Twilight Manor's north tower, Finn's office.
When Leo came here again, it was the same as before, with only the three Familia leaders present.
"You're here?"
Finn sat behind a desk that had always looked too big relative to his build, and gave a steady smile at the sight of Leo coming through the door.
Riveria stood at Finn's side, while Gareth sat in a chair off to the side, his position never changing.
"Hearing those kids out there making such a racket, I knew you had to be awake, kid." Gareth said with a laugh, "Turns out I guessed right, eh?"
The old man looked rather pleased with himself, as if he'd discussed the matter with Finn here beforehand.
"Are you feeling unwell anywhere?" Riveria, for her part, was more concerned about Leo's body, and after taking a look at his eyes, said, "From the look in your eyes, the strain on your Mind probably hasn't fully cleared yet, has it?"
"It hasn't." Leo pressed at the spot between his brows and said with a wry smile, "My head's had this groggy, heavy feeling the whole time, and the mental exhaustion has been slow to clear. I'm probably not all the way better yet."
"That's what you get." Gareth gave a cold snort and said, "And whose fault is it for going so wild this time? Even with a Magic Potion to replenish your Mind, using and squeezing your Mind that frequently still puts a considerable burden on your body and spirit. In Loki's words, the fact that you didn't end up a vegetable lying in bed for the rest of your life means someone up in Heaven was watching over you."
"He's right, you went too wild this time." Riveria looked at Leo with a face full of seriousness and said, "The power of magic is both a blessing and a calamity. Used well, it brings good fortune for a lifetime. Used poorly, it brings nothing but disaster. You must keep this firmly in mind."
Coming from Riveria, a High Elf and Orario's strongest Mage, these words carried a natural sense of authority.
Leo felt it for certain too. The power of magic was strong, that was true, but precisely because it was strong, abusing it carelessly was sure to end terribly.
He had to take this lesson to heart and never misuse the power of magic again.
"I'll reflect on it properly." Leo nodded toward Riveria, then asked, "Loki said you were looking for me?"
"That's right." Riveria gave an affirmative answer and said, "I have some things I want to say to you, but before that, let's start with Finn."
That Finn was also looking for Leo was something Loki had mentioned as well.
"Relax, I just want to give you a few words of instruction." Finn smiled at Leo, his tone still steady and gentle. "You went to Loki's place first, right? Your Status has already been updated, hasn't it?"
"Yes." Naturally Leo wasn't going to hide this, and there was nothing to hide anyway, so he said plainly, "I'm already Lv.3 now."
None of the three of them showed any surprise at this, their expressions remarkably calm.
It was the same as before. Leo had already soloed a Floor Boss successfully. If he still hadn't been able to level up, that would have been the strange thing.
It was just...
"It's only been half a month, and you've already leveled up again?"
Finn sighed with feeling.
"For everyone else it gets harder to level up the further along they go. But you, you climbed to Lv.3 faster than you climbed to Lv.2."
Even Riveria gave something of a wry smile.
"Anyway, Orario's already gotten plenty lively over this kid's business. Even if word of his level up gets out, it's not going to get any livelier." Gareth roared with laughter.
Though Leo hadn't seen or felt it for himself, he knew that things outside must be very lively right now.
During the fight with Goliath, he'd had no leisure to pay attention to anything else, so he had no idea so many people had been watching at the time. But after he woke up, both Raul and the others in the Familia had already told him about it, so Leo did know just how lively things outside had become because of him.
To put it bluntly, if he showed himself outside now, he'd instantly draw a crowd of countless onlookers, and might even have gods blocking his door so he couldn't go anywhere.
Unlike the uproar from his last level up, back then, even though he'd risen to Lv.2 at an unheard-of speed, in others' eyes he was still just an upper-class adventurer who'd only barely shed the novice phase.
So what if he grew that fast? Wasn't he still just a Lv.2?
This time was different. Single-handedly subjugating a Floor Boss of classification Lv.4 was basically something only first-class adventurers had the ability to do, and Leo had done it, done it while at Lv.2 across a two-Level gap. The uproar this caused was absolutely far greater than last time.
This was genuine strength, a genuine feat, more convincing than any record-breaking achievement and far more able to make people believe.
If there hadn't been so many people watching at the time, so many people to testify, more than half of Orario would surely have suspected there was some staged showmanship or cheating involved.
Given all this, Leo was now truly famous, his renown probably no less than first-class adventurers like Ais and the others.
Of course, this wasn't the point of this talk.
"Since you're already Lv.3, and you've got the ability to subjugate even Goliath alone, then you'll need to take part in the upcoming expedition." Finn turned serious and said, "The main reason I called you over this time was to let you know, so you can prepare yourself."
Hearing this, Leo perked up too.
"An expedition?"
He could finally take part.
Over the past year, Leo had lost count of how many times he'd watched the Familia's elite forces head off into the Dungeon on expeditions, and how many times he'd wondered because of it whether he too might become one of them someday.
Now, he was finally no longer the one who could only stand among the crowd and watch the receding backs of the expedition force.
"You're already Lv.3, so even going by Level alone you're qualified to join the expedition force, never mind that you're no ordinary Lv.3, kid." Gareth stroked his beard and looked at Leo. "With your magic firepower, you'd be more than enough even joining the core of the Second Army. To leave you behind to hold down the Familia would be a tremendous waste."
"There are still a few days before the expedition officially begins, so spend them preparing yourself properly." Finn smiled faintly. "Restore your Mind, and get a firm grip on your post-level-up abilities. That's the only task I'm giving you before the expedition."
"All the preparations are already in order, so we don't need your help. Just focus on getting yourself into good condition."
"It's best you don't go into the Dungeon again. There are only a few days left anyway, so getting your body back in shape first is the most important thing."
Finn really did seem to have called Leo here just to give him a few words, and made his instructions in a somewhat naggy manner.
"All right, I'll do that."
Leo had no objections, and nodded to it all in agreement.
Since the expedition was only a few days away, then not going into the Dungeon was fine by him.
Restoring his Mind first and getting his condition adjusted to the point of being foolproof, that was the top priority.
After leveling up, his body and spirit had probably fallen a little out of alignment, and he'd need to make some adjustments too before he could fully bring out his post-level-up strength.
Over the next few days, he had to focus on getting all this done in order to meet the coming expedition and its unknown challenges.
"That's all I had to say."
Finished, Finn looked toward Riveria.
Riveria took the cue and walked over in front of Leo.
"Next is my turn." Riveria said, "Come with me."
With that, Riveria walked out of the office.
Though puzzled, Leo gave a bow to Finn and Gareth, then followed Riveria and walked out of the office.
Finn and Gareth watched the two of them leave, and spoke with a laugh.
"Wonder how far Riveria will take it."
"Getting eyed by that prickly elf, that kid's in for a rough time."
Leo was completely unaware of Finn and Gareth's teasing.
He just followed behind Riveria, walking onward, with no idea where she meant to take him.
The members they ran into along the way all greeted Riveria respectfully, the Elf members especially bowing to her one and all like loyal retainers. When they saw Leo trailing behind Riveria, they gave looks of surprise mixed with scrutiny.
Riveria didn't ignore the members they passed either, responding to everyone's greetings with a bearing that could only be called elegant and dignified. Though she most likely wasn't doing it on purpose, that figure of hers really did have the air of royalty.
And so, led by Riveria, Leo arrived at a certain place.
"The archive?"
It was a room with the scent of wood drifting through it.
The room was crammed with bookcases, not only covering every wall but with cases set up in the central space as well, all filled with books and parchment.
This was Loki Familia's archive, a reference room that all members were free to enter and browse.
It held not only all sorts of books related to Orario and the Dungeon, but also many ancient tomes from ages past and records the Familia's seniors had made during their adventures, even professional reference books for adventurer classes like Mages, and sometimes a few used Grimoires got tucked in there too.
Leo was no stranger to these. Over the past year, he'd gathered a fair amount of material here too, finding everything from maps of every Dungeon floor to the intelligence needed for clearing them.
"Here, sit down first."
Riveria led Leo to a desk where they could sit facing each other, while she herself took several books down from the shelves before sitting across from Leo.
"What are these...?"
Leo looked at the books, somewhat puzzled.
Seeing this, Riveria spoke.
"These are the books you'll need to read going forward. Every one of them concerns magic. They're instructional texts on magic."
These words froze Leo right there.
"Instructional... texts on magic?"
Leo's confusion wasn't eased in the slightest.
"After witnessing your battle with the Floor Boss with my own eyes, I noticed a problem."
Looking at Leo like this, Riveria weighed her words, then said,
"You don't know how to use magic at all."
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