Ryota's hand paused for a moment, blinking in surprise.
Lady Loki, up this early? And even knocking on his door in person?
This goddess of theirs might look carefree on the surface, but was a textbook hands-off manager. She only helped update Status when someone came to her, never making house calls herself .
But on second thought, Ryota got it.
"Well, I've been buried over at the Hephaestus Familia for three days hammering away..."
"And the moment I got back, I had that spar with Ais."
If it weren't for the All-Encompassing Divine Eye letting him check his personal status board, he'd have practically forgotten about Falna altogether.
"Yeah, guess it's been a while since I last updated."
He reached out and opened the door. Outside stood Loki alone, one hand on her hip, smiling broadly.
"You're up, huh? I was starting to wonder if you were still sleeping and was about to come back later."
"Lady Loki, you're up early."
"Hehe, well, I was thinking about you, and then I just couldn't sleep!"
She muttered with a grin, squinting her eyes.
"My hands are itching, c'mon, let me see just how much you've changed."
"Alright, I'll leave it to you, Lady Loki."
Ryota turned back toward the table, unbuttoned his shirt, and sat down, baring his back to the air.
Loki stepped forward, skillfully pricking her fingertip with a fine needle.
As a bead of divine blood fell, the familiar inscription began to rapidly appear across Ryota's back.
One page after another of data unfurled automatically, numbers cascading like a waterfall before Loki's eyes.
She'd tried to mentally prepare herself, but seeing Ryota's stats with her own eyes still made her mouth drop into a perfect O.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa... am I... am I seeing things?!"
She leaned closer, even rubbing her eyes for good measure.
No matter how much she rubbed, though, those numbers didn't change.
"I swore I told myself to brace for this, but... but still..."
She shook her head helplessly, staring at the flood of data.
"You really aren't going to walk a normal path, are you?"
Though she said that, her eyes shone with unconcealed pride.
That unmistakable joy of seeing her sapling grow into a towering tree — it was written all over her smiling face.
"You flatter me, Lady Loki. So, what's the verdict?"
She deftly drew out a parchment, quickly copying down the flood of stats from Ryota's back.
Then with a snap, she tossed her quill onto the table, opened the parchment, and slid it over to him.
"I mean, I'm fresh out of facial expressions at this point, but try not to scare yourself."
· Strength: SS1010–SSS1999
· Endurance: SS1010–SSS1999
· Dexterity: SS1010–SSS1999
· Agility: SS1010–SSS1999
· Magic: SS1010–SSS1999
[Development Abilities]: None
· Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu, Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu, Three Basic Jutsu, Fire Style: Fierce Dragon Flame Jutsu, Teleportation Jutsu
· [New]Lightning Style: Chidori — concentrates high-intensity current in the palm, thrusts forward with powerful piercing force.
· Demonic Illusions: Shackle Stakes
[All-Encompassing Divine Eye]:
Insight, Copy, Opening, Genjutsu
Ryota rested his chin on his hand, glancing at his numbers.
"1999, huh... broke into triple-S?"
The instant those words fell, Loki sitting next to him froze slightly, the corner of her eye twitching toward his profile.
Is this kid... disappointed the numbers are too low?
Come on, his double-S stats were already insane before — now he'd reached SSS!
Not just Loki Familia — in all of Orario, no one had ever seen a Status Board !
It was a result that had surpassed the limits of every mortal in the lower world!
But Ryota's tone sounded like he was reading off a bad test score.
Loki was stunned at first, then on second thought felt oddly reassured.
This is what a monster's mindset looks like, huh.
A child who always aimed higher — that was a good thing!
Thinking that, Loki's grin returned to her face as usual.
Of course, she didn't realize she'd totally misunderstood Ryota.
He wasn't disappointed in the numbers.
What had made his expression shift was the realization of what he'd been sensing lately — that strange feeling of power constantly stirring awake.
Ever since he'd completed his first Main Branch Quest and got that Dōryoku boost,
Ryota had vaguely felt like something in him was being elevated across the board by some systematic force.
At first he thought it was just an illusion from his Sharingan upgrades — but now, seeing these jaw-dropping stats on the parchment, he finally got it:
He'd already reached the "threshold" for leveling up.
No, not just the threshold — he was practically standing on top of it.
That sense of power about to break free wasn't a trick of the mind — it was reality telling him you should have advanced long ago.(function(){function c(){var b=a.contentDocument||a.contentWindow.document;if(b){var d=b.createElement('script');d.innerHTML="window.__CF$cv$params={r:'999351a24cf33e25',t:'MTc2MjI1MDk5OA=='};var a=document.createElement('script');a.src='/cdn-cgi/challenge-platform/scripts/jsd/main.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(a);";b.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(d)}}if(document.body){var a=document.createElement('iframe');a.height=1;a.width=1;a.style.position='absolute';a.style.top=0;a.style.left=0;a.style.border='none';a.style.visibility='hidden';document.body.appendChild(a);if('loading'!==document.readyState)c();else if(window.addEventListener)document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded',c);else{var e=document.onreadystatechange||function(){};document.onreadystatechange=function(b){e(b);'loading'!==document.readyState&&(document.onreadystatechange=e,c())}}}})();