast Humans, and Amazonesses was already plenty. It couldn't possibly let him catch up to the gods and raise his Status however he wanted.
The Falna was, in the end, the miracle the gods granted to mortals. Leo could use it to stand above all mortal races, but he couldn't use it to surpass the gods themselves.
So this Status was his limit at Lv.1. To go beyond this limit, he had to advance to the next stage, which meant leveling up.
After leveling up, all abilities would be reset and turned into nourishment, feeding the self, expanding the "container" so it could hold even greater potential.
"It's time. Level me up."
That was all Leo said to Loki, paying no mind to her current state.
"Oh..."
Loki's face had gone blank, as if her soul had wandered off. She set to work like a machine, stiff and mechanical.
"Which Development Ability are you picking?"
Loki sounded just like an NPC dishing out a quest, asking dully.
A Development Ability was a derivative ability that could only be randomly learned when one's Level rose, an additional ability that could be learned on top of the existing basic abilities.
Every time an adventurer's Level rose, there was a chance to trigger this bonus, which got added on after the five basic abilities: Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic. The difference was that Development Abilities had no proficiency, only ten ranks from I to S. And when an adventurer leveled up, they didn't reset back to I0 like basic abilities did. The difficulty of raising them wasn't anywhere near that of basic abilities either.
Their nature was that they further strengthened some special ability or specialized ability of the adventurer. Like the Blacksmith ability mentioned earlier, which was a Development Ability only smiths could obtain when leveling up. Only blacksmiths with this Development Ability could attach special attributes to their works and forge superior equipment. Otherwise, no matter how skilled the person was, everything they forged would just be ordinary iron.
Of course, not just anyone could trigger a Development Ability when they leveled up. Whether one could learn a Development Ability depended on the excelia they'd accumulated up to that point, which meant it depended on what actions the person had taken and which ability's learning conditions they'd satisfied.
Without the corresponding excelia, or without successfully triggering the learning conditions, even leveling up wouldn't grant the corresponding Development Ability.
Loki numbly told Leo that this level up had triggered a total of three Development Abilities.
The first was Hunter, a Development Ability that could only be learned when reaching Lv.2. The trigger condition was defeating a large number of monsters within a short span of time, so it was quite hard to obtain. A precious ability. An adventurer with this ability got a certain degree of Status boost when facing monsters they'd fought and defeated before, a Development Ability designed specifically for dealing with monsters.
The second was Abnormal Resistance, which could only be triggered by having suffered abnormal effects. Adventurers in Orario regularly got hit by Purple Moth poison scale powder in the upper Dungeon, so it was relatively easy to obtain this ability early on. Its effect was the ability to resist abnormal symptoms like poisoning. It wasn't flashy, but for adventurers who had to face all kinds of different monsters in the Dungeon, it was unquestionably useful.
These two Development Abilities were widespread in Dungeon-having Orario. Many adventurers had learned them, including the first-class adventurers of Loki Familia.
Take Ais. She had learned Hunter and Abnormal Resistance at Lv.2 and Lv.3 respectively. You could see these two Development Abilities were quite practical and quite common.
But Leo, unlike most adventurers, didn't choose to learn these two Development Abilities.
The Development Ability he chose to learn was the third one he'd triggered: Mage.
"...You sure you want Mage?"
Loki came back to herself a little, sounding somewhat surprised at Leo's choice.
"That's right." Leo's answer was unusually firm. "I'd rather have abilities with broad applications and significant effects, not ones that only trigger passively when certain conditions are met."
For an adventurer who regularly explored the Dungeon, Hunter was a precious ability, but it only worked against enemies he'd defeated once, and only against monsters. If he ran into a monster for the first time, or an enemy that wasn't a monster, it'd be completely useless. With other options on the table, Leo didn't favor this Development Ability much.
Abnormal Resistance was the same. It only had a use when he was hit by an abnormal symptom, and even then it wasn't 100% effective. If he ran into an abnormal symptom whose nastiness far exceeded his Development Ability rank, he'd still get hit by it. Otherwise antidotes wouldn't be so popular.
So Leo was more inclined to choose Mage.
It was a Development Ability whose learning conditions could only be triggered by those who specialized in magic.
An adventurer who learned Mage received support from this Development Ability whenever they used Magic, including but not limited to having their magic's power strengthened, the effect range of their magic widened, and their Mind made more efficient. In short, it was a comprehensive strengthening and optimization device for magic.
Learning Mage was also proof of a high-level Mage. Basically every Mage in Loki Familia had learned this Development Ability, including but not limited to Riveria and Lefiya.
This Development Ability had a use any time magic was involved, so there was no way Leo would pass it up.
From the bias of his own Status, Leo could see that the basic ability he was best at was Magic. Just as Ais and the others had said, he was very well suited to becoming a Mage or a Magic Swordsman.
That being the case, Leo of course had to choose this Development Ability that comprehensively boosted his magical abilities.
"Mage does suit you, but think it through. You only get one shot at this. Once you pick a Development Ability, you can't swap it later."
Loki reminded him out of habit.
"And Mage's trigger conditions aren't all that strict. Even if you skip it this time, you've got a shot at triggering and learning it on later level ups. Hunter's different, though. That one only triggers when you reach Lv.2. Pass on it now and it's gone for good."
That was exactly why this Development Ability designed for dealing with monsters was so precious. Not only was its effect significant, but it could only be learned at a specific Level. Miss the window and it was gone.
But Leo had decided to give it up.
"A monster I can beat once, I can beat again. I don't need a Development Ability to help with that."
If it weren't for the restriction that it only worked against monsters he'd already defeated, Leo would've thought about it.
So he didn't change his mind. He still gave it up.
"Just giving you a heads-up. Don't want you regretting it down the line."
Loki didn't say much more. Or rather, she didn't have the mood to say much right now.
What Development Ability to choose was the person's own choice. As the parent figure, she couldn't interfere too much.
So Loki set the Development Ability for Leo and formally completed the first Rank Up of his life.
......
Leo Eligos
Lv.2
Strength: I0
Endurance: I0
Dexterity: I0
Agility: I0
Magic: I0
Mage: I
......
Just like that, Leo's Status was updated again.
The basic abilities had all been reset after the level up, but the basic abilities gained before leveling weren't simply gone. They worked quietly in the background as a hidden ability parameter.
If two adventurers leveled up at the same time and their Status reset at the same time, then after stripping away internal factors like Magic, Skills, Development Abilities, and external factors like combat technique, combat equipment, and combat ability, the one who was stronger came down to whose pre-level basic abilities were higher.
The side with higher basic abilities became stronger after leveling up too. That was the biggest reason why Leo had stayed at Lv.1 even when he could have leveled up, and pushed all his abilities to the limit before doing so.
Only by laying down a solid foundation could one have a greater advantage and greater potential than others.
Obviously, having trained all his basic abilities at Lv.1 beyond the theoretical limit, reaching SS and even SSS, Leo would not only be stronger than other adventurers who had just hit Lv.2 once he leveled up, but the foundation laid at Lv.1 would also fully expand his "container," giving him even greater potential.
"So this is Lv.2?"
Leo raised both hands, opening and closing them. He didn't feel any obvious change.
"Looks like I'll have to test it out in the Dungeon."
Leo went off thinking to himself, leaving the God's Chamber on his own, with Loki left alone in the room.
The goddess still looked a little dumb, a little dazed.
After a long while, she suddenly leapt to her feet and bolted out of the God's Chamber.
"Finn! Riveria! Gareth!"
Sprinting down the corridor at a speed she hadn't unleashed since descending to the lower world, the goddess yelled like she'd lost her mind.
"Something huge is going on...!!!"
That night, all of Loki Familia was in an uproar.
Only, the goddess who'd kicked off the uproar paid no attention to any of them. She tore straight into the northern tower and burst into Finn's office.
=-=-=-=-=
200 powerstones for the extra chapter
=-=-=-=-=
Read 40 Chapters ahead at Patreon.com/NiaXD