Chapter 6 S-rank! Great achievement accomplished?
Arthur pendragon
LV.1
Strength: F (324) → A (852)
Durability: I (74) → G (235)
Dexterity: G (217) → B (762)
Agility: G (222) → B (784)
Magic: E (415) → S (959)
--- Magic ---
--- Skills ---
Loki swiftly stamped Arthur's latest ability scores onto parchment, handed it over, her face devoid of emotion.
"Congratulations, your ability scores have improved significantly; your Magic is even close to maxing out."
Arthur took the parchment to examine it, giving Loki a sidelong glance.
"That's all the reaction you have?"
Loki grunted twice: "At this point, even if you leveled up tomorrow, I wouldn't be surprised."
Arthur, out of habit, folded the parchment and put it away, muttering thoughtfully.
"Leveling up, huh..."
The large number of adventurers active in the Dungeon were clearly divided into two categories.
Lower-tier adventurers, consisting of LV1s, and upper-tier adventurers who had undergone a level ascension.
Among them, LV2 was called a Third-Tier Adventurer, while LV3 and 4 were Second-Tier Adventurers.
Only those who reached LV.5 or above were qualified to be called First-Tier Adventurers.
For adventurers, inability to level up meant never getting ahead.
For Familias, without upper-tier adventurers to lead them, they could never truly grow strong.
However, for an adventurer to level up, two prerequisites had to be met.
First, at least one of their basic abilities had to be raised to stage D.
Second, they needed to acquire advanced experience points far exceeding daily training, i.e., a Great Feat.
Forging powerful divine weapons, developing groundbreaking inventions, defeating formidable opponents far stronger than oneself, undergoing life-or-death adventures, and so on.
All such accomplishments, feats astonishing enough to make even the gods marvel, could be called Great Feats.
"Inventions, defeating strong enemies, life-or-death adventures... I feel like adventures suit me best."
Hearing Arthur's words, Loki waved a lazy hand.
"You don't need to worry about that."
"A LV.1 rookie running into a monster feast, encountering a Floor Boss, and then returning alive and in one piece—if that's not a Great Feat, then no one else should expect to level up."
Arthur's eyes lit up: "You mean, I can level up now?"
Loki scratched her head, uncharacteristically explaining carefully.
"Theoretically, yes, but your situation is a bit special."
"You've accumulated enough Great Feats for a level up, but you definitely haven't fully explored your potential at LV.1 yet, so..."
Arthur instantly understood: "You want me to fully tap into my current stage's potential first?"
Loki agreed: "You should also know that basic abilities reset after leveling up, but the ability points you painstakingly trained before don't just disappear; they convert into hidden abilities."
"During a level ascension, the children's vessels will transform, and the hidden abilities accumulated beforehand will receive a corresponding boost."
"So, an LV.2 who barely reached D in an ability and rushed to level up, and an LV.2 who pushed an ability to S before leveling up, the increase in strength they gain is completely worlds apart."
Loki's explanation was clear, and Arthur naturally understood the 'barrel principle'—he had to strengthen his weaknesses as much as possible before leveling up.
Examining his current ability scores, Strength and Magic had advanced by leaps and bounds, truly astonishing, but his other stats seemed dim in comparison.
Especially Durability; although he had deliberately engaged in a long struggle with the Floor Boss Goliath, its improvement speed was still painstakingly slow.
'After all, I don't have a strange habit of actively seeking to be beaten. It seems I need to specifically dedicate time to training Durability.'
Having made up his mind, Arthur stood up, put on his Magical Attire, and smiled, waving to the almost drooling Loki and the long-waiting Fu Fu.
"Come on, let's go eat steak! I killed so many Minotaurs, and not a single piece of beef dropped. Bad review!"
"Fuwu!"
"Hiss—you want to eat monster meat?"
...Crimson King's dividing line...
Dungeon's twenty-fifth floor, Labyrinth of Water.
In the complex terrain of intersecting cliffs and deep currents, Arthur was locked in an intense battle with over a dozen massive Snake Fish.
Gale-force winds tore through the water, stirring up monstrous waves, and amidst the crashing surf, several Snake Fish were violently swept high into the air.
Suddenly separated from their familiar waters, the Snake Fish thrashed their slippery bodies wildly, their thick tails lashing the air like whips.
Dull thudding sounds echoed repeatedly on Arthur's body, and then the Snake Fish fell back into the river, powerless.
Some Snake Fish tried to escape this vortex of death, but an invisible storm always precisely swept them back to their original spot, as if toying with them.
Other than launching futile attacks again and again, they had no choice.
Thus, the Snake Fish were swept up, attacked, and fell, in a continuous cycle, with despair spreading.
Fortunately, this bizarre scene was not witnessed by other adventurers, otherwise they would surely have thought themselves in a nightmare.
Not only because it was unimaginable that someone could toy with powerful deep-level monsters like this, but also because Arthur was currently standing steadily on the turbulent water as if on solid ground.
Within the small area beneath his feet, the water was still, as if completely smoothed by an invisible force.
Arthur had only vaguely sensed this peculiar ability after delving into this Labyrinth of Water.
Although it was just a vague feeling, he was sure he had received the blessing of water.
Hiss—!
The humiliated Snake Fish let out desperate wails. They stopped attacking and, instead, began to accelerate with the pull of the vortex, only wishing to escape this devil.
Seeing these monsters completely lose their will to fight, Arthur clicked his tongue with slight dissatisfaction.
"Running again? Can't you learn from the Minotaurs and fight to the death with bloodshot eyes?"
"Collect."
Accompanied by a short incantation, a complex and intricate crimson spell formula suddenly bloomed from Arthur's fingertip.
The spell formula grew brighter, its outline strikingly similar to a revolver cylinder, loaded and ready to fire.
"Cast."
The command was given, like pulling a trigger.
Crimson magic bullets tore through the water, shooting out with immense force, precisely piercing the bodies of the Snake Fish attempting to escape underwater.
Arthur swiftly released two rounds of magic bullets to clear the area, then skillfully bent down to collect the magic stones and dropped materials scattered nearby.
"Fuwu~"
Fu Fu, who had been obediently perched on his shoulder, let out a lazy yawn, seemingly displeased by the scent clinging to Arthur.
"Fishy smell? No, there isn't. My Magical Attire has a self-cleaning function. Could you be mistaken?"
Fu Fu: (〃￣︿￣)
The pure white beast was too lazy to argue with the foolish human and buried its head to continue sleeping.
Arthur suspiciously lifted his arm and sniffed. He indeed didn't smell any unusual odor, so he gave up.
"Counting the time, it's been about five or six days since I came down. I feel uncomfortable all over; I really should go back to the surface for a good bath."
And so, Arthur, who had originally planned to stay one more day, changed his plans.
He skillfully went to the eighteenth floor, found his old acquaintance Old Bill, processed the dropped materials from the past few days, and with the Vanir Familia's receipt, returned directly to the surface.
Old Bill watched Arthur disappear into the passage, then happily sorted through the various materials he had just acquired, his wrinkles crinkling with a smile.
Although the twenty-fifth floor was only the entrance to the Deep Levels, the scales and teeth dropped by Snake Fish had widespread uses and were definitely sought-after goods on the eighteenth floor, allowing him to make a handsome profit on resale.
"Old Bill, you've fleeced another fat sheep, haven't you!"
"Exactly, exactly. Aren't you afraid of offending some tough Familia one day? You'll have hell to pay then!"
"Pah! A bunch of sour grapes!"
"Lord Kaxiu and I had a fair trade, understand? Besides, he's from the Loki Familia. If you're so capable, why don't you try fleecing one?"
"Really? The main force of the Loki Familia isn't on an expedition? Where did an upper-tier adventurer come from, acting alone?"
"None of your business! Maybe Lord Kaxiu is an expert the Loki Familia just recruited from outside the city!"
Hearing this, the surrounding vendors' eyes immediately turned red, cursing Old Bill for his dumb luck.
It hurts!
Watching that old geezer make money is even more painful than losing my own!