"At the same time, I need to gather some materials to train my alchemy skills."
-------------------------------------------
For this gap period, after a night of careful thought, Fron had already made a fully packed schedule.
Reaching the great feat of Lv.6, after the accumulation from this great battle, levelling-up was already almost within his grasp, lacking only ordinary experience points.
In terms of skills, strategy, magic, equipment forging, and magic item crafting, he had already hit a bottleneck. If he wanted to rapidly increase his knowledge again, he could only branch out into other professions, alchemy and potion-making became his goal.
If it were in the past, back when he had money to spare, he would have long since gone to the guild to purchase materials and gone on a spree.
Unfortunately, the timing was bad.
Damaged equipment, weapon maintenance, potion replenishment, all of it required money.
After the re-equipment before the expedition, his remaining Valis were completely consumed. Now, with even his familia facing a debt crisis, he had no choice but to rely on his strength to earn some money first before practicing potion-making.
After breakfast, together with the others, he went to Loki's chamber for a status update.
Just as he expected, once Tione, Tiona, Bete, and Lefiya went in one after another, it took only a few minutes.
Loki's loudspeaker-like voice shrieked, "Tione, Tiona, and Bete have all leveled up to Lv.6!!!!!!!"
"Heeheehee, even Lefiya reached Lv.4. Luckily, thanks to Fron's [Suppressing Bracer], your magic power was pushed to the limit!"
"I, I don't admit that the [Suppressing Bracer] had anything to do with it…"
"Tsksksk, saying one thing but thinking another, little Lefiya."
...
At the very top floor of the northernmost tower, in Finn's office.
The three leaders gathered together, drinking tea and chatting with smiles.
"Not easy, huh. The young ones have finally caught up to where we are. Now I can feel a little more at ease, hahahaha!"
"Lv.6… that's an entirely different domain."
Only those who had reached Lv.6 knew the qualitative difference between Lv.5 and Lv.6.
If the difference between Lv.1 and Lv.5 could be seen as a curve of growth, where each level was a major step up, then Lv.5 to Lv.6 was a completely different concept, like the difference between the ground and a skyscraper, a sheer cliff-like gap impossible to cross.
Perhaps a group of Lv.4s could still contend with a Lv.5, but… a group of Lv.5s, against a serious Lv.6, had absolutely no chance of victory.
That was Lv.6, also known as the [Domain of Heroes]. It was the tier officially recognized among the gods as the [Hero Class].
[ T/N: I don't remember seeing this classification anywhere; anyone knows about this? I did not remove this part.]
In the gods' eyes, only children who possessed the qualities of a hero had the potential to reach Lv.6. Without them, sorry… your potential would never allow you to enter this domain in your lifetime.
This absolute domain between Lv.5 and Lv.6 was an unbreakable wall of ranks.
But… within Orario, there was indeed one person who had completely broken this iron law.
The [Weaver of Night] Fron Argon.
Not only could he fight above his level throughout the entire [Mortal Class] (Lv.1–Lv.5), but even in the great leap between [Mortal Class] and [Hero Class], he could battle across ranks, and even win.
The gods secretly evaluated this anomaly. His combat strength, not to mention in the lower world, but even across the long history of the Tenkai themselves, was absolutely unique.
Unfortunately for them, no matter how much the gods coveted him, the great wall known as Loki kept them firmly at bay. Forget reaching out a hand, just sneaking a glance would earn them a warning.
"These children, the moment they leveled up… they must have felt it too, the power of this domain." Riveria, with one eye closed, leaned against the wall holding a stack of documents.
"Hmph, they better not get swollen-headed just because they leveled up. As it happens, I have some free time now, perfect chance to knock them down a peg or two." Finn chuckled.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Finn."
"Leave it to me!"
The young adventurers didn't yet realize, the old hands above had already mapped out their fates clearly.
...
"Here, this is your status card. Just as you expected, your achievements are enough for Lv.6, but… your stats hasn't quite reached the threshold yet."
Loki smilingly handed Fron the parchment filled with divine script, sighing with regret.
"Before the expedition I was only Lv.5. To jump to Lv.6 in less than a month, even I admit that's a bit exaggerated. Not having accumulated enough is just fine by me. I'll take this time to settle down and then break through."
"Looks like you already have it all planned!"
When it came to Fron's accumulation of stats, Loki wasn't worried in the least. Even to an ancient deity who had lived countless years, he was a monster, an anomaly. Worrying about Fron's growth was less realistic than worrying about the other children.
"Alright then, all good."
"That's that. Now hurry up, there are still others waiting in line!"
"..."
Indeed, every expedition's start and finish marked Loki's busiest time. From Tione and the others' impatience to update their stats, it was clear, not only the leaders, even the lower ranks had grown greatly.
-------------------------
[Name]: Fron Argon
[Alias]: Weaver of Night
[Level]: Lv.5
[Stats]: Strength: I0 → SSS1456 | Endurance: I0 → SSS1456 | Dexterity: I0 → SSS1456 | Agility: I0 → SSS1456 | Magic: I0 → SSS1456
[Development Abilities]: "Mystery G" "Smithing E" "Magic Conduction E" "Healing F" "Escape G" "Abnormal Resistance F" "Spearman H" "Shatter H"
[Magic]: 'Surtur'
[Skills]: "Reader" "Scholar" "Infinite Super Magic" "Magic Dominator"
[Finisher]: 'Flame of Surtur [Surtalogi]'
================================
Standing in the corridor, gazing at his updated stats, Fron couldn't help but feel moved.
First, all of his [Stats] had leapt from 0 straight to 1456, and thanks to the [Infinite Super-Magic] skill, every stat had synced up to that number.
Second, his [Development Abilities] had all made progress. "Magic Conduit," "Healing," "Escape," "Status Resistance," "Spearman," and "Shatter" all advanced one rank, with only "Mystery" and "Smithing" staying the same. But that was to be expected, for an expedition, supporting abilities weren't likely to advance much.
Finally, his title had changed. Having reached the tier of a [First-Class Adventurer], Fron finally shed that dumb title of [Flame Demon] and became the [Weaver of Night].
Though it didn't sound as flashy as [Flame Demon], the new title carried a mysterious, understated quality that perfectly matched a true powerhouse's style. Fron was quite satisfied.