Chapter 10: Fool's Obsession
"The reason you can spend a day and night in the dungeon without feeling tired is because of those development abilities."
"..."
Loki's words made Riezel raise his hands and look at them. His hands were still stained with blood, mud, and dust, visibly in a sorry state. Yet, these hands had fought relentlessly for a whole day and night.
Endless—the benefits brought by this skill seemed much greater than he had imagined.
"Only by leveling up do you have a certain chance of gaining development abilities. In other words, those who possess development abilities should be at least Level 2."
Loki glanced at Riezel from the corner of her eye.
"Thanks to the skill, you acquired three development abilities, all of the highest rank at that, how could that not be a significant advantage?"
Whether it was 'Healing Power', 'Spirit Healing', or 'Abnormal Resistance', as development abilities resembling basic abilities, even without proficiency to indicate the progress, they still had different ranks. From the lowest I-rank to the highest S-rank, there were ten ranks for both development and basic abilities.
The effect of 'Endless' allowed Riezel to gain three development abilities, all at the highest rank.
What did that mean?
It meant that, due to the skill's effect, all three development abilities he obtained were S-rank.
This was quite extraordinary.
"I can't speak for other Familias, but in ours, no member's development abilities have upgraded beyond D-rank, with the highest being E-rank."
Loki revealed this secret.
"But you, right from the start, have three equivalent to S-rank development abilities. Even when you acquire more development abilities later, your skill's effect will upgrade the ranks of those development abilities. That's just ridiculous y'know?"
That highlighted how ridiculous and powerful Riezel's 'Endless' effect was.
After all, Loki Familia was not an ordinary Familia; it was one of the strongest in Orario. With the dungeon, a mysterious realm with countless monsters to conquer and challenges aplenty, rising to the top here was equivalent to being at the pinnacle worldwide.
Orario was rightfully called the center of the world.
In Loki Familia, experts abounded, including several influential figures at the top. Compared to the ancient heroes who once drove monsters back into the dungeon, reclaiming the land for mortals, Loki Familia wasn't far behind.
Even among such experts, none had development abilities upgraded beyond E-rank. Did this not further emphasize the extraordinary nature of Riezel's skill?
If it were just the recently acquired version 'Healing Power' and 'Spirit Healing', the effects wouldn't be as astonishing as making someone tirelessly fight for a whole day and night without feeling tired.
However, when both 'Healing Power' and 'Spirit Healing' were of the highest rank, it was an entirely different story.
"Now, you've just experienced the effects of 'Healing Power' and 'Spirit Healing'. But when you descend a few more floors and encounter monsters that can inflict abnormal statuses, you'll realize that your 'Abnormal Resistance' is equally insane..." Loki said with a sigh and her mood improved somewhat.
"Holding the highest rank 'Abnormal Resistance', I reckon unless it's a deadly poison that can kill even Gods, there's probably no abnormal status in this world that can affect you."
At this point, Loki couldn't help but think of another one of Riezel's skills—Self Redemption.
Setting aside the status's independent update effect that could make any God curse, the other two effects were equally insane.
Being immune to body interference meant that no one could tamper with his body, whether it was manipulating him with magic or trying to fool his perception. Even she, as the Goddess of the Familia herself attempting to do something unfavorable with his blessing wouldn't work.
Being immune to mental interference meant that methods targeting memory and soul became ineffective, including charm and confusion.
The combination of these two effects, paired with the highest rank 'Abnormal Resistance' ability, was practically unbeatable.
At least, Loki thought that defeating Riezel with these two skills would be challenging, aside from relying on brute strength for victory.
However, the third effect of this skill made friendly buff effects that were originally unable to interfere with his body, mind, or energy suddenly effective.
It was outrageous.
Yet, despite these two powerful skills, Loki believed that compared to Riezel's first skill, their effects and importance might have to take a backseat.
Thinking about the effects of that skill and recalling his relentless one-day and one-night struggle, Loki's squinted eyes suddenly widened a bit.
She remained silent for a while and then shifted her gaze to his body.
"Take off your shirt." Loki suddenly said.
"What?" Riezel, still lost in his thoughts, was momentarily puzzled.
Seeing this, Loki grinned.
"I'm curious how much you've grown after this one day and one night." Loki said, one word at a time. "Let's update your status."
At her words, Riezel's calm and composed eyes glittered with a peculiar light.
Updating status.
This was what everyone who received the blessing looked forward to the most.
After going through adventurous exploits, engaging in various activities, and accumulating Excelia, a simple update of status transformed these Excelia into substantial nourishment, fostering growth and making individuals stronger.
In this process, not only did basic abilities get a boost, but those who had experienced profound events might have also awakened magic and skills. They might have even gained new magic and skills, significantly enhancing their strength.
Especially for those who had never possessed magic and skills, every status update was eagerly anticipated, hoping that magic and skills would manifest after the update.
Compared to those people, Riezel was undeniably fortunate.
He had just received a blessing, and one magic had appeared right away. He had even gained three skills in one go, truly blessed by heaven.
For ordinary people, unless they were exceptionally talented geniuses, it was normal not to have a single magic or skill when first receiving a blessing.
They eagerly anticipated the emergence of magic and skills, craving extraordinary mysteries and exceptional power. This could be said to be the process that the majority of those blessed went through.
While Riezel wasn't as desperate, his expectations were definitely not far behind those people.
Because, excluding magic and skills, his basic abilities had never undergone growth or improvement. Whether it was physique or combat prowess, he still belonged to the category of ordinary.
In other words, he had yet to experience the so-called extraordinary power. Considering this, for his first status update, he was filled with anticipation.
Without delay, Loki faced Riezel's back, who had taken off his shirt, and began the status update.
The specific steps were similar to when he was blessed initially—taking out a needle, piercing the fingertip, using her blood to touch his back, skillfully moving fingers to draw a blood-red trail on his back.
First, Loki unlocked Riezel's status, causing the previously blank back to quickly display crimson inscriptions as if they were runes.
Shortly afterward, she squeezed out a drop of her blood, letting it fall on his back, creating circular ripples that spread throughout the entire inscription.
From this point on, the replacement of status took place.
The accumulated Excelia was extracted by the hand of 'God', serving as material and changing into the foundation for growth.
The new sacred text replaced the old one, engraved into his back.
As this process continued, at a certain moment, Loki's eyes widened once again.
After a long while, she showed an expression that Riezel couldn't tell if it was crying or laughing.
"Fuck!"
The Goddess suddenly swore, startling him.
"What happened?"
Riezel turned around, looking at Loki with a bewildered expression.
"...See for yourself."
Loki, with a worldview-shattering expression, numbly translated his status onto the parchment, converting it into the common language, and tossed it to him.
Riezel took the parchment and saw his latest status.
...
Riezel Brynhart
Level 1
STR: I0 → H184
END: I0 → H177
DEX: I0 → G202
AGI: I0 → G215
MAG: I0
...
Magic and skill weren't imprinted or translated, probably due to their unchanging nature. However, in the basic abilities section, Riezel underwent significant changes.
'STR' and 'END' broke through the I-rank one after another, entering the H-rank.
'DEX' and 'AGI' even directly skipped over the H-rank, entering the G-rank.
'MAG' remained unchanged, likely because he didn't use magic.
After one day and one night of intense battle, the ultimate result was a comprehensive increase of over 700 in his basic abilities proficiency.
'What a ridiculous growth speed!' Loki exclaimed with shock inwardly. 'I always knew that 'Fool's Obsession' had to be the most broken skill!'
Her mind went crazy.
No choice.
As the Goddess of a big Familia, Loki had updated statuses for many members and even handled characters considered geniuses.
Considering her well-informed nature, she was well aware of the typical growth rate for rookies who had just received blessings.
In just a day and night, even the geniuses within Loki Familia initially could only increase proficiency by about a few dozen points at a time.
But a total ability proficiency increase of over 700, nearly 800...?
Loki stared with her divine eyes, fixedly observing the skill on Riezel's back with an unbelievable gaze.
...
Fool's Obsession
- Extraordinary increase in growth speed.
- Extraordinary increase in growth limit.
- The deeper the obsession, the stronger the effect.
- The effect is greatly enhanced in dangerous situations.
...
No doubt, Riezel's extraordinary growth can be attributed to this skill.
Loki had never witnessed such a ridiculous effect before. It wasn't about boosting strength or providing assistance; it was a unique skill that proved to be beneficial for growth.
'Now, Orario gonna see some changes...'
Loki thought with excitement as she saw her new child.
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