Chapter 165
After the battle, Draco undid his partial transformation and looked down at the magic stone of the green dragon he had just defeated.
He felt a bit bloated from the amount of excelia that had trickled into his body, a sign that he was at his absolute limit.
Grabbing the stone, Draco briefly inspected it before sending out a magical pulse to survey his surroundings.
‘Seems they have almost broken down the wall I put up. Thankfully, no one is nearby; I should hurry,’ Draco thought.
Due to the battle, nearby monsters had been attracted to the area, something he had anticipated.
However, he didn’t expect such a large buildup of monsters around the walls of earth he had created.
This wasn’t good—not just for him, but for passing adventurers.
Monsters were meant to be sparsely scattered, not concentrated in a single area.
Any adventurer who got too close would immediately draw the attention of the gathered monsters, likely leading to their annihilation.
Luckily, the nearby adventurers seemed to stay away when they noticed the anomaly in the area.
Draco didn’t want anyone to connect the incident to him, nor did he want to fight any more monsters.
He was already full, and absorbing any more excelia would only strain his body.
Quickly looting all the gems from the treasure tree that the green dragon had been guarding, Draco used another exit to leave the 24th floor of the dungeon.
He navigated his way back to the surface, doing his best to avoid monsters along the way.
Soon, he arrived back home, immediately heading inside.
He had originally wanted to visit his firebirds, Vesta and Yara, but decided to go home instead.
‘Bahamut and the others are probably worried sick about me,’ Draco thought.
The previous day, he had received an earful from Bahamut about his solo dive into the dungeon.
As he entered, he gently twisted the doorknob and walked inside, a bit startled seeing Clair reading a book.
“Welcome back, Draco,” Clair greeted him, her eyes still focused on the book she had been reading.
“Thanks,” Draco replied, taking off his dungeon bag.
“So, were you successful? Was it hard? Are you hurt?” Clair inquired, still not looking up from her book.
“Relax, I’m fine,” Draco reassured her.
He could tell that she was concerned but was trying to act mature.
“Hmm,” Clair nodded, falling silent.
The room was enveloped in an awkward quiet.
Draco has been finding it increasingly difficult to interact with Clair as she was quickly changing.
It felt as though she was rushing to mature, discarding any childish aspects of herself.
From his perspective, it was bizarre; he wanted her to take her time growing up.
‘Sigh, is this an effect of my rejection, or is something else going on? How do I fix this?’ Draco wondered.
Meanwhile, Clair kept sneaking glances in his direction, curious why his expression seemed so…
“Draco, you’re back!” a voice interrupted both of their thoughts.
“Yeah, I’m back,” Draco replied, catching Bahamut, who bolted into his arms.
He felt a bit awkward under Clair's glaring gaze.
It was a strange situation; while Clair was trying to mature, Bahamut was becoming more childish.
It was a stark contrast to how the goddess had behaved months ago.
Realizing that there was another person present, Bahamut quickly composed herself.
“Ahem,” she cleared her throat, hopping off Draco and readjusting her posture.
She had thought she was the only one at home since everyone had gone out in the morning, as it was a day off.
“Clair, when did you get back?” Bahamut asked.
“An hour ago,” Clair replied.
“Oh, then where are Dimitra and Vasiliki? I remember you went out with them,” Bahamut asked, recalling the plans she had made with the two girls but had fallen asleep waiting for their return.
“In the other house,” Clair answered.
“Oh, can you call them over, or do you three not want to update your status today?” Bahamut inquired.
“Sure,” Clair replied, folding the page of the chapter she was on before leaving the room.
“I assume you want to level up now, right?” Bahamut asked Draco.
“Yeah,” he replied, not planning to delay his level-up any further.
Luckily, Denatus had already passed, and the next one was in about two and a half months—the same amount of time he intended for his other familia members to level up.
He wanted to leave another strong impression during the next Denatus, which would take place in the new year, a year when Orario’s darkest period would begin.
Without wasting any time, Bahamut pulled Draco into her room, eager to see what new developments and abilities he would acquire.
Laying on Bahamut’s bed, the goddess quickly got to work updating his status before making a copy on a sheet of paper for him.
Taking the sheet, Draco was quite shocked as he looked at it.
The maximum value of his stats had increased by around 200, which didn’t seem like much at first, but it was a significant deal.
He had gained this much from just one growth phase, and he could tell that the other phases would hold even more surprises.
The highest recorded values for stats were attributed to Bell Cranel, the main character of the Danmachi series, who possessed a broken skill.
Draco, on the other hand, didn’t have a skill that could push the normal limit, which was S999 for nearly every mortal.
His stats exceeding this limit were due to his race, enabling him to bypass the typical restrictions.
His familia members also lacked such skills, and their races weren't particularly special.
According to Bahamut, one or both of his sealed skills were likely responsible for their accelerated and limit-breaking growth.
He recalled asking how it was possible for the effects to manifest despite being sealed, but Bahamut admitted she didn’t know.
She speculated that the seal had likely loosened when he received her falna, and the stronger he became, the more it would loosen, revealing the true effects over time.
Draco didn’t mind this; he had his own theory.
Being part spirit, he reasoned that it was likely something similar to the spirit blessings that spirits had bestowed upon adventurers of the past before the gods descended.
Shelving his thoughts, Draco refocused on the list of development abilities before him, his eyes widening as he noticed a skill he hadn’t expected among the options.