Chapter 22: Astonishing Growth

"——"

It froze.

Time, it froze.

Ais looked at the sword tip aimed at her, her pupils, which had already constricted, shrank even further.

"Ais!"

Someone seemed to be calling Ais's name, their voice filled with panic.

Hearing this voice, Ais finally reacted, her pupils, which had shrunk to the size of needles, suddenly filled with a fierce light.

"Boom!"

The wind surrounding Ais erupted, transforming into a tangible shockwave that sent everything around flying.

Rig felt an overwhelming force coming from the front, and was immediately blasted away, crashing into the courtyard wall.

"Cough!"

The pain in his back made Rig involuntarily cough out all the air in his lungs.

The wind around him, under the impact of Ais's wind, was directly dispersed, causing Rig to suffer a wave of shock, making his entire body ache severely.

"Are you, are you okay?"

Ais was stunned, unusually flustered.

Not just Ais, but everyone watching the battle was also shocked.

"It's an emergency!"

Tiona shouted loudly.

"It's all your fault! Why did you shout just now?"

Tione slapped Tiona hard, accusing her.

The one who had shouted Ais's name was Tiona.

If it weren't for Tiona's shout, Ais wouldn't have subconsciously gone all out.

"I couldn't help it when I saw Ais about to be stabbed!"

Tiona, covering her sore forehead, argued with tears in her eyes.

"Stupid Amazon!" Bert immediately scolded, "Ais was using magic, protected by the 'Wind.' How could that boy's sword possibly hit her?"

Indeed, even if Ais hadn't detonated the wind around her to repel Rig, Rig's attack would most likely not have had any substantial effect.

The blessing of [Wind Spirit Dash] would protect the user's body. Even if Rig's sword had pierced through, it would most likely have been blocked by the 'Wind' around Ais.

So, Tiona's shout was completely unnecessary.

"Sorry,"

Tiona seemed to realize this, mumbling awkwardly and guiltily.

"Alright, don't just stand there," Finn stopped the argument, saying, "Let's check on the new member first."

With that, Finn jumped directly out of the window, completely ignoring the fact that he was on a tower dozens of meters high.

"Really, they're all so impulsive,"

Gryse scolded as he followed, jumping down as well.

Leviaria had already gone down first.

Seeing this, Bert, Tiona, and Tione followed one by one, jumping from the tower into the courtyard.

Only Loki remained, one foot on the window sill, pretending to be about to jump. But when she saw the ground far below, her mouth twitched, and she quietly pulled her leg back, pretending nothing had happened.

"Never mind, with Finn and Leviaria there, it's fine,"

The sealed god wisely avoided the risk of landing in a box on the spot.

Thus, the first-level adventurers of Loki's family gathered in the courtyard, surrounding Rig.

"Are you okay?"

Leviaria was the first to approach, helping Rig up while placing a hand on him, seemingly checking something.

"Sorry,"

Ais also came forward, looking at Rig, who was struggling to stand, with a head bowed and a face full of dejection, like a child who had done something wrong.

Even Tiona apologized, her eyes full of regret as she looked at Rig.

"Cough, cough,"

Rig coughed a few more times, took a deep breath, and felt the pain in his chest and back ease. He then looked around at the first-level adventurers present and shook his head, saying,

"I'm fine, don't worry about me."

Rig's words made everyone observe his face, and upon confirming he was indeed fine, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, you're okay," Finn, who seemed to want to pat Rig on the shoulder, realized his hand couldn't reach and gave up, smiling, "Luckily, the 'Wind' helped you absorb some of the impact. Otherwise, you might have had to stay in bed for a few days to recover."

"You guys, that was too reckless," Gryse, with a scowl, coldly said, "A little sparring is one thing, but going all out? Do you want to kill or seriously injure your fellow family members?"

"Indeed," Leviaria, frowning, said, "Ais, your reaction was excessive. You should reflect on this."

"Um," Ais's head lowered even further, her expression becoming even more dejected.

"It's not Ais's fault," Rig, who had fully recovered, seeing Ais's dejected look, defended her, "I wanted to spar with Ais, and her counterattack was natural."

"Even so, you went too far," Tione sighed, "Seeing you trying to cut Ais to pieces just now, I almost thought you were really fighting to the death. It reminded me of some unpleasant things from my hometown."

"Exactly," Tiona nodded in agreement.

She had been scared, recalling some unpleasant memories, which made her shout out.

So, if it came down to it, this was all Rig's fault. He was too immersed in the fight and too confident in Ais's abilities, turning what should have been a friendly match into a serious battle, which was indeed his own doing.

"It's my fault," Rig, aware of this, immediately comforted Ais, "Please don't blame yourself. It's all my fault. You were just defending yourself and did nothing wrong."

Hearing Rig's words, Ais nodded but still looked dejected, making Rig feel somewhat guilty.

However, before Rig could console Ais, Bert's voice interrupted.

"Why are you dwelling on such a trivial matter? Isn't the important thing the process of the fight just now?" Bert, looking at Rig like a lone wolf warning something, asked, "Tell me, boy, did you really receive the blessing three days ago?"

Everyone, including the dejected Ais, who seemed particularly interested in this topic, looked up at Rig.

Rig was taken aback for a moment, then understood and nodded, saying, "Yes, I received the blessing three days ago."

This response was met with Bert's harsh rebuttal.

"Who are you trying to fool?" Bert, in a scolding tone, said, "Are you saying you grew to this level in just three days? Don't give me that nonsense!"

Bert clearly didn't believe Rig could grow so quickly.

This was understandable.

"From your skills just now, even without considering the boost from Ais's magic, I'd estimate you have at least one or two basic abilities at the D level, possibly even the C level," Finn, thoughtfully, accurately calculated Rig's abilities.

"At least one D-level basic ability, possibly more," Gryse muttered, "Good grief, it took us about a year to reach this level, didn't it?"

"The fastest among us was Ais," Leviaria glanced at the doll-like girl, "But it still took her about half a year."

"Ah?" Tiona was surprised, "So, the new member reached in three days what Ais took half a year to achieve?"

This statement made everyone fall silent.

Especially Ais, who stared intently at Rig, seemingly very concerned about this matter.

Rig could only stand under everyone's varied gazes, feeling a slight bitterness in his heart.

He knew why everyone was reacting so strongly.

After all, even Ais took a long time to reach this level, let alone others.

And he had achieved this in just three days, which was indeed hard to accept.

Ais, after all, held the world record for the fastest promotion to Level 2, achieving it in just one year at the age of eight.

Ais's talent, even if called the best in the world, would not be an exaggeration.

But Rig had shown a talent far surpassing Ais, and by such a significant margin, that it was completely understandable why everyone found it hard to believe.

However, Rig didn't think it was a big deal.

After all—

"The protagonist of the original story managed to level up in about a month and could always increase his skill points by several hundred each time he updated his abilities at Level 1. What's so impressive about what I've done?"

Because of this, every time Loki doubted his growth, Rig himself found it nothing special.

What the protagonist could easily do after getting a power-up, Rig had merely done the same. Why make a big fuss about it?

In this world, if it were another world, there would be no shortage of people who grew even faster, or even achieved instant success overnight.

Therefore, Rig really didn't think it was a big deal, speaking calmly and rationally.

"You can ask Loki. When I received the blessing three days ago, my back was completely empty. She knows this best."

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other, then turned and headed for the god room.

"You come too!"

"I want to see if this is true,"

The Amazon twins, one on each side, dragged Rig in.

Ais followed closely behind, her steps firm.

This made Rig realize.

"My ability values are about to be exposed."

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(End of Chapter)