Chapter 99

After concluding my conversation with Lysander and handling some paperwork, I left my office and headed towards Bahamut's room. As I arrived, I noticed Dimitra exiting the room, while the others stood by the door holding their status sheets, grinning with satisfaction.

Nikolaos couldn't help but express his frustration, "Tsk, no magic or new skill for me. Looks like I'll have to save up to buy a grimoire." I understood his disappointment. Despite having a skill for smithing, he couldn't progress further without acquiring the black smith development ability.

"Patience, little brother. Once you obtain the black smith development ability, you'll become one of the best blacksmiths," I comforted him, patting his head. It was evident that he had grown significantly since he first started.

"Pfff, little," Vasileios chimed in teasingly.

"Draco nii, I'm not so little anymore. I'm almost your height," Nikolaos muttered in complaint, clearly experiencing the effects of puberty.

I couldn't help but smile at their banter. "Sigh, yes yes, you're all grown up now. Let me see the progress of the rest of you," I requested the status sheets of the others, not wanting to engage in a discussion with Nikolaos any further.

After inspecting all the status sheets, I felt a mix of contentment and disappointment. While their stats showed improvement, it fell slightly below my expectations.

They had put in tremendous effort and faced numerous dangers, but their stat boost was not as large as I had hoped. They would have to continue grinding slowly for a few more months before they could level up, unless I organized another expedition.

With their current training and experience, I believed they could handle themselves between the 12th and 14th floor. However, I couldn't help but wonder if their training would have been more effective had I devoted all my time to them. Perhaps then, their stats would have doubled their current increase.

"Sigh, great job, all of you. Starting tomorrow, you will hunt between the 11th and 13th floors on your own. I expect you to continue pushing your limits," I instructed, pausing to think for a moment.

'Four months should be sufficient for them to accumulate the necessary stats. It may be challenging to reach A rank in their main stats, but if they're lucky, they may achieve S rank. Of course, this is assuming that nothing unexpected occurs during that time,' I contemplated.

"In four months, we will embark on another expedition," I announced confidently. I could see a mixture of emotions on their faces, but fear seemed to dominate.

"Draco nii, is that necessary?" Vasileios questioned, concern evident in his voice. He had taken a considerable amount of beating as the group's tank.

"Well, if you all manage to level up before then, perhaps the expedition can be postponed further," I responded. I phrased it that way to ignite a personal desire within them. If they had no aspiration to grow stronger, they would end up as mediocre adventurers.

"Ugh, we'll need to recruit to increase the number of our familia members once my siblings and Lili level up. But we'll address that when the time comes," I mumbled to myself, thinking aloud.

"Come to think of it, Lili has already surpassed all of you and will level up first if you don't pick up the pace," I abruptly added, causing Lili to giggle in response. I could see a shift in their expressions.

'This should keep them motivated for a while,' I thought to myself.

"Draco nii, aren't you going to update your status?" Vasiliki asked, curiosity gleaming in her eyes.

"Yes, I will be doing that now," I replied before entering Bahamut's room.

'I hope she doesn't do anything strange while updating my status,' I thought, recalling what she did to me earlier today.

"Draco, come lie down," Bahamut said while gesturing to her now reinforced bed. The room was adorned with various jewels and gold, which felt more pleasing and comfortable for our kind.

Taking off my shirt and lying down, Bahamut proceeded to update my status.

"Wow, these are some crazy stats!" Bahamut exclaimed in shock.

"What are the numbers like?" I asked, really curious about it.

"Hmm, the highest I can see is 1499, and the others are close to it," Bahamut replied, stating the other stat numbers.

"Yes!" I yelled abruptly in excitement, standing up and accidentally throwing Bahamut off my back.

"Hey," Bahamut called out angrily.

"Ugh, sorry," I apologized. I then lifted her up and placed her back on the bed.

"So, will you level up now?" Bahamut asked.

I took some time to think about it. Last time, I leveled up quickly without seeing the limit that my stats could reach. I was also pressed for time due to the great feud approaching.

Back then, it felt like there was an insurmountable wall slowing down any further stat increase, so I felt it unnecessary to grind for them eagerly. I thought it was the limit of my vessel, but now that limit had increased. What was going on?

"Should I level up now or push a bit more and wait to see if there is something higher than SSS stats?" I contemplated.

"You do know that you are entering the juvenile phase for your kind," Bahamut offhandedly commented.

"What does that mean?" I asked in confusion.

"Hmm, how do I put this? To other members of your race, you would be considered a hatchling and wouldn't possess the current amount of power you currently have"

"You have only lived 15 years, after all. Your kind grows with time, which should have normally taken a few hundred years. My theory is that falna is speeding up the maturity process," Bahamut dropped a bomb.

"Back when they were still alive, falna didn't exist either, so that's why it feels plausible. You have no idea what they were capable of during their era. They were pretty much the apex of the world during their era. If I remember correctly, it goes from Hatchling, Juvenile, Adult, Mature, Ancient. Yeah, that's it. Anyway, we will figure out the rest along the way," Bahamut added.

"Sigh, then I guess each phase increases the limit of my vessel," I asked.

"Yeah, maybe," Bahamut replied.

"You sound unsure," I said.

"Well, I only know this because of a friend, so I'm not exactly sure how this all works," Bahamut replied.

"So I guess this is my current limit. When do I enter the next phase?" I asked. "After levelling up, I think," Bahamut replied.

"Are there going to be any changes to me, both physically and mentally?" I hesitantly asked.

"Hey, we will have to wait and see. It's not like I spent my time studying the growth phases of your kind while in heaven ," Bahamut replied, a hint of playfulness in her voice.

With that, I knew that I still had a lot to discover about my own potential.

"Give me a while to think" I replied. There were still a few stats that hadn't reached the max, so I was torn between ignoring the small number left and just level up or to try pushing myself a bit more to see if there was any change to the stats that had reached the limit.

A/N: Current stats.

Name: Draco Black

Alias: Black hunter

Level: 2

Strength: B 769 -> SSS 1475

Endurance: A 839 -> SSS 1499

Dexterity: B 757 -> SSS 1479

Agility: B 723 -> SSS 1488

Magic: A 895 -> SSS 1499

Magic:

Slot 1: Rune spell grimoire: Summons a grimoire containing runic signs. When signs are cast with the grimoire as medium to skip chants. The user only has to draw the rune of an element, provide mind and have a clear image to cast spells. Note as the user levels up, higher tier rune elements will be unlocked along with better mind efficiency when casting rune spells and spell potency will increase.

Chant: none

Slot 2: empty

Slot 3: empty

Skills:

Equilibrium: Gives a slight boost to lower stat till they balance out with the highest stat.

Charm resistance: Grants mental resistance to the charm debuff.

?????:?????(sealed).

?????:?????(sealed).

Development abilities:

Mage I: Improves power, widens effect range, and makes mind usage efficient. Creates a magic circle under the user that support the magic.

A/N: Hmm, I foresee a 50/50 divide here but whatever.