Everyone who had steeled themselves began to line up.
This time, the status updates were done entirely in public, meant to rekindle every member of the Loki Familia's belief that effort brings results.
After this round of collective training, the urge to improve will be impossible to hold back.
Sawada Tsunayoshi knew that once an experiment proved effort led to gains, no one could resist the temptation to grow stronger and stronger.
For ordinary people, ambition points to wealth, authority, and power.
Confidantes and romance come only after wealth and authority.
Without those, any romance is just a fleeting illusion.
For most people, the most alluring thing isn't actually wealth or authority—those are merely worldly trappings. Once you grasp them to a certain extent, you realize how useless they can be.
What's most fantastical, most chūni, beyond imagination—what men ultimately crave—is strength.
Once you taste the flavor of strength, wealth and authority get tossed aside. Only strength is worth pursuing.
Tsunayoshi believed every adventurer would think this way.
After he was reborn and saw a chance to obtain power, he didn't hesitate; he chose the path upward to seize strength.
For seven years he didn't know the right direction, but he trained in silence, becoming a little stronger than the day before, even if only by a fraction. As long as he sensed the improvement, he kept moving forward.
Gradually, training became daily life—became habit.
He recalled the fragments of that road he'd walked; those were precious memories.
Looking now at these low-level adventurers, eyes flickering between hope and impatience, this might be their final attempt at effort.
If they failed again, they would give up completely, abandon all fantasies about strength, accept their place at the bottom, and let themselves rot.
But Tsunayoshi believed that wouldn't happen.
Because under the Blessing, effort could be converted into results—as long as they gave it everything.
"Begin the updates!"
With Finn's words, every adventurer who had trained for the week lifted their heads.
They exchanged looks. In the end, a Pallum woman stepped forward first.
"I'll go!"
There were men and women among the twenty.
The woman had prepared for the update long ago; her clothing was already arranged. She held the removed garments to her chest, baring her back.
Strength: H103 → E411 | Endurance: H157 → D502 | Dexterity: F312 → C656 | Agility: F367 → C698 | Magic: I0
Loki was the first to see the numbers. She could already imagine how crazy her children would become once these were made public.
But this was the fruit of their effort.
After making the imprint, Loki handed the slip to the Pallum girl.
"Lim, look at the results of your hard work."
The Pallum girl drew a careful breath. With trembling hands she took the imprint sheet, and the moment she saw it, her mind nearly blanked. The breath she had been holding burst out as a cry of joy.
"Ah!!!"
"I—I did it!!!"
The group behind her, who had been holding their breath as well, surged forward.
Seeing the Pallum girl's numbers, their eyes reddened as tears welled up.
The past week had been grueling, but this kind of result made them abandon every complaint about hardship. That path of hardship was how they'd come this far.
"Lim, your excelia has long been enough. Do you want to level up now?"
Loki's voice drifted from behind, making Lim's heart tremble. After a brief adjustment, she forced her voice out.
"Loki-sama, please help me level up!"
She had wished countless times to say those words. At last, today, she would leave the ranks of the low-level and continue moving forward.
Loki made a few quick adjustments behind her. With adequate basic abilities and sufficient excelia, leveling up was inevitable.
There was just one thing to settle before the level up.
"Among Abnormal Resistance, Hunter, and Escape, which Development Ability do you choose?"
"Abnormal Resistance."
Lim didn't hesitate.
She had prepared this plan nearly two years ago; she just hadn't expected to use it today.
For low-level adventurers, the Dungeon is full of dangers, and poisoning is one of the most pressing.
Choosing Abnormal Resistance would let a low-level adventurer resist most toxins—one of the highest value choices.
With the Development Ability decided, the update proceeded to its final step.
At the instant her level shifted to Lv.2 and all parameters reset, Loki looked up—the Familia had gained a new Level Two.
"Congratulations, Lim. You're Lv.2 now."
At Loki's gentle words, Lim's eyes reddened in an instant. The grievances and helplessness she'd bottled up erupted all at once.
Lim spun and dove into Loki-sama's arms.
"Loki-sama, Lim… Lim isn't a useless failure!"
Every low-level adventurer present felt it in their bones.
It wasn't that they didn't work hard. In the Loki Familia, not working hard was despised. In such a good environment, how could they not work hard?
But effort without results had driven them mad with frustration.
That was before. Now, effort did bring results.
The results were right here, weren't they?
The updates for the twenty finished quickly. This public round of level-ups hit the remaining low-level members of the Loki Familia like a thunderclap.
Because in that twenty-person test group, almost everyone advanced from Lv.1 to Lv.2.
Of course, that wasn't the key point.
The key point was that what they couldn't achieve in the Dungeon, someone in their own Familia had achieved.
As long as they worked, they could earn a chance at promotion.
With that conviction reaffirmed, the entire body of low-level adventurers boiled over.
Most of them had been stuck at Lv.1 for a long time; some had amassed years' worth of excelia.
Now, after a period of focused training to raise their parameters, they could receive a chance to advance. How could they not be fired up?
(End of Chapter)
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