31 Chapter 31: Level 3 and 4

Returning to the wheat manor, Lars located Demeter.

"Why are you three so glum? You just beat a monster rex on your own you know?" Lars chuckled.

"We're still thinking how we were able to beat it." Tiona was in a daze.

"Yeah, it's a monster rex you know? And there were only three of us." Tione was in disbelief.

"It's not impossible... But it is extremely hard. I thought I would get done in by those minotaurs and ligerfangs." Airmid sighed.

"Yeah, Tiona. You have to do a better job in protecting Airmid in that fight." Lars critiqued them.

"And Tione, you have to exercise caution. You were too hasty back there." Lars chided her and she nodded with a frown.

"When I killed it on my own, it summoned a lot more monsters with its roar. And Ais killed the majority of them, so be careful of hidden things like that." Lars advised.

"What!? I'm not even surprised anymore." Airmid was shocked for a moment.

But she then thought that he probably wasn't even fighting it at full force.

After discussing their strategy and what they could've done better, they found Demeter.

"Lunoire? You're a part of the Demeter familia?" Lars blinked.

"Wow, what a coincidence." Lunoire chuckled when she saw him.

"Lars, you guys have been away for a while." Demeter smiled at them and he puffed his chest.

"I've done my magic on them once again." Lars pointed at the trio.

"They're ready for a level up? Are you sure?" Demeter raised a brow.

"Wait... Isn't that Airmid Teasanare? She just leveled up a month ago..." Lunoire recognized her.

She was pretty famous all around Orario. Demeter looked at him with a raised brow.

"..."

"What? Why the silence?" Lars tried to lighten the mood by chuckling.

"Lars... Their growth rates aren't normal at all. In a few months, you're going to turn Airmid into a 2nd class adventurer?" Demeter rubbed her temple.

"Yeah... The gods will pick on this like vultures if they learn about this on the Denatus." Lunoire frowned.

"Denatus?" Lars' group was confused. "See, you don't even know what a Denatus is... It's a meeting of the gods in Babel." Demeter smiled wryly.

"Ahhh, then what's it all about?" Lars asked and Demeter rolled her eyes.

"The gods will talk about their children and those who have leveled up. They would be given nicknames." Demeter winced.

"Ahhh, you have talked plenty about the unpleasant nicknames they try to give adventurers." Lunoire chuckled.

"Yeah, they even gave a ridiculous nickname like burning fighting fighter." Demeter sighed.

"Then please give them a good nickname okay?" Lars requested and Demeter sighed heavily again.

"That's not the problem here. The problem is, she'll be level 3 when the Denatus starts." Demeter explained.

"Then why not just not report it to the guild for now?" Airmid raised her hand.

They then looked at her weirdly. "I never expected you to be devious, Airmid. You don't look the part." Demeter chuckled.

"What? It's only natural to not want to be on the spotlight." Airmid shrugged and the others nodded.

"That seems to be a rarity, dear Airmid. Adventurers like to stand out." Demeter did not agree with her.

"So, what do we do?" Lars raised a brow and they thought about it for a moment.

"We should keep quiet for now. Unless you want people harassing you." Lunoire backed them up.

Lars' eyes narrowed and he thought why would they need to hide from punks?

"Give me a minute. Lunoire, can you leave me us with Demeter?" Lars asked seriously.

"Okay, tell me if you need help okay? I might not be a full member of the familia, but you're still my juniors." Lunoire nodded at them.

After Lunoire left, Demeter raised a brow at him and he pulled her to her private quarters.

"Why do we need to be all hush, hush here?" Demeter was confused.

"You'll see." Lars took out a crystal ball and he called someone.

And after a few minutes of tense silence, Demeter suddenly felt it. A mortal that has accumulated a lot of excelia.

"So, you trust her enough?" Alfia's voice resounded and Demeter looked backwards in surprise.

"I-impossible... You died more than a year ago." Demeter of course knew her.

"Goddess Demeter, it's a pleasure to meet you. Though I'd say upfront that I dislike noisy individuals." Alfia curtsied to her.

"Y-you... Is she the adventurer that helps you with farming in the dungeon?" Demeter blinked in shock.

"Yeah, the great Alfia-sama. The best ferry in the world." Lars pointed at her exaggeratedly.

"Urgh! That hurts you know!?" Lars was smacked by Alfia and the others winced as they felt the wind pressure from it.

"I want your falna. I can feel it, I can level up." Alfia had a hunch.

And she hasn't gotten a status update ever since they fought the behemoth and leviathan.

They were too pre-occupied with the 3rd great quest and they were all defeated by the black dragon.

"I would also love to see it. The very first level 8 since the battle with the black dragon." Lars smirked.

"You're going to give me a heart attack." Demeter couldn't help but sigh.

Alfia then took off her top and she lied down in front of her.

Demeter had no choice and she updated her status.

Alfia; Level 7

STR: EX 1500

AGI: EX 1500

DEX: EX 1500

VIT: EX 1500

MAG: EX 1500

Skills:

Gif Blessing -> Providence: Saved by divine intervention. Thy soul's fate has changed.

Alme -> Divine Enemy: The heavens shall weep upon your godlike might.

Vel Ardore: Sound bends to your will. Light is created at your fingertips. Strengthens all magic related to light and sound.

"W-what is this?" Demeter couldn't believe what she was seeing and even rubbed her eyes.

"Why? What's happening?" Lars asked and Demeter cursed herself for not being quiet.

And she had a feeling that Alfia already knows that her skills changed. Gif's blessing is the cause of her disease after all.

Now that it was gone, it would lose its effects and would be replaced. As she can still use overlimit even without it.

"Here..." Demeter gave it to Alfia and Lars took a look.

"Divine enemy? That doesn't sound good..." Lars frowned and Alfia snorted.

"Sounds like exactly what we're doing." Alfia smirked and the other three looked at them in surprise.

"It's no use hiding it from a god. Especially her, she has a really keen sense. Demeter knows if you lie." Alfia snorted.

"Wait... You couldn't have told me that before because?" Lars glared at her.

"You didn't ask." Alfia snickered at him and he pouted.

"May I know what this thing you are doing?" Demeter asked and Lars sighed.

"Well, we are fostering intelligent monsters in the dungeon. We're even making a city." Lars shrugged.

"A city of monsters!?" Demeter went pale and they thought that was the normal reaction.

'H-he's already gathering his army against the world?' Demeter was worried for a different reason.

"Yeah, they're sapient. Just like real people. I can't believe it myself." Alfia snorted.

"They're very nice Demeter." Airmid assured her.

"Un! This mermaid called Marie also gives us a lot of fish. Though it turns to ashes before we can eat it." Tiona chuckled.

"Yeah, she's a klutz that one. Monsters turn to dust when their magic stones are taken after all." Tione laughed.

"Y-you're saying that there are monsters that wish no harm to people in the dungeon?" Demeter was perplexed.

For thousands of years. Monsters and people fought to kill each other.

There were even times where nations fell to monster hordes. And the one eyed black dragon razed the strongest empire in one night.

"Maybe we'll introduce them to you later Demeter. But keep it a secret please?" Lars did the puppy dog eyes.

Demeter sighed at him and she nodded. "What choice do I have? We would be under fire in a heartbeat if I told a soul about this."

"At least you know what you got yourself into, now level me up." Alfia demanded.

"Such an ill mannered child." Demeter thought of locking her stats to teach her a lesson.

But her ichor couldn't do it. And she was only able to level her up.

"You can pick a developmental... Ability." Demeter's jaw almost drop.

"It's locked. You already had one picked for you." Demeter handed her stats.

Echthroi: An enemy of mankind. As long as you fight against them and the gods. Strength shall fill your mortal body.

"Now... This is quite something." Alfia rubbed her chin as she smirked.

Meanwhile, Demeter almost fainted at the sight of it.

"I guess we really are going to fight against the world." Tiona sighed.

She did not expect that a hero will be fighting against the whole world.

"Do you think we have it too?" Tione wondered.

"That's a good idea, please level us up as well Demeter." Airmid requested and she started to level them up too.

And as expected, they also had that developmental ability locked in already.

"Your stats might not be comparable to Alfia who broke through the limits... But you girls are ridiculous as well." Demeter smiled wryly.

All of their stats have been maxed out. And now, Lars thought of how Alfia's stats came to be.

'Maybe if I overload their excelia to the maximum... They'll also be able to reach higher than rank S?'

Lars was thinking of exploiting the system and maximizing their strength to the absolute limit.

'It might be an arduous journey. But min maxing them will result in the best outcomes.' Lars smirked.

"I don't feel much different, but I believe that I can take on stronger opponents now." Alfia clenched her fist.

And strong winds came from her hands. Giving them an idea on how strong she really is.

Tiona and Tione gulped as they felt an ominous future for them.

"I'm level 3 now huh? I'd never thought that I'd reach this stage in my life. But I guess this is good too." Airmid was pleasantly surprised.

'All of Lars' and Alfia's training did come in handy.' Airmid could see it now.

"Heh, now. Let's buy you new sets of equipment." Lars wanted to celebrate.

"I'll be back in the dungeon. Maybe in a few years, I can come back here on the surface. But I like to refine my magic and combat." Alfia disappeared in a burst of speed.

"That woman sure likes to grind... That's why I like her." Lars chuckled.

"Hey, hey, what are we going to get?" Tiona wanted some nice equipment.

"Since you two don't like armor. And you want to leave Airmid all the time, I'm going to commission an armor for her.

And stronger weapons for the two of you to use in real battles." Lars tapped on his chin.

"Armor? You really were serious about turning me into a paladin." Airmid chuckled.

"Yatta! Weapons! I want them extra heavy and beefy!" Tiona was excited as hell.

"I'm happy with what you'll give me." Tione just smiled.

"Okay, let's go to the blacksmiths!" Lars cheered and they left behind Demeter who was still reeling.

"They just left me here... Even though I now have the most powerful familia in the world." Demeter didn't know if she should laugh or not.

__Babel__

The gang made their way to Babel and they quickly arrived at the Hephaestus familia's smithy.

"We should let our weapons get made here. They're better in making weapons. While the Goibniu familia has more specialists in armor." Lars gestured for them to follow.

They then met up with a receptionist. "Ahh, hello. Are you sure you want to shop here?"

She saw a bunch of kids and thought they were level 1's. Which was true in his case.

"We're 2nd class adventurers miss. We would like to commission weapons." Lars took out something from his pocket.

He has a list of weapon designs that he created while fantasizing about them.

"Besides, I'd like them all made with a mix of adamantite and orichalum." Lars put bars of metals on the desk.

The receptionist then blinked in surprise. And when she checked them out, they were pure adamantite and orichalum.

"L-let me get our captain!" She immediately ran.

"Poor thing, after all. That's like billions of valis worth of material." Airmid checked it out.

And Lars took out dozens of kilograms of orichalum and adamantite.

He was living the dream. The people are paying their taxes gratefully.

After a few minutes, someone entered the shop.

(Pic)

"Hoh? You have some incredible stuff here." A woman with tanned skin grinned at them.

"You in or not?" Lars asked and she snorted. "As if I'd let somebody else work with this amount of orichalum and adamantite!"

"This Tsubaki Collbrande, the captain of the Hephaestus familia guarantees that I'll bring it to life!" She was burning with determination.

"Okay! Good luck! We'll be commissioning our armor elsewhere! Please tell Hephaestus that Demeter asked for a discount." Lars waved goodbye.

"Hahaha, what a cheeky kid!" Tsubaki was surprised that he just left billions of valis worth of materials behind.

After that, they commissioned the Goibniu familia for Airmid's armor.

And when the time came, they got their weapons and armor.

"This here babies all have the durandal trait. They're practically indestructible!" Tsubaki handed them their weapons.

"O-ohhh!" Tiona grabbed hers and she rubbed her face on it.

(Pic)

"Lars... This is beautiful." Tione's pupils dilated and she was in love with her new blades.

(Pic)

"Why do I have to come here dressed like this? Shouldn't we just leave my armor back home?" Airmid thought she was overdressed.

(Pic)

"Nonsense! You look good! As expected of my paladin!" Lars gave her a thumbs up.

"To our level up and new equipment! Banzai!" Tiona cheered and the others followed.

"I look like I'm going to a war..." Airmid grumbled.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.