By default, when in possession of the Self Redemption skill, Riezel ignored all forms of interference, whether physical interference or mental interference, and his body accepted only power that benefited him.
Unfortunately, this trait had once been exploited by Morgan, who planted the contract of Stake within him.
However, seen from the opposite angle, if an enemy did not offer him some form of benefit, they should not even think about doing anything to his body, so, in a sense, this was also a good thing.
Moreover, when combined with the Abnormal Resistance development ability granted by the Endless skill, which was of the highest rank, situations truly capable of restricting his performance were, in reality, extremely rare.
Unfortunately, whether it was Morgan's Garden or the Light of Heaven within the royal palace of Jinas, both belonged to a type that did not restrict the individual, but instead restricted the entire space within their effective range.
As a result, while those who stepped inside did not have their own power suppressed, they were unable to release that power into the outside world.
Needless to say, this disguised form of confinement meant that when Riezel clashed with official forces such as the Fairy Kingdom or Jinas, he was always forced to lose his magic ability.
One should know that his magic ability had become extremely powerful after acquiring more than a thousand types of Tier Magic. Now that he had also learned Lost Truth and obtained a cheat-level magic such as Uchide no Kozuchi, his magic ability had become even more terrifying.
It could be said that magic now accounted for a very large portion of his overall strength.
If his magic ability were forcibly taken away again under certain circumstances, it would represent an enormous weakening of Riezel.
However, the emergence of the Unbound development ability compensated for this extremely rare weakness of his.
It only took effect when he was restricted by factors from the outside world, and when that happened, not only did it free him from the restriction, but it also greatly amplified his status, magic, and skill effects, causing his strength not to decrease, but instead increase.
With Unbound, if he were to once again be placed within locations such as the Garden or the Light of Heaven, he would give his enemies a very big surprise.
In fact, even at this very moment, he could vaguely feel that the effect of Unbound seemed to be on the verge of being triggered, most likely because Morgan had planted Stake within him.
It should be noted that the Stake planted by Morgan also brought certain restrictions, wherein, when facing her or becoming her enemy, he would lose his power.
Clearly, this was also a form of restriction.
However, Morgan's Stake had already transformed into a manifestation of a skill within his own Falna, making it beneficial to him rather than merely a mechanism that restricted him.
Hence, as Loki had said, the only one who could truly restrict him was himself, since the negative effects brought about by his own skills could not be fully considered a restriction, but rather the cost that had to be paid for using those skills, just as using magic consumed mind, using swordsmanship consumed stamina, and using a rule-breaking magic such as Ariel would also impose a certain burden on the body.
For that reason, although Unbound had reached the brink of activation, it ultimately did not trigger.
Even so, Riezel was already quite satisfied.
'This way, my weaknesses have dropped again, and situations where I can't use magic are gonna barely happen anymore.'
Riezel could already imagine how much assistance this development ability would bring him once he returned to the Akasha Continent.
After all, the major powers on the Akasha Continent had long been wary of the endless emergence of magicians. Within their respective domains, they had deployed various measures specifically designed to counter magic.
Needless to say, this was also the most important reason why powerful magicians were not particularly feared by those in power, while those in power instead feared powerful swordsmen who were capable of assassinating them.
Even a neutral city like Sinielle, which lacked any national backing, had set up a barrier within City Hall that could restrict magic.
As for the domains of major nations, it went without saying that they definitely possessed methods comparable to the Light of Heaven in the royal palace of Jinas, or methods that even surpassed it.
When encountering such places, no matter how powerful a magician might be, they would become ineffective.
Riezel, however, would no longer need to worry about such an issue in the future.
With the existence of Unbound, those places that were originally meant to imprison others would not only be ineffective against him, but would instead amplify him.
It was like turning dangerous ground into a treasured land, transforming locations that everyone avoided into places that could provide him with buffs.
From now on, he no longer needed to avoid such places and instead could look forward to having more battles in environments like these.
'Even though this development ability doesn't really do much in normal situations, I don't need any more combat-type development abilities right now anyway.'
Riezel clenched his hand and felt the power rushing through his body, giving him a pretty clear sense of where he stood.
'As I am now, even in a normal state, I should be able to go toe-to-toe with beings a whole level higher.'
Indeed, now that he had risen to Level 8, the exaggerated latent basic abilities he had accumulated up to this point had finally blossomed.
Every time he leveled up, he developed all his basic abilities to SSS-rank, and with seven levels stacked consecutively, his latent basic abilities had now accumulated to an astonishing degree.
On top of that, his various development abilities, such as Lightweight, Swordsman, and Battle Adept, all enhanced his status. When his boosted status was added to his already exaggerated, accumulated latent basic abilities, just how high his current status was became entirely self-evident.
In particular, the ranks of these development abilities were not low—they could even be described as quite high.
It was known that Riveria, who was praised as Orario's strongest mage, only had an E-rank Mage development ability.
Ottar, Orario's strongest adventurer, likewise only had E-rank as the highest among his development abilities.
Yet Riezel's three development abilities had all reached at least C-rank, and his first development ability, Lightweight, had already been developed to A-rank, only one rank away from the highest S-rank.
Under such circumstances, the extent to which these development abilities enhanced Riezel's status was equally self-evident, not to mention that his Endless also possessed the effect of enhancing development abilities.
Consequently, after he rose to Level 8, if one looked only at status, even in his normal state, he was already not inferior when compared to beings one level higher.
In other words, it was acceptable to regard the current him as Level 9.
In the past, every time he leveled up, even just after entering a new level, his status could rival the peak of that level.
From now on, every time he leveled up, it would no longer merely be comparable to the peak of the same level but would instead be capable of genuine cross-level comparison.
Of course, this was limited to status.
Like a computer, whether a person was truly strong did not depend solely on hardware, but also on software.
High status without corresponding technique, strategy, experience, and methods would only turn someone into a child swinging a giant hammer. Not only would they fail to hit the enemy with the hammer, but they might instead be flung away by the hammer itself.
Fortunately, due to Fool's Obsession, Riezel's own potential and growth speed had become extremely high, forged through the repeated battles he had experienced and the many powerful opponents he had faced, which tempered his techniques until they were both sharp and solid.
Thanks to that, although he would not dare claim that he had honed his martial prowess to a terrifying degree like Ottar, his techniques and experience were certainly not lacking, and they were sufficient to keep pace with his rapidly rising status.
'I don't even need to adapt anymore. My body and mind didn't get messed up at all after leveling up.'
Riezel began moving his body around inside Loki's room.
He had already secretly savored the power of Level 8 after obtaining Uchide no Kozuchi and had adapted to the strength of this level while inside the Dungeon.
In other words, this time, he no longer needed to go through what he had before, where every level up caused a mismatch between body and mind and required a period of careful adjustment to the body of the current level.
He firmly grasped the power of Level 8 this time, held tight to the body that had surged in strength, and did not allow that power to run out of control. Instead, it was Finn and the others who would probably need some time to adapt.
In the end, after he had fully understood his current state, before Riezel even left the room, Loki told him two things.
"It's already been fifty days since your last level up. It's still kinda ridiculous, yeah, but at this point, shouldn't it be fine to announce it to the public?" Loki said, sounding like she was trying to negotiate. "I mean, obviously not announcing you hit Level 8, but saying you reached Level 6 should be totally fine, right?"
Clearly, she also wanted her familia to appear stronger and more impressive in the eyes of outsiders.
While the fact that Riezel was Level 8 could not be made public, since it was too outrageous and would definitely cause upheaval across the world, possibly even provoking the rampage of various gods, if it were only Level 6, that would be acceptable.
"Fine. Announce it that way."
Riezel agreed without much thought, shrugging nonchalantly.
He had never intended to hide his strength forever.
As long as circumstances allowed, and others did not grow suspicious of his growth, he would gradually release his power over time and would not even mind the act of revealing his true level.
To be blunt, among the people of the Lower World, there were already very few beings capable of posing a threat to him. If this world did not still have monsters and gods, he would not need to be cautious about any of this at all.
"Hehe, awesome!" Loki said excitedly, chattering nonstop. "That means our familia's gonna have three Level 7s, five Level 6s, and two Level 5s!"
At this moment, the Freya Familia had one Level 7, three Level 6s, and four Level 5s, so with that comparison, the Loki Familia could be said to completely overwhelm them.
"Don't get happy too early."
Riezel immediately poured cold water on Loki's excitement.
"King's already at the peak of Level 7 and is basically right on the edge of Level 8. Captain and the others just hit this level, so there's no way they can really compare to King yet."
"And with how King is right now, it wouldn't be weird at all if he took another step forward at any moment."
"If our familia really wants to fully suppress the Freya Familia, it's probably not gonna be that simple."
Loki, however, ignored Riezel's warning entirely.
Did she not understand that?
Of course she did.
But so what?
Could she not indulge in a little fantasy for a while?
Announcing Riezel's level-up to the public, but only announcing that he had reached Level 6, was the first thing she wanted to say.
As for the second thing...
"By the way, while you were on expedition, Denatus was held once." Loki slightly opened her slitted eyes, looked at Riezel, and told him with a slightly teasing tone. "Your alias has also been changed. It's not Trickster Sword anymore."
Hearing this, Riezel was somewhat curious.
"So what's my alias now?"
Riezel's question caused the corners of Loki's mouth to curl into a smile.
===
Orario, Guild Headquarters.
At this time of day, most adventurers had already gone to explore the Dungeon, so there were not many people in the Guild.
However, in one corner of the entrance hall, where a massive bulletin board was installed, there were still quite a few people gathered, clustered together and discussing animatedly among themselves.
Denatus had ended not long ago, and many of them had come specifically to confirm the aliases granted to those who had leveled up.
Among the many parchments posted on the bulletin board, one sheet had been placed in the most prominent central position.
People's attention naturally gathered on that parchment, and amid waves of noisy chatter, they discussed it intensely and without pause.
On that parchment, surprising information was revealed.
...
Riezel Brynhart
Affiliation: Loki Familia
Race: Human
Age: 17
Profession: Adventurer
Reached Floor: 59th Floor
Notable Achievement: An adventurer who joined his familia on an expedition to the Deep Floors, participated in the conquest of unexplored floors over a period of fifty days, and officially leveled up to Level 6, granted the alias—Liberator.
...
Liberator.
It was the alias that various gods had decided to grant after intense discussion, as recognition of the continual great feats and miracles that someone had achieved.
It also represented that person's special status in the eyes of the world and of various gods.
Constantly breaking through the limits of being mortal.
Constantly breaking through the limits of the gods' imagination.
Constantly breaking through the limits of countless adventures.
He was someone who continuously broke through limits, liberating the limits of his race.
He was 'Liberator.'
Of course, according to Loki, the fact that Riezel could continuously break through the limits of status and achieve the unprecedented full-ability SSS-rank was also proof of 'breaking limits.'
In her eyes, this alias was most suitable for Riezel himself.
It was no longer a joke, nor mere playfulness, but an alias that truly symbolized his uniqueness and peculiarity.
Various gods acknowledged it as such, and the people of the Lower World also felt, amid their discussions, that it was only fitting.
Just like that, Riezel's new alias was settled, and it would likely never be changed again in the future.
In addition, beside his highly conspicuous parchment in the central position, there was another parchment that was equally eye-catching and had caused many people to argue heatedly.
Its contents were as follows:
...
Bell Cranel
Affiliation: Hestia Familia
Race: Human
Age: 14
Profession: Adventurer
Reached Floor: 10th Floor
Notable Achievement: A novice adventurer who defeated a Minotaur on the 9th Floor, over a period of one and a half months, officially leveled up to Level 2, and was granted the alias—Little Rookie.
...
With that, Orario's second monster rookie had officially stepped onto the stage.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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