Facing a Monster Rex very likely equivalent to Level 8, and a Demi Spirit that had been reinforced by Riezel using a magic jewel charged with 11,000 years of magical energy, Lefiya’s performance was undoubtedly outstanding.
When the First Class Adventurers charged into battle, she had not fallen behind.
Back then, she had moved together with Riveria while performing Concurrent Chanting amid the enemy’s intense magic bombardment, doing everything she could to cast a wide variety of magic and provide considerable support to the First Class Adventurers.
Lefiya, who bore the alias Thousand Elf, had no idea how many kinds of magic she had unleashed during that day-and-night death battle—some were used for long-range attacks, while others were used for defensive support.
If Riezel had not taken full responsibility for recovery and strengthening the others, this young elf mage would certainly have been capable of shouldering the same task as him.
It was also impossible to know how many times she had exhausted her mind, or how many bottles of magic potion she had consumed.
If, after all that, her MAG still could not reach S-rank, that would truly have been strange.
At the very least, compared to Alicia, who was also an elf, Lefiya’s performance was better by an overwhelming margin.
It couldn’t be helped.
Although Alicia’s level was higher than Lefiya’s, firstly, she was not only inferior in magic attack power, but also lacked Lefiya’s ability to use many kinds of magic and flexibly choose between attack, defense, or support.
As a result, throughout the entire battle, the thing she did most was simply firing wildly with her magic sword, contributing very little herself.
Secondly, she cared far too much about Riveria, an elven royal.
From beginning to end, she had focused on protecting Riveria and could not, like Lefiya, devote herself fully to the death battle, falling again and again and getting back up again and again.
Perhaps that was exactly why Alicia had failed to level up.
Compared to her, Raul and Anakitty’s performances could be considered good.
At the very least, they had consecutively slain quite a few caterpillar monsters and had also dispersed the enemy’s attack power, helping Gareth block many of the Demi Spirit’s vines, which allowed them to fight through a true death battle.
In addition, both of them were already veterans within the familia, given that they had even joined the familia earlier than Bete, Tiona, and Tione, making the fact that both of them had managed to level up seem entirely normal.
Of course...
"Captain and the others have reached Level 7 too, huh..."
Truth be told, this was what made Riezel happiest of all.
"Mm..." Lefiya said with a gentle nod, also feeling delighted for the three top executives. "Lady Riveria reached Level 7, and our familia suddenly has three Level 7 members. Loki was so happy that she was dancing around the room."
As her words fell, the others nearby were immediately drawn to the topic and approached.
"Heh, Captain’s already Level 7 now, so that means the Freya Familia are totally nothing to worry about!"
When it came to Finn’s level up, Tione looked even happier than if she herself had leveled up.
"Really... that’s great..."
Ais also felt genuinely happy for Finn and the others.
"Man, we still can’t catch up to Finn and them..." Tiona said with a sigh. "We finally thought we’d caught up, but we just got left behind again."
"Hmph." Bete snorted, put away his joy over leveling up, and curled his lip. "You gotta think about how many years those old guys stayed at Level 6. It was about time they leveled up."
Indeed.
Whether it was Finn, Riveria, or Gareth, the three of them had stayed at Level 6 for many years.
Before Bete, Tiona, and Tione joined the familia, those three had already been stuck at Level 6 for quite some time.
Hence, even from a time perspective, it was time for Finn and the others to move on to the next stage. Even if Riezel had not intervened this time, as long as a bit more time passed, they would still have accumulated enough high-excelia to level up.
Riezel had merely brought that moment forward.
Even Raul and Anakitty chimed in from the side.
"Not gonna lie, this really has been a year of great harvest."
"Yeah, all the executives leveled up this year, and the top three executives also hit a new stage. All of us leveled up one way or another, and even Mr. Riezel joined the familia this year. You could definitely call it a great harvest."
Everyone began talking over one another—some were reflecting on their own growth and that of others, while some felt frustrated because they had not been able to keep up and were still stuck where they were.
At this moment, Ais finally turned toward Riezel.
"You... haven’t updated your status yet?"
Ais’s words focused everyone’s attention on Riezel’s body.
"Oh yeah! Riezel still hasn’t updated his status!" Tiona hopped off Ais and rushed straight over to Riezel. "Don’t tell me you’re gonna level up too?"
Everyone around instantly perked up, a few of them starting to whisper among themselves.
"Now that you mention it, Mr. Riezel’s been Level 5 for a while, hasn’t he?"
"Yeah, he leveled up to Level 5 after the last expedition, right? It’s been over a month already."
"Strictly speaking, it’s been like 50 days..."
At this point, everyone fell silent.
Fifty days was an absurdly short amount of time for a Level 5.
Not to mention a Level 5—even a Level 1 could not possibly level up in such a short period.
At this time, the members of the Loki Familia did not yet know that a rookie adventurer had already appeared in Orario who had reached Level 2 in only a month and a half.
Consequently, in their understanding, before Riezel appeared, the shortest record for leveling up still belonged to Ais, who had taken a full year to go from Level 1 to Level 2.
Based on all this, logically speaking, with only fifty days having passed since reaching Level 5, Riezel should not have been able to level up yet.
However, who was Riezel?
A monster who had risen all the way from Level 1 to Level 5 in just a little over three months!
Reaching Level 2 had taken seven days.
Reaching Level 3 had taken fifteen days.
Reaching Level 4 had taken thirty days.
Reaching Level 5 had taken forty-five days.
Now, with fifty days having passed, even saying that he might reach Level 6 did not seem entirely impossible.
With that thought, everyone immediately stared at Riezel.
"Probably not, right?" Raul said weakly. "Even if it’s Riezel, leveling up to Level 6 in just fifty days is still kinda way too absurd, isn’t it?"
In response to his words, Anakitty coldly threw out a single line.
"Haven’t absurd things already happened to Mr. Riezel plenty of times?"
Her words silenced everyone who shared Raul’s thoughts.
Riezel simply smiled slightly and spoke calmly.
"I haven’t updated my status yet, so I don’t really know if I can level up."
"But before the expedition, I’d already pushed my status to the limit."
"So if nothing unexpected happened, it might actually work."
Riezel explained honestly.
However, what he meant was not reaching Level 6, but reaching Level 8.
Originally, he had already been just one final step away from Level 8, not far from leveling up—in fact, he was extremely close.
After that, he had fought Ottar, then fought Olivas.
On top of that, there had been countless battles during the expedition, as well as the final battle with the Demi Spirit.
Considering all that, the small amount of high-rank excelia he had still lacked should certainly have been filled.
Especially in the battle against the Demi Spirit, although he had spent the entire fight in the rear handling recovery and enhancement and had not directly fought, he had still contributed.
Under such circumstances, as long as even a fraction of the massive high-rank excelia gained from that battle had been distributed to him, the final bit he had lacked would inevitably have been completed.
For that reason, although he could not be completely certain, he already had a feeling that this time, he could level up.
However, in everyone else’s eyes, his statement meant that he would be able to reach Level 6, just like Bete, Tiona, and Tione.
"How can this be?" Tiona complained loudly. "We finally leveled up, and we still couldn’t leave you behind!"
"Aren’t you being way too unfair?" Tione said helplessly. "We worked our asses off just to reach this stage, so why does it look so easy for you?"
Everyone else shared the same feelings as the twins.
"Tch..."
Bete clicked his tongue openly, and the joy of successfully leveling up diminished significantly as he once again wore a displeased expression.
"A-Ahahaha... As expected of Mr. Riezel..."
Lefiya let out an awkward laugh, yet she still looked at Riezel with admiration.
"In the end, I’m the only one who didn’t level up..."
Alicia sighed quietly at the side.
Everyone in the expedition party had leveled up one after another—even Ais had leveled up not long ago, and perhaps even Tsubaki of the Hephaestus Familia might level up after this expedition as well.
Only she alone remained where she was, which made Alicia unable to stop herself from letting out another sigh.
"Well, if it didn’t work this time, just try harder next time, yeah?"
"Mm, we didn’t level up either. You’ve at least stacked up a ton of high-rank excelia, so you’re definitely not that far off from leveling up."
Cruz and Narvi, who had been responsible for staying behind at the camp on the 50th Floor during the expedition, spoke up to comfort Alicia, making her feel much better.
Indeed, although she had not leveled up, she had accumulated quite a lot of high-rank excelia, and her status had improved considerably, so strictly speaking, she was not actually standing still at all.
Perhaps after one more adventure, she would accumulate enough high-rank excelia to level up and become the third second string to reach Level 5, following Raul and Anakitty.
"Forget it. I’m not gonna compare myself to a freak like you anymore."
Tiona had already come to terms with it, her mindset shifting as she spoke with a cheerful grin.
"Anyway, everyone kinda gained something this time, so that’s the best outcome, right?"
"Raul and Aki hit Level 5 too, which means our familia’s got ten First-Class Adventurers now, three more than the Freya Familia!"
"We’re almost catching up to the Ganesha Familia, too!"
Hearing Tiona’s words, everyone started laughing.
"All right! Next!"
Just then, Loki’s voice came from inside the room.
As a female member walked out of the room, Riezel was the only one left among those present who had not yet updated his status.
"Well then, I’ll go."
Riezel spoke briefly and then, under everyone’s gaze, walked into Loki’s room.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]