In his hands he held the parchment recording his Status information, and on his back the clown-shaped script kept flickering with red light.
Stripped to the waist, Leo sat in front of Loki with his back to her and murmured quietly.
"Lv.6... is it?"
He had more or less expected it before the Status update, since on this expedition he had crossed through a brutal ordeal, defeated an enemy stronger than he could have imagined, and been through a real adventure in every sense, but with the level up now confirmed, Leo felt a wave of relief.
His effort had not gone to waste, and neither had all that desperate work. His Stranger from Another Star was still working as steadily as ever even now, and it had not let him down, bringing him growth he could hardly have imagined along with gains he had not anticipated.
Setting the level up aside, the fact that all his abilities had reached SSS again, and that every one of his Development Abilities had improved by a wide margin, was enough on its own to put Leo in a good mood.
The Development Abilities especially. Those were acknowledged as the hardest thing to raise, and yet on this expedition not only had every one of his gone up, the magic-related ones had all jumped two stages at once. The improvement was enormous.
Mage, Magic Attack, Spirit Healing... all three of those Development Abilities had grown by two stages in this Status update. If word of it got out, it would probably shock and make envious quite a few people.
Take the Mage Development Ability alone. Riveria, the strongest Mage in the city, had only trained hers up to E so far, and Leo had pushed his to D, one stage higher than his own teacher, which was enough to show how astonishing his growth had been this time.
But when he thought about it carefully, it made sense.
On this expedition, Leo had stayed faithfully in the rearguard position the whole time, providing long-range support from the back as a Mage, and he had kept doing it on the way home as well, so there was no telling how many times he had used magic during that stretch, or how many enemies he had cut down with it.
On Floor 58, he was likewise the one who used flight magic to intercept every monster with flying ability, letting Ais and the others focus on the enemies on the ground.
And on Floor 59 he had released his third magic at full power, the Prayer of the Twelve Zodiac Houses, holding down the defiled Spirit by himself, and if his Mind had not run dry at the last moment, he could even have brought down that terrifying monster which could sweep away the main force of all of Loki Familia on his own.
Every one of those deeds counted as a great feat.
Now those deeds had been turned into solid excelia, drawn out by Loki and reduced to nourishment for his growth, so of course all his magic-related abilities were going to see a large improvement.
It meant Leo's already frightening magic would become stronger, more terrifying still.
Three Development Abilities, all raised two stages. That kind of improvement was maybe not far off from the transformation of a Rank Up itself.
Of course, the huge gain in Development Abilities was worth being happy about, but the Level was the main event of this Status update.
"Lv.6... Lv.6! With you added in, kid, that's four Lv.6s popping up in my Familia in one go this time! Every one of the first-class executives is Lv.6!"
Loki was so pleased her mouth was nearly crooked from grinning, and she had started gesturing with the whole thing.
"Now who's gonna dare say my Familia's worse than that lust-struck goddess's? So what if there's a Lv.7? Can it handle eight Lv.6s?"
Loki was very smug.
Eight Lv.6s. Since Zeus Familia and Hera Familia left the stage of history, no Familia had ever held that many Lv.6 adventurers.
In the Orario of the past there had been only six Lv.6s.
Loki Familia had three: Braver Finn Deimne, Nine Hell Riveria Ljos Alf, and Elgarm Gareth Landrock.
Freya Familia had three: Vana Freya Allen Fromel, Hildrsleif Hedin Selland, and Dainsleif Hogni Ragnar.
Those six were the only Lv.6s in the Orario of the past as far as the public knew, until Ais leveled up a while back and a seventh appeared.
Under those circumstances, with all of Loki Familia's main force reaching Lv.6 this time, the Familia now held a full eight Lv.6s, more than all of Orario's Lv.6s in the past put together.
Eight Lv.6s. However strong King Ottar was, he could not possibly beat eight Lv.6s working together, let alone when those eight included Leo and Ais, whose burst power was extreme and whose real strength could not be measured against others of the same Level at all.
Add in Finn, Riveria, and Gareth, three veteran Lv.6s, and the Loki of today really could say something like "so what if there's a Lv.7?"
Only...
"King isn't an ordinary Lv.7, you know."
Leo said it plainly.
That man was infinitely close to Lv.8, and if he went all out, using every magic and Skill he had, he could put out combat power fully equal to a Lv.8.
Which was to say, he was also someone who could not be measured against others of his own Level, and if you set aside how special Leo, Ais, and the others were and counted only eight Lv.6-grade fighters, whether they could beat him was honestly an unknown.
Besides, Freya Familia did not have only one Lv.7 and three Lv.6s. They had four Lv.5s as well.
"The Flame-Gold Four Warriors aren't ordinary Lv.5s either, Loki."
The Flame-Gold Four Warriors were quadruplet Pallums whose faces looked like they had come out of the same mold, and they were the remaining four first-class adventurers of Freya Familia.
They belonged to the Pallums, the race with the weakest potential, and yet not only had all four brothers reached Lv.5 together, they were extremely good at coordinated offense.
They were Lv.5, but their coordination was flawless and their hearts were linked, and through top-level joint action those four could even put out combat power exceeding Lv.6. They were opponents no one could take lightly.
Honestly, the way Leo saw it, although Loki Familia and Freya Familia had both been the city's strongest Familias in the past, in terms of real strength Loki Familia was still a notch below Freya Familia.
Freya Familia had the off-the-scale King, they had Vana Freya who was called the fastest in the city, they had two ridiculously strong Elf knights known together as the White and Black Knights, and they had the Flame-Gold Four Warriors who could put out combat power exceeding Lv.6 when they fought as one. That combat power clearly edged out Loki Familia's many executives.
If Finn, Riveria, and Gareth had not fought their way through what people once called the hellish Orario, giving them extraordinary methods and combat experience, and if Ais were not a descendant of the Spirits with the power to challenge above her Level, and if Bete, Tiona, and Tione did not each have their own trump card, a special Skill that could be triggered to strengthen themselves once the conditions were met, then whether Loki Familia could stand as the strongest Familia alongside Freya Familia would really have been in doubt.
In the original work, the goddess Freya even dared to declare that with her Familia alone she could stand against every force in the entire Labyrinth City of Orario, and that was not blind confidence.
She had that kind of backing, that kind of certainty, which was why she dared to make so bold a declaration.
But...
"Even so, I don't think you lot would lose to them now."
Loki made a bold declaration of her own.
Leo only smiled a little at that and did not argue.
Never mind anything else, take himself. Once this level up was done, he was confident he would not lose to any adventurer other than King Ottar.
At Lv.5 he could already put out combat power comparable to a Lv.6, he had three powerful magics, and when he threw caution aside he could overwhelm even a defiled Spirit. Now that he was rising to Lv.6, Leo was confident he could win even if his opponent was Ais.
Even if Ais brought out her sealed Skill, Avenger, the Leo who had risen to Lv.6 would dare to meet her head on.
As Loki worked away in high spirits, the Status on Leo's back formally transformed and stepped into a new stage.
Leo Eligos
Lv.6
Strength: I0
Endurance: I0
Dexterity: I0
Agility: I0
Magic: I0
Mage: D
Magic Attack: E
Spirit Healing: F
Swordsman: H
Star Refinement: I
"Star Refinement?"
Leo noticed the brand new Development Ability.
This was a Development Ability he had never seen, nor even heard of.
It had never appeared in the original work either, which left Leo a little startled.
Loki, for her part, offered this.
"That's probably a Development Ability exclusive to you, an ability that only works on that weird Star attribute magic of yours."
That made it click for Leo.
Star Refinement had never appeared in the original work, but similar Development Abilities existed there.
Hildrsleif Hedin Selland had a Development Ability called Thunder Break, and since all three of the magics he possessed were lightning attribute, he had acquired a strengthening ability that seemed to work only on lightning attribute magic.
There was also one in the original work called Flame Flash, and one look told you it was an ability that took effect only on fire attribute magic.
Star Refinement was a Development Ability that worked only on Star attribute magic, and while its effect overlapped somewhat with Mage, as a strengthening ability dedicated to Star attribute magic its effect was probably a fair bit stronger than plain Mage.
For Leo, who could use one-of-a-kind Star attribute magic, this Development Ability was bound to be another sizable boost.
All three of his great magics were Star attribute. Even the third magic, which could summon star beasts of multiple attributes, was itself Star attribute magic, otherwise the twelve star beasts it summoned would not be called star beasts.
With that, Leo's already astonishing magic ability climbed another step.
A pity he had no way to test it here, or Leo would really have liked to see how strong his magic had become.
"Even counting pure firepower alone, it should be stronger than Riveria's now, shouldn't it?"
Leo tallied it up quietly in his head.
At Lv.5 his magical firepower had already not been much weaker than Riveria's, and now he had not only leveled up, every magic-related Development Ability had improved enormously, and he had even acquired Star Refinement, a Development Ability dedicated to Star attribute magic. Even though Riveria was the strongest Mage in the city, she surely could not match him now.
They were both Lv.6, and although he had only just leveled up while Riveria had stayed at this Level for years and trained her Magic to the highest stage, S, in each of his previous five Levels Leo had reached SSS in Magic before leveling up.
Two stages above the highest evaluation of S at every Level, five Levels of that accumulated one after another. His potential in Magic was absolutely no weaker than Riveria's now.
And if Riveria had a Skill to amplify her magic, Leo had an amplification and strengthening Skill of his own in Star Soul Eternal.
On top of that, Leo's Mage Development Ability was already a stage higher than Riveria's, and he had Magic Attack and Star Refinement, two more Development Abilities that further raised magic ability, so he was no longer inferior to Riveria in any respect, and was in fact stronger.
Even factoring in external elements like equipment, Leo was no weaker than Riveria.
Riveria had Magna Alfs, one of the Five Greatest Staves, and Leo had Starlight, whose magic amplification effect was second only to the Five Greatest Staves.
To sum it all up, the Leo of now was in no way weaker than Riveria in any respect. He could only be stronger than her, there was no reason for him to be weaker, and the only things he still fell short of her in were probably experience, knowledge, methods, and the technique and skill of applying magic.
As for close combat ability, Leo was equally sure that apart from the gaps in experience, knowledge, methods, technique, and skill, he was absolutely no weaker than Finn and Gareth, and was in fact stronger.
Even compared with Ais using her magic, the Leo of now was confident he came up short in nothing.
At Lv.5 he could put out combat power comparable to a Lv.6, so what about at Lv.6?
Could he match a Lv.7?
Thinking about it was honestly a little exciting.
"Oh right, almost forgot to tell you about this."
Loki, who was in the middle of locking the Status on Leo's back and getting him to put his shirt on, suddenly remembered something and spoke up.
"What?"
Only then did Leo turn his attention to Loki.
Was she about to talk to him about the defiled Spirit?
Unfortunately, Leo guessed wrong.
"While you lot were on the expedition, the Denatus was held, and it wrapped up smoothly."
Loki said it with a grin, and Leo went still for a moment.
"The Denatus?" Something came back to him, and he said with surprise, "Don't tell me..."
"That's right." Loki snapped her fingers and said with some excitement, "I stole the show at the Denatus this time, and got your alias picked out for you, kid."
Bringing it up, Loki was exasperated too.
"I've been in Orario for decades and been to over a hundred Denatuses, and this is the first time I've run into a case where someone doesn't start getting an alias until Lv.5, and of all people it had to be my own kid. Left me not knowing whether to laugh or cry."
The alias had only just been decided, and now the kid had leveled up again, so it looked like he would be on the table at the next Denatus too.
"So what's my alias?"
Leo was honestly a bit worried it would be something so edgy it would make him cringe.
Fortunately, the alias was fairly reasonable.
"What stands out most about you, kid, is that whole body of Star attribute magic and those Skills with 'star' in the name, right?"
On that basis, Loki had settled on this alias for him herself.
"Polaris."
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