Leo Eligos Lv.4 Strength: 10 → F364 Endurance: 10 → F322 Dexterity: 10 → S900 Agility: 10 → E417 Magic: 10 → G205 Mage: G Magic Attack: H Spirit Healing: I
In the quiet God's Chamber, Loki looked over this Status she had just updated by her own hand, then raised her head toward Leo, who was getting dressed in front of her.
"So what exactly have you been learning from Finn these days?"
A total proficiency gain of over 2,000 across all abilities... On anyone else this might have been an earth-shaking event, but on Leo, Loki already felt it was nothing to make a fuss about.
Even though Leo's ridiculous growth speed still hadn't slowed after reaching Lv.4, Loki didn't think anything of it; the guy was just like this, and she didn't need to gasp in shock every single time.
But the way this Status had grown this time, the trend was a little too bizarre, wasn't it?
In the past, the thing Leo was best at and grew fastest in was without question Magic, but this time Magic was the one that had grown the least.
That much she could let pass; after all, Leo hadn't gone into the Dungeon this time, nor had he used much Magic, so it wasn't hard to understand Magic growing a bit slowly.
But what was the deal with Dexterity?
The other basic abilities had all climbed three or four stages, so why had the Dexterity figure jumped up by this much?
It had gone all the way from the lowest stage of I, in one breath, up to the highest stage of...
What kind of ridiculous, bizarre growth was this?
"Straight up to S?"
Leo, holding the parchment translated into the common language, looked at the Dexterity figure and couldn't help freezing slightly himself.
But then he decided this was normal.
"I really did learn a lot from the captain that I couldn't have imagined before, so growth on this level is probably only natural."
Leo honestly thought so.
Finn's teaching hadn't only made him understand what fighting was, it had changed the very definition of combat in his mind.
In the past, in Leo's mind, fighting was really no different from brawling, and learning combat skills was the same as learning martial arts or learning grappling, all just making yourself better at fighting.
Finn's guidance, however, had shattered the existing impression of fighting in Leo's head, overturned his view of combat, and made him understand that it was a discipline, and an art as well.
The things Finn taught were completely unlike Ais's; he wasn't teaching you how to swing a sword faster, nor how to hold a steadier stance, but how to break free of the set framework and make the fight go more smoothly in your own way.
What he trained wasn't Leo's body but his brain, his spirit, his mindset, teaching him to know what to do next the very instant a fight began, to know how to adjust mid-fight, to gradually accumulate his own advantages and walk toward victory.
He could even give Leo pointers on Magic, telling him how to perfectly create openings to use Magic in close-quarters combat, and how to perfectly fold the power called Magic into his own fighting so it became a part of the fight.
Thanks to this, Leo felt as if his brain had been opened up; even if you couldn't quite call him a new man, he was close to it.
This "growth" had turned, solidly, into excelia, and once absorbed by Leo's Status, it showed itself in full.
Dexterity reaching S, far above the other abilities, was the proof.
"But this is still way too ridiculous, even for you." Loki couldn't help griping. "This is the first time I've seen a Status grow on a curve like this, where Dexterity alone leaves everything in the dust and the other four can't even come close, more ridiculous than those Mages who train nothing but Magic."
Pure rearguard Mages, since they didn't need to worry about close combat, basically trained only the Magic ability and left everything else like Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, and Agility entirely untouched, which easily produced the phenomenon of a huge gap between the Magic figure and the other four abilities.
Take Lefiya: her Magic figure was now B, while her Strength figure was at the lowest stage of I, even her Endurance figure was only H, and her Dexterity and Agility figures were only G as well. This was the textbook pure rearguard Mage, with only the Magic figure soaring far ahead.
Riveria had this growth trend too; her Magic figure had reached S, yet her Strength and Endurance were only G, a wide gap between them.
But they had only built up such large ability gaps through long years of training, updating their Status time after time after time.
Not like Leo, where a single Status update had driven one ability soaring out ahead all the way to the highest stage while the other four were still struggling in the lower half.
And the ability soaring out ahead wasn't even his best one, Magic, but rather Dexterity, which normally kept a low profile and couldn't even match his Agility. No wonder Loki found it bizarre and ridiculous.
"Doesn't that just prove I really gained a lot from the captain, though?"
Leo gave an unbothered smile.
To put what Finn taught fully into practice, these past days Leo had, apart from necessary work, spent all his remaining time hard at studying and reviewing, not even going into the Dungeon again, becoming an outright shut-in.
Because of this, Leo had gotten so absorbed in it that he'd missed the Monsterphilia two days ago, forgetting this once-a-year festival clean out of his mind, and only when he later heard there'd been a disturbance at the festival, that a monster had run out into the streets and caused trouble, did he belatedly remember the thing.
He vaguely recalled that in the original work, during this festival, Ais and the others had run into some trouble.
But whether or not it was due to the butterfly effect Leo had brought, while there had indeed been a monster disturbance at the Monsterphilia two days ago, the disturbance hadn't been the least bit serious by the look of it, just a group of monsters brought in to perform breaking out of their cages and running off, with nothing else happening at all.
On learning of this situation, Leo was a little surprised, but also let out a breath of relief.
Lucky the trouble from the original work hadn't happened, otherwise Leo, who'd forgotten the whole thing clean out of his mind, would have felt a bit guilty.
He'd gotten this absorbed; didn't that prove just how much he'd gained from Finn?
All you could say was that it was all entirely understandable.
"Well, good that you got something out of it; what I'd be scared of is you getting nothing at all." Loki finally accepted the matter, sighing as she put away her golden needle. "If you keep growing at this rate, maybe this time it won't just be Magic, even Dexterity could break through to SSS."
A breakthrough like that was no small thing.
After all, before this Leo had only had the single ability of Magic able to reach SSS; while his other abilities had broken past their limits too, they'd only reached SS, one stage behind Magic.
True, that was already very strong, since other people could only reach S at most, but since Leo had the possibility of reaching SSS, naturally the more abilities that could get there, the better.
"Maybe... it won't just be Dexterity?"
Leo said this with a meaningful air.
He remembered that the original protagonist, before Lv.4, had also only had his single best ability able to reach SSS, the rest all at SS, the same as him.
But at Lv.4, the original protagonist had formally achieved all abilities at SSS, training every ability except his best one, Agility, up to SSS.
He too was now already Lv.4, and through three Rank Ups in all, his own "container" had been fully excavated and expanded.
That being so, there was no reason he couldn't, like the original protagonist, achieve all abilities at SSS at Lv.4.
Especially now, when he was preparing to develop his close-combat abilities in a big way, the four abilities closely tied to close combat, Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, and Agility, were sure to be thoroughly trained and vigorously excavated.
It had been precisely these four abilities that he hadn't managed to bring to SSS before; if this time he could thoroughly train and vigorously excavate these four abilities, then the achievement of all abilities at SSS might not be a pipe dream.
"Damn, it really might happen."
What Leo could think of, Loki could naturally think of too.
She might not know about the original protagonist, but just from looking at Leo's current growth trend, she had a feeling none of this was completely out of the question.
SSS...
It sounded like another utterly ridiculous thing, but since the subject was Leo, Loki wasn't about to conclude it was completely impossible.
If her own kid really did pull off an achievement like that, she figured she'd laugh herself awake in her dreams.
"Then give it your all; aim to hit me with another miracle and give me a fright."
Loki patted Leo on the shoulder, a sly grin on her face.
Leo rolled his eyes at her and couldn't be bothered to pay her any more mind.
The two chatted a few lines on the spot, and then Leo got up to take his leave, walked out of the God's Chamber, and started down the spiral staircase of the Central Tower.
He planned to go read at the library while he still had time.
These past days Finn's guidance had been ongoing, but Leo hadn't let his Magic studies slip either.
This was something he'd promised Riveria, and also something Leo himself felt he had to do.
Close combat and Magic advancing side by side; he really had managed that.
Except, when Leo got to the library, he unexpectedly ran into Riveria there.
"You're here?"
The High Elf sat alone at the desk and gave a faint smile toward Leo as he came in.
"How come you're here?"
Leo froze for a moment, then came forward once he'd recovered and asked in surprise.
"There's something I needed to do." Riveria pointed to the seat across from her. "Sit down first."
At that, Leo was a little puzzled, but he still sat down in front of Riveria.
Once he'd sat, Leo noticed that on the desk between him and Riveria there lay a peculiar book.
It was a heavy, pure-white volume, its cover carved with intricate patterns.
"This is...?"
Leo had the feeling this book gave off a very mysterious air, similar to a Mage's magic power.
"This is a Grimoire."
Riveria didn't keep him guessing and stated the book's true nature outright.
"A Grimoire?"
Leo's eyes lit up, his gaze locking onto that pure-white book and not moving at all.
He of course knew what a Grimoire was.
It was a precious item that could awaken Magic latent within someone's body that hadn't yet been excavated, forcibly making a person learn Magic, and only those who had learned both the Mage and Mystery Development Abilities could possibly make one.
Mystery was an extremely rare and precious Development Ability; in all of Orario fewer than five people held it, let alone also having learned the Mage Development Ability, so the people in all the world who could make such an item could be called few and far between, with barely anyone able to manage it.
Its price was also extremely steep, a single one rivaling a First-Class armament produced by the Hephaestus Familia, and even then there was a price but no market.
In this library belonging to the Loki Familia there were a few already-used Grimoires set on the shelves; those were things the Familia's seniors had used, only they'd already lost their effect.
Grimoires were single-use consumables; once used they would completely lose their effect and turn into useless old books.
But the Grimoire in front of Riveria still carried the air of magic power.
Could it be...
"That's right, this is a Grimoire that hasn't been used yet." Riveria said, as if she'd seen through what was in Leo's mind. "I asked an acquaintance of mine to go and buy this book back from the Magic Kingdom of Altena."
Hearing this, how could Leo still not understand what Riveria intended to do?
This was clearly something prepared for him, wasn't it?
After all, Riveria had no use for this Grimoire.
Although a Grimoire could forcibly excavate Magic, it was limited to people who still had an open slot in their Status.
An adventurer who'd received Falna could learn at most three Magic spells; this was a rule no one could defy.
Riveria's three magic slots had long been full; there was no way for her to learn a fourth Magic through a Grimoire.
So this was without question something prepared for someone like him who still had an open magic slot.
And that was indeed the case.
"A high-grade Grimoire can not only make a person learn Magic, it also has a certain chance of expanding the number of magic slots."
Riveria spoke.
The upper limit on magic slots was three, and while it couldn't be made any higher, turning someone who'd originally had only one slot into a holder of two, and someone with two slots into a holder of three, could still be done.
It could increase the number of Magic uses each person was innately fixed with, and that was the most precious thing about a Grimoire, to the point that its price was sometimes even higher than First-Class equipment.
"Your magic slots number only one, and the Magic you've learned is only one, but you can tell just from your Status that this is absolutely not your limit.
"So I'd already had the idea of preparing a Grimoire for you, to help increase the number of Magic you can use.
"And now this Grimoire has finally been delivered."
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