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 Riezel's 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 bracelets—one gold and one silver—engraved 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 Riezel's 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 wearer's burden.
Among the rings on his fingers were Morgan's Ring, the Origin Ring, and the treasured heirloom of the Reinnail Clan—a 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 Euryale's tomb.
Because his current dimensional travel was a designated world's 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 Euryale's 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 fingers—each 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 Riezel's 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 ring's effect could they reappear in their true form.
Once the effect was reactivated, all those items would become invisible again—untouchable, immovable, and impossible to lose—while their strength increased even further.
Unfortunately, the effect applied only to accessories, so the Giant's Glove worn on Riezel's 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 ring—the Reinnail Clan's heirloom, the Hero Ring.
He intended to use its power.
As he gently rubbed the ring engraved with ancient runes and characters, Riezel recalled Loki's warning.
—"And don't tell anyone you're Level 7, alright? Just keep acting like you're a Level 5, got it?"
Recalling that warning, Riezel made his decision.
"It's better not to expose my current true level for now."
Loki's warning served as a reminder—in 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 secrets—and that was far too dangerous to risk.
"Even though I've awakened the Transparent World and can suppress my fighting spirit to conceal my strength, since Loki could still notice something, who's to say other gods couldn't 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 I'm 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 another's 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, shouldn't it?"
Indeed, that was precisely what Riezel planned to do.
He intended to store away his excess power within the Hero Ring—to absorb it and conceal his true level and strength from others.
"Let's give it a try."
Riezel activated the Hero Ring's 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 light—his body illuminated by the ring's 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, Riezel's eyes flickered as he continued to channel the ring's 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 Ring's 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 fuel—ignited 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 day—about 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 wasn't the time for experiments.
"Although it takes time to recover, I could restore my power instantly using another ring's effect if I want."
Among the ten rings on Riezel's hands, one could analyze every aspect of its wearer's 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 ring's 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 one's own state for hidden abnormalities—a rather useful feature.
In the end, after some thought, Riezel decided to wear it.
At the very least, when using the ring's 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 one's life, allowing a person to live up to two hundred years.
Such a mystical artifact was impossible for Riezel not to wear.
"Let's 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, I'll 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 ring's effect, hiding all his accessories.
"Tomorrow, I'll finally go explore the Dungeon again..."
After murmuring to himself, Riezel immediately extinguished the lamp and went to bed.
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[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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