Ais stood there without moving, allowing Riezel to cast the magic on her, and after a short while, a trace of emotion finally appeared on her usually unchanged, beautiful face.
"This is...?"
Ais looked at her own hands, her face filled with disbelief.
Seeing her reaction, everyone’s curiosity grew even stronger.
"How does it feel, Ais?"
Among them, the first person who could not hold back and spoke up was, as expected, Tiona.
Tiona bounced impatiently in front of Ais, firing off questions one after another, as if she could not wait a single second longer.
"Judging by how it looks, it’s probably some kind of enhancement or defensive magic, right?"
Riveria looked at Ais, whose entire body was surrounded by mist-like particles of light drifting slowly through the air, and made a thoughtful deduction.
"Tch..." Bete immediately clicked his tongue, curling his lips in disdain. "I thought it was gonna be some crazy magic. After all the bullshit, this is all it amounts to?"
Hearing this, the people around them exchanged confused looks with one another.
Indeed, while the visual effect of the magic did look quite pleasing to the eye, it seemed somewhat flashy and impractical.
Quite a few people were thinking the same thing.
Only a handful with sharper observation skills, such as Finn and Loki, noticed that Ais had not reacted for a long time, and that her face was still filled with disbelief. At once, they understood that this magic was definitely not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
And that was indeed the case.
"Level 7..."
Ais suddenly whispered.
""What?""
Everyone froze for a moment.
Only then did Ais lift her head, first looking at Riezel, who was standing there with a gentle smile, her expression utterly stunned, and then turn toward Finn and the others.
"I can feel it. I’ve become much stronger..." Ais said softly, her voice trembling as if from shock itself. "I might already be Level 7 now."
As soon as these words left her mouth, everyone present felt their pupils contract sharply.
Even Bete, who had been wearing a look of disdain just moments ago, snapped straight upright—the hair all over his body practically standing on end.
"EEEEEEHHH!"
Tiona, who was standing closest to Ais, screamed on the spot.
"No way! Seriously?!"
Even Loki’s voice cracked, and she nearly choked on her own spit as the words left her mouth.
""Level 7...""
Finn, Riveria, and Gareth exchanged glances, their expressions turning grave.
"H-Hey..."
"L-Level 7?"
"Uhh..."
"..."
Tione, Lefiya, Anakitty, Raul, and the others were all left completely speechless.
Level 7 was the peak level that only a single adventurer in all of the current Orario had ever reached, and now Ais was saying that she herself had reached Level 7?
"Level-boosting..."
Riveria, as Orario’s strongest mage, seemed to be the first to understand the meaning behind it, speaking the truth in a deep, distant voice.
"No doubt, this light... this magic... its effect is level-boosting..."
At these words, everyone turned their heads in unison to look at Riezel.
Facing the collective gazes of the crowd, Riezel shrugged and then nodded, confirming Riveria’s conclusion.
Indeed, the rule-breaking, cheat-level magic, Uchide no Kozuchi, had only a single effect, and that was to grant level-boosting to its target, allowing the affected target to increase their level by one, artificially creating a temporary level-up within a limited duration.
It might have had only one effect, but that alone was enough for the magic to be regarded as the strongest.
Ais’s Ariel was powerful.
Finn’s Hell Finegas was formidable.
Yet no matter how strong they were, they could only bow in submission before the two words ’Level Boosting.’
Uchide no Kozuchi was a magic spell with no side effects, no usage conditions, and not the slightest burden or strain—it directly acted upon the level itself, allowing a person to rise one level higher out of thin air.
Its only limitations were the same as Lost Truth: it had a time limit, and it required a cooldown.
If used by its original owner, the effect duration was roughly fifteen minutes, with a cooldown of ten minutes.
As for Riezel, with his MAG and the amplification from Mage and Magic Chant, even if he did not cast it seriously or pour excessive mind into it, he could easily extend the effect duration to over an hour, while the cooldown would drop to less than a minute, to only about ten seconds.
Over an hour of level-boosting was already more than enough to resolve a fierce battle, so this was a truly rare magic that allowed one to challenge enemies beyond their level.
No matter who it was, as long as they received this magic, they could accomplish a cross-level fight.
Such a rare, powerful, and downright rule-breaking magic was something Riezel had previously not placed much importance on, simply because it could not affect the caster themselves.
In other words, it was a magic that could only strengthen others, offering almost no benefit at all to the caster.
It was precisely because of that that Riezel had postponed its importance and had not been in any rush to acquire it. It was only after the modification magic Lost Truth
’While Lost Truth is active, adding the Imaginary trait and granting effects it originally didn’t have... would Uchide no Kozuchi then be able to work on me as well?’
Back then, this question had popped up in Riezel’s mind right after he obtained Lost Truth.
As for the answer to this question, it had already been confirmed through testing conducted on the way back to Twilight Manor earlier.
As long as he activated Uchide no Kozuchi while Lost Truth was active, he was able to apply level-boosting to himself, which proved that his hypothesis had been correct.
As a result of this, he truly gained combat power that crossed an entire level, unlike Breathing Styles, which gradually lost their original effectiveness as one’s level continued to increase.
Uchide no Kozuchi had only one effect: level-boosting.
No matter how high or how low one’s level was, as long as this magic was activated and its power was received, the target would inevitably increase by one full level within the time limit.
Level 1 would ascend to Level 2.
Level 2 would ascend to Level 3.
Even Level 7, Level 8, or Level 9 were no exception—all of them could be raised by one level.
Because of this, Riezel’s strength had surged dramatically after acquiring this magic, making him nearly equivalent to having leveled up to Level 8.
It was for this reason that he believed that, if the world of Danmachi had a ranking for magic, he would unquestionably place Uchide no Kozuchi at number one.
It was only natural, for the effect of this magic was simply too straightforward and overwhelming, to the point that it left both gods and mortals shaken.
""Hiss...""
Seeing Riezel acknowledge that the magic he had used was indeed level-boosting, everyone present sucked in a sharp breath of cold air, while the lower-ranking members practically exploded on the spot, erupting into noise and chaos.
"I-I’m not dreaming, right?"
"Level-boosting? There’s actually a magic spell that busted?"
"How is that even magic? That’s basically a miracle."
"I’ve never heard of this... like, I’ve never heard of magic this absurd..."
"Yeah, this isn’t just rare—this is ultra-rare magic."
"No, way beyond that."
"If this gets out, all of Orario—no, the whole world—gods and mortals included—are gonna lose their minds."
"I’m already losing mine."
Almost all the familia members completely forgot where they were, forgot the situation, and even forgot the pride and identity that came with being part of the city’s largest familia.
Like a group of out-of-control children, they began shouting and clamoring wildly.
Even Bete’s face twisted in disbelief, the calm on Anakitty’s face vanished, Raul collapsed straight onto the ground, utterly stunned, while Lefiya, Elfy, Alicia, and the other mages covered their mouths, their faces filled with shock.
Tiona grabbed Tione and kept yelling, while Tione, though clearly irritated, was also visibly shaken.
As for Loki, she had already grabbed hold of Ais and started poking and grabbing at her wildly, seemingly trying to confirm whether Ais was really Level 7 now.
However, because Loki’s movements were far too lewd, Ais promptly chopped her down with a hand strike, making Loki collapse to the ground, clutching her head and rolling around, screaming in pain.
Meanwhile, Finn, Riveria, and Gareth stepped up in front of Riezel.
"It’s called Uchide no Kozuchi, right?" Finn asked, looking at Riezel with a mix of amazement and curiosity. "How did you even know that someone in the Entertainment District possessed that kind of magic?"
"I knew from the start that there was such a person there," Riezel said honestly, knowing that Finn had already thought of the Ishtar Familia and many things others had not. "In fact, the Ishtar Familia has always treated that person as their top secret and strongest trump card. I relied on some rather opportunistic methods to learn the magic this time—even the magic’s original owner doesn’t know about it."
"Well, that’s probably for the best..." Gareth said, letting out an amazed sigh. "At least we don’t have to clash with the Ishtar Familia. If that goddess found out we snatched their biggest trump card, things could get kinda messy."
"Agreed," Riveria said, nodding before continuing solemnly. "Truth be told, this magic... even I have never heard of it. It truly qualifies as a familia’s trump card."
Just how powerful Uchide no Kozuchi was did not require one to be a professional mage to understand.
Everything came down to those two words—level boosting.
As long as those words existed, there was no need to explain further just how strong the magic was.
"Level 7, huh..." Finn muttered, then let out a quiet sigh. "Even we haven’t reached that level yet..."
Now, because of Riezel’s magic, they might finally get a taste of what it meant to stand at the peak that only one adventurer in the current Orario had ever reached.
"By the way, this magic still has many limitations."
Seeing that even the usually composed Finn was showing signs of losing his calm, Riezel proceeded to explain all the drawbacks of Uchide no Kozuchi, such as the time limit, the need to wait before reusing it, the fact that the caster couldn’t use it, and that only one person could receive the magic each time—it was all laid out clearly.
Of course...
"I have ways to deal with the last two issues, and the time limit and cooldown aren’t much of a problem for me either, so..."
Riezel did not finish the rest of the sentence.
Everyone fell silent and couldn’t help but roll their eyes.
He might as well not have said anything at all.
Many limitations?
If he had solved all of them, did they even count as limitations anymore?
"In any case, with this level-boosting magic, the overall combat ability of our familia is likely to undergo a complete transformation..." Finn said with relief, exhaling slowly before continuing at an even, measured pace. "And to obtain this magic right before an expedition... if we still fail to accomplish our previous goal and reach the unexplored floors, that would truly be inexcusable."
As soon as he finished speaking, all the noise and chaos around them vanished in perfect unison.
"An expedition?" Riezel asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep," Finn replied with a smile. "The date for the next expedition has already been decided. It’s eight days from now."
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]