"Tell honestly. What exactly have you been doing during this ti?"
Inside the smithy, Hephaestus stared seriously at the young man in front of her.
"Did you go and do sothing extrely dangerous again?"
"Uh, not really… maybe?"
This was the first ti Drake had seen his goddess show such an expression, and even his tone beca a little uncertain.
Over these past few days, all he had done was kill nearly five figures' worth of zombies in Tokonosu City, survive a Blood Moon, casually take down two elite monsters, then challenge the Desert Scourge.
Although he did die once, the second attempt successfully achieved the first kill…
Now that he thought about it, he had indeed done quite a few dangerous things.
Seeing Drake's expression, which was practically an admission, Hephaestus sighed and placed her hand on his head, gently rubbing it.
"To , the children of my Familia returning safely is more important than anything else."
"Mm… I know what I'm doing. There won't be any real danger."
Drake explained briefly, then looked impatiently toward the sheet engraved with his status values.
"Speaking of which, can I 'level up' now?"
"Yes."
Hephaestus knew he was trying to change the subject, but she allowed him to continue.
"Before that, what is going on with these basic abilities?"
"This is the first ti I've ever seen values break through the upper limit of 999."
Generally speaking, the range of basic ability values was from 0 to 999.
If expressed with letters, they went from I to S, a total of ten ranks. The upper limit was 999 points, naly S-rank.
But Drake's situation was extrely special.
Aside from "Agility," all of his basic abilities had already broken past the limits of ordinary adventurers!
Several had even reached the unheard-of rank of SSS.
"Even you don't know, Goddess?"
Drake was not too surprised. He had a very clear sense of how his own strength had improved.
His Endurance reaching SSS was most likely because of the Life Crystals.
Magic was even easier to explain. Basic abilities improved along with the frequency of training and real combat.
When Drake fought, he spent most of his ti using the "Superheated Thermionic Beam Cannon," consuming magic power.
On top of that, he really did drink Mana Potions like water.
The total amount of magic power he consud in a single day was probably greater than what an ordinary adventurer used in a month.
Over ti, his Magic attribute had been forcibly tempered to this unbelievable degree.
It even surpassed that of proper mage-type adventurers.
As for Strength, Dexterity, and Agility, aside from the experience Drake himself had accumulated, the basic ability increases brought by [Terrarian Craftsman] were also not to be underestimated.
Hephaestus had clearly thought of this as well and said thoughtfully,
"It seems the 'skill' you obtained before is very helpful for growth."
"Reaching Level 2 in only half a month… You're probably the fastest adventurer to level up in Orario's history."
"Even the Loki Familia's 'Sword Princess' took a full year to reach Level 2."
As she spoke, Hephaestus seed to rember sothing and reminded him sowhat helplessly.
"Once news of your level-up spreads, people will definitely talk about you."
"Even other gods will beco interested in you… I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing."
Good or bad aside, trouble was definitely unavoidable.
"The fastest in history, huh…"
"I'm still far from that, Goddess."
Hearing the goddess's evaluation, Drake shook his head.
At this mont, he thought of the original protagonist, Bell, and his leveling speed.
A month and a half to reach Level 2, another month to reach Level 3, then two months to reach Level 4… and another two months to reach Level 5.
In half a year, Bell achieved a goal that ninety-nine percent of adventurers would never complete in their entire lives.
Compared with that, Drake's current achievent did not seem like anything special.
Hearing Drake's answer, Hephaestus swallowed the words she had been about to say.
She had originally wanted to remind Drake not to beco arrogant because of his rapid increase in strength.
She had not expected that this child did not need her reminder at all. He simply did not have that kind of thought.
This made the goddess feel relieved and approving, but also a little disappointed.
Sohow, it felt as though she had not helped much in Drake's growth.
"Um… Goddess?"
Drake's voice called Hephaestus's awareness back.
"It's nothing. Let's talk about your level-up."
The goddess picked up the paper printed with his status values again and scanned all the way to the end.
"Strictly speaking, you are currently in the process of leveling up."
"Only after completing your 'ability selection' will you officially rise to Level 2."
"Ability selection…" Drake muttered thoughtfully. "You an a Developnt Ability?"
"Yes."
Hephaestus lightly wiped the paper with divine blood.
Several separated lines of golden text erged from it.
Developnt Abilities appeared on a Familia mber's status panel through [Level Up].
Of course, they did not necessarily appear every ti.
Whether one could obtain a Developnt Ability when leveling up also depended on the [achievents] an adventurer had accumulated so far.
If there were no noteworthy [achievents], then even after leveling up, one might not learn any Developnt Ability.
Conversely, if enough [achievents] had been accumulated, multiple Developnt Abilities could appear for selection.
As for what kind of Developnt Abilities would be generated, that depended on the person's experiences.
If one had been poisoned and recovered from it, they might obtain [Abnormal Resistance].
If one had killed many beast-type monsters, they might obtain the [Hunter] ability.
And for mbers of the Hephaestus Familia, the most common Developnt Ability was naturally…
"As expected, there's [Blacksmith]."
Drake received the updated status result from the goddess and began browsing it.
"This should count as our Familia's signature Developnt Ability, right?"
"Only highly skilled blacksmiths obtain this ability when leveling up."
Hephaestus gave a sowhat vague answer.
In reality, even in the Hephaestus Familia, famous for producing smiths, not everyone could obtain this Developnt Ability.
Blacksmiths with diocre talent who could not forge excellent works would eventually fade into the crowd.
"However, you may not necessarily need this ability."
After thinking about it, Hephaestus added,
"Didn't you craft a magic sword before even without [Blacksmith]?"
"Look at the other Developnt Abilities too. There might be a better choice."
"Mm… I understand, Goddess."
Drake nodded.
There were three [Developnt Abilities] in front of him that he could choose from.
One of them was [Blacksmith], while the other two were [Mystery] and [Stigma Alchemy].
"Wait, what the hell?!"
When Drake saw the last one, he seed to think of sothing. His eyes widened in surprise.
"This Developnt Ability… is it even legal?!"
'Excuse , system?! What back-alley Alchemy DLC did you just unlock?!
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Stigma alchemy is from ani seikon no qwaser.
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