Staring at the "Lv. 4" now displayed in his System's level field, Leon's grin stretched so wide it was practically uncontrollable.
He shot to his feet instinctively, fighting down the urge to scream "YES" at the top of his lungs. If they weren't deep inside the Dungeon, where any reckless outburst could have irreversible consequences, he'd have been hollering his head off.
"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!"
He jumped up and threw three wild punches at the air above him, finally venting the excitement.
He sucked in several deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down, and sat back down on the fallen log by the campfire.
He poked at the fire a few times, then turned his attention back to the panel.
"You think I'm done?"
Leon looked at his remaining Excelia and Assets, then at his Lv. 4 potential cap, ran a quick mental calculation, and grinned. Without a shred of hesitation, he hit the "+" button again and dumped every last Excelia point.
"Now that's a real all-in!"
Excelia zeroed out completely, but Leon didn't feel a thing.
Looking at his Basic Abilities, filled out once again, he nodded with satisfaction and muttered to himself:
"Yeah. That's perfect."
"As for the little bit left to hit the cap, by the time this Expedition wraps up, I'll be just about there."
Mentally estimating the Excelia income over the next stretch, Leon could practically see Lv. 5 waving at him.
"Open panel!"
...
Name: Leon Hart
Title:
Race: Human
Class: Mage
Affiliation: Hart Familia
Level: Lv. 4
Floors Reached: Floor 27
Basic Abilities:
Strength: I500 | Potential: SSS1599
Endurance: I600 | Potential: SSS1599
Dexterity: I500 | Potential: SSS1599
Agility: I500 | Potential: SSS1599
Magic: I798 | Potential: SSS1599
Development Abilities:
Versatility G | Hunter G | Magic Guide G | Abnormal Resistance G
Strong Body G | Magic Resistance G | Escape G
Concentrate H | Accuracy H | Strong Defense H
Magic: (omitted)
Skills: (omitted)
...
This round of stat allocation didn't just push Leon from Lv. 3 to Lv. 4. The leftover points had already carried him more than halfway through Lv. 4's progression.
His Lv. 4 potential was maxed out instantly, and he'd even had enough surplus Excelia to splurge on dumping points straight into his actual stats.
He'd skipped the Lv. 4 early game entirely and jumped straight into mid-tier territory.
"Damn, dumping points feels so good. Just keeps feeling good."
"Only problem is it burns through cash like crazy."
He scrolled down the panel to his resource section.
...
Assets: Reserves: 3,620,000 | Cash: 278,190,000
Excelia: 0
...
For Leon, who'd long since cleared the early game and entered the advanced stage, earning Excelia wasn't nearly as painful as it used to be. As his Level rose, his strength grew, and his Familia expanded with Jeanne, Rose, Kureha, and the others joining, he'd hit the fast lane for power growth. Barring any accidents, this snowball would only keep rolling bigger with time.
As long as he maintained his current Excelia farming rate, points would never be a bottleneck again.
"Already burned through half the free money. Guess when I get the chance... I'll need to pay the Rudra Familia another visit and help myself to their stock."
"Hope they haven't caught on yet..."
He shook his head, shelving thoughts about the future for now.
"Cross that bridge when I come to it. If they haven't noticed, I'll keep milking them."
"And if they have..."
Thinking about his current strength, Leon smirked.
"I kill them all, and the goods are still mine, aren't they?"
...
Far away on the surface, a Rudra Familia member standing guard at the transfer warehouse was hit by a sudden, violent shiver. Startled, he scrambled to light an oil lamp and swept through the darkness, checking every corner. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he let out a breath.
"The hell? Middle of the damn night."
"Thought those justice freaks and braindead MPs were raiding the hideout."
"Nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"What nearly gave you a heart attack?"
"Jesus Christ!"
A second voice appeared right next to him. The guard ripped his blade free on pure reflex.
Steel rang against steel in the darkness. He spun around and finally made out the other man's face by torchlight.
"God damn it, Jura? What are you doing here? I thought you got assigned to investigate something."
The two sheathed their weapons and hurried down to the hideout's basement.
Only after the door shut and the space was fully sealed did they relax.
"Command and the higher-ups had me tailing the justice bitches, watching their movements. But the second I started, they all ran off into the Dungeon!"
"Wasted my whole trip for nothing. Damn it!"
The guard blinked at Jura's griping, then his expression immediately brightened.
"The justice bitches went into the Dungeon? Haha, hell yeah!"
"Those bastards are finally out of the city. With them patrolling every damn day, I've been stuck in this remote warehouse scared shitless 24/7, terrified they'd grab one of those idiot merchants by the collar and trace the supply chain right back to us."
"Relax? You're relaxing way too early."
Jura's laugh was cold and humorless.
"They're not some massive Familia like Freya or Loki. How long do you think they'll spend in the Dungeon?"
"You've got a few days of peace, tops."
"A few days is a few days. Quit wasting my time. Now that you're here, you're on watch tonight. I'm heading to the Pleasure Quarter to blow off some steam!"
"Swear to god, I've been going crazy cooped up in here."
...
Meanwhile, the very "justice bitches" the Rudra Familia was discussing were finding their Dungeon exploration far less smooth than outsiders might imagine. No... it would be more accurate to say they'd run into trouble. Enormous trouble.
Dungeon, Lower Floors, Floor 27. The Water City.
Alise, Kaguya, Lyra, Ryuu, and the other eleven members of the Astraea Familia stood frozen, every single one of them slack-jawed, staring blankly at the colossal creature riding the current down the great azure waterfall. Their minds had gone completely blank.
Lyra craned her neck as hard as she could, trying to fit the massive thing's entire body into her field of vision.
She swallowed hard, throat bobbing involuntarily. Every member of the group was doing the same.
The Pallum girl's lips twitched stiffly into a smile, her face drained of color.
"Hey, hey, hey... Alise, please tell me you didn't just decide to go on this Expedition on a whim without checking the Monster Rex's respawn timer at the Guild first. Please tell me you didn't just charge in here."
Alise, the one being questioned, was in no state to respond. She stood rooted to the spot, expression blank, brain empty, completely unable to form a coherent thought.
It wasn't until Kaguya, face dead serious, smacked her on the shoulder that she snapped back to reality.
"Uh... I might have, probably, possibly... not checked?"