Late at night.
As the famously lively Orario gradually fell into silence and one by one the magic stone lamps dimmed, sending countless people and gods alike into slumber, Riezel had yet to sleep.
He had returned to his familia after a year and a half, lit a magic stone lamp, and sat quietly before a small wooden table.
After a brief moment of thought, he suddenly raised both hands.
"Release."
With a faint chant, a certain power that had been applied to Riezelâs body was undone, and at once, one by one, invisible items began to appear around him.
A green jewel pendant around his neck shimmered faintly as it revealed itself.
Two braceletsâone gold and one silverâengraved with mysterious runes, also manifested upon his wrists.
And on his fingers, every single one of them bore a ring.
In addition, a low-presence amulet quietly appeared at his waist.
Just like that, the many mystical artifacts adorning Riezelâs body emerged one after another.
Needless to say, the green jewel pendant around his neck was none other than Divine Meloe, while the amulet hanging at his waist was the Wyvern Amulet, capable of reducing the wearerâs burden.
Among the rings on his fingers were Morganâs Ring, the Origin Ring, and the treasured heirloom of the Reinnail Clanâa ring Riezel himself had named the Hero Ring.
Aside from the mystical artifacts he already possessed, the remaining bracelets and rings were all obtained from Euryaleâs tomb.
Because his current dimensional travel was a designated worldâs dimensional travel, Riezel enjoyed the privilege of freely assimilating all carried items without consuming additional dimensional energy.
For this reason, he had assimilated all the ancient items acquired from Euryaleâs tomb into himself and brought them into this world, selecting several to wear.
It could be said that his current equipment was truly extravagant.
Ten rings filled all ten fingersâeach of them, in the world of
Overlord
, would have been classified as a Divine-Class Item.
Both bracelets were ancient items of the same class, their effects in no way inferior to those of Divine-Class Items.
It should be noted that the Divine Meloe around his neck had once been evaluated by Ainz himself as a World Item, a power far surpassing ordinary equipment.
Only the Wyvern Amulet was of a slightly lower class, yet it complemented Riezelâs
Lightweight
perfectly, so he had never taken it off.
Along with Fool and Hermit, whose power rivaled any Divine-Class Item, even his seemingly ordinary clothing was a magic item created through Create Greater Item, its defense comparable to that of Second-Class Special Equipment.
Altogether, his equipment would not have been inferior even to that of Ainz, whose entire body was clad in Divine-Class Items.
However, to avoid attracting attention and standing out too much, Riezel had used the effect of one of his rings to conceal these extraordinary items.
Since that ring possessed the ability to hide all accessories worn by the user while simultaneously enhancing their power, his pendant, rings, bracelets, and amulet had all been hidden from sight.
Only by releasing the ringâs effect could they reappear in their true form.
Once the effect was reactivated, all those items would become invisible againâuntouchable, immovable, and impossible to loseâwhile their strength increased even further.
Unfortunately, the effect applied only to accessories, so the Giantâs Glove worn on Riezelâs right hand neither vanished nor strengthened, remaining unchanged.
Now, after canceling the concealment, he let all his accessories reveal themselves and turned his gaze toward one particular ringâthe Reinnail Clanâs heirloom, the Hero Ring.
He intended to use its power.
As he gently rubbed the ring engraved with ancient runes and characters, Riezel recalled Lokiâs warning.
â"And donât tell anyone youâre Level 7, alright? Just keep acting like youâre a Level 5, got it?"
Recalling that warning, Riezel made his decision.
"Itâs better not to expose my current true level for now."
Lokiâs warning served as a reminderâin this world, there existed gods who were utterly lawless and unrestrained.
They craved the unknown.
They craved excitement.
They craved entertainment.
They craved mystery.
If any of them were to learn that Riezel had undergone such a dramatic change in mere days, there might truly be gods who would break taboos and lose control, unleashing their Arcanum to uncover his secretsâand that was far too dangerous to risk.
"Even though Iâve awakened the
Transparent World
and can suppress my fighting spirit to conceal my strength, since Loki could still notice something, whoâs to say other gods couldnât do the same?"
Even though they were sealed, gods remained gods.
They had existed for countless ages, capable of easily seeing through the lies of mortals and discerning truth from illusion at just a glance.
Facing such beings, all harboring potential danger, Riezel knew he had to prepare on both fronts.
"If Iâm not wrong, the Hero Ring can absorb power from oneself or others, storing it within and amplifying it dozens, even hundreds of times over. Once released, it becomes a torrent of annihilation that destroys everything."
"Although it needs anotherâs consent to absorb their strength, it can always absorb my own."
"In that case, using this ring to absorb my own power should temporarily reduce my strength, shouldnât it?"
Indeed, that was precisely what Riezel planned to do.
He intended to store away his excess power within the Hero Ringâto absorb it and conceal his true level and strength from others.
"Letâs give it a try."
Riezel activated the Hero Ringâs power, and at once, the ancient runes and characters etched on it began to glow.
A faint humming sound resonated as he clearly felt his strength being drawn away.
It was as if his inner power had turned into visible particles of lightâhis body illuminated by the ringâs brilliance as golden light surrounded him before his power transformed into shimmering particles that drifted from his body and were absorbed by the ring.
"My strength... really is decreasing..."
Sensing the change, Riezelâs eyes flickered as he continued to channel the ringâs power, allowing his strength to be gradually siphoned away.
He let the process continue until his power diminished to Level 5.
"Stop."
When he felt his strength return to what it had been right after first reaching Level 5, Riezel immediately halted the Hero Ringâs activation, then closed his eyes and examined both the ring and his own condition.
"Yeah, the ring really did store the power it absorbed from me. It feels like fuelâignited and magnified countless times over. If I were to release it now, the surge alone would obliterate everything before me."
"As for myself..."
Riezel silently gauged his condition for a while before confirming.
"My power is recovering bit by bit."
"To return to full strength will probably take an entire dayâabout twenty-four hours."
"Is this effect unique to me, or does it apply to anyone whose power gets absorbed?"
He was curious, yet he knew now wasnât the time for experiments.
"Although it takes time to recover, I could restore my power instantly using another ringâs effect if I want."
Among the ten rings on Riezelâs hands, one could analyze every aspect of its wearerâs abilities and erase all abnormalities, which included not only poison or paralysis but also conditions affecting stamina or mind.
Whenever it detected any deviation from the original state, the ringâs effect would trigger, instantly restoring the wearer to normal.
If the stamina was depleted, it would recover immediately.
If the mind was fatigued, it would recover immediately.
Naturally, if strength was exhausted and the body weakened, it too would instantly recover.
Even better, the ability could be used once per hour and also served to inspect oneâs own state for hidden abnormalitiesâa rather useful feature.
In the end, after some thought, Riezel decided to wear it.
At the very least, when using the ringâs detection function, the fact that it had discovered the existence of the
Stake
within himself, as well as his attendant contracts with Lizbeth and Euryale, and had even detected the spiritual body granted by the
Pioneer of the Sun
and the fairy blessing Morgan had bestowed upon him, proved its exceptional capability.
Theoretically, the ring could even identify and remove viruses and diseases.
In other words, with it, even natural illnesses or incurable conditions could be instantly detected and cured.
According to appraisal magic, wearing the ring could even prolong oneâs life, allowing a person to live up to two hundred years.
Such a mystical artifact was impossible for Riezel not to wear.
"Letâs set a limit for the Hero Ring."
"Once my strength exceeds that threshold, the ring will automatically activate and absorb the excess power."
"In this way, Iâll maintain the strength I had right after reaching Level 5."
"Maybe after a month or two, I can publicly announce another level up."
By gradually releasing his true power over time, he would avoid standing out too abruptly.
"Activate."
After finishing all preparations, Riezel once again invoked the concealment ringâs effect, hiding all his accessories.
"Tomorrow, Iâll finally go explore the Dungeon again..."
After murmuring to himself, Riezel immediately extinguished the lamp and went to bed.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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