In the days that followed, Reigerâs life began to fall into a routine.
In the mornings, Reiger would spar with Ais in the courtyard and instruct her in the Breath of Wind.
After having breakfast at the base camp, he would venture alone into the underground city with just his sword, returning only by dusk.
This routine was reminiscent of the old Reiger, making Finn and others worry if Reiger might recklessly roam the underground city again.
But seeing Reiger return each day looking clean and tidy, unlike before when he seemed completely battered and dirty, Finn and the others figured they might be overthinking it.
"With Reigerâs current strength, itâs unlikely anything would go wrong even if he explores the underground city alone."
"As long as itâs not an expedition, the floors accessible in a day trip are limited."
"That kid is already Lv.5, and his real combat strength even surpasses Ais, who is Lv.6. As long as he doesnât go too deep, itâs hard for things to go wrong."
After discussing briefly, Finn, Revilia, and Grace decided to let Reiger do as he wished.
As long as Reiger doesnât act recklessly like before, returning battered and bruised each day, let him go to the underground city if he wants.
Little did Finn and the others know, Reiger wasnât avoiding getting battered and bruised; he simply cleaned himself up before returning to the base camp.
With his current Healing Magic and Recovery Magic, even a pierced heart could be healed and restored, so how would he return battered and bruised like before?
The clothes he wore were equivalent to second-level armored equipment, not as easily damaged as before. Even if damaged, they could be remade, so naturally, he wouldnât appear battered.
Additionally, with lifestyle Magic for cleaning himself and removing dirt, if Reiger still returned looking disheveled like before, it wouldâve been an injustice to all the magic he had learned.
Furthermore, although Reiger often returned the same day, he went much deeper than Finn and the others imagined.
As soon as he entered the underground city, he would find a hidden spot to open a Teleportation portal, directly reaching the 50th floor where previous expeditions had gone. From the 50th floor as his base, heâd delve deeper, sometimes venturing through the 51st floor, and at his deepest, even reaching the Loki Clanâs furthest depthâthe 58th floor.
Going this deep, even the first-level adventurers of Lokiâs clan had to face dangers and eventually retreat, and as Reiger had sealed some of his power, he naturally found it impossible to emerge unscathed from such dangerous places. Getting battered and bruised was inevitable.
But Reiger loved it.
The long-lost thrill of combat and life-and-death fights excited him, sometimes so much that heâd forget to go home, much to the rebuke of Loki and others.
These long-lost battles and massive monster encounters enabled Reigerâs abilities to enter a phase of rapid growth once more.
......
Reiger Brillhaut
Lv.7
Strength: A822â S918
Endurance: A808â S904
Dexterity: S943â SS1057
Agility: S961â SS1082
Magic Power: SS1010â SS1163
Light Armor: B
Swordsman: C
Magic Guide: D
War Veteran: D
Rapid Attack: E
Magic Chant: G
......
This was all the growth Reiger achieved on the first day.
At his level and parameters, being able to improve overall skill proficiency by over 500 in a single day was simply astonishing.
At this rate of growth, it wouldnât take long before he could push all his current abilities to the limit.
And so it was.
About a week later, Reiger updated his abilities once again.
......
Reiger Brillhaut
Lv.7
Strength: S918â SSS1444
Endurance: S904â SSS1437
Dexterity: SS1057â SSS1505
Agility: SS1082â SSS1526
Magic Power: SS1163â SSS1549
Light Armor: Bâ A
Swordsman: Câ B
Magic Guide: Dâ C
War Veteran: Dâ C
Rapid Attack: Eâ D
Magic Chant: Gâ F
......
At this point, Reiger officially reached his current limit.
All abilities at SSS. He once again reached this incredible stage, where even his previously stagnant development abilities seemed to erupt all at once, collectively advancing a stage.
This significantly enhanced Reigerâs strength, but unfortunately, he fed it all to the Heroâs Ring, continuing to maintain his power at the Lv.5 stage.
This was not only because Reiger needed to keep up appearances, needing to deceive those incredibly perceptive gods, but also because he had confirmed something from Loki.
That is, by challenging dangers beyond his level at this Lv.5 stage, he could indeed gain high-level experience points!
The dangers he could easily overcome at Lv.7 were terrifying crises at Lv.5, but remarkably, could count as Reigerâs monumental achievements upon successful adventures!
Challenging stronger enemies, even if a miracle!
Adventuring would lead to new possibilities!
This is the blessing of the gods, this is the fuel that allows abilities to transcend!
The protagonist of the original work, who achieved continuous transcendence miracles, allowed Reiger to glimpse a new path of growth!
Although reaching Lv.8 required a daunting amount of high-level experience points, if Reiger wanted to upgrade in this way, it would probably take a considerable amount of time, but itâs better than seeing no upgrade possibility at all, right?
"But the proficiency for this ability parameter, beyond 1500, is still SSS?"
Previously, Reiger thought the proficiency range for SSS was 1200-1499.
Now it seems, he guessed wrong.
"Perhaps all proficiency above 1200 is SSS?"
Anyway, as long as he could continue to grow, itâs fine.
Adventurersâ greatest fear is exhausting their potential, unable to continue growing, or even failing to advance to the next stage, preventing their "vessel" from evolving and unleashing new potential.
If that were to happen, then that personâs path would have reached its end.
Reiger was very grateful that he could still continue to grow, continue to become stronger, even without stopping at Lv.7, still reaching the realm of all abilities at SSS.
This proved his potential wasnât exhausted yet, he could still advance, he hadnât reached the end.
Thus, Reiger braved the underground city more vigorously, reaching the 58th floor each time.
Had he not known that he shouldnât lightly tread into the 59th floor, where there werenât any monsters worthy of his challengeâthe only monster didnât belong to him, but to his familiaâReiger would have wanted to venture into the 59th floor for a peek.
And so, Reiger ventured daily, exploring the underground city methodically, unwavering and consistent.
Unfortunately, such days did not continue forever.
The calm was ultimately broken.
......
Northwest Street, Guild Headquarters.
As the hazy moonlight began to envelop the ground, in the guild headquarters resembling a Pantheon, Reiger walked slowly within it.
"...I got carried away again, forgot to go home on time."
Looking at the vast hall that had become deserted due to the approaching nighttime, Reiger couldnât help but smile wryly.
"Iâll get lectured by Loki and Finn again today."
Talking to himself, Reigerâs destination this time was the exchange center set up in the guild headquarters.
He was here to exchange magic stones for money.
Having been exploring in regions below the 50th floor lately, Reiger had acquired a batch of very substantial magic stones in both quantity and quality, left to collect dust in his dimensional cubeâs storage space until he remembered today to take them out for selling, to trade for some spending money.
Although he could create gold and possessed numerous precious gems and crystals, theoretically, he wouldnât lack money; however, this was Orario after all, the center of the world, home to countless gods and familias, and the guild managing the city was in operation. If he recklessly sold large amounts of gold and gems, it would undoubtedly cause unnecessary trouble.
Therefore, Reiger had thought about it, unless absolutely necessary, itâs best to practice restraint, not to do anything too eye-catching, nor disrupt the cityâs economy.
"Please help me exchange all of these for money."
At the exchange counter, Reiger threw down a large sack of magic stones and spoke to the staff behind the counter.
"S-Sure! Please wait a moment!"
The staff seemed startled by the sheer volume of magic stones and only seemed to understand upon seeing Reigerâs face, nodding while calling for someone to count them.
Reiger quietly waited as the exchanger converted his magic stones into money, but suddenly, he heard a loud noise.
"Bang!"
A human adventurer slammed his fist onto the counter at the service window not far away, shouting at the guild staff inside.
"Iâve already said it, thereâs been a massive monster outbreak on the 24th floor, itâs more exaggerated than Monstrous Feast, an abnormal situation that ordinary high-level adventurers canât solve, the calamity is expanding, why arenât you sending people to handle it!"
The manâs roar was particularly loud in the late-night guild, scaring the guild staff considerably.
"I-Iâm sorry! We will swiftly send someone to handle it!"
The petite guild staff kept bowing and apologizing.
"If apologies were useful, my companions wouldnât have sacrificed themselves!" The man continued to vent his emotions, shouting while urging, "Send the major familias to solve it! If this continues, we wonât be able to continue exploring! Send first-tier adventurers over! Hurry up!"
"I-I will try my best to negotiate!"
Amid the guild staffâs voice sounding near tears, the human adventurer left in a huff, adding a bit more tension to the late-night guild headquarters.
Watching this scene, Reiger squinted and muttered under his breath.
"Is it about to start?"
With a thoughtful heart, Reiger took the money given by the staff and turned to leave, stepping into the moonlit night.