With a crisp 'pop', she used a tiny bit of divine power, causing Ritsuka's forehead to turn red and her eyes to moisten immediately.
"Ugh—!"
"Geez, don't look down on our 'favor'."
"If you compare humans to a wooden barrel, the strength of the container is limited by the length of the boards. If the legendary hero is the upper limit of the barrel, most people will be directly blocked by the shortest board that serves as the lower limit."
After all, how much water it can hold doesn't depend on the longest board that makes up the barrel, but the shortest one.
Although she didn't quite know how strong the heroes in history were, Ritsuka roughly understood Loki's meaning. She had misunderstood it all along; even with 'favor', one wouldn't necessarily become strong.
If the talent is strong enough and the strength is strong enough, the speed of becoming stronger will naturally be faster.
"I see, it was me who had it wrong all along."
"Mm-hmm, as long as you understand, so join my Peerage."
Loki looked at Ritsuka with anticipation. If she could recruit such a good talent, the Loki Familia would take off immediately.
After all, she wasn't even an Adventurer, yet her individual combat power already exceeded that lv7 Ottar.
"If it's about raising the upper limit, I imagine it would also be a great boost to my strength..."
"Yeah, yeah."
Loki nodded naturally.
"——However, I refuse."
The air suddenly went quiet. Loki looked foolishly at the calm Ritsuka, beginning to doubt life.
Hadn't she just successfully sweet-talked her?
"I should have said it already, I have no meaning in becoming stronger, unless... the power of 'favor' can resurrect those who have passed away."
"Resurrection, huh? I'm sorry, that's probably not possible."
Loki suddenly understood. Her vague guess suddenly became clear, and she realized where that strange sense of incongruity on Ritsuka came from.
Witnessing important people leave her, that haze of powerlessness expressed through her soul.
Ritsuka's eyes dimmed.
"No way, you must join my Peerage!!"
Loki rushed forward on the spot and hugged Ritsuka's waist. The speed was so fast that Ritsuka had no chance to react.
Like a rocket headbutt, she crashed into her, knocking Ritsuka to the ground.
The collision, infused with divine power, was quite fierce. Dazed, Ritsuka opened her eyes and saw the perverted goddess trying to take advantage of her, and her expression turned dark immediately.
[The Mighty Bowl That Once Supported the Sky and Split the Sea]
Adhering to the psychological decision that since she couldn't be killed anyway, she would beat her to death.
Ritsuka punched Loki in the stomach. As the magic power in her body dropped significantly, crimson energy overflowed from her body surface, immediately turning into a torrent of heat, pushing Loki's body and breaking the floor-to-ceiling window on the wall.
Bang——!!
Loki took off (physically).
"Wow, this punch is too fierce, could it be close-combat magic?"
"Looking at this power, it must be at the wide-area annihilation level, right?"
Loki patted the dust off her body, her cheeks slightly pale, and struggled to climb up from the ground.
Raising her head, she looked at the several hundred meters of distance she had been dragged along the ground, shivering.
If she hadn't used divine power to protect herself just now, with physical fitness that wasn't much stronger than an ordinary person's under normal circumstances, she might have been blasted into pieces.
Walking back, Loki and Ritsuka locked eyes outside the shop.
Beside them was the completely ruined wall, the huge hole highlighting the astonishing power of that punch.
"What a terrifying child."
"Lord Loki, given your bad behavior just now, please compensate me for the ruined wall and the floor-to-ceiling window."
I, Emiya Ritsuka, pay up.
With a serious face, Ritsuka extended her fair left hand toward Loki, while her right hand picked up the sword-axe and slammed it onto the ground in front of the shop door.
With a 'bang', it sank three inches into the ground.
"I can compensate you, but it will have to wait until the Peerage expedition ends... Also, are you really not going to reconsider?"
"Although at this stage, no one has developed the ability to resurrect, it is not impossible."
Just because it hasn't appeared doesn't mean it doesn't exist. After all, in Orario's history, the strongest Adventurer was only lv8, a long distance from the level of gods.
And not every god has the ability to resurrect those who have passed away.
Otherwise, there would be no need to form a Peerage; it would be better to just resurrect the dead heroes, resurrect those brave warriors who once saved humanity, right?
Most people start from zero, but those heroes and warriors have a very high starting point, and perhaps there are those who could rival gods in the future, such as Heracles who ascended to Demigod after death; that is an existence that can truly go toe-to-toe with main gods.
This is also the reason why Loki thinks so highly of Ritsuka.
The not-yet-god Heracles has intricate connections with Ritsuka, even making her extremely powerful.
"Sorry..."
Ritsuka sighed and spoke slowly, but the abnormal movement of the crystal dice made her voice stop abruptly.
Immediately, her expression became rich.
Task Name ①: The Future Road
Task Type: Optional
Task Requirement: Join any Peerage, become an Adventurer
Task Difficulty: Low
Task Reward: A brand new character template (corresponding to the current world)
...
Task Name ②: Item of Destiny
Task Type: Permanent
Task Requirements: Search for powerful treasures in various worlds, obtain the power to resurrect the dead
Task Difficulty: Unknown
Task Reward: When obtaining powers that differ from one's own traits, it will be patched according to the situation and personal will, and thoroughly integrated
...