What exactly happened after that exchange, Rayleigh knew nothing about.
Because he fell into a deep sleep, resting straight through until noon the very next day.
He didn't wake up even once during that entire time.
His head pounded, like a heavy hangover headache stabbed relentlessly at his brain.
Rayleigh slowly opened his heavy eyes to see the familiar ceiling of his private room back at the Familia's base.
He stared blankly at the ceiling for a long while, looking exactly like a complex machine that needed to load its internal systems after a hard reboot.
Sitting up slowly, the soft blanket slipped off his chest.
Then Rayleigh was immediately startled.
Literally startled.
Because his Familia's Goddess, Hephaestus, was actually sleeping soundly right on top of him under his covers!
She stretched lazily in her sleep.
"Hephaestus?" Rayleigh panicked slightly.
His rough movements successfully woke the sleeping Goddess.
Rubbing her tired eyes and yawning widely, she stretched her arms out.
After doing all this, she suddenly froze in place.
Then she whipped her head around to look at Rayleigh at light speed and just stayed like that, completely frozen for a long awkward time.
The two of them stared quietly at each other in silence.
But suddenly, Hephaestus, who had always given Rayleigh an overwhelming impression of unyielding strength, actually had tears welling in the corners of her eyes.
She showed an expression of pure joy, a relief so great it brought her to tears.
Before Rayleigh could even react to the shift, the Goddess had already pulled him fiercely into her embrace, holding him tight.
'Ah, this!' Rayleigh was now being squeezed tightly by her sweet fragrance and soft breast, somewhat losing himself in the unexpected hug.
Who could possibly blame him when this sudden happiness was so intoxicating?
"I'm so glad you're okay," Hephaestus whispered after a long while.
She gripped Rayleigh's shoulders firmly and spoke with deep concern.
Seeing her acting so unusually agitated, Rayleigh asked, feeling somewhat puzzled, "Did something bad happen to me?"
At those words, Hephaestus instantly froze again.
She stammered slightly, conflicted about how to answer him.
"Rayleigh, please listen to me closely. We can't be entirely sure yet whether this development is a good thing or a bad thing." She paused, choosing her words carefully.
"You've always been a child with extremely strong independence. But if you ever feel like you can't bear this new burden, I am your strongest support. Please, don't ever forget that."
After saying this so seriously, Hephaestus pulled a folded piece of paper out from her cleavage.
He reached out and carefully took the paper, which still carried Hephaestus's warm body heat.
He quickly realized this was actually his updated status sheet.
Unfolding the printed paper, Rayleigh immediately understood exactly why Hephaestus had such a strange, cautious attitude.
---
[Name]: Rayleigh
[Level]: Lv3 → Lv2
[Abilities]:
Strength: S999
Endurance: SS1008
Dexterity: S999
Agility: SS1001
Magic: SSS1225
[Development Abilities]:
Blacksmith I
Spirit Healing I
[Magic]:
-[Destruction Magic (Hadō) ]
-[Binding Magic (Bakudō)]
-[Healing Magic]
[Skills]:
Soul Blade (Zanpakuto)
-Can create Zanpakuto
-Can name Zanpakuto
-Can gain excelia when Zanpakuto achieves great deeds
Gif Blessing・Minor (New Skill)
----
????
What exactly was this supposed to be? Never mind Hephaestus's confusion, even Rayleigh himself was somewhat lost for words.
His Level had actually dropped from Level 3 back to Level 2.
But his base ability values had somehow exceeded their absolute limits.
Except for Strength and Dexterity remaining strictly at S-rank, the other three core attributes had all reached impossible levels—meaning their raw values had successfully broken right through the falna limit!
His Endurance and Agility had both incredibly reached SS.
Magic had even continuously broken through multiple limits to reach a staggering SSS.
Normally, reaching 1100 was considered SSS-rank, but his specific Magic attribute had actually reached well over 1200.
Not only that, he had actually gained a new Skill? And this specific Skill was actually Alfia's Gif Blessing!
'Oh no. Wait. It was Gif Blessing・Minor.'
Compared to the terrifying original version, it had an additional "Minor" character attached to it.
Since the original birth of the Falna, he was probably the very first existence in history to actively achieve a level regression.
As for the exact reason why, it wasn't particularly hard to imagine.
Because he had willingly transferred a literal part of his soul directly to Alfia, exactly like cutting off a small piece of his own existence.
Probably because of this extreme act, a deep, unbreakable soul connection was permanently formed between him and Alfia, ultimately causing him to share her unique Skill.
Though it was only a miniature version.
But even with just one-tenth the devastating effect of the original, it could easily be said to be quite heaven-defying in its own right.
Ability values breaking through their limits.
Within his known range of lore, among all those who had ever received a divine blessing, only two specific people could physically do this.
One was the hero of the story, Bell Cranel.
Breaking through S-rank limitations was as easy and natural as eating and drinking for him.
The other person was Alfia.
Whether it was due to her specific bloodline being highly special or some other unknown factor, when Alfia's Agility and Dexterity perfectly reached the S-rank limits, her Magic value easily broke through to SS, reaching 1001.
Now, besides these two legendary figures, he had also successfully achieved the impossible feat of breaking through the ability value limits.
No, wait. If he wasn't counting events that would happen in the future, he and Alfia should be the only two currently alive that can break the limit.
After all, Bell Cranel was still living far out in the countryside, happily listening to his grandfather story about harem.
He had a full seven years remaining before he would eventually travel to Orario to become an Adventurer.
Seven years was more than enough time for far too many things to happen.
He wondered exactly how Alfia was doing right now.
Although the Shinigami transformation had successfully sealed away that highly dangerous Skill, the damage Alfia had endured over the past years and the terminal illness ravaging her body still actively existed.
She was still in a very critical, unstable condition. If it was possible, he wanted to hide her safely away for long-term treatment.
"By the way, Hephaestus, what exactly was the final result of Ottar's battle with Zald?" Rayleigh asked, shifting the subject.
Hearing him ask this specific question, Hephaestus showed a very strange expression.
Seeing her stare at him with the exact same look one gives a terrifying monster, Rayleigh asked again, feeling somewhat puzzled.
"What's wrong?"
Hephaestus answered slowly, "It was a draw."
"A draw?"
"Yes. The intense battle was forcefully stopped due to intervention by Orario's high-level Adventurers. Zald seemed to have suffered some injuries from the clash, and so did Ottar. But after receiving treatment, Ottar has completely recovered."
'A draw?' Rayleigh fell completely silent, processing the news.
"Hey, you're not actually still dissatisfied with that result, are you?"
Seeing that he wasn't overjoyed by the news of Ottar's survival, Hephaestus continued, "How strong Zald is, me and the other Gods know very well. After all, he was an elite of the legendary Zeus Familia."
"Honestly speaking, the current Ottar had absolutely no real chance of winning against him in a fight, and we all knew this fact too. But this grim reality was successfully shattered by the very sword you forged."
"Do you know? Right now, the people outside are excitedly calling you the 'Sword Master.' The existence of the Zanpakuto has officially entered the Adventurers' sight and instantly became a massive hot topic across the city."
Oh? The speed of the rumors was much faster than he had expected.
Thinking about it objectively, it was only natural.
In this war, the overwhelming performance of the Zanpakuto had been witnessed firsthand by everyone present.
Whether it was Ardi, the owner of Nejirebana, or Alise, the owner of Engetsu, then Ais Gonryomaru, Ottar's Tenken, and Airmid's miraculous use of Tenseiga.
It would be incredibly strange if they weren't heavily noticed by the masses.
There should also be Ottar and Finn's behind-the-scenes promotion fueling the fire.
Choosing the right, highly visible spokespersons for his weapons was indeed very important for his business.
"By the way, Rayleigh, there's one more important thing. Actually, you can level up to Level 3 again right now."
"Really?" Rayleigh asked, surprised.
"It couldn't be more real. After all, not only your ability values, but your required achievements have long since been fully completed, successfully satisfying all the conditions needed for leveling up," Hephaestus said matter-of-factly.
"Not only that." The Goddess, looking somewhat tired yet overly excited by the prospect, said.
"Because you're 'officially' leveling up again, you can actually choose a brand new Development Ability."
Rayleigh was completely stunned by the revelation, then felt a wave of pure joy swell in his heart.
A Development Ability!
His current Development Abilities were Blacksmith and Spirit Healing.
Normally, he would only be able to add another Development Ability when leveling up to Level 4.
He never ever expected that this strange level drop would coincidentally allow him to actively exploit a system bug.
A Level 3 Adventurer but fully able to possess three distinct Development Abilities—there's no one can do it like this in all of Orario.
For a brief, tempting moment, Rayleigh even had the wild idea of aggressively exploiting these level bugs to completely max out his Development Abilities.
But fortunately, he was calm enough to immediately dismiss the thought.
Splitting off one's own soul was an extremely dangerous act—one minor misstep could easily lead to his eternal damnation.
And without protagonist-level luck on his side, such risky manipulation of his soul could easily result in him being permanently crippled or outright killed.