While Leo soaked up Loki Familia's precious magical knowledge, handed down generation after generation, like a sponge, the rumors about him in the outside world weren't dying down at all. If anything, they were trending toward growing fiercer.
That was probably because the news that Leo had successfully leveled up to Lv.3 had been announced by the Guild as well, becoming widely known.
His first level up had taken less than a month, and his second had been completed in just half a month. Even though the people of Orario had already come to look at Leo with new eyes, this news still shook them no small amount.
"Half a month... is this really a level-up record a Human can achieve?"
Everyone clicked their tongues to themselves like this.
Most people found leveling up harder the further along they got, yet Leo went and reached Lv.3 in even less time than it had taken him to reach Lv.2. This really was just like the gods said, wasn't it? He'd secretly switched on some cheat behind the scenes?
People were greatly shaken by it, but they didn't raise doubts the way they had before.
After all, this time was different from before. Everyone already knew of the great deeds Leo had accomplished, knew that he'd succeeded in taking on a Floor Boss solo, that as a Lv.2 he'd crossed two levels to defeat the Lv.4 Goliath, becoming the only adventurer of the modern era with a publicly confirmed solo Floor Boss kill.
With great deeds like that, never mind leveling a Lv.2 up to Lv.3, they'd be more than enough to level a Lv.3 up to Lv.4.
So although people were shaken by Leo's extraordinary level-up speed, they didn't much doubt whether the news was true.
He'd already succeeded in taking down a Floor Boss all on his own, so being able to level up seemed like an understandable thing too, didn't it?
The crowd discussed it like this, and quickly came to accept the matter.
Of course, accepting was one thing, but when there was something to discuss, they'd still discuss it, and when there was cause for chatter, they'd still chatter away.
The feat Leo had accomplished was destined to be the hottest topic for the near future.
His exploits not only spread far and wide through Orario, building him enormous renown and popularity, but also traveled to every corner of the world by way of merchants' tongues, coming to be known by people everywhere.
By now, the world already knew that an adventurer with an incredible growth rate had appeared in Orario, that in only a month and a half he'd risen two levels from a body that had just received the Falna to become a Lv.3 second-class adventurer, and that he'd even succeeded in taking down a Floor Boss solo, destroying the legendary Monster Rex.
Thanks to this, Leo's name had already rung out across the whole world. In terms of fame he was now in no way beneath the many first-class adventurers, and on account of belonging to a corner of Loki Familia, the strongest Familia, he was even more famous than some of them.
What most adventurers craved came down to just a few things, and one of them was fame. In only a month and a half Leo had come to enjoy a fame surpassing that of ordinary first-class adventurers, and this drove no end of people to envy and jealousy bordering on madness.
If Leo were now in some obscure little Familia, or even some mid-tier Familia of no great size, then he might already have been targeted and schemed against by a great many people, gods included.
Unfortunately, these plots and schemes, the moment they ran into the Familia name "Loki Familia," either had to grudgingly shrink back, or were hard-headed enough to slam into a wall and get kicked right back out by a certain calf-protecting patron deity.
Loki really had been smug lately. She'd walk around outside with a swaggering air like she was the biggest deal in heaven or on earth, and that smugness reportedly had quite a few gods grinding their teeth.
The lousy goddess didn't know the first thing about keeping a low profile or reining herself in. She practically bragged to anyone she ran into, with lines like, "Oh dear, kids these days just love to overdo it. Turn your back for a second and one of them's gone and hit Lv.3," or, "How'd you know my house has got a kid who can solo a Floor Boss?" She was like an angler who always comes home empty-handed suddenly landing a monster catch. The only thing she hadn't done was take Leo out for a stroll to show him off.
Watching the envious, resentful expressions on others' faces filled the lousy goddess with smugness and secret glee, and when she ran into the sort whose eyes were darting around, the kind who clearly meant no good, she'd kick out at them on the spot. Her ferocious manner looked just like she was about to trigger a Ragnarok, her calf-protecting mentality laid completely out in the open, scaring off who knew how many gods harboring ulterior motives.
The people and gods who didn't dare offend the city's strongest Familia could only slink away with their tails between their legs, leaving Leo, sitting in the eye of the storm, perfectly protected.
So Leo studied all sorts of magical knowledge in the archive with his mind at ease, laid down his foundation, then passed the test in Riveria's spot-check and earned the chance to learn from her.
This High Elf was utterly devoted and conscientious too. Right off the bat she began teaching Leo how to do Concurrent Chanting.
"To accomplish Concurrent Chanting, the first and foremost condition is that you must possess a Heart of the Great Tree, a composed heart."
"A composed mindset that can stay calm under any circumstances is an essential condition for accomplishing Concurrent Chanting, and even high-speed chanting."
"Only if you can stay calm under any circumstances can you do two things at once, or even several things at once, moving, evading, defending, even attacking while chanting magic, and avoid a backfire of your Magic."
Then Riveria taught Leo a method of meditation that could help him quickly enter a focused state and keep his mind tranquil.
If this meditation method was used skillfully, it could even aid the recovery and conversion of Mind in ordinary times. Even Lefiya used this meditation method now, so it counted as a kind of secret technique of their own.
At the same time, Riveria would have Leo practice Concurrent Chanting in actual combat, having him evade her attacks while triggering his magic.
She was a Mage, but Riveria wasn't entirely without close-combat ability. She was skilled not only in staff techniques but also in archery, and even though her close-combat ability fell short of the likes of Ais, whose mastery of swordsmanship was outstanding, with her Lv.6 standing she was still nothing the current Leo could go picking fights with.
So with nothing but a wooden stick in hand she could knock Leo's head full of lumps, batting him around like a dog, putting him under pressure no less than sparring with Ais.
But there was no denying that under that kind of pressure, it really did help with practicing Concurrent Chanting, and it even solved the problem of the mind-body dissonance Leo had after leveling up.
Perhaps it was because Leo's frame of mind really was good and he adjusted very easily, or perhaps it was because the ultra-short chant Star attribute magic really wasn't prone to Magic backfires, but in only a single day Leo accomplished preliminary Concurrent Chanting, able to chant magic while moving.
By the second day, Leo could already manage two movements at once, moving and evading.
On the third day, while moving and evading, Leo could also defend against Riveria's attacks.
This blistering rate of progress made even Riveria marvel.
You had to understand, the most skilled practitioner of Concurrent Chanting confirmed so far could only manage four movements while chanting magic: attacking, defending, moving, and dodging, all of them. Leo had accomplished three movements in just three days, already coming extremely close to the limit of Concurrent Chanting.
Riveria believed that with just a few more days, Leo's Concurrent Chanting could be fully perfected, at which point he'd likely be able to chant magic calmly under any circumstances, and never again be forced to slug it out on firepower alone the way he had against Goliath.
Unfortunately, Leo was out of time.
That day, Loki Familia formally sent someone to the Guild and submitted the report of their imminent expedition.
First thing tomorrow morning would be Loki Familia's hour of departure.
This news spread at lightning speed, drawing countless pairs of eyes, countless lines of sight, all toward the manor known as Twilight Manor.
The campaign was tomorrow.
That night, before the God's Chamber on the very top floor of Twilight Manor's Central Tower, the members of Loki Familia were lined up one by one, waiting for their goddess to update their Status.
"I'm next, Loki!"
"Hurry up! Let's see how much stronger I've gotten lately!"
"Hey, quit slacking and update my Status already."
Tiona, Tione, and even Bete had all come here, walking into the God's Chamber in line and pestering their goddess.
"Come on... couldn't you all just come a little earlier? Why're you piling in all at once?!"
Loki looked at the who-knew-how-many needle pricks that had appeared on the fingers of both her hands, her whole body trembling.
She was about to lose it.
From the moment dinner ended, the members had come knocking one after another demanding Status updates, until her fingers were nearly pricked through.
There was nothing for it. The expedition began tomorrow, and the members, men and women alike, all wanted to raise their abilities as much as possible, to meet the coming challenge in their strongest condition, so they wouldn't end up leaving their whole selves down in the Dungeon over some small shortfall in ability.
It wasn't that Loki couldn't appreciate the feeling, but if they were going to do one last Status update before the expedition, why couldn't they have come earlier?
Everyone piling in all at once had her run absolutely ragged.
To this, the crowd said the following.
"Course you train right up to the last second now. That's how you get the most Status increase."
"Slack off any more and us old-timer executives are gonna get passed by that stray man who showed up later."
"You sit around with nothing to do all day anyway, this is the only time you're any use, so quit yapping and get on with it."
Tiona, Tione, and Bete chimed in one after another, making Loki really want to swear at them.
"Damn that Leo! It's all your fault!"
Loki knew perfectly well who the chief culprit behind this phenomenon was.
Because of a certain someone's extraordinary, by-leaps-and-bounds growth rate, over this past month-plus, every single member of Loki Familia, without exception, had been spurred on. Ais and Bete included, they all dove into the Dungeon every day, working harder than ever before.
Especially lately, with Leo rising to Lv.3 in the posture of someone who'd soloed a Lv.4 Floor Boss, it had put no small pressure on those old-timer members.
After witnessing that battle, the executives, Tiona, Tione, and Bete, all understood one thing.
That was that this person was closing in on them, and at a very fast pace.
A Lv.4 Floor Boss, and he could take down even that thing solo, which proved that man was no longer far from the realm where they stood.
So whether it was easygoing Tiona, Tione who was obsessed with their Pallum captain, or Bete who had "small fry" on his lips every other word, basically all of them got anxious.
Without exception a sense of urgency had welled up in their hearts, as if the moment they let up they'd be completely caught and overtaken by a certain someone they'd been treating as entertainment all along, and they simply couldn't sit idle at home any longer.
Even though Finn and the other Familia leaders had already given instructions for them to rest up during the stretch before the expedition and stop going to the Dungeon, they still sneaked into the Dungeon, or found themselves some hidden spot to do their own training.
Even Ais was like this. Forbidden from going to the Dungeon, she'd quietly tuck herself into a corner to practice her sword swings, not daring to sit idle at all.
Even Raul and the rest of these Second Army members felt a sense of urgency in their hearts, watching Leo dive into the archive first thing every morning and train Concurrent Chanting with Riveria on top of that.
A certain Elf girl had even gotten into a rivalry with Leo over it, likewise getting up at the crack of dawn every day to run off to the archive and pore over books, and whenever she saw Leo training Concurrent Chanting with Riveria, she'd glare viciously at him in secret, then leave dejected.
On account of her immaturity in mindset and spirit, a certain Elf girl hadn't yet been permitted to train in Concurrent Chanting, and every day she focused solely on meditation and training her chanting technique, still nothing more than a stationary turret for now.
Watching Leo come from behind in circumstances like these, training Concurrent Chanting with her own master, of course she didn't feel good about it.
The result was that this Elf girl secretly practiced on the sly too, and was now also in line for a Status update.
Loki took all of this in, which was why she was cursing a certain self-unaware work fiend.
And that person soon appeared before her.
"Update my Status too, would you, Loki."
The utterly self-unaware man came into the God's Chamber with a composed look and said this to his goddess.
"...Get out."
Loki twisted the corner of her mouth, pointed at the door, and cursed him out.
That said, in the end Loki still updated Leo's Status for him.
Leo Eligos
Lv.3
Strength: 10 → H144 Endurance: 10 → H107 Dexterity: 10 → H189 Agility: 10 → G235 Magic: 10 → F346 Mage: H Magic Attack: I
"The progress this time wasn't all that big, was it."
Translating the Status into the common language, copying it onto parchment and handing it to Leo, Loki said this lightly.
Mm... an increase of roughly 1000 in total proficiency across all abilities, and Loki didn't even know when she'd started being able to calmly call progress of that degree "not very big progress."
Leo, for his part, didn't think it strange.
"This time I didn't go to the Dungeon, I was holed up in the archive all day, and I only did some training with Riveria. To get this much growth even so is already pretty good."
Leo looked at his freshly minted Status, quite satisfied.
He hadn't gone to the Dungeon, hadn't sparred with Ais, only done some Concurrent Chanting training with Riveria, and to get this kind of growth as a result, there really was no reason not to be satisfied.
Loki actually thought it counted as pretty good too, but she just didn't want to say anything nice to this brat.
Still...
"Since you came over yourself, I'll give you the gift I prepared for you."
With that, Loki took out a parcel.
"A gift?"
Leo blinked.
The lousy goddess prepared a gift for me?
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