25 025 Blissful moments.

" Congratulations, Bell. You're now able to level up! "

Hestia's sweet and always cheerful voice echoes inside the abandoned church's basement. She'd just finished a roller coaster ride, reading all the informations from the excelias on Bell's back. The bright and amazed smile on her lovely face proves how much she had enjoyed that journey.

" Able? " A confused looked appeared on Bell's face after hearing what his goddess said to him. " What do you mean able, Goddess? I... haven't leveled up yet? "

That should be impossible wasn't it? After all that I've done this past week, if that wasn't enough then.. just what in hell should I do?

Bell was about to get deeper in his thoughts when he heard Hestia spoke once again.

" Well technically yes, you haven't leveled up yet, Bell. But that's only because I haven't done the last step yet so you don't have to worry about that.

" I'm not sure why either but although your status have long passed the required amount to level up and your parameters.... it was insane but, erm... "

" But what, Goddess? " Bell can't help but smile wryly. He has this feeling that Hestia was deliberately teasing him by not saying everything in one go. She's definitely enjoying it, this mischievous but adorable loli goddess of his. " You're making me nervous here, Goddess. "

" Hee - Hee. I'm sorry, Bell. " Hestia laughed, still comfortably sitting on Bell's back. She then began scribbling for a few moments before finally handing Bell a copy of his status. " Here, look at it yourself. "

[ STATUS ]

Name : Bell Cranel.

Level : 1

Strength : S 998 -> SSS+ 1500

Defense : A 873 -> SSS 1497

Dexterity : S 943 -> SSS 1499

Agility : A 899 -> SSS 1495

Magic : None

Skill : None

"...."

He was stunned, completely after seeing his status written on a small parchment.

" This is just my opinion but I think that you have bigger no, huge excelia vessel compared to others. The minimum requirement for you to level up was to push one if not all of your stats to SSS first. I never heard anything like this before but that's probably the reason why I haven't seen any sign of your advancements last week despite already having A and S parameters. " she continued explaining her thoughts to him.

" That's a bit.... exaggerated wasn't it? "

But it makes sense. Bell can't think of any other reasons possible aside from what Hestia said.

Normally, adventurers only have to bring one of there status parameters to D rank to be able to level up. Once they reached that rank, they only have to go on adventures like defeating an opponent that was many times stronger than them and that's all. That was always the case for everyone without any exception.

But not for Bell.

Not to mention D rank, his status had long reached A and S rank after just a week of grinding. That should be more than enough to get him the right to level up.

However, what made Bell surprise was when Hestia told him before that she can't see any sign of that at all. It means that even if he did something incredible, risk his life again and again by fighting higher level monsters, Bell wouldn't be able to level up. Not yet.

That's pure bullshit to him. A huge slap to his pride being a transmigrator.

The only good thing was that, Bell's status neither stop increasing nor slowed down so he didn't panic that much. His growth was still stable. Perhaps he simply hadn't reached his personal requirements yet. He knew himself that he's different from other adventurers as a transmigrator so perhaps the rules simply doesn't actually apply to him? Those are the words he had been repeatedly chanting inside his head like a mantra to calm himself down, to get rid of his frustrations.

And it seems like that was exactly the case. He was about to level up now with flying colors.

" So Bell, do you want to level up now or hold it up first so you can maximize all your stats? Based on what I can see right now, it seems like SSS+ 1500 was your limit. " Hestia said in contemplation. She might not look like it but even she herself was shocked by Bell's growth.

Bell wasn't just growing in extreme speed but also completely broke up, go beyond the supposed limits of mortals! Hestia can already imagine how huge the impact in the world would be if ever this news ever goes out in public. To those whimsical Deities especially. They will definitely do anything and everything by any means necessary just to get their hands on Bell.

" Do it, Goddess. I want to level up now. " he replied after a short paused.

" Are you sure? Although those are only few points, they are very important. And knowing you, it definitely won't take long before you can fill those up aren't you? " She already knows how crazy and intense Bell's dungeon grinding skill was so she's confident with what she said.

" Well, that's true. However, my favorite Goddess had just banned me from going inside the dungeon for two days so I can't really go even if I wanted to. I'm also helpless here. " A clear sarcasm and helplessness was mixed in Bell's words as he shakes his head.

Hestia's face flushed hearing him calling her his favorite but she tried hiding it with a pout.

" Wasn't that your fault, Bell? You're very reckless, no, even the guild doctors said that you are insane. To take seventy bottles of potions in one day? It's aready a miracle that your body was able to handle that so you have to take a rest. No dungeoning for two days too. That's my divine will. "

"...."

" Also, those internal injuries you got are serious too. Just what exactly did you do inside that dungeon, Bell? They told me that those injuries are not caused by monsters so what happened? "

A day had passed since Bell fought with the two Minotaurs inside the dungeon pantry. By the time he woke up, it's already morning and he's back home.

The first thing he saw was his goddess sleeping on the side, she looked exhausted with tears still visible at the corners of her eyes. Seeing that he had woke up, she immediately embraced him saying that she was very glad that he's fine. It's seems like he had woried her a lot, again.

When she calmed down, Hestia then began storming him with complaints like ' You're very reckless. ' ' Why don't you listen to me? ' and many more. Bell can only lower his head and let Hestia scold him with all her might. Only after that did Hestia finally started updating his status.

" I.. can't remember it clearly. "

Bell replied. His internal injuries was probably caused by that technique he used at the end of the battle bit there's no way he can say that to Hestia because that's out of the range of Falna. It's a power completely separated from the one you'll get from receiving deities blessings. Explaining it will definitely be a pain so Bell decided to keep it for the time being.

What's more important now was for him to know how did he came back home. He cannot remember that at all.

The last thing he can remember was that after defeating all the monsters in that pantry, two Minotaurs arrived. He was able to beat those two in the end after a long ass battle of perseverance. He also remembered that he met two members of Loki familia there and..

" AAAAHHH! " he suddenly exclaimed as if remembering something important.

" W-whats wrong, Bell? Are you in pain? What happened?? " Hestia became worried seeing the sudden changes in Bell.

Bell grabbed Hestia's shoulder before asking seriously. " Goddess, my... my... "

" Your what? What are you talking about? "

" My loots. Did...it come home with m-. "

"...."

* Knock * * Knock *

He wasn't able to finish what he's about to say when a sudden knocks came from the door above them. It seems like they have a visitor. Talk about bad timing.

" Coming! " Hestia said as she slowly got off Bell's back to see who it was.

" !!! "

But before she can even land her feet on the floor, Bell grabbed her left hand and at the next moment, Hestia found herself being pulled towards the bed. Bell was now embracing her tightly, her back facing him, his face leaning on her neck. Hestia can feel his warm breath on her neck which made her face deep red instantly.

" B-Bell w-what are you doing? "

"...."

She didn't get any reply but instead felt Bell's arms gets more tighter but not strong enough to hurt her.

" Bell? " she asked again, her heartbeat started to quicken. She felt shy, nervous and happy at the same time.

" I missed you, Goddess. " Bell finally said after awhile but continued hugging Hestia.

Those words was like music on Hestia's ears, she can't deny that she feels genuinely happy hearing those words from Bell himself. A bright smile slowly formed on her face, the most beautiful she had till now.

" I'm really happy to hear that, Bell. " she finally said after enjoying the hug for a few moments. " But there's someone waiting outside, I have to see who it was. It might be something important. "

It's very rare for them to have visitors since their familia had just started not too long ago. So whomever it was waiting outside probably have something important business with them.

But Bell wasn't buying any of that. He did missed this goddess of his so he chose to be a little selfish.

" Ten more seconds. " he replied. Hestia can only surrender herself in defeat, surrendering herself letting Bell so what he wants.

Whoever those guys outside can probably wait for ten more seconds aren't they? She thought. It's very rare for Bell to be like this, so Hestia also chose to fully enjoy the moment.

O.-.0

( A/N )

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