A month flashed by.
The uproar over Soma Familia's purge and the Loki Familia's public quiet faded from the gods' sight with time.
Gods are fickle, after all. Their attention needs a steady stream of fresh explosions; once things go quiet, fewer and fewer gods keep watching.
But it was precisely during this lull that the entire Loki Familia threw themselves into a frenzy of training to raise their ability scores.
Even so, the training space wasn't a miracle cure. Each person's talent and potential set the cap on their ability values.
For ordinary people, 999 is the peak—it marks the highest standard training alone can reach.
Prodigious adventurers can push beyond that ceiling and step into higher realms.
For most, though, 999 is the shackle.
And even reaching that "ordinary peak" is not something everyone can do; it takes a staggering amount of effort to climb that high.
For the majority of Lv.1 adventurers, hitting full stats isn't the priority—breaking through to the next level is.
Especially for those stuck at Lv.1 for nine years, even a dozen years, the jolt to the heart that comes with leveling up matters more than polishing their numbers to perfection.
They've waited too long.
They want to break the Lv.1 shackle first, and only then worry about perfecting their stats.
Through this month, training was staggered by groups. Everyone spent ten days inside the training space. As a result, every former Lv.1 in the Loki Familia finally got their chance to advance.
In just a month, the familia's lowest rank rose from Lv.1 to Lv.2.
When all had reached Lv.2, the joint gathering of the Loki and Astraea Familias convened once more.
This time the hosts were not Finn but the two patron gods themselves—Loki and Astraea.
"My children, how are your spirits after this month?"
"Couldn't be better!"
Loki's question drew a roaring reply.
In these thirty days, both low- and high-level adventurers had harvested gains to the fullest.
With that harvest came something else: adventurers who had once lost hope in their future found a new, blazing fighting spirit.
And with their rise to Lv.2, they finally had confidence.
At last, effort had a clear payoff.
"Good. Be excited. But now that you're Lv.2, there's more to think about."
"If you keep moving in step with the familia, reaching where Raul is might be even easier than it was for him. With the 'stats threshold' problem solved so decisively by Tsunayoshi, your biggest hurdles are now real combat ability—and how to turn your tempering and experience into greater feats."
"Of course, Tsunayoshi has already prepared something for that."
Loki once again shifted the credit and the topic to Tsunayoshi.
"Just like the training space, he's created a 'challenge space' to sharpen both personal and group combat."
"It's built on a 'Forest Canyon' template from the Dungeon, and it can reproduce all kinds of monsters, floor bosses—even that 'Cleaner' the Astraea girls ran into before."
"Inside, you can try all sorts of approaches against all sorts of enemies."
"You won't earn feats in the challenge space, but you will hone teamwork and individual skill."
"Be warned: you can still be injured in there. Severed limbs, near-death—that's part of the bargain. Without real danger, there is no real training effect."
"Death and permanent disability won't happen. Even if you're on your last breath, even if all four limbs are cut off, Tsunayoshi can restore you."
"But it won't be pleasant."
Loki's smile turned sharp, and a chill crawled up many spines.
"Also, there's a cooldown for each entry. If you fail, you must wait a week before going in again."
Alicia raised her hand at that.
"Lady Loki, why force a one-week gap after a failure?"
"Because the monsters in there are almost identical to the Dungeon's," Loki said. "If you spend too long and go too often, you'll start mixing them up."
"The ones in the challenge space will only push you to the brink. The Dungeon's will kill you."
"To stop you from getting too used to a place that never truly kills—and from bringing bad habits into the Dungeon—we're limiting how often you can enter."
Loki understood perfectly the benefits of the challenge space, but also its very real danger:
Get comfortable with a world that never finishes you off, and you may die for real in the one that does.
"Because of that, daily entries are limited, and there will be no solo runs. Team challenges only. Understood?"
"Lady Loki, one more question," Alicia said, hand up again. "Besides floor bosses and that thing… can we face other opponents?"
"Oh? Such as?"
"Silence."
The name dropped, and the hall fell utterly still.
Everyone stared at Alicia, mouths half-open.
Loki, though, looked intrigued. It wasn't a bad proposal. She turned toward Tsunayoshi, seated to the side.
"Tsunayoshi, what do you say?"
Sawada Tsunayoshi didn't answer at once. In his mind, he sketched the image of "Silence."
Under the weight of everyone's eyes, a silver-haired girl in a black one-piece dress—its lines lifting a rich figure—appeared by his side.
Her eyes were lightly closed, yet even that simple silhouette pressed on every heart in the room.
Tsunayoshi studied her for a beat.
"I can outline the appearance. For personal techniques and magic, I'll still need detailed information to manifest her true strength."
"What I can conjure is based on my imagination. I expect there'll be a gap between that and the real thing."
In short, he could reproduce image and kit—but perfectly reproducing her power would be difficult.
He had never witnessed that power at full tilt; his imagination, too, had limits.
(End of Chapter)
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