Before leveling up, Riezel's power in his normal state was roughly equivalent to lower-middle Level 6.
When he used strong attack mode, he could consistently fight opponents at a higher level, making his strength equivalent to lower-middle Level 7.
Now that he had leveled up, he could easily surpass someone at the limit of Level 6 in his normal state, rendering him invincible at this level.
Likewise, when he used strong attack mode, his ability to fight someone at a higher level allowed him to easily surpass someone at the limit of Level 7, making him invincible at this level.
What did this mean?
'I'm already stronger than Ottar…?'
Riezel felt a slight surge of excitement.
It was worth noting that Ottar, the ultimate weapon of Orario, represented the limit of Level 7.
Aside from MAG, the rest of Ottar's basic abilities had reached S, nearly making him an all-around S-rank adventurer.
Unless someone, like Riezel, could break through their limits and raise their basic abilities to SS or SSS, no one in Level 7 would surpass Ottar in status.
If Riezel could easily overcome the limit of Level 7 and become invincible at this level, wasn't this basically like being able to effortlessly defeat Ottar and become the strongest in Orario?
'No, it's not that easy...'
Riezel suddenly became calm, his excitement died down.
As someone familiar with the original work, Riezel knew that Ottar's strength was not to be underestimated. He also knew that the limit of Level 7 was merely a surface-level measure of power and did not represent Ottar's full abilities.
One must remember that Ottar also possessed magic and skills.
Considering this, Ottar's strength was clearly far beyond what was apparent, especially since one of his skills could significantly enhance his power.
Although the nature of his magic hadn't been revealed in the original work and Riezel didn't know it, the skill had already been mentioned. Just this skill alone could give him power far exceeding his current level, not to mention his unknown magic.
From this perspective, claiming that Riezel was already capable of easily defeating Ottar was too early.
'Not to mention Ottar, even against Finn, I might still have a chance of failing.'
Finn also possessed various types of magic and skills.
Riezel had learned one magic from Finn, so he knew well that even though Finn wasn't Level 7, if he found himself in a tough spot, he could unleash incredible power surpassing his current level.
In the original work, only two adventurers were explicitly mentioned as capable of challenging beyond their level.
One was the protagonist of the original work, while the other was Ais.
The protagonist could break through the limits of his status, reaching an SSS in one basic ability before leveling up, while the other four basic abilities all reached SS. With such high proficiency in basic abilities, he managed to successfully challenge and surpass higher-level opponents while still at Level 1 and Level 2.
Ais, on the other hand, possessed the overpowered enchant magic, Ariel, which granted her power far exceeding her current level. When using this magic, her strength became equivalent to Level 6, even though she was at the limit of Level 5.
Both of them were adventurers who could consistently fight opponents beyond their level.
However, under certain conditions, some adventurers also had the potential to challenge beyond their level.
Finn was one of them.
If pushed into a difficult situation, triggering the effect of his skill and then using the magic that Riezel also knew, Finn could likely burst forth with strength far exceeding his current level.
Perhaps this was why the Loki Familia was regarded as one of the strongest familias in Orario, alongside the Freya Familia, even though the Freya Familia had a Level 7 while the Loki Familia did not.
Moreover, Riveria, while also just Level 6, was known as the strongest mage in Orario. With the power of her magic, even Ottar might be destroyed instantly.
Of course, if they really fought, Ottar wouldn't give Riveria the chance to release her magic and would never foolishly stand in place to be attacked.
In short, Riezel felt it was better not to underestimate Ottar.
With Finn, the captain of the Loki Familia, still holding such trump cards, and Ottar, the captain of the Freya Familia, capable of extraordinary bursts of strength when push came to shove, Riezel knew he needed more time to grow and improve his status to surpass them with absolute certainty.
With such a thought, Riezel finally calmed down.
For now, he was confident he had nearly invincible power of Level 7, so there was no doubt about this.
It was the same in strong attack mode and fast attack mode.
In fast attack mode, his speed had already far exceeded ordinary adventurers at Level 7, reaching another realm beyond.
Unfortunately, aside from speed, his other abilities were quite average, roughly equivalent to upper Level 7, which was actually still decent.
'Whatever, let's just focus on adapting to my current power over the next half month.'
With that, Riezel stretched his body, tidied up, and immediately left the guesthouse, embarking on his journey once more.
===
In the span of half a month, time had flown by in the blink of an eye.
During this half month, Riezel had been traveling leisurely, like a true wanderer.
He stayed wherever he went, ate wherever he was, and enjoyed rare moments of freedom and ease.
During this time, he seemed like an ordinary person—so ordinary that even his sword had been stored away in the storage space of the Dimensional Magic Cube, leaving no one aware that he was a swordsman.
By now, he had mostly adapted to his current power and achieved all his objectives in this world.
In other words, he was ready to return.
At this moment, Riezel walked along a small-town street, listening to the bustling sounds of street vendors while quietly waiting for the time to return.
Soon, as the transparent cube in his mind began to spin, he finally reached the moment of return.
[The time limit has reached zero, dimensional travel is about to conclude, initiating inspection.]
[User detected possessing unique powers of this world and will return with the user after dissolving the consciousness body.]
[User detected carrying unique items of this world and can return with the user by consuming dimensional energy.]
[A list of unique items has been compiled, please proceed with your selection.]
[1: Resurrection Medicine (5)]
[2: Hermit (4)]
[3: Ubuyashiki Family's Jade (1)]
[4: Mechanical Doll - Yoriichi Type One (2)]
[5: Mechanical Doll - Yoriichi Type One (2)]
[6: Mechanical Doll - Yoriichi Type One (2)]
[7: ...]
And so, the familiar list of items appeared before Riezel.
As Riezel glanced at it, he raised an eyebrow.
'Hermit was already assimilated with the Dimensional Magic Cube the last time I finished dimensional travel, so it should be ready to use at any time, right? Why do I have to pay again?'
Riezel was initially puzzled but then realized.
'Could it be because Hermit was upgraded to first-class special equipment?'
If that was the case, it made sense.
Before the upgrade, Hermit was merely second-class special equipment, so when he took it out of the world of Danmachi, it consumed only dimensional energy to assimilate second-class special equipment.
However, now that Hermit had been upgraded to first-class special equipment, it naturally required extra energy for assimilation.
If not for this, he could easily exploit it by taking unique items from a certain world and bringing them to another, mixing them with the unique materials of that world, and thus obtaining the unique materials without paying for them.
It was clear that the Dimensional Magic Cube wouldn't have such a loophole, so for this return, Hermit needed additional dimensional energy for reassimilation.
'Four units of dimensional energy, huh? It seems like it's accounting for the energy used in the world of Danmachi.'
Riezel remembered that the last time, assimilating Hermit in the world of Danmachi had consumed only two units of dimensional energy.
As for Fool, being first-class special equipment, it had consumed five units of dimensional energy.
Now, with Hermit upgraded to first-class special equipment, it needed four units of dimensional energy to be taken away.
It seemed cheaper by one unit compared to Fool, but he thought it was unlikely that Hermit was inferior to Fool. In terms of power and performance, the current Hermit was certainly better than Fool.
For this reason, Riezel estimated that, including the two units of dimensional energy consumed before the upgrade, the current Hermit should be worth six units of dimensional energy.
"Not gonna lie, this is quite user-friendly..."
Riezel muttered before glancing at his remaining dimensional energy.
[Dimensional Energy: 190]
After spending half a year in the world of Demon Slayer, the Dimensional Magic Cube had collected a total of 180 units of dimensional energy.
He remembered that before dimensional traveling to this world, he had 40 units of dimensional energy remaining.
However, after using 30 units for the travel, he was left with 10 units.
Given this, after adding the collected 180 units of dimensional energy, his total now amounted to exactly 190 units, setting a new record.
After confirming the amount of his dimensional energy, Riezel quickly selected the items he needed to take with him.
[Resurrection Medicine (5)]
[Hermit (4)]
[Ubuyashiki Family's Jade (1)]
Riezel used a total of ten units of dimensional energy to take these three items with him.
Originally, he wanted to take all the Yoriichi Type Ones in his possession as well, but after a moment's thought, he realized that he could easily create these dolls himself later.
Moreover, since taking one would require two units of dimensional energy, if he wanted to take hundreds of them, could he really afford it?
After considering it, he decided to leave the mechanical dolls behind and just take Hermit, the resurrection medicine gifted by Tamayo, and the Ubuyashiki family's jade gifted by Kagaya.
[Dimensional Energy: 180]
Seeing his remaining dimensional energy, Riezel nodded in satisfaction and ended his selection.
[Selection completed, starting execution.]
[Item assimilation successful.]
[Dimensional travel concluded, initiating the return protocol.]
In the next moment, Riezel's body became intangible, turning transparent until it disappeared without a trace.
In the small town, people continued to come and go on the main street, caught up in the constant hustle and bustle of vendors and their calls.
However, none of them noticed Riezel's departure, nor did they sense any anomaly.
It was as if the young man who had suddenly vanished in the middle of the street had never been there as they continued their peaceful, ordinary lives.