A month passed in the blink of an eye.
The chaos within the Soma Familia and the eerie calm surrounding the Loki Familia had both begun to fade from the gods' gossip circles.
After all, gods had short attention spans. Unless a situation kept producing fresh drama, their interest died out quickly.
But it was during this lull that the entire Loki Familia threw themselves into training with almost manic intensity.
The Training Space was powerful, but not infinite. Every adventurer's talent and potential determined their personal limits—the cap on their Status.
For most people, 999 was the ceiling—the absolute peak a normal adventurer could reach through effort alone.
Those born with exceptional talent could push past that threshold and break into higher realms. But for the majority, 999 was a wall that couldn't be crossed.
And even reaching that wall was no easy feat. It demanded time, pain, and unrelenting effort.
For most Level 1 adventurers, maxing out their stats wasn't the real goal. What mattered most was Leveling Up—achieving that first evolution that marked a true adventurer's growth.
Especially for those who'd been stuck at Level 1 for over a decade, finally ascending meant far more than any increase in raw Status.
They'd waited too long already.
Once they broke past that barrier, then they could think about perfection.
Over the course of that month, the Familia members trained in rotation, each spending ten days inside the Training Space. Thanks to that, every single Level 1 in the Loki Familia had finally gained the chance to Level Up.
After just one month, the Familia's lowest-ranked members had all advanced to Level 2.
When that happened, the joint meeting between the Loki Familia and Astraea Familia was held once again—this time hosted directly by the two goddesses themselves.
"My children," Loki said, her grin wide and mischievous, "how are you all feeling after this past month?"
"Better than ever!" someone shouted back immediately.
The room burst into laughter and cheers.
Both the low-ranked and the elites had grown stronger. Many who had once lost faith in their future now burned with renewed determination.
Reaching Level 2 had rekindled something vital in them—their belief that hard work did pay off.
"Good, good. I like that energy," Loki said, smirking. "But after hitting Level 2, you've got more to think about than just partying."
"If you follow the Familia's direction, getting to where Raul is now will be easier than it was for him. Tsuna already solved your biggest bottleneck—the issue of maxing out your stats. Now your next hurdle is mastering your skills and using that power to earn more Excellia."
"Of course," Loki added slyly, "Tsuna's already come up with a way to help with that too."
As always, she shifted the spotlight toward him.
"Just like the Training Space, Tsuna's created something new—a 'Challenge Space.' It's built around a replica of the Dungeon's Large Tree Labyrinth and can recreate all sorts of monsters, even Floor Bosses, and the 'Cleaner' that Astraea's girls fought before."
"When you enter, you'll be able to test yourselves against all kinds of foes using whatever strategies you want."
"While you won't earn Excellia inside, it'll help sharpen your coordination and combat skills."
"Of course, it's still dangerous. You can get hurt. Losing a limb or nearly dying isn't off the table. Without risk, there's no training effect."
"But don't worry—death and permanent injuries won't happen. Even if you lose all four limbs, Tsuna can restore you afterward."
"That said… it won't be a pleasant experience."
She paused, letting that sink in before continuing.
"Also, there's a cooldown period between sessions. If you fail a challenge, you'll have to wait a full week before re-entering."
At that, Alise raised her hand. "Lady Loki, why the one-week break after failure?"
"Because the monsters inside are almost identical to real Dungeon creatures," Loki explained. "If you stay too long in the Challenge Space, you'll start mixing up what's real and what's not."
"In there, the monsters only nearly kill you. In the actual Dungeon, they'll finish the job."
"To stop you from getting too comfortable with near-death, we limit how often you can go in."
Loki knew exactly how valuable the Challenge Space would be—but she also understood the danger.
If her children got used to a place where death wasn't final and carried those habits into the real Dungeon, it could prove fatal.
"That's why we're restricting daily entries and banning solo challenges altogether. Team challenges only. Got it?"
"Lady Loki, I've got three questions!"
Alise shot her hand up again.
Loki chuckled. "Alright, shoot."
"Besides Floor Bosses and that monster we fought before… can we face other opponents?"
"Oh? Like who?"
"'Silence.'"
The moment Alise said it, the room went dead silent.
Every adventurer stared at her, stunned.
But Loki's grin only widened. "Now that's interesting." She turned to the quiet boy sitting beside her. "Tsuna, what do you think?"
Tsuna didn't answer right away. He closed his eyes, picturing the legendary adventurer in his mind.
Under the collective gaze of the room, a tall woman appeared beside him—silver hair cascading down her back, dressed in a flowing black gown that contrasted sharply against her pale skin. Even with her eyes gently closed, the aura she gave off was suffocating.
Everyone felt the weight of it pressing down on them.
Tsuna turned to study the vision he'd conjured.
"The image can be shaped easily enough," he said at last. "But her abilities and magic need accurate information before I can recreate her true strength."
"The manifestation would be based on my imagination, so it might differ from her actual power."
In other words, he could recreate the form—and even approximate the abilities—but perfectly replicating her would be difficult.
After all, Tsuna had never seen the real Silence fight. His imagination had limits.
And so did even his power.