"If he didn't do it on purpose, then it means his body and mind haven't completely synchronized yet," Riveria slowly explained. "This is a classic symptom that occurs right after leveling up, when the body cannot perfectly control the sudden surge in power."
And Aiden obviously had no reason to intentionally leave a fingerprint on a coffee cup.
"No way... He really leveled up? That's not right, is it? How could it be that fast? That's practically cheating!" Lefiya was completely dumbfounded, muttering unconsciously to herself.
"I already noticed something was off during his fight with the Apollo Familia," Riveria continued her analysis. "Even with enchantment magic, the latent potential he displayed was simply too high—absurdly high. Even Ais, when she first leveled up to Level 2 and went all out with Ariel, couldn't suppress a Level 3 that easily. The only explanation is that after reaching Level 2, he managed to grind his stats to a horrifying height in an incredibly short timeframe. That's the only way he could demonstrate the strength to utterly crush the Level 3 Phoebus Apollo in that War Game, and then use that Great Feat to level up in one fell swoop."
Lefiya let out a whine of despair. "So he's... Level 3 now? Doesn't that make him the same level as me?"
She still clearly remembered that when she first met Aiden, he was just a Level 1 rookie challenging Level 2 monsters. How long had it been? A little over a month? Had he actually caught up from behind and matched her pace? It made her feel like she was dreaming.
.....
"Today is the day of the Denatus. Furina, maybe it's better to let Focalors come out and attend instead?"
Early in the morning, Furina was already fully dressed in a gorgeous gown, striking a stance brimming with fighting spirit. Watching her from the side, Aiden couldn't help but voice his lingering concerns.
"What's that supposed to mean? Are you looking down on me?" Hearing this, Furina immediately grew displeased. She planted her hands on her hips and puffed her cheeks, glaring at him. "It's just a little gathering of gods! I, the great Furina, guarantee I can handle it. Just stay home and wait for my good news."
"...As long as you're happy." Aiden showed a helpless expression.
Since Fufu was so interested, he'd let her do as she pleased. Anyway, he knew that if anything really went wrong, Focalors would immediately log in to take over.
"You're being a little overprotective," Robin, holding a cup of black tea, smiled gently from the side. "Furina is a god too. She can certainly handle this much."
"Exactly, exactly! Robin is the only one who understands me!"
Backed by Robin, Furina's ego instantly inflated. She proudly puffed out her small chest—which was only slightly better than a certain Loki Familia Amazon's, but still somewhat regrettable—looking for all the world like a victorious general.
"This minor task is nothing to me. Just watch, I'll bring back a few aliases so resounding they'll blind people!"
"Well then, I shall be off and return shortly!" With that said, Furina held her head high and strode out of the house, brimming with confidence.
.....
The so-called "Denatus," strictly speaking, was a gathering originally conceived by a faction of deities to stave off the long, boring eons in the lower world.
Once a god's Familia had accumulated sufficient strength and secured a solid foothold, it was easy for them to forget the hardships of living, thus entering a sluggish "sage mode." Finding themselves with too much free time, they learned to goof off with their fellow celestial hometown friends, chatting about trivial gossip to pass the time.
Bluntly speaking, it initially functioned as a divine group chat for shooting the breeze.
But as the number of members joining these gatherings grew day by day, the scale of the meetings expanded accordingly. With the changing times, the purpose of the event also shifted. From idle chatter, it evolved into a platform for sharing the latest information and exchanging vital opinions.
Consequently, the gathering ceased to be mere inter-Familia socializing; it transformed into an official event held in cooperation with the Guild, wielding influence that rippled throughout the entire city.
Although largely nominal, the Denatus had earned official recognition from the Guild, effectively operating as an advisory body with genuine authority whose reach extended across the entire adventurer population.
And bestowing resounding aliases upon adventurers who had achieved a Great Feat had now become the most highly anticipated customary segment of the event.
"I hear there are a lot of kids who leveled up this time."
"Yeah, I heard that too. It's an absolute bumper crop of a season. It really makes you look forward to it."
The venue for the Denatus was located on the 30th Floor of Babel, right in the center of the city.
The remodeled interior of the tower utilized the entire square footage of the floor. All the partitions had been completely knocked down, leaving a row of thick, massive pillars to support the exaggeratedly high ceiling. In this spacious area—large enough for a dragon to roll around in—there was only a massive, round stone table in the center, and absolutely no other furniture.
Towards the far walls, massive floor-to-ceiling glass windows were surrounded by the azure sky of the thirtieth floor. Because of the unusually high ceiling, the entire space felt like an airborne divine temple floating above the clouds.
"Yo, there are more and more gods showing their faces here."
"Hehe, though quite a few gods have disappeared too."
"Like... Apollo, for example! Hahahaha!"
"Hilarious. No one feels sorry for him."
Sitting around the circular table at fixed intervals were no fewer than thirty gods. This meant that in the current Orario, there were at least this many Familias possessing strength equivalent to high-tier adventurers—Level 2 or above.
All sorts of gods attended the meeting. There were young male gods with lips pressed tight, unable to hide their nervousness; mysterious figures wearing comical golem masks that obscured their expressions; and silver-haired goddesses with their eyes lightly closed, bearing faint smiles as they quietly waited for the meeting to start.
Unlike the Banquet of the Gods where formal attire was strictly mandated, the dress code here was highly liberated. Each deity could wear whatever they pleased.
And Furina, currently sitting stiffly and properly in her designated seat, was sizing up the other gods out of sheer boredom. Of course, she was also the center of attention.
Almost all the deities were, intentionally or otherwise, casting gazes filled with scrutiny, curiosity, amusement, and even a trace of apprehension toward this newly ascended main god who had just toppled a veteran upper-class Familia in a War Game through unimaginably absurd means.
"How surprising. You're actually this calm, Focalors. Did little Aiden not tell you what I'm going to do today?"
A slightly teasing voice sounded beside Furina. She turned her head, looking at Hermes—the male god with blond hair and golden eyes wearing his signature traveler's hat—and merely huffed disdainfully.
"Do whatever you want. I'll just take whatever you throw at me."
Aiden had naturally warned her that Hermes loved to stir up trouble at these divine meetings, but would she, the great Furina, be afraid of that?
"Well, this is... Did I miss some crucial intelligence?" Hermes showed an exaggerated look of astonishment. Then, as if he suddenly remembered something, a sharp gleam flashed through his eyes.
"No, it couldn't be... Did he level up again?"
Hermes's mind raced as he quickly calculated. Aiden's first level-up was absurdly fast. Factoring in the timeframe, if his growth speed hadn't decreased post-leveling, then the Great Feat of defeating a faction like the Apollo Familia would yield enough Excelia to shatter the level barrier in one fell swoop.
"Heh heh, you're pretty smart." Seeing him guess correctly, Furina's face instantly bloomed into an incredibly smug and proud smile, the upward curve of her lips completely undisguised.
"Hold on, Focalors, is there something wrong with you?" Hermes suddenly leaned in closer, studying her with the gaze one might use on a rare, exotic creature. He probed tentatively, "I've been thinking this for a while now... Are you, by any chance, suffering from a split personality?"
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