Chapter 76 - Confirmation At Last

After they had eaten breakfast, Isaac, Ais, Aselina, Averin, Hel, Jakk, Kalin, Lefiya, Mina and Quinn assembled in the base. Today would be quite busy and even though Jakk wouldn't get his Status updated, he had to tag along with the rest of the group to submit his homework, so it wasn't just his own curiosity that brought him here. And Hel… well, she was invisible again, so nobody but Isaac could see her, but she had decided to stick around for whatever reason. He didn't plan to stop her.

Because quite a few of the ones gathered here weren't comfortable with taking off part of their clothes in front of such a huge audience, it was decided that the group would just wait in the common room. They would enter one of the as of yet unoccupied rooms of the base in alphabetical order, where Isaac would be waiting to perform his update duties. Luckily, they didn't even need to tell Valenoa to give them some privacy, as the beauty was still sound asleep.

The first one in line was Ais, so she just followed Isaac when he separated from the group. Fortunately - or rather, unfortunately - she already wore clothing that exposed her upper back, which was usually hidden underneath her long hair. While she also owned far less revealing attire, she had specifically chosen to wear this one as it made her Falna more easily accessible. When Loki had updated her Status in the past, she had always grown more excited when Ais had to take off her clothing to reveal her back, so she had bought this outfit to spite her a little. By now, she was used to putting it on whenever she got an update, so that was why Isaac didn't get to enjoy the sight of her undressing. Quite a shame…

Once they arrived at the unoccupied room turned Status update terminal, Isaac nodded at Ais with a gentle smile. He had her lie down face-first on a sofa that he had taken out of his inventory, then he brushed aside her hair and dripped a drop of his blood between her shoulder blades. Even though he could have gotten distracted by the smoothness of her skin, or just her general beauty, he focused fully on his current task - there was a time to fool around, and a time to be serious. Right now was definitely the latter.

Soon, the Loki Familia's emblem - a slightly ominous, mischievously grinning clown - appeared and Isaac's focus peaked. Just like a story, he read Ais' accomplishments, then he channelled her excelia into the respective parts of her Falna.

As he wouldn't just update her Status this time, but also make her rank up to Level 6, Ais had a choice to make.

"Spirit Healing, Chain Attack or Mage, which one do you want?"

Under normal circ.u.mstances, Development Abilities could only be upgraded to a higher grade during the rank up process. Or rather, that was what the vast majority of people were convinced of. It was actually possible to increase the grade of a Development Ability through personal effort. If one, for example, got far better at swordsmanship, then the grade of Swordsman would rise. It was just extremely difficult to do so, and therefore rarely seen. This, in turn, caused most people to subconsciously rely on the rank up process for their Development Ability advancements. And as they had already grown reliant on it, not being able to increase the grade of these abilities outside of ranking up had become their 'truth'. As more and more people heard about these claims, they would subconsciously develop the same reliance and wouldn't doubt the experiences of their companions or teachers, thereby causing this vicious cycle to continue unabated. Oftentimes, the most widespread beliefs were also the most inaccurate.

Thankfully, Ais had already shown herself to be capable of shattering these subconscious restraints, as she had been able to increase the grade of her Swordsman Development Ability through her own effort before. Back during the expedition, after she had asked him to update her Status from that point onward, she had told him that she would choose new Development Abilities during each rank up, as she could just increase the grades of the ones she already had on her own, somehow. Because of this, Isaac didn't even list out her already acquired abilities when telling her about her available options.

[ Spirit Healing (I): If the user doesn't utilize any mana for five seconds, regenerates 0.1% of the total mana. ]

[ Chain Attack (I): If the user continues to aim his attacks at the same target, each successive attack will increase the user's stats by 1% for the duration of one minute. Can be stacked up to a maximum of 10%. ]

[ Mage (I): The effect of any Magic will get increased by 5%, while its mana cost will get reduced by 5%. ]

All three of these were tempting in their own right, and would one have the chance, they would choose to take all of them. Still, Ais had to make a choice. After carefully thinking about it, she picked Spirit Healing.

Chain Attack didn't have any drawbacks and would make Monster Rex fights easier, while Mage would help her signature Magic, Ariel, to become stronger. But Spirit Healing could help her achieve something the other two couldn't - to fight for longer periods of time. For a Magic user like herself, her mana was just another form of stamina. While her Endurance provided her with a fair share of stamina, so much that it seemed almost inexhaustible, her mana would always run out a long time before she even noticed a decrease in her stamina. Her Ariel was simply too costly, and she wasn't able to use it for too long during fights, as even though her Magic stat supplied her with a lot of mana, it would simply run dry. With Spirit Healing in the mix, she would only have to take short breaks in between using it to always stay topped off on mana. Of course, if she didn't get any opportunities to cease using her Magic, she would deplete her mana at the same rate as before. Still, now she would theoretically be able to stay in top shape for longer, making her battles more consistent.

After Ais had made her choice, Isaac finished her rank up and took a look at her Status.

[ Name: Ais Wallenstein ]

[ Familia: Loki Familia ]

[ Race: Human, Unknown ]

[ Level: 5 -> 6 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: D-554 -> S-971 -> I-0 (37118) ]

[ Endurance: D-541 -> SS-1007 -> I-0 (38006) ]

[ Dexterity: B-797 -> SSS-1340 -> I-0 (51695) ]

[ Agility: B-795 -> SSS-1339 -> I-0 (51731) ]

[ Magic: A-844 -> SSS-1458 -> I-0 (54308) ]

[ Magic ]

[ Ariel ]

[ Skills ]

[ Avenger ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ Hunter: G -> F ]

[ Abnormal Resistance: G ]

[ Swordsman: E -> D ]

[ Spirit Healing: I ]

[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Chain Attack, Mage ]

For the first time, Ais had been able to break past the perceived 'limit' of S-999. And it wasn't just by one or two stat points, instead, it was by hundreds. A part of the reason for this was that she had markedly improved her swordsmanship, enabling her to face far stronger opponents than before. But the most important part was definitely that she had been able to control her Avenger Skill during her battle against the huge number of Cadmus Dragons. Usually, she refrained from activating this Skill, as she would almost entirely be unable to control herself when she did. But thankfully, she was now able to keep a clear head. It was as if another hack had been added to her already hack-like abilities, as if a tiger had been given wings. If she hadn't faced dragon-type monsters, she wouldn't have had such a huge increase in her stats and would also not have earned as much excelia as she did.

She had grown more during this single expedition than during the five or more previous ones combined. The main factor for this was that she had faced the most overwhelming odds, practically alone - Tiona and Tione had been far too busy fighting for their own survival to be able to help her. This showcased the inherent downsides to fighting in a party - the excelia gain would be vastly reduced. While it was safer, one would take tens or even hundreds of times longer to grow if multiple people attacked a single monster.

Even though this wasn't her first rank up and she had already mentally prepared herself, Ais still let out a surprised gasp upon feeling her vastly increased strength. So as to not accidentally hurt him, she softly motioned at Isaac to give her some space and performed some stretches, then she tested her reflexes. As they were currently indoors, she was too afraid to do any more than that, as she could end up destroying the whole building if something went wrong. There was no way around it, she would just have to take a look at how much more powerful she had become later.

While Ais had been inspecting her improved self, Isaac had written up a Status sheet for her to give to Loki. Their goddess had the right to know about any and all changes to her familia's members, after all. As she had already had a look at her current capabilities via the system, Ais didn't even need to look at it and just grabbed the sheet carefully. Then, she whispered a soft "Thank you" before leaving. She knew that she shouldn't hold him up for too long right now, as there were still quite a lot of people waiting in line.

The next of which was Aselina. The cold-looking raccoon girl knew that her stats wouldn't undergo an earth-shattering change today, but she still wanted to increase her strength as much as possible before heading back into the dungeon. Only after she had gone through more of Isaac's training and gotten a chance to face a plethora of strong opponents would there be a transformation.

[ Name: Aselina Sceaga ]

[ Familia: Loki Familia ]

[ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw's Subordinate (Retainer) ]

[ Race: Raccoon People ]

[ Level: 2 ]

[ Age: 18 ]

[ Loyalty: 80/100 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: A-867 -> S-909 (3252) ]

[ Endurance: A-859 -> S-905 (3241) ]

[ Dexterity: C-624 -> C-652 (2336) ]

[ Agility: D-593 -> C-610 (2210) ]

[ Magic: I-0 (0) ]

[ Magic ]

[ None ]

[ Skills ]

[ None ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ Abnormal Resistance: I ]

[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Swordsman ]

Now, it was Averin's turn. As he hadn't gotten a chance to face any monsters that were far stronger than him all this time, his Status hadn't seen much improvement. His growth was currently held back by the rest of the subordinates, but once they caught up to him in a short while, he would be able to soar again. The young Jack Bird variant knew this, so even though he felt a little annoyed at his 'slow' progress, he didn't complain.

[ Name: Averin ]

[ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

[ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw's Subordinate (Retainer, Familia) ]

[ Race: Jack Bird Variant ]

[ Level: 2 ]

[ Age: 14 -> 38 days ]

[ Loyalty: 80 -> 85/100 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: I-0 -> H-135 (702) ]

[ Endurance: I-0 -> H-148 (680) ]

[ Dexterity: I-0 -> G-201 (975) ]

[ Agility: I-0 -> I-11 (2272) ]

[ Magic: I-0 (3) ]

[ Magic ]

[ None ]

[ Skills ]

[ Atalantan Accelerate ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ Beak Fighter: I ]

[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance, Chain Attack ]

The next to enter the room was Kalin. The young man was quite obviously a little nervous, as he had felt himself growing weaker time and time again during these past few weeks. Now that he would get a confirmation about whether or not he was just imagining things, he couldn't help but clench his fists and tremble a little. Being uncertain was sometimes more comfortable than facing the truth.

"I know what you're worried about, but there's no need to be afraid. If there are any problems, I'll deal with them."

A powerless smirk played across Kalin's lips. Of course. Of course Isaac had noticed what was going on. It would have been weird if he hadn't, as Kalin had had a hard time hiding this problem. Even though others that didn't have a clue about his teacher's capabilities would scoff at him for thoughts like these, he felt like the man in front of him could brace any storm, that he could deal with all potential issues. So hearing such a figure say these words, Kalin grew visibly relaxed and let a drop of blood fall on his exposed back.

Even though Isaac paused in his rank up progress for a bit and even raised an eyebrow, he didn't say anything and just handed Kalin his Status sheet after he was done, calmly waiting for his reaction.

[ Name: Kalin Myre ]

[ Familia: Isaac Familia ]

[ Affiliation: Isaac Blackshaw's Subordinate (Familia) ]

[ Race: Human ]

[ Level: 1 ]

[ Age: 15 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: F-369 -> F-357 -> B-759 ]

[ Endurance: G-220 -> G-208 -> D-506 ]

[ Dexterity: E-429 -> E-417 -> A-870 ]

[ Agility: F-398 -> F386-> A-808 ]

[ Magic: I-53 -> I-41 -> I-68 ]

[ Magic ]

[ None ]

[ Skills ]

[ None ]

[ Development Abilities ]

[ Can be chosen from when ranking up: Abnormal Resistance, Spearman ]

As soon as he saw the results, despite his rapid progress, a cold frown stole itself on Kalin's face. Just as he had suspected, he had grown slightly weaker before. Each of his stats had been reduced by 12 points since the last update - this was far too even a number for it to be a coincidence. But what could be the cause of this!?

Seeing his subordinate worry like this, Isaac released a sigh, then he patted Kalin's shoulder and snapped him out of his thoughts.

"If you want to know the culprit, it's right here."

Confused, Kalin lowered his head and glanced in the direction that Isaac was pointing at… only to become completely baffled. What his teacher was accusing… was his father's stone ring pendant.

"Do you mean this?"

With a conflicted look on his face, he grabbed this memento, hoping for Isaac to respond with a "No". Sadly, he was fated to be disappointed this time.

"Yes, it's this ring. I had my suspicions before, but now that I've grown more accustomed to sensing the mana around me, I can clearly tell that it's syphoning energy off of you. While usually, the amounts are so little that they won't even reduce your stats and will just get covered by your natural regeneration, when I saw you grow weaker before, it had taken a far bigger bite than normal."

A shiver ran down Kalin's back as he heard this and he hastily took off the pendant, placed it on the table in front of him and distanced himself from it. If anyone else had told him such news, he would have doubted them. After all, who would believe that an unassuming little ring would have such an ability? But because the one who told him this was Isaac, the person he currently trusted the most, he didn't waste any time on being indecisive.

Isaac couldn't blame Kalin for his reaction, but he also couldn't help but show a pained smile. Why was that? Well, there was a slightly convoluted reason for it.

In the stories he had read, protagonist-type characters quite often encountered certain objects that had something unusual about them. They would initially consume their strength or curse them in some other way, leading to them having quite the miserable life. Then, suddenly, they would reveal themselves to contain some sort of overpowered inheritance or a 'senior' of some kind, mostly in the form of a soul. This would make it possible for the youngsters to profit from that knowledge, allowing them to rapidly increase their strength, ultimately standing at the peaks of their worlds.

It was a plot device that many people wished would appear in their own lives, enabling them to break the shackles of normalcy. And Kalin's ring looked to be one of these kinds of items.

But why was Isaac so seemingly unhappy about this? Partially, it was because for a moment, he had felt like he was being played.

If he hadn't come along and saved Kalin, would this young man have gotten a chance to grow stronger? No, he would have just died in the dungeon, with nobody ever the wiser. This ring would have been lost possibly forever, and Kalin's story would have ended. But that wasn't what had happened. The ring had switched owners from father to son, and the son had been saved, becoming the student and subordinate of a monstrously powerful existence.

Had Isaac not been 100 percent sure that his actions hadn't been influenced by anyone or anything, he might have believed that an unseen hand had been at play here, directing him towards this protagonist-type character. For a moment, he hadn't been able to help himself thinking along these lines, but ultimately, he knew that nothing in this world had the ability to stay hidden from him should it try to affect him.

But if that wasn't the case, what was? Well, it was actually quite simple. And it was the main reason for Isaac's current state of mind.

Nobody had directed him to do anything, it was simply coincidence. Admittedly, it was quite unlikely to come across a protagonist-type character in a world, so unlikely, even, that its probability could be ignored under normal circ.u.mstances. But what if there were a lot of such people in a world? Isaac knew that amongst the cast of the original DanMachi novels, quite a few of them could be classified as such. Still, why hadn't he ever noticed? Compared to other fictional worlds that he knew of, a far higher percentage of the people of this world had tragic backstories and arguably overpowered, unique abilities. This world… it had a high density of protagonist-type characters.

'Everyone is the main character of their own story.'

These words were a popular quote in Isaac's past world and he couldn't deny them. Everyone was indeed the main character of their own lives. But 'protagonist-type characters' were a wholly different concept. Not everyone had the potential to stand at the top of the world, reigning supreme above all others. There would always only be a handful of people who would be able to rise up to the challenge. All others would either not be mentally capable of handling what this journey would entail, or they would simply not be talented enough.

Not everyone had a talent, not everyone was outstanding. Simply by definition, only a small amount of people would ever 'stand out'. Because the reality of the situation would oftentimes lead people to become disillusioned, they chose to lie to themselves, as it was so much easier to live in fictitious ignorance than to be honest with themselves.

In any case, if a world had far more people of such an exceptional caliber, that would lead to the average abilities and talents of the people there being higher as well. Someone who would be qualified to be a protagonist in another world would become an unassuming bystander. They wouldn't get a chance to glow as brightly as they could have had they been born somewhere or sometime else.

How many of such people had left the stage unceremoniously, because they simply hadn't come across any opportunities or encountered a very unlucky situation? There were probably countless tragedies like that, and Kalin would have been one of them.

'The one who survives is the true genius.'

Words like these, albeit often verbalized slightly differently, were also quite widespread in a part of the stories that Isaac was familiar with. They were often spoken by antagonist-type characters who either had just slain or were about to slay a young lad with a bright future ahead of them. These youngsters were usually the most outstanding and talented people around, which caused some others to grow jealous. In an effort to keep their descendants from being overshadowed, these hypocrites would kill countless geniuses, proclaiming their averagely talented offspring to be the brightest genius of their generation.

In Isaac's eyes, all of their words were just a pathetic joke, absolute bullshit. Yes, the one who survived was the winner. But they would never be the 'true genius'. Even if a person was dead, they would still have been more talented than others at some point. Even if their life ended, even if their tale was entirely forgotten, they would still have existed. They would still have been the 'true genius' while they had been alive.

The ones who survived the shameless pursuit of their rivals' ancestors would usually be the protagonists, who would then grow in strength and take revenge, ultimately becoming the final winner. Still, an uncountable number of geniuses would have died before such a point was ever reached. And that was a shame. Some of them would have been far more talented than the protagonists, but they just weren't lucky or fortuitous enough. In the end, one needed a combination of talent and luck to transform from a protagonist-type character into a real protagonist.

"There is no need to be afraid of this ring. So what if you lose a few stat points every now and then? If you grow fast enough, you can just shrug it off."

Isaac's words caused the anxious Kalin to calm down a little, as he was very well aware that they were the truth. While wearing it would indeed not be entirely devoid of danger, the amount of strength that this ring syphoned off of him was actually very small. It was like a tiny mosquito bite - not really that painful, but still annoying.

Seeing the youth markedly relax, Isaac's smile softened and he nodded slightly. His manner became more saintly, as if he was personifying benevolence itself. Of course, all of that was simply meant to subconsciously lull others into a false sense of security.

"Aren't you at all curious to see what will happen if this ring is allowed to absorb more energy? Sure, something bad could come about. But it could also lead you to a fortuitous encounter. Anyway, you won't be losing out on much, and I'll take care of any troubles that could arise. What do you say, do we have a deal?"

A contemplative look settled on Kalin's face and he didn't reply for a long time. He was no moron, he knew that what Isaac was asking him to do was to basically be a lab rat. Still, he couldn't deny that he felt an itch of curiosity. He really wanted to know what exactly this ring was! After all, his father had been carrying it around for as long as he could remember. Was there a secret behind it that he didn't know? Well, obviously there was, but he wanted to know the specifics.

Finally, Kalin glanced at Isaac and nodded. Wordlessly, he grabbed the stone ring pendant from the table and put it back around his neck. Even though he tried to exude a serious air, the glint of excitement in his eyes betrayed him and made this solemn act of pretend heroism seem more like an excited kid eager to play with their new toy.

"Thanks."

Taking his Status sheet with him, Kalin rejoined his companions in the common room, signaling a fl.u.s.tered and blushing Elf that it was now her turn.