Level up, level up, level up, level up!
After returning to the city that night, Tiona hurriedly went to find Goddess Astrea to level up.
Immediately afterward, she insisted on dragging Ais outside the city to adapt to her "brand new" power.
The girl's Status actually hadn't changed much; she hadn't gained new Skills, nor had she obtained new Magic, but—
Under the night sky, quite far from the city, outside the ruins of an abandoned castle in the Long River Plains.
Approaching deep winter.
The withered grass, originally covered in thick snow, was damp and cold here.
However, the Amazon girl wrapped in a thick padded coat was like a small heater; just looking at her, one knew this fellow was excited to the extreme right now!
Why run to a place so far from the city?
Of course, it was the Goddess's suggestion. At the same time, Riveria also expressed her agreement, because the current Tiona was already completely different from the past.
Lv.5 and Lv.4 were worlds apart.
First-Class Adventurers were rare and powerful, and they placed particular emphasis on talent. Whether it was the Loki Familia or the Freya Familia, there were originally many fellows stuck at Lv.4, finding it difficult to break through (Alicia and Heith inexplicably caught strays).
And once one broke through.
That powerful feeling was truly hard to articulate, and hard to describe.
But just like a sudden enlightenment, although Tiona didn't carry a weapon at this moment, she still gazed remotely at Ais in the distance, preparing to use her brand new power!
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
The earth, the dark night, the forest green, the long river—
Everything around the Amazon girl began to vibrate rhythmically.
If one looked closely.
That was the sound of individual beads of blood bursting open.
Densely packed patterns emerged amidst the girl's dark, taut, healthy skin. Countless tiny blood dots scattered from within, converging into a crimson long river, then exploding into clouds and mist, slowly wrapping around her petite body.
Scarlet blood armor was condensing into shape, visible to the naked eye. However, neither Ais nor Isagi, who was watching all this from afar, were surprised, because Tiona had already been able to achieve this degree previously.
Next, what was shocking was that the girl slowly raised her hand.
"!"
Suddenly, Ais, who was fluttering in the distance, felt a massive attractive force.
Subsequently, her body involuntarily flew rapidly towards Tiona's direction, and what welcomed her were slashes of blood-colored cuts inexplicably appearing in mid-air!
Explosion!
Scarlet splashed everywhere. The might that erupted even made the golden-haired girl feel suffocated for a moment. The massive impact force exploded with a bang, leaving her ears hearing only a long ringing sound for a time.
What on earth is this?!
Her heart was drumming. Ais felt that although she was clearly flying away, she was attracted back again because Tiona raised her small hand.
If she didn't focus all her attention on the massive pulling force coming from it, she wouldn't even be able to resist it at all.
Is this the new ability she obtained after leveling up?
Not only that, following her every move, the scarlet color surrounding her body also constantly detonated nearby, blasting one rugged small crater after another into the snowy wilderness grass.
If one said that the girl waving her hands and those blood-red "Great Dual Blades" before always gave people a very heavy sense of power.
Then now, she seemed to have turned into a walking "Bomber."
Every move and gesture would trigger booming explosions all around; it was simply violent to some extreme point, and the destruction caused far exceeded the limit that the "City" could bear.
Why run to such a remote wilderness?
The answer was self-evident.
In the distance.
Standing outside the fortress ruins, Isagi, Riveria, and Astrea, who were watching all this, had somewhat different thoughts in their hearts.
For the Elf woman and the Goddess of Justice.
They could naturally feel that the ability Tiona mastered at this moment even gave the illusion of "not belonging to this world."
What exactly is going on?
What will she become in the future?
Even if it's the possibility of a Lower World child, this is too exaggerated, right?!
Especially since it didn't display on the Falna Status at all, which made the Deity feel it was even more inconceivable. Fortunately, there was still Isagi as a "precedent," so Astrea felt it was okay. Or rather, no matter what kind of new abilities and changes appeared in the children.
It was no longer enough to surprise her.
On the other side.
Riveria, however, was dizzy. From heading into the Dungeon to crusade against the Infant Dragon tonight, to the Amazon girl immediately finding the Goddess to level up after returning, and then hurriedly running outside the city to test the new ability.
It was too unrealistic. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would have just thought this was a fantasy tale.
The changes appearing in the Dungeon;
The changes in the two girls;
Even—
The future self... Riveria recalled that Gareth had also been particularly interested in the young boy's special Dungeon before. If not for being busy recently, the Dwarf uncle would definitely have run off to adventure happily too.
And now, she understood.
Even she felt a surge of emotion just thinking about this matter. The current Riveria was thinking, the young boy's "Charging" or whatever should be ready by now, right?
Then she would go back to sleep tonight and continue to go to that [Dark Hall]...
Not only that.
Riveria also recalled the messy stories Tiona had mentioned before about the "Arad Continent," "Ghost Slayer," "Great Metastasis," and so on.
She said Isagi told her all of it.
At first, the woman only thought they were stories made up by the boy, but looking at it now, why were these stories becoming more and more real as they were told?!
Doesn't Tiona's appearance look exactly the same as that Berserker... ah no, that "Blood Evil" she talked about!!
Shock.
Riveria truly felt a deep shock.
Unlike the Goddess and the woman, Isagi at this moment only felt a certain surge of emotion—
The power of Lv.5.
Even sensing it from afar, he could realize the truly different feeling within it.
Isagi had also trained with Ais and Ryuu-senpai before.
But obviously, the two girls would hold back. So, in terms of actual experience, it was essentially no different from practicing with Anya and Tiona when he was still Lv.2 and Lv.3.
But now.
Watching the two girls in the distance giving it their all.
Clearly, compared to the battles with Ryuu-senpai, who was always suppressed by Ais for various reasons, although Tiona was also obviously not the golden-haired girl's match, her frantic posture truly gave a very satisfying feeling visually.
So cool.
Fighting with the Amazon girl would indeed give a very refreshing sense of pleasure.
Isagi was now simply looking forward to whether there would be some kind of "qualitative change" when he reached Lv.5. At that time, he would also have to have a good "fight" with Tiona! This looked too tempting!!
Not only that.
Thinking about how his Character Cards had uniformly undergone brand new changes at Lv.4.
Then, after he became a First-Class Adventurer, what would they turn into...
...
"You mean, the Tiger Vanguard we defeated before was one of the two children of the elderly Tiger Vanguard? The former Tiger Vanguard had already been defeated by the Pilgrimage Quartet, and his King was called the Yellow Wind Sage?"
"The Yellow Wind Sage returned to Yellow Wind Ridge, defeated the Tiger Vanguard's two children, forced one to inherit the title of Tiger Vanguard and become a subordinate, while the other became the 'Mad Tiger,' hiding somewhere alone to practice evil arts, wanting to defeat the Yellow Wind Sage for revenge?"
Late at night.
Inside the [Court of Stars], Riveria was miming seriously, analyzing the plot Isagi had just told her.
Her Highness the Elf Princess seemed to be very interested in "listening to stories."
For the Elf woman, this was like a legend she had never heard of coming from a very distant place. Things like the Celestial Court, Celestials, Buddha, Yokai, the Destined One...
These things were still too attractive to an Elf woman who was over a hundred years old—ah no, ninety-nine years old and in the prime of her youth.
Most importantly.
These things Isagi said were all true!
Because they could all emerge in dreams, so they weren't stories at all; this was the part that fascinated Riveria the most!!
On the contrary, Ais, sitting by the bedside, had a cool, blank look on her small face, unknown what she was thinking about there. The girl seemed a bit sleepy already; in a daze, she had actually fallen asleep.
She was indeed too tired.
Fighting a Boss in the Dungeon, causing a ruckus with Tiona for a long time after returning, and now following along here...
Riveria on the side also felt a bit awkward. Especially after hearing the girl's soft snoring, in the blink of an eye, the two who were originally talking suddenly stopped, letting the room fall into a long silence, leaving only the sound of the charcoal fire in the fireplace occasionally popping with a small crack.
Outside the window, the night was deep and silent.
It was probably around three or four in the morning. Originally, Riveria just wanted to tag along and continue entering the [Dark Hall].
Thinking carefully, was her doing this indeed a bit... excessive? Rude? Or...
If it were normal times, as a Princess of the Elf race, she absolutely couldn't do something like this!
Running into a boy's room from another Familia in the middle of the night or something.
But she just followed along naturally!
And Ais naturally, even actively, bringing her along; what was up with that?!
Just now she thought.
It was Ais who wanted to come, so she came together... The result was that after arriving in Isagi's room and listening to him tell stories about the Tiger Vanguard for a while, this fellow fell asleep first instead.
So awkward!
Calming down slightly now, Riveria felt that her actions at this moment were simply too abrupt.
Sometimes, three people were indeed much better than two.
The Elf woman's thoughts ran wild, feeling awkward to the extreme, even wanting to forcibly wake Ais up to alleviate the silence here.
Fortunately.
Isagi was also very curious about what degree he could achieve in the [Dark Hall].
So seeing the topic run dry, he thought that rather than telling stories himself and narrating those little theaters from the Portraits, it was better to let her go in and experience it herself. One had to know, if he could really reproduce all those battles in his "memory."
Then there would be too many tricks to play.
Thinking this, Isagi quickly closed his eyes, lying on the bed and entering the dreamland.
...
And as the boy fell asleep.
The atmosphere in the room instantly became even more subtle.
Riveria stole a glance at the door, feeling that things were a bit strange now—what exactly was she doing? Why watch the other person sleep in the room of a child from another Familia in the dead of night?
But there was no helping it. Reportedly because of "the last incident," Goddess Astrea had stated that Isagi would not be allowed to stay overnight at other Familias in the future.
Sure enough, it was discovered!
Thinking about the matter of lying on the boy and sleeping all night last time, which she failed to hide in the end.
Riveria blushed fiercely.
Then she quickly thought again, Doesn't that mean tonight I also have to... Looking at Isagi lying quietly on the bed, the woman blinked, tentatively rose from her original seat, walked to the bedside in a few steps, and then—
A completely irresistible dizziness came, followed by blackness before her eyes!
Sure enough, it's still like this!!
In the blink of an eye, arriving at that somewhat dilapidated castle illuminated only by faint fluorescence.
Riveria was a bit anxious, anxious to get out quickly. Otherwise, with the situation in the room right now, wouldn't it be Ais sleeping on one side, while she lay on the bed together with Isagi!!
But anxious as she was, the woman had absolutely no way to wake up actively.
"..."
Silence for a moment.
She simply thought with resignation, forget it. Anyway, only Ais was in the room. As long as the girl woke up first, or...
Rather than thinking about this, better to seize the time and hurry to that floating continent full of starry skies.
Although she felt a little "guilty" inwardly, Riveria still felt that being alone at this moment was exactly a good opportunity to have it all to herself! Even Ais wasn't here; she could completely enjoy a brand new adventure and battle alone—
Charge, charge, charge!
Thinking of this, Riveria couldn't help but quicken her pace.
And the result was, when the Elf woman was grabbed by the Giant Eagle again and thrown into the "World" shaped entirely by the Dungeon's power.
Constructed by the Divine Power at Isagi's fingertips, what appeared before Riveria's eyes was another fluffy big tiger!
?!
Another tiger, what is the situation!
And it's a tiger striking iron!!
Bamboo forests surrounded the area, with gentle breezes blowing, appearing quiet and leisurely, just like a mountain wilderness isolated from the world. It even gave an Elf like Riveria a distinct illusion of having "returned home."
The stream was shallow, birds were flying about, and the scent of medicine wafted from outside the bamboo fence and mud walls nearby.
Clang, clang, clang...
A gray-white tiger holding an iron hammer, wearing cloud-patterned armor and wrapped in a cloak, was hammering an incomparably heavy great blade on an anvil.
Good scenery, and at the same time a good—
"Scrap copper and rotten iron; no wonder you came knocking."
"This blade of mine is cast from copper and iron. If you get grazed or bumped, I take no responsibility!"
"[Leaf Concealment]!"
"[Soaring Sky]!"
"[Whirling Dance]!"
"[Phoenix Cry]!"
"[Sweeping Dust]!"
"[Wolf Star Shatter]!"
"[The North Wind is like a Knife]!!"
"[Severing Clouds]!!"
"The Six Dings and Six Jias never eat vegetarian! Compared to him, you're still far off. Practice well before you come back!!"
...
One night passed.
The first thing Riveria did upon waking up was to clench her fists, trembling all over, wanting to scream out loud!
How did it end so suddenly?!
She hadn't cleared the stage yet... ah no, she hadn't defeated that guy called "Yin Tiger" yet!!
Amidst failure after failure, suddenly waking up from the dream before a certain battle started, Riveria almost couldn't catch her breath!
No, she had to continue!!
Otherwise...
Her mind was full of those fluttering leaves, the Yin Tiger holding the great blade, that rhythm which was weird to the extreme—always half a beat slow—and how he would vanish occasionally, then suddenly appear in front of her roaring to the sky, grabbing her—
[Sweeping Dust]!
After who knows how many times, she had completely understood the meaning of these two words.
Wasn't this just treating her like garbage and throwing her out?!
Outrageous!
Riveria clenched her small fists resentfully. Looking at Isagi who had already woken up on the bed, she thought about letting him sleep a while longer. The result was, suddenly, as if she finally realized something.
Turning her head, she saw Ais looking at her.
And she was using a certain subtle gaze and expression she had never seen before.
?
Wait!
As if suddenly discovering something, Riveria thought of a very terrifying matter. That was, why hadn't Ais "joined" in midway after waking up?
Could it be she had been watching from the side the whole time?
Watching her lying on top of the young boy, sleeping just like that from last night until now...
"?"
"??"
"???"
For a moment.
Riveria's brain completely shut down.
And at the same time, Ais was humming in her heart—
My thoughts were indeed correct; Mama Riveria and Isagi get along very well!
____
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