Chương 288: Ais: I Feel a Strange Chill…

From Renjiro's understanding, Bell's Liaris Freese skill could seemingly accelerate the growth of his basic stats during the adventurer "accumulation" phase, almost like cheating—but it came with extremely strict prerequisites. 

First, the skill user's mindset had to align with that of the admired "hero." The purer and more innocent the personality, the stronger the effect. 

If one had to draw an analogy… it was like possessing the legendary and extremely rare heart of a child. 

On top of that… 

If the person could consistently interact with their admired target, the skill's effect would heat up immensely. 

Roughly speaking… it was like running a GPU at full power on a gas stove, enough to roast potatoes. 

Looking at the original timeline… 

After the rabbit boy started admiring the Sword Princess, Miach, Takemikazuchi, Hermes… one by one, these "true god-class" allies would gather around as support. 

And yet, he got along extremely well with Ais… 

He wanted an older sister, she wanted a younger brother. 

He was pure-hearted, she was three-no 1. 

Plus, the always ambitious Ais was curious about the rapidly growing Bell, constantly gravitating toward him… 

So, through a series of coincidences, the bonus effects of Liaris Freese never stopped. 

Always at full power. 

On top of that, Bell frequently faced heavy trials—fighting enhanced monster variants, hunting stronger floor bosses, battling Scorpions, ancient heroes, destroyers, evil dragons… sometimes even being crushed by higher-tier adventurers, then returning to defeat them in turn. 

If anyone else faced these trials, they'd likely have died ten times over. 

But the rabbit boy's luck was no joke. 

In short, these stacked buffs gradually earned him the nickname "the fastest-leveling white rabbit in the world." 

At present… 

"Not that it matters for me, but… should I introduce Bell to Ais?" 

Renjiro pondered for a moment, then immediately dismissed the thought. 

It wasn't that he liked Ais and wanted to prevent Bell from interacting with her. 

Ais… frankly didn't hit Renjiro's XP at all. 

She was merely a familiar friend. 

Or perhaps a stubborn little sister who occasionally acted clumsy and cute. 

Ultimately, the main reason Renjiro dismissed the idea was… 

"Isn't Ais poor enough already?" 

Indeed, the past few months she'd been repeatedly challenged by the Twin Stars. Thanks to Renjiro (the main self) falsely reporting Bell's leveling speed, she hadn't yet suffered a total collapse. 

If now a rabbit boy with experience-buffing skills suddenly appeared… 

"She'd probably lose her mind." 

So, to avoid pushing little sister Ais into that "reckless" state again, Renjiro decided to refrain from constantly stimulating her. 

At least, until she reached Lv.6. 

"Hmm, this plan should work." 

Renjiro thought privately. Once Ais reaches Lv.6, she can begin accumulating her own basic stats, steadily growing. With visible improvements, she won't constantly act recklessly. 

With that decision made, Renjiro simply spent a few hours wandering around the dungeon's upper levels with Bell, his first time entering. 

And when he, Bell, Lili, and Welf returned… 

"We've reached the expected benchmark." 

A remote communication came through the mental link from Aether and Lumine. 

Earlier, the siblings had been leveling in the dungeon's deeper areas, tirelessly and without rest for days. They had finally accumulated enough experience to raise their divine levels to Lv.50 tonight. 

They would also gain the second evaluation. 

Thus… 

"I should test the effects of all my development abilities properly." 

Renjiro felt a sense of anticipation. And also see how much Bell will gain today. 

Honestly, having a little brother nearby who wasn't even troublesome was a nice feeling. 

Uh…Rye? 

He's still a little troublesome. 

Previously unavoidable, now… 

========= 

That night… 

"Ugh~~~~?" 

As Renjiro predicted, Bell's first dungeon run was meant to test his stat growth. 

And the results… 

"Bell-sama, you… this…" 

In the Maria Orphanage first-floor hall, Lili stared at Bell's publicly revealed stats, hands trembling over the impression paper. 

She was scared. 

Strength +120, Durability +42, Dexterity +139, Agility—the most extreme—+225. 

In other words… 

"Before awakening magic (mana i-0), just the growth of four basic stats alone is 526 points?" 

Lili instinctively looked at Renjiro, Bell, and Syr (Frigg), who was smiling with her hands on her face. 

"Eh? Aren't you all surprised?" 

"Not really." 

Renjiro waved a hand. "I've seen worse." 

"You'll see it again soon." 

That last sentence was a quiet thought in his mind. 

As for Bell… 

"Uh, is this kind of stat increase… really that extreme?" 

Renjiro could tell the young boy was genuinely asking, unaware of how incredible this growth was. 

But to Lili, it sounded like a subtle brag. 

Unable to help herself… 

"Bell-sama, you might not know…" 

She spread the impression paper on the table. 

"Normally, adventurers work themselves to the bone for a whole day… or several days, and their basic stats increase by single digits—or sometimes not at all." 

"But Bell-sama just spent less than four hours in the dungeon today." 

"In that short time, his growth surpassed what most adventurers achieve in nearly a year… or even several years." 

While speaking, Lili also displayed her own stat records. 

A rough glance revealed consistently low numbers: 

Strength and Durability were low i-grade; Dexterity barely over 100; Agility slightly over 200; Mana just over 300. 

These were the cumulative results of Lili's ten-plus years of effort. 

Meanwhile, Bell spent only four hours wandering the dungeon. Despite multiple injuries, his Strength now surpassed Lili's immediately after the update. 

"…Wait a second." 

The small human girl looked sharply at the black-haired youth. 

"Renjiro-sama, you've seen something even scarier?" 

"Could it be…" 

"Yes. Though I can't say much, Aether and Lumine's basic stats are even more terrifying." 

Hearing this… 

Oh. So it really was the Twin Stars. 

All was well then. 

….. 

Completed version available on [P]atreon.[c]om/Veltoria [remove brackets] 

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Chương 289: Two Lv.3s, the Advantage Is Mine 

Currently, throughout the Lower World, there was a common understanding… 

That the brother-and-sister pair could not be treated like ordinary people. 

He and she were, in fact: living legends of this era. 

Consider this… 

They had just received their Falnas, and in only a week, through the astounding "feat" of continuous battle for seven days and nights with nearly no sleep, they leveled up to Lv.2. 

Not long after, by cooperating to slay a floor boss with potential Lv.5— Amphisbaena—they earned their second "feat" and ascended to Lv.3. 

Later,, relying on their Lv.3 Blessing strength alone, they defeated the then-high-level Lv.6 "White and Black Knights," officially claiming Lv.4.  

Finally, using some unknown combined transformation (summoning) technique, they merged into the strongest Valkyrie, Durandal, successfully vanquishing the two Scorpions and directly crushed them, which could have destroyed the entire continent, earning the fourth "feat" that enabled both of them to advance simultaneously to Lv.5. 

And now… 

"Speaking of which, Aether and Lumine seem ready to ascend to Lv.5." 

Renjiro, who openly held the position of close friend of the Twin Stars, didn't hesitate to give his people an early heads-up on this matter. 

Upon hearing this… 

"Ah~~~~?" 

This time, it was Bell who shouted in surprise. 

Lili, on the other hand, was not the least bit shocked. 

No, more accurately… after hearing countless jaw-dropping stories about the Twin Stars, she had long since become numb. 

And this kind of mindset, like Lili's, was extremely common… even the entire Lower World. 

In other words, Bell's reaction here was the abnormal one. 

Unfortunately, due to the "insider's blind spot," Renjiro didn't notice this. To him, the siblings' deeds were naturally shocking, so he didn't perceive the nuance. 

He simply smiled, patted Bell on the shoulder as the team leader, and encouraged him not to lose heart. Perhaps one day, he too could fight alongside the Twin Stars. 

Seeing this… 

"Pfft~" 

Sheer covered her mouth, tilting her head to the side. 1

Renjiro and Bell, each knowing only "half the truth," both showed puzzled expressions. 

"Sheer, what are you laughing at?" 

Renjiro asked casually, and Bell looked on with curiosity. 

To which… 

"Nothing, nothing at all. Just thinking about something amusing." 

Bell didn't dwell on this, but Renjiro, who understood the implication, immediately had a strangely uneasy expression. 

"Something's fishy, absolutely fishy." 

His newly awakened development ability—Revelation—gave him this instinct. 

Unfortunately, the current rank of Revelation was only the initial i-grade, far from the power of omniscience. 

Otherwise… 

Well, Renjiro might have been scared out of his wits by some rabbit boy's "special ideas." 

I treat you as a little brother, and you want to recognize me as your older sister… uh~ 

Hmm… just reading the sentence alone, it doesn't seem wrong? 

Ahem~ 

In short, Renjiro had no idea that Bell's Liaris Freese target had already changed. 

And the new target's identity… was exceedingly special. Special to the extreme. 

"Pfft~" 

Sheer laughed again, struggling to contain it, and Renjiro's expression grew even stranger. 

======= 

By now, it was late. To avoid disturbing Maria, Rye, Roux, and others who had gone to bed early, everyone updated their stats, said goodnight, and returned to their rooms. 

Of course, Sheer clearly had other business to attend to. 

Aether entrusted Mona, the astrologer, to secretly transport her via Mass Teleport to the Battlefield Plains. 

According to Syr (Frigg)… or rather, as Frigg put it, updating stats was fine normally, but during a level-up, it had to be performed by the true main deity. 

It gave a sense of ritual significance. 

Thus… 

"Excellent. Starting today, I now have two additional core officers in the Frigg Familia." 

Late at night, dressed in a black formal gown, Frigg crossed her legs comfortably, satisfied as she looked at the Twin Stars returning from the "deep layer" dungeon. 

"The news of your Lv.5 ascension will be reported to the Guild tomorrow and made public by noon." 

"Remember to come back tomorrow evening." 

She smiled slightly. "It's time for you to formally meet Ottar and the others… on equal footing." 

"Yes, go to the Round Table (Members' Conference Room) and greet everyone properly." 

"Remember to be friendly with one another~" 

======= 

At the same time… 

In Orario's southern city district. 

This area—especially Urban District 5—was long dominated by embassies, business magnates, royalty, and other influential familias investing in casinos and luxurious taverns. 

Of course, no matter how extravagant, these places couldn't match the scale of Frigg Familia's base, the Battlefield Plains. 

Today… 

"If I can get the Twin Stars to help, then I'll be completely unstoppable." 

A glasses-wearing man with a middle-part hairstyle looked toward the castle inside Battlefield Plains, sighing helplessly. 

He was Zanis Lustra, Lv.2. 

That night, to prepare for the upcoming "War Game," he decided to leverage his connections to find help. 

But, as he muttered, Zanis had no chance of tapping into the Frigg Familia. 

Not to mention recruiting the Twin Stars. 

And he hadn't realized a shocking fact: his upcoming opponent, the black-haired youth Higashikata Renjiro, was already close friends with the very Twin Stars Zanis longed for but could never approach. 

Honestly, if he had known this in advance… well, he would have been even more desperate. 

For now… 

Zanis, long-time leader of the Soma Household, had some influence. 

Tonight, he planned to visit a facility called the Grand Casino El Dorado Resort. 

This place was invested by the entertainment city—a money pit. 

Due to the frequent need to transport high-end liquor, Zanis had a close private relationship with the manager, Terry Cervantes. 

Leveraging this connection… 

"Two top bounty hunters with nearly 100% completion rate, plus a nearly flawless top assassin." 

"Two Lv.3s." 

"Heh~ Although inviting them to play a 'hide-and-seek' event is a bit beneath them, I paid a high price for their services." 

"But with them, taking down a small Lv.3 household is no problem at all." 1

That day, Zanis was brimming with confidence. 

The upcoming War Game is mine. 

"Ha ha ha ha~"