Elise took the parchment from Astraea's hands, and her status values came into view.
Elise's abilities were already terrifying at SSS, but this time, another mutation had actually appeared.
"And there's even a new skill?"
But thinking about it carefully, Elise had already been at SSS. After a whole night of automatic monster grinding, followed by her battle against the Level 6 Fierce Warrior, Ottar...
If there hadn't been this kind of improvement, that would have been harder to explain.
Elise's original ability values had been SSS-1243. In terms of raw stats, she had already reached what was essentially the highest tier seen in the original story. If she continued growing like this, even she had no idea how far she would go.
Probably only the author would know.
So when she looked at the parchment displaying her status, Elise couldn't help but feel a trace of anticipation.
Would there be a surprise?
Sure enough, this battle with the Fierce Warrior had granted Elise an additional special skill.
A growth-type skill.
[Limit Break]
- The upper limit of ability values receives a special increase.
- When held ability values exceed the cap, the excess will accumulate as Great Feats.
At first glance, this skill seemed perfectly suited to Elise.
She had just been worrying about the difficulty of obtaining Great Feats, and now the solution had arrived so quickly.
Aside from that, all of Elise's ability values had reached the maximum she could currently withstand.
Max-1999.
There was practically no existence with higher stats than this. Not even Bell in the original work had ever reached such a realm.
And this so-called Max tier might very well be unique to Elise alone. In this world, it was probably impossible for a second person to reach Max in their ability values.
But since the rank was called Max, then its meaning was likely exactly what it sounded like.
Max meant the absolute limit.
Once she reached this level, it meant Elise could no longer gain even a single additional point in any ability by any method whatsoever.
She had already hit the ceiling of her stats. She had to level up.
But the problem was that the difficulty of acquiring Great Feats for Elise was extremely high. Every time she rose a Level, the requirement for the next Level would become even more demanding.
And this skill just so happened to compensate for her inability to easily gain Great Feats. It was like timely rain.
At the same time, however, it brought a new problem.
If the amount of Great Feats Elise required became excessively enormous, then for a long period of time, she would be forced to fight under the premise that she could gain no further ability points at all.
How long that period would last would depend on whether the monsters she fought were numerous enough and strong enough.
Otherwise, she would be stuck at her current Level.
In the Dungeon, if one wanted greater improvement, one had to descend into deeper floors and face stronger monsters.
Only in that kind of environment could there be a possibility of breaking through oneself.
If you were a Level 6 and went to slaughter monsters averaging only Level 1 strength, the gains would naturally be limited.
Elise would inevitably face this issue in the future. To gain more Great Feats, she would have no choice but to step into increasingly dangerous territory.
Though perhaps, for her, it would not amount to much.
After all, at Level 1 she had already defeated the Level 6 Ottar. If she advanced to Level 5, then aside from legendary monsters such as Antares, Behemoth, Leviathan, and the Black Dragon, most other monsters would hardly pose a challenge.
At that point, she would just need to imitate Seiya Ryuuguuin's style.
"So, Elise?"
"What do you think of your status?"
Astraea's concerned voice came from behind, pulling Elise slightly back to her senses.
"At this point, leveling up is the only option, isn't it?"
"It's already Max. Even if I wanted to raise it further, I probably couldn't..."
"Then there's no time to waste. Let's do it now."
As divine blood once again traced across Elise's back, her status changed.
"Your Development Abilities have appeared as well. Which one will you choose?"
There were three options:
Swordsman.
Mage.
And... Ego?
It was said that which Development Abilities appeared upon leveling up depended entirely on what the person had done before reaching that point.
Swordsman was easy to understand. Elise always used the Sacred Demon Sword in battle.
Although more often than not she wielded it like a staff, that did not change the fact that she used a sword.
So she could barely be called a swordsman... probably.
As for Mage...
That was not difficult to understand either.
Elise had only one magic—Scales of Judgment.
This magic consumed little energy, could be cast on multiple targets, and produced decent effects.
So in her daily life, whenever she encountered someone, she would casually use it to determine whether they were a good person.
After using magic so frequently, it was no surprise that this Development Ability had appeared.
But as for the last one—Ego...
What was that supposed to be?
Herrscher of Origin—Elysia?
Why would such a Development Ability appear in this world?
There was no collaboration between them.
Why are you joining the fun?
A visibly conflicted expression appeared on Elise's face. She truly could not understand why this Development Ability had emerged.
As for Elysia, Elise held only one attitude toward her.
Respect.
She was someone worthy of admiration.
But if someone asked Elise whether she could accomplish the same things Elysia had—
On the surface, Elise might answer, "Of course. Beautiful girls can do anything!"
Playing along with a little cosplay was harmless. It could even bring smiles to others.
But in truth?
Elise felt she could never compare to Elysia.
That had been the case when Elysia was only a fictional character, and it remained so now.
Elysia was perfect.
Elise was not. She even possessed quite a few fatal flaws.
Elise lied. She killed. She even "devoured" others through her eyes.
Elysia, not human, yet more human than anyone.
Elise, human by birth, yet more inhuman than the inhuman...
They were practically opposites.
Elise understood this deeply. She had never considered herself a good person. Sometimes, she did not even think of herself as human.
That was why, after arriving in the Lord God Space, she had never considered going to the world of Honkai.
Perhaps she simply wished to avoid facing Elysia in person.
Back in the Asterisk world, when she briefly cosplayed Elysia, perhaps it had been an expression of respect for someone saint-like.
Perhaps there had even been a trace of longing mixed within it.
But now...
A Development Ability named Ego had appeared before Elise.