Demeter fell into a long silence as she stared at Dio’s updated status.
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
The only sound came from the evening breeze rustling through the leaves in the courtyard outside.
Her amber eyes remained fixed on the parchment in her hands.
Her brows drew together, relaxed, then tightened again, while her lips moved faintly as though she were silently reading the numbers over and over, struggling to process what they meant.
She stood there without moving, looking almost like a statue.
Dio remained facedown on the bed for so long that his neck began to ache, yet Demeter still said nothing.
Finally, he turned his head and glanced back at her over his shoulder.
She was staring blankly at the parchment with an expression he could barely decipher.
Shock, confusion, and disbelief were all there, along with a trace of unease that even she might not have noticed.
“Goddess, are you finished updating it yet?”
Dio finally lost patience and spoke up, his voice carrying equal parts curiosity and irritation.
“Did you see something so ridiculous that it broke your brain?”
His voice pulled Demeter back to reality.
She drew a deep breath as though trying to calm the storm of emotions inside her, then released a complicated sigh and handed him the parchment.
“See for yourself.”
Her voice sounded strangely dry, lacking its usual playful confidence.
Dio accepted the parchment and sat up.
Thanks to [Universal Literacy], he had no trouble understanding the unfamiliar writing of this world.
The moment he read the numbers, his pupils contracted and his breathing slowed.
Dio Brando
Level: 1
Strength: H 199 → S 999
Endurance: H 199 → S 999
Dexterity: H 199 → S 999
Agility: H 199 → S 999
Magic: S 999
Development Abilities:
Mage: E
Magic:
[Dreamwalker]
[Satanas Verion]
[Genos Angelus]
Skills:
[Master of Tongues]
[Universal Literacy]
[Slaanesh]
[Fairy Anthem]
[Perfect Being]
• Synchronizes every Basic Ability with the highest current value.
[Bloodlust]
• Defeating a target restores stamina.
• Defeating a target restores Mind.
Dio stared at the parchment for a long time.
The final traces of sunset disappeared beyond the horizon, leaving only the flickering yellow glow of the oil lamp to cast restless shadows across the walls.
At last, he slowly exhaled and lowered the parchment.
His initial shock gradually gave way to an indescribable mixture of emotions.
He was thrilled and more than a little pleased with himself, but there was also lingering fear and a faint sense of caution he had not yet fully recognized.
No wonder Demeter had remained silent for so long.
[Perfect Being] had synchronized every one of his Basic Abilities with his highest stat, instantly raising them all to S 999!
Before this, his Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, and Agility had only reached H 199.
That was already respectable for a Level One adventurer, but there was still an enormous distance between H rank and S rank.
At a normal rate of growth, it might have taken him days or even weeks of fighting in the Dungeon to slowly push those abilities to the limit.
Instead, [Perfect Being] had skipped the entire process and dragged all four physical attributes up to the same peak as his Magic.
Dio now possessed S 999 in every Basic Ability.
For a Level One adventurer, that was an almost unprecedented ceiling.
Even Ais Wallenstein, the Sword Princess hailed as a genius, had probably never achieved the terrifying feat of reaching S 999 in every ability before her first level-up.
Then there was his other new Skill—[Bloodlust].
Defeating an enemy restored both his stamina and Mind.
The effect sounded simple, but Dio immediately understood how valuable it was.
It was essentially a powerful form of combat endurance.
Inside the Dungeon, stamina determined how long an adventurer could continue fighting, how far they could travel, and how much punishment their body could endure.
Mind determined how often they could cast Magic and how long they could maintain their concentration and judgment.
Most adventurers did not retreat from the deeper floors because they had encountered a monster they could not defeat.
They withdrew because their stamina and Mind had been depleted, leaving them unable to continue safely.
[Bloodlust] changed everything.
As long as Dio continued killing monsters, he would continue recovering stamina and Mind.
In theory, it would allow him to fight inside the Dungeon for far longer than an ordinary adventurer.
As long as there were enough monsters, he could keep going.
The more he killed, the more energetic he would become.
It would not grant him truly limitless endurance.
The recovery probably could not keep pace with the cost of an extremely intense battle, but even so, it would dramatically improve both his survivability and his ability to fight for extended periods.
It was practically tailor-made for Dungeon exploration.
“You…”
Demeter finally spoke, though her tone suggested she had no idea where to begin.
She looked at Dio, her amber eyes reflecting his young and unmistakably pleased face.
Countless emotions mingled within her gaze.
She truly had no idea how to describe him anymore.
There was no doubt about it.
Dio was a monster!
No one could reasonably dispute calling him the most naturally gifted adventurer in Orario’s history.
In a single day, he had raised four Basic Abilities from H 199 to S 999 while awakening two immensely powerful new Skills.
Such a rate of growth was unheard of throughout the entire history of Orario.
And yet…
Demeter rubbed her temples as a headache began to form.
Despite being an adventurer of unprecedented talent, Dio was clearly not a respectable person.
What decent man would ever awaken a Skill like [Slaanesh]?