The showerhead sprayed warm water in a steady patter from above.
Leon tilted his head back and slicked his soaked hair backward, closing his eyes to enjoy this rare moment of peace.
After a long while, he opened his eyes and looked down at his sharply defined, long, solidly built body under the flowing water, drawing in a deep breath.
"Mm..."
"I've... gotten a lot stronger again."
His consciousness brushed against that invisible "switch," feeling the surging power coursing through him, and he clenched his fist tightly.
"With my Lv. 2 potential maxed out, nothing stands in my way anymore."
"The high-quality Excelia needed for Lv. 3 breakthrough? I pocketed that back in the Floor Boss battle."
"Add in the industrial district brawl with Evilus, the Dungeon grinds afterward, plus the Floor 18 and 19 crisis this time around, and my high-quality Excelia reserve is completely capped."
"With Proof of Traversal's influence, the achievements needed to push to Lv. 4 are probably just about ready too, right?"
"No, they definitely are."
With the precedent of his last level-up, Leon now had full confidence in his skills.
Listening to the faint sound of armor being removed drifting in from outside the bathroom, the pure-yet-sensual faces of Jeanne and Rose flashed through Leon's mind, and he instinctively wiped a hand across his face.
"Once I wrap up the loot and Familia business over the next couple of days, I should pour every bit of energy into the Dungeon."
"So Lv. 3, it's just a matter of time."
"Grind hard, hustle hard, go all in!"
Plan locked in, Leon sped up his shower.
Moments later.
When he pushed the bathroom door open wearing nothing but his shorts, a towel slung around his neck, the first thing he saw was Jeanne and Rose in the middle of undoing the laces on their battle gear.
The two froze mid-unlace, caught between covering up and finishing the job.
Leon leaned against the doorframe and let out a low whistle.
"Nice view."
Rose recovered first, one brow arching, a slow smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. She kept working the laces, deliberately unhurried.
Jeanne's ears went crimson. She turned her back on him and fumbled with her shoulder strap.
"L-Leon. Out."
"Why? We're practically married at this point."
He pushed off the doorframe and stepped in, hooking a finger under the strap she was struggling with and easing it loose.
Just then, around the corner of the hallway, two adorable little heads peeked out in secret.
Whether Aura had been corrupted by Laurier or not, she hadn't stopped her friend. Instead, she was watching along, red-faced.
"Hey, hey, hey, you two. Kids your age shouldn't be peeping."
Leon shot them a mock-stern look over his shoulder.
"Laurier, Aura. Bed, right now."
"Nyehh, nyehh, nyehh!"
A burst of light footsteps and giggling, and the two little heads vanished back around the corner.
Jeanne buried her face in her hands.
"What are they going to think of us now..."
"That we're a very happy household," Leon said. He tucked a loose strand of gold hair behind her ear. "Rose doesn't worry about it. Take notes."
Rose, now shrugging out of her breastplate with theatrical calm, flashed Jeanne a wink.
"Mm. Very happy household."
"Both of you...!" Jeanne snapped her hands down, glaring at the pair of them with her ears bright red. "Shameless! The both of you!"
Leon stepped back toward his own room, letting them finish undressing in peace.
---
Back in his room, Leon collapsed onto the bed, still smiling faintly.
"Whew..."
Slowly exhaling a long breath, a thought flickered in his mind, and he pulled up that familiar panel again.
"Let me have a look..."
"Mm. This Dungeon run really was a nice boost."
His eyes swept over the changed numbers, and he quickly ran the math in his head to get the exact increases:
"Basic Abilities gained a total of 1,312 points..."
"The biggest jump was Magic."
"Which tracks..."
"Endurance was right behind it... is that because of the Ice Armor?"
"That makes sense."
He quickly worked out the key:
The Magic: Ice Armor spell and the Arcane Ward skill linked up. Not only does it boost magical efficiency, the crucial part is that when the ice armor takes a hit, even if my actual body doesn't feel the pain, the System still counts it as me getting hit, so Endurance shoots up like crazy.
Agility and Dexterity... I've been using kiting tactics to farm for ages, so growth in those two was expected.
If they hadn't gone up much, that would be the weird part.
As for Strength...
Looking at the stat that had grown the least, Leon curled his lip with distaste.
"Tch, pretty much what you'd expect."
Done reviewing the basic ability changes.
His gaze shifted down, landing on the skill row.
"Scholar's Heart... what a solid, reliable little skill. It doesn't have an explosive Excelia multiplier, but it wins on being steady, consistent, a slow-burning stream."
"Plus the across-the-board enhancement to learning and artistic fields, and the boost to magic and equipment performance..."
"Taking everything together, it's a pretty well-rounded core skill."
His mouth quirked to the side as his gaze shifted to the Development Ability section.
"Hand of Omnipotence..."
"This is the ability I've always had the highest hopes for, a late-game game-breaker that only really starts flexing its muscles at Lv. 2."
"It doesn't just push up the ceiling on power, unlocking access to more powerful combat-oriented abilities like Hunter and Mage..."
"It also shows an incomparable advantage in the breadth of its functionality."
...
Development Ability:Versatility H | Hunter H | Mage H | Abnormal Resistance H
...
That's right, on this Dungeon run, not only had his Basic Abilities made major strides, but every single one of his development abilities had leapt up a full rank under the influence of Hand of Omnipotence, from I up to H.
If nothing out of the ordinary happened, Mage must have picked up enough combat Excelia to rank up on its own, and then through Hand of Omnipotence's linkage mechanism, that boost got synced over to Hunter and Abnormal Resistance, pulling them up a rank along with it.
Following this elegant internal logic through to the end, Leon's mouth curved into his trademark arc.
"Tch, now that's what you call a late-game skill. At Lv. 1 you can barely feel it's there, but the moment you hit Lv. 2, how busted it is comes out right away."
"Instant results."
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