Chapter 62: Loki's Speed! What gift did Arthur bring back?
Arthur pendragon
LV.3
Strength: I(0) → SSS(2000)
Endurance: I(0) → SSS(2000)
Dexterity: I(0) → SSS(2000)
Agility: I(0) → SSS(2000)
Magic: I(1) → SSS(2000)
Miracle: G → E
Swordsman: I → F
——Magic——
[Wind of the King]
・Enchantment Magic, Ultra-short Chant.
・Envelops a weapon in wind to increase attack power, accuracy, or releases the wind pressure in a single burst for a piercing ranged attack.
・Chant: "Invisible Air, Wind King Hammer."
[Star Crystal]
・Permanent Magic, can be activated at any time.
・Greatly increases attack power, defense, and recovery.
・Thirteen restraints reinforced, the holy sword that saves the radiance of the stars.
——Skills——
[Symbol of the Red Dragon]
・Greatly increases Magic Resistance.
・Greatly increases sensory perception.
・The conceptual manifestation of the strongest fantasy species.
[Eternal Blessing of the Star Spirit]
・Greatly increases external adaptability.
・Greatly increases one's luck value.
・A blessing from the Earth Mother and primates, praying for the holder to never fall into disaster.
[Brilliant Journey]
・Currently, 2 doors have been opened.
・Invites you to cross dimensional doors, traversing the unknown in infinity.
[Transparent World]
・Perfect control, complete insight, merging with nature.
・When actively activated, greatly increases perception and gains extremely high Dexterity and Agility corrections.
[Limit Overclock]
・Forcibly squeezes the origin, releasing latent abilities.
・When actively activated, all attributes are multiplied, gaining extremely high Miracle correction.
...
Loki read out the ability values word by word, her expression growing more complex with each item.
Finally, she abruptly turned her head, grabbed a wine bottle, and took two large gulps of strong liquor. The spicy liquid slid down her throat, barely suppressing the agitation in her heart.
Must not think!
Absolutely must not think!
Behind her were countless adorable children eagerly waiting. How could she, because of a momentary impulse, run off to another world with this monster boy to go crazy!
"Hiccup—!"
Loki let out a burp, a hint of helplessness mixed with the smell of alcohol.
"We won't ask where you've been messing around again, let's go over your development abilities first."
Arthur knew that another promotion ceremony was inevitable, so he simply relaxed and leaned back in his chair, nodding slightly.
"Alright, how many this time?"
When it came to something interesting, a standard mischievous grin spread across Loki's face.
"Hehe, you've triggered three development abilities this time, and they're all quite interesting."
"The first is Magic Conduction, which you've encountered before. I won't bore you with the specific effects, you can gauge it yourself."
"The second is Intimidation, which is a rare one."
"It usually only appears when you broadly intimidate enemy units. It can amplify your aura and simultaneously weaken the enemy's fighting spirit."
"The third is Desperate Struggle. This option usually only appears on adventurers who have survived a life-or-death situation. It can stimulate life potential, indirectly increasing combat endurance and burst power."
"How about it, kid, which one do you want to choose?"
Loki once again threw the choice to Arthur, her eyes gleaming with the excitement of watching a show.
For her, no matter which of these three abilities Arthur chose, he wouldn't lose out.
Arthur tapped his fingertip lightly on the table, carefully weighing the pros and cons of the three development abilities.
Magic Conduction was undoubtedly an old friend.
Not only could it strengthen Wind of the King and Star Crystal, but it would also surely have a significant amplification effect on the magic he wielded.
Intimidation primarily acted on the mental level.
The truly strong, their will must be as firm as a rock; how could they be deterred by mere aura?
It sounded like a god-tier skill for bullying weaker opponents.
As for Desperate Struggle, he almost immediately ruled it out.
This development ability highly overlapped in effect with his existing Limit Overclock. It was icing on the cake, but not a lifeline in a crisis.
"I've thought about it, Loki," Arthur looked up, his gaze clear, "I'll choose Magic Conduction."
"Alrighty!"
Loki slammed down the wine bottle, her eyes shining, excitedly rubbing her hands together.
Her posture made it seem as if she wasn't about to perform a promotion ceremony, but rather engage in a fierce battle with someone.
Arthur glanced back at her, unable to resist complaining.
"Are you drunk again? Why do you look like you want to pounce on me and bite me?"
Loki casually picked up the thin needle used to update abilities from the table, its tip gleaming coldly under the light.
She grunted twice, her tone full of the challenge of someone with too much time on her hands.
"Hehehe, this time I'm going to challenge the limits of my hand speed!"
"I refuse to believe I can't get a screenshot of your damn zero ability value!"
Arthur: →_→
A moment later, a very authentic Nordic expletive erupted in the Evil God's living room.
"#%@&! Failed again and again and again!"
...
The promotion ceremony ended.
Arthur re-donned his magic formal wear, leaving Loki still fuming and muttering to herself, and headed directly to Finn's office.
Knock knock knock—!
"Come in."
Arthur pushed the door open, surprised to find that Finn was not alone in the office; Riveria and Gareth were also present.
All three had a thoughtful look on their faces, seemingly having just concluded an important discussion.
Arthur nodded in greeting: "Captain, Vice-Captain, Old Man Gareth, I hope I'm not interrupting you?"
Finn casually waved his hand, a meaningful smile appearing on his face as he teased.
"On the contrary, Arthur, what we were just discussing was precisely something related to you."
Riveria and Gareth nodded in succession, their gazes towards Arthur carrying an unspoken mix of emotion and expectation.
"Related to me?"
Arthur's gaze was sharp, noticing that a parchment recording ability values was placed next to each of the three, and he understood.
"You all went to update your ability values too?"
Unlike him, an anomaly whose ability values almost increased daily.
The growth rate of other Familia members was relatively gradual; they usually chose to update collectively every so often.
Finn nodded slowly, a barely concealed surprise deep in his eyes.
"It's a Familia custom to collectively update ability values before and after an expedition. Personally, my total ability values increased by about 20 points this time."
"To be honest, I've been so busy with Familia matters recently that I haven't even had time to enter the Dungeon, yet I still managed to get such a boost."
Gareth stroked his coarse, steel-like beard, his tone carrying a stubbornness unique to dwarves.
"My progress is relatively slow; it's less than 10 points combined."
Riveria habitually closed one eye slightly, analyzing calmly.
"That's because your magic base is too small. Magic Conduction needs to be continuously stimulated and guided by your own magic."
Gareth grunted heavily at this, turning his head away in defiance.
Indicating that he didn't want to talk to a cheat who had increased by a full 40 points.
He was a pure dwarven heavy warrior; a hearty close-quarters combat was the eternal romance on the battlefield.
Magic, in his opinion, was all flashy, unorthodox trickery!
Finn was accustomed to the daily bickering between his two old friends. He turned to Arthur, his tone becoming a bit more serious.
"Although we haven't yet grasped the specific situation of Ais and the others, I imagine the results won't be too bad."
"So, Arthur, I have a new proposal here."
Arthur saw some clues in Finn's eyes, which sparkled with wisdom. He raised a hand and pointed to himself, asking tentatively.
"Captain, are you planning... to have me teach the second-tier members Magic Conduction?"
Finn's face showed a hint of an awkward smile at this, looking rather embarrassed.
"Apologies, you know that we've only just grasped the trick to Magic Conduction and don't yet have enough experience or qualifications to guide the second-tier members in getting started."
"Currently, it seems only you in the entire Familia can take on this task."
Finn quickly added: "I know this will take up a lot of your training time, and the Familia will certainly provide you with corresponding compensation for it."
Arthur listened, but shook his head indifferently, his expression calm.
"Magic Conduction itself can continuously strengthen my ability values. For me, even if I don't go to the Dungeon, my strength improvement won't stagnate."
"Rather, being able to raise the strength of the Familia members in advance will be of greater help to subsequent expedition plans."
Seeing Arthur agree so readily, Finn's face lit up with even greater joy, and he nodded in approval.
"I'm glad you think that way, but the compensation you deserve, the Familia will absolutely not shortchange you."
"Speaking of which, did you come to see me specifically today for something urgent?"
Then, Finn watched as Arthur carefully pulled out several neatly folded blueprints from the lining of his clothes, solemnly placed them on the desk, and began to explain.
"IPS Regeneration Pods, a cross-era medical tool with super strong healing capabilities."
"Its design philosophy claims—as long as the injured person still has a breath, it can snatch them back from the hands of death."
Arthur paused, his gaze sweeping over the gradually hardening expressions on the faces of the three leaders, and he said word for word.
"We might have to compete with the Dian Cecht Familia for business next."
Incredulous shock simultaneously appeared on the faces of Finn and the other two, and they exchanged glances.