Previously, when Maya asked Lizbeth to take the ring, she had said something like this:
"This is something from her clan, kept in this temple. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish it in time to use it to crush the impending catastrophe. In the end, we could only take it down with us into the depths, letting it sleep here forever."
Yes, they apparently hadn’t finished the ring in time.
In other words, the ring Maya gave to Lizbeth, which Lizbeth then gave to Riezel, had originally been an incomplete item.
Now, it looked like the ring was finally complete, but there was no doubt it was something hastily crafted near the end of the ancient magic civilization, which resulted in it not even having been given a name yet.
When Riezel appraised the ring using an enhanced ’All Appraisal Magic Item’, even though the information that entered his mind had a blank space where the item name should have been, its ability showed up clearly.
Remembering the ring’s ability, Riezel understood why Lizbeth had said the ring wasn’t suitable for her.
Simply put, this ring wasn’t an easy item to use.
’It could absorb the power of the user and others, store that power inside, and once released, the stored power would be amplified dozens or even hundreds of times before exploding all at once, turning into a devastating force strong enough to wipe everything out.’
Riezel was recalling the ability of this item.
Simply put, it was a weapon of massive destructive power.
Its lower limit was incredibly low, but its upper limit was ridiculously high. At its weakest, it might only match the power of a single Combat-Class Magic, while at its strongest, it could unleash a terrifying force that even Strategic-Class Magic could not come close to.
As long as it absorbed enough power and the power stored inside was strong enough, the destruction it could cause when released would be that much more terrifying.
’Not gonna lie, this thing’s seriously scary...’
Riezel thought this once he got all the information about the ring.
Even though the ring’s ability seemed simple on the surface, it was insanely dangerous in reality simply because it had no lower limit and no upper limit.
Theoretically, if it absorbed enough power, it could even destroy not just the entire Akasha Continent but the whole world in a single strike. Of course, that would require a ridiculous amount of power, but the conditions for absorbing power with this item were surprisingly easy.
Whoever had the ring could pour in any extra power they didn’t need every day, and the ring would absorb it and store it, letting that power keep building up inside.
Naturally, since it didn’t just absorb the user’s power, if others didn’t resist, the person holding the ring could even absorb other people’s power from a distance. It didn’t matter if it was a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, or even a million people—the ring wouldn’t reject anyone and would take it all.
What did that mean?
It meant that if someone could gain the support of millions of people, they could totally activate the ring and absorb power from people all over the world—so long as they did not resist.
And once it absorbed the power of tens of millions, just how terrifying would that stored power inside the ring become?
Even if every single one of those people were just normal people, that would still be insanely scary, would it not?
’I guess I get it now... I get why the people from the ancient magic civilization made this ring...’
Riezel stared closely at the ring in his hand, silently thinking to himself.
’If this ring had been completed in time, then they could have totally picked someone to carry it, and that someone could have used the ring’s ability to absorb the strength of all humanity, and used that power to fight back against the catastrophe that was enough to bring about the destruction of the ancient magic civilization.’
Of course, that person would surely have held an exalted status within the ancient magic civilization, seen as God’s chosen one, the successor of the Hero Clan, the so-called King of Heroes.
When the time came, the King of Heroes would only need to hold this ring and call to rally everyone, then collect the power of all the people around the world.
Next, with that power magnified dozens or even hundreds of times, when it was finally unleashed—what kind of catastrophe could possibly survive a flood of destruction like that?
Once Riezel understood this, the way he looked at the ring changed.
Needless to say, this was not some kind of treasure but clearly a weapon of mass destruction, even scarier than nuclear weapons.
Unfortunately—
"Even if you hand it to me, I probably still can’t bring out its true power, right?"
Saying this, Riezel handed the ring back to Lizbeth.
"You gave it to the wrong person."
It was obvious that the one most suited to wield this ring wasn’t someone like Riezel, a lone wanderer, but someone like Hendrick, a ruler of a country.
As long as someone like Hendrick gave the command, there wouldn’t be many in Jinas who would refuse to lend him their power, especially when the kingdom was facing a major crisis—at a time like that, people willing to offer him their power would definitely show up one after another.
No doubt, that would be the best way to unleash the full potential of this ring.
However, Lizbeth still handed the ring back to Riezel’s hand.
"I can’t think of anyone more suited to hold onto this ring than you, Master." Lizbeth said with utmost seriousness. "I’m not as sharp as you are, but even I know that if this ring ends up in the hands of someone with bad intentions, it could be really scary."
Riezel did not disagree with Lizbeth’s assessment.
A simple example was Reiburg, known as the nation of war, where an extremely intense culture of aggression ran through all levels of society, from the king and nobles to the commoners, all of whom believed that war was the fastest way for a country to become rich and powerful.
Ambitious people were everywhere in Reiburg, so calling their people fierce and battle-hardened was not an exaggeration at all.
In a place like that, what would happen if the King of Reiburg got his hands on the ring?
No need to even think about it—he would definitely use it for war.
Moreover, as long as victory could be guaranteed, how could the countless fierce citizens of Reiburg possibly hesitate to lend their power to their king?
If it turned out like that, Reiburg would probably become a true nation of war, constantly stirring up conflict across the Akasha Continent by abusing the ring’s power, slaughtering enemy soldiers, and destroying enemy lands. Eventually, the whole continent would be left torn apart, reduced to a hell ravaged by war and fire.
Forget Reiburg, even Jinas—if this ring fell into Hendrick’s hands, he would definitely get some ideas and probably be the one to start a war.
If someone could unite the entire Akasha Continent and become its one true ruler, it was hard to believe anyone would not be tempted by that future.
Needless to say, the treasure Lizbeth got from the Hero Clan was exactly the kind of item that could stir greed in countless ambitious hearts, which was why she wanted to hand it over to Riezel.
"I don’t have the confidence to use it right, and even less confidence that I could protect it. You’re the only one who’s got enough ability to keep it safe no matter what threats come, Master."
As Lizbeth said this, her expression was unexpectedly solemn, unexpectedly serious.
"Besides, you’re my master. A treasure like this should obviously be something I offer to you."
Hearing this, Riezel finally stopped himself from handing the ring back to Lizbeth.
Riezel fell silent, thinking deeply, and after a moment, under Lizbeth’s slightly hopeful gaze, he nodded.
"Alright... in that case, I’ll hold onto the ring for now."
Riezel agreed, smiling helplessly, and only then did Lizbeth smile brightly at him.
"Thank you, Master!"
===
As the ring’s matters were settled, Lizbeth exchanged a few quick words with Riezel before heading off.
She planned to go through the items she hadn’t properly organized before to see if she could find anything related to her mother or Grandma Mia.
Since those things were from her childhood, many of her memories from that time had become blurry, which made her worry that she might have forgotten or missed something important.
What if those things could give her clues about her origins?
As Lizbeth thought about this possibility, she decided to reorganize all her belongings, especially the ones she had brought into the royal palace when she was seven and the ones Grandma Mia had given her, feeling it was necessary to look through them again.
For this reason, Lizbeth even planned to return to the royal palace to check the place she used to live and see if she had left anything behind.
Coincidentally, since Riezel also planned to wait until Yuri came back before setting out again, he simply let Lizbeth go back to the royal palace.
With this trip, Lizbeth might not return until tomorrow or even later.
Because of this, however, Riezel felt super bored since he didn’t want to risk exposing himself to people and couldn’t just wander outside his room.
As a result, right then and there, Riezel took out Loki’s god blood and updated his status.
...
Riezel Brynhart
Level 7
STR: I0 → H122
END: I0 → H117
DEX: I0 → G205
AGI: I0 → G219
MAG: I0 → F330
Lightweight: C
Swordsman: C
Mage: E
Battle Adept: F
Fast Attack: G
Magic Chant: I
...
"Hmm, it’s been a while since I’ve had such weak growth..."
Riezel muttered with disappointment as he checked his current status.
"All basic ability proficiency combined didn’t even go up by a thousand?"
Such a pitiful level of growth was something he hadn’t seen since he hit Level 2, especially the development abilities—not a single one had improved, which was actually a first.
"Looks like now that I’ve hit Level 7, growth’s gotten even harder..."
Of course, part of it was also because, since reaching Level 7, Riezel hadn’t been through many high-intensity battles.
After leveling up, the only actual fights he had were inside the Great Tomb of Nazarick, just sparring with various NPCs to get used to his new strength. Once he got back to the Akasha Continent, he mostly just wiped out some bandits and other small fry.
In the Akasha Continent, the only battle that could even be considered intense was the one against Raven and Maya, but other than that, even the Autonomous Guardians had been taken care of with little effort.
With that being the case, there was no way Riezel’s status would’ve shown much growth.
Similarly, it hadn’t even been a full month since he leveled up, so such growth wasn’t really unexpected.
"Whatever, better than nothing."
Riezel accepted his current growth and casually glanced at his remaining dimensional energy.
[Dimensional Energy: 337]
When Riezel returned to the Akasha Continent, his dimensional energy had been at 323 units. It had been about half a month since then, and it had built up another 14 units, now sitting at 337.
Seeing the number, Riezel suddenly felt the urge to return to the world of Danmachi, but in the end, he held himself back.
’A designated world dimensional travel costs ten times the energy, so that’s 300 units.’
’If I burn 300 units now, I’ll only have 37 left, which might not even be enough to bring a few items back with me.’
’Guess I better keep saving up a bit longer...’
As Riezel pondered, he also remembered his current situation, where he couldn’t even leave his room.
Pondering for a moment, Riezel made a decision.
’One more dimensional travel. I’ll head into another world and stock up on some dimensional energy.’
It was a shortcut for gathering dimensional energy because no matter how long Riezel stayed in another world, only a day would pass here.
Given that he wasn’t exactly in the best shape to be going out right now, it made more sense to use this free time to dimensional travel to another world, spend some time there, and build up dimensional energy while he was at it.
Once he came to a decision, Riezel got ready to lie down right away, but before that, it would probably be smart to get some guards in place.
’Even though nobody knows I’m back, what if someone broke in here while I was out on my dimensional travel?’
Riezel didn’t want to be completely defenseless at a time like that, just letting others flatten and crush him however they pleased while he was unconscious.
Lizbeth, his attendant, had things to do, so she couldn’t stick around to guard him this time.
In that case—
"Summon Monster 7th."
Riezel cast summoning magic without hesitation.
Yes, he was planning to have the monster he summoned to protect him.
No matter what kind of summoning magic it was, aside from a few special magic systems, the monsters that could be summoned were pretty much fixed depending on the type.
In YGGDRASIL, players with magic-oriented job classes would learn one tier of Tier Magic every seven levels.
Levels 1 to 7 could learn 1st-Tier Magic.
Levels 8 to 14 could learn 2nd-Tier Magic.
Levels 15 to 21 could learn 3rd-Tier Magic.
Levels 22 to 28 could learn 4th-Tier Magic.
Levels 29 to 35 could learn 5th-Tier Magic.
Levels 36 to 42 could learn 6th-Tier Magic.
Levels 43 to 49 could learn 7th-Tier Magic.
Levels 50 to 56 could learn 8th-Tier Magic.
Levels 57 to 63 could learn 9th-Tier Magic.
Levels 64 to 70 could learn 10th-Tier Magic.
In other words, as long as someone was a magic-oriented job class player, they could learn all ten tiers of Tier Magic by Level 70. As for anything beyond Level 70, it was considered the territory of Super-Tier Magic, so it was exempted.
Given this, the level of the monster summoned with summoning magic usually matched the level range of the tier of the magic.
Because of this, when the people from the Sunlight Scripture summoned angels, they were around Levels 15 to 21 with 3rd-Tier Magic, when Nigun summoned an angel, it was around Levels 22 to 28 with 4th-Tier Magic, and when Shalltear summoned her monsters, they were around Levels 64 to 70 using 10th-Tier Magic.
Now that Riezel was using 7th-Tier summoning magic, the monster he summoned would be around Levels 43 to 49.
Simply put, no matter how strong Riezel became, this part would not change.
However, after receiving enhancements from both Mage and Magic Chant, while the level of the monster he summoned did not increase, the number of monsters summoned did.
Normally, unless someone used high-tier summoning magic to call lower-level monsters, most summoning magic could only bring out one monster, but in his hands, he could summon multiple monsters.
In the next moment, a magic circle unfolded on the floor of the room, and one after another, insect-type monsters at Level 49 emerged from it.
All of them had eight legs, and their forms were invisible—each one cloaked in stealth.
Needless to say, they were none other than the Eight-Edge Assassins.
"You guys hide around and make sure to protect me."
Riezel calmly gave the order to the monsters he had summoned.
""Understood!""
Hearing Riezel’s order, the Eight-Edge Assassins immediately bowed in obedience, then quickly scattered and melted into the corners of the room.
Even though they were only Level 49, which was roughly equivalent to Level 4 in the world of Danmachi, their numbers and stealth ability made them likely capable of handling the guarding task well enough.
Riezel then cast several long-lasting defensive magic spells on himself before finally lying down on the bed and closing his eyes.
’Dimensional Magic Cube...’
As Riezel stared at the transparent cube in his mind, he murmured softly.
’Just what the hell are you, really?’
Sighing, Riezel then gave the command to activate the dimensional channel.
[Instruction received—initiating the activation of the dimensional channel.]
[User is detected carrying unique items from this world—if you wish to bring them, it can be accomplished by consuming dimensional energy.]
[A list of unique items has been compiled—please proceed with your selection.]
[1: Unnamed Ancient Mystical Treasure (30)]
As this message entered his mind, Riezel, distracted and not thinking too much about it, made his selection without hesitation.
[Item selection completed—starting execution.]
[Items assimilated successfully.]
[Sufficient dimensional energy—initiating the construction of the dimensional channel.]
[Successfully constructed.]
Shortly after the message resounded, the transparent cube in Riezel’s mind immediately broke down into countless transparent grids, rotating and interlacing as it transformed into a stairway of light, shooting toward the void of the sea of consciousness.
Evidently, this scene was identical to the one depicted in the temple’s ancient murals.
Before Riezel could even express his thoughts, the preparations for dimensional travel were already complete.
[Opening the dimensional channel—completed.]
[Collecting information from the dimensional channel—completed.]
[Searching for information that closely matches the world on the other side of the channel from the user’s memory—begin organizing.]
[Successfully organized.]
[Connected World: Fate/Grand Order - Fae Round Table Domain - Avalon le Fae]
[Time Scale: 1:90]
[Attention! Dimensional travel is the descent of consciousness in which the user’s consciousness is materialized in another world. While the death of the consciousness after materialization will not affect the user, the dimensional travel will conclude at the time of death.]
[User is advised to act with caution.]
In the next moment, Riezel’s consciousness stepped onto the stairway of light, heading into the void—just like the ancient heroes of old, one step at a time.