Three days slipped by in silence, swallowed up by day-after-day high-intensity fighting, looting, and devouring.
When Genichi stood before Demeter again and accepted the parchment recording his latest Status, even with his near-cruel rationality, a faint ripple still stirred in his chest.
Genichi
LV.1
Strength: S981
Endurance: S978
Dexterity: S977
Agility: S991
Magic: S996
All five basic parameters had blasted past the S-rank threshold, and every one of them was pushing the 1000 mark.
Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity were all in the S970+ range. Agility was S991. Magic had reached a staggering S996.
And it had taken only three days.
If you counted from the first day, when every stat started at I0, then at most it had only been his fifth day since receiving a Blessing.
A growth rate this terrifying, if it ever got out, would be enough to overturn all of Orario's understanding of "genius" and ignite a storm of upheaval.
Demeter's amber eyes sparkled with excitement and pride she couldn't suppress, as if this shocking achievement was partly hers. Holding another rubbing sheet, she compared it to the data from three days earlier, her voice trembling with emotion.
"Genichi, look. All S-rank, and all close to the cap. It's unbelievable. The only thing you're missing now is a great enough feat."
"Just one feat with enough weight, and you can level up to LV.2 immediately. With your current parameters, once you level up, your foundation will be absurdly deep. You might even unlock a powerful Development Ability right away!"
She looked as though she could already see him soaring the instant he leveled, impatient to witness that moment.
But facing Demeter's excitement and urging, Genichi only stared down at the numbers in silence. In his black eyes there was no joy of reaching the finish line, only a flicker of contemplation, and then he slowly, decisively shook his head.
"Now isn't my limit."
His calm voice was like a bucket of cold water poured straight onto Demeter's rising flame of excitement.
Her smile froze. She looked at him, confused. "Limit? Your parameters are already S-rank, and near the cap. S-rank is the limit for LV.1…"
"No."
Genichi cut her off and pointed at the clear S-grade on the Status sheet.
"Above S-rank, there's SS. And even SSS. That's the true theoretical limit."
He knew the setting.
In Orario's history, it wasn't as though no one had ever pushed one, or even multiple parameters into SS or SSS while still at LV.1. A certain rabbit was the most infamous example.
That meant wringing every last drop out of the container of your current level, taking it to the absolute edge. A true exception among exceptions.
Right now, his parameters were all at the upper end of S-rank, but there was still a small gap to SS, let alone SSS.
And since it was possible, since his skill combination of [Greed] + [Devour] + [Demon] + [Ascension] gave him an almost limitless ability to squeeze potential out of himself, why wouldn't he aim higher?
What he wanted wasn't simply an excellent starting point at LV.2.
He wanted an unprecedented, flawless LV.2 foundation.
He wanted to drain every last sliver of potential from the LV.1 container and forge a base so terrifying that no one before him had achieved it, and no one after him would easily match it.
Demeter parted her lips, but when she met the unmistakable obsession in Genichi's eyes, the kind that refused to bend when it came to chasing the limit, she couldn't find the words.
Of course she knew SS and SSS existed in theory.
But what conditions would it take? What kind of insane pressure, what kind of relentless extraction?
For ordinary adventurers, even reaching S-rank was a near-impossible climb, so surpassing it was laughable.
But the boy in front of her had never been something "ordinary" could measure.
"But…" Demeter still tried to persuade him. "Even if you want to push higher… the growth in your parameters has clearly slowed down, hasn't it?"
Genichi couldn't deny that.
When he first discovered the Fifth Floor's battle-shadows as a "golden floor," his Status had surged explosively. Every day his total gain could reach nearly two thousand points, rocketing him from H- and G-rank straight into A-rank at terrifying speed.
But once all five parameters crossed into A-rank, the growth rate fell off a cliff.
Even when, chasing higher efficiency, he began carefully pushing deeper under Lunoire's protection once he'd learned the Fifth Floor, cautiously entering the Sixth and Seventh Floors to challenge stronger monsters, like the heavier-hitting, more dangerous pigmen.
Now, when he killed a single pigman, the total gain across all parameters might only be one point.
Sometimes it was only a few fractions of a point, or even nothing.
It took oceans of slaughter to see those numbers creep forward at a snail's pace.
His current high parameters were built on early-stage insane efficiency and later-stage high-intensity combat, where he willingly pushed into more dangerous territory to keep the pressure high.
Even so, the growth was nowhere near what it had been.
"You're right. It's slowed down."
Genichi admitted it plainly, but his tone didn't waver in the slightest.
"But slow doesn't mean stopped. As long as it can still rise, that means I haven't reached the real limit yet. And…"
He paused, a sharp light flashing through his eyes.
"This may mean my hunting ground still isn't strong enough."
Demeter's heart lurched. A bad premonition rose in her throat. "What are you planning to do?"
Genichi lifted his head, looking out through the window at the deepening dusk. Calmly, he threw out his plan.
"Tomorrow, Lunoire and I will try going deeper."
Deeper.
Deeper than the Seventh Floor, which already pushed him hard enough that he needed Lunoire to step in from time to time to resolve lethal crises.
Demeter's brows snapped together at once, amber eyes filled with disapproval and deep worry.
She almost blurted, "No, it's too dangerous!"
But the words reached her lips, and she forced them back down.
The things this boy decided, especially decisions tied to his path of becoming stronger, weren't something anyone could change with a few sentences.
Trying to stop him would only backfire.
And he wasn't charging in blindly. He had Lunoire at his side, a seasoned escort with real strength.
Demeter stared into Genichi's calm black eyes, eyes that seemed to burn with an invisible flame, and in the end, all the things she wanted to say became a single sigh, helpless but full of concern.
"Be careful."
Genichi gave a slight nod. "I value my life. If I'm not sure, I won't force it."
That wasn't a brush-off.
No one understood the price of life better than he did, because he'd brushed past death countless times.
His risks were calculated, built on an assessment of his own strength and a careful weighing of reward against danger, not on reckless bravado.
The limit he pursued was a limit chased under the premise of survival.
Demeter looked at him for a long moment, then said nothing more, only quietly putting away the Status sheet in her hands.
She knew what she could do was simply wait here, update his Status, and pray that every time, he would return safely.
Genichi turned and left the room.
In the corridor, the sound of his footsteps was steady and unwavering.
(End of Chapter)
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