Judas woke up, this time in his own bed, as he immediately assessed his body.
"That was Mind Zero, huh."
Unlike mana, where you simply feel sluggish after running out, the exhaustion of mind was far more dangerous. Mages here had to conserve their resources wisely.
"No further injuries. Good."
After realizing he was mostly fine, Judas brushed his teeth and walked toward the dining room, where he found Loki happily taking a bite.
"Kid, come sit right next to me. As a new recruit, you will have the honor of sitting beside your beautiful goddess."
Loki said with a cheeky little smile.
Judas felt the urge to bonk her on the head but held back and promptly sat next to her.
"Hey, ki— I mean Judas, are you alright?"
A familiar voice entered his ears. Judas turned his head and saw Ren, the senior who had gone with him on his first dungeon dive.
"I am fine, Mister Satoshi. I should be the one asking you that; you got injured because you were trying to protect me, after all."
Judas replied.
"Just call me Ren. I don't like being too formal with a fellow familia member. And as for that injury, I'm all fixed up—you see, I'm tougher than I look."
Ren spoke while flexing his chest.
"Hey, hey, unless you're a beautiful woman, don't go flexing your chest in front of me. No one wants to see an old man flashing his abs around like a pervert."
Loki said while giving Ren a look of disgust.
"Goddess Loki, I'm only thirty-five years old. I am not an old man."
Ren was hurt by her words.
"You look old enough to pass off as one. Maybe you'll look younger if you shave that beard of yours."
Judas showed a small smile listening to their banter as he ate his breakfast.
"I can't believe you were that strong as a level one. If it weren't for Goddess Loki's assurance, I would've thought you were a veteran adventurer pretending to be a rookie."
Just after the incident concluded, Ren had reported everything he knew to Loki and even questioned her about Judas.
However, Loki refused to show Judas' status sheet, saying it was classified information. She only told him not to worry, assuring him that Judas hadn't falsified his level.
Ren trusted Loki, which was why he didn't bombard Judas with questions the moment he saw him.
Judas and Ren went on to have a conversation, mostly Ren talking about the incident and the dungeon itself.
"Can you believe it? The day after the incident, the dungeon's first and ninth floors completely restored to their original state. Most people thought the damage done to the dungeon would be permanent."
Judas listened attentively, because this piece of information grabbed his attention the most.
"Speaking of which, you really are a freak of nature, kid. You nearly obliterated the upper floors in such a short span of time."
Ren continued to yap while Judas kept nodding his head.
"You've already made a name for yourself. You wouldn't believe how many people I've had to stop at the gate just because they wanted to meet you."
Ren glanced at the time and stood up.
"Well, it's duty time. You won't need me to accompany you anymore, I bet. It was nice talking to you, Judas."
Judas watched Ren walk away just as he finished his breakfast.
"Are you going back to the dungeon?"
Loki spoke while chowing down on a sausage.
"Maybe at a later time. I have something I need to do first."
Judas replied.
"Okay then, let me update your status first. I want to see just how much you've grown after the experience you just had."
Loki said with curiosity as her eyes gleamed.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot you could do that."
A few minutes later, Judas found himself in Loki's room.
His eyes widened. The room was spotless, free from any clutter or trash like the last time he had entered.
"What's with that look? Did you really think I was some filthy trash collector or something?"
Loki said in mock offense.
"Take off your shirt and sit down."
Judas nodded and quickly took off his shirt, sitting down in a chair and revealing his back to her.
"Hehe, I bet all your parameters have reached 100 at the very least. Even though you might break my precious Ais' record, at least you're a member of my familia—the record still belongs to me."
She grabbed a needle and pricked her own finger.
"It won't be long until we completely surpass Freya and her crazy group of simps."
Loki grinned from ear to ear, anticipating an insane level of growth from Judas.
A drop of blood fell on his back as Judas awaited his status to be updated.
Blue light illuminated the entire room.
"Let's see what you've got for Mama."
Loki rubbed her hands together and smiled as she witnessed the numbers on his back rising rapidly.
"Haha, as expected."
Strength. Agility. Dexterity. Endurance. Magic.
The parameters grew at an astonishing rate.
100.
200.
300.
400.
500.
Loki's grin widened—until she flinched the next second when the parameters went past 500 and showed no signs of stopping.
"What the hell?"
600.
700.
800.
900.
999.
1000!
Loki took a deep breath as the numbers reached four digits, surpassing the usual limit of 999—and still weren't stopping.
1100.
1200.
1300.
1400.
1500.
"This is insane... this is beyond what I expected."
Loki couldn't help but let out a crooked grin as a bead of sweat trickled down her face.
"It looks like it's finally slowing down."
1800.
1900.
1999.
All of the stats stopped just shy of reaching 2000.
"HahahaHAHA!"
Loki burst into loud laughter.
Adventurers who went beyond the usual limit of 999 were already extremely rare.
But to completely double that amount was unheard of.
"Goddess Loki?"
Judas raised a brow, questioning her out-of-nowhere laughter.
"Kid, take a look at your status. It's going to blow your mind."
With a grin, Loki handed Judas a sheet of paper containing the updated falna.
Judas didn't waste any time and quickly read the contents.
His breathing stopped for a moment, but he quickly calmed down—as if he had already expected this level of insane growth.
========================================
Judas Spade
LV 1
STR: EX 1999
END: EX 1999
DEX: EX 1999
AGI: EX 1999
MAG: EX 1999
SKILLS: [The Blessing of the World Tree]
[Elemental Master]
[Eternal Persistence]
[The Venerated One]
[Penitent Executioner]
Greatly increases the user's damage and precision when fighting creatures of unnatural origin (mutated, irregular, or abominations). The user channels their fury into their strikes, dealing cumulative damage with each consecutive hit.
MAGIC: [Otherworld Thaumaturgy 5th-Tier]
[Body Reinforcement]
Increases physical strength and agility proportional to mind expenditure.
========================================
"What's with that lukewarm reaction? There are people who would literally pass out after seeing your status update. Act more surprised, will ya?"
Loki complained with dissatisfaction.
Judas rolled his eyes at her words.
"Jeez, what did you fight down there for you to have grown this much?"
Loki muttered, her eyes trailing toward [The Venerated One] skill.
'A skill that manifested due to the world's favor... did the world itself help accelerate his growth?'
She speculated, before letting out a smirk.
"Anyways, you've also gained a new unique skill and magic. I added their descriptions this time."
She waved the paper around.
"Furthermore, you're already qualified for a rank-up."
She paused, staring at Judas, waiting for his decision.
What was there to hesitate?
"I am ready."
Judas spoke with conviction. Since he could already level up, there was no reason to remain at level one.
"With this... the record has been shortened from one year to four days. The city will soon erupt in chaos."
Loki grinned wickedly as she imagined the scene.
Picking up the needle once more, she stabbed her finger with it.
She adjusted his falna with practiced ease before smiling brightly.
The glowing projection on Judas' back... inscribed in the language of the gods... vanished.
"Congratulations! You've officially reached Level 2."
-------------------
+15 chapters on patreon.com/drdedot