Loki's Renard

Arc 3 Chapter 15 - Dangers of Stagnation

Second to last chapter people, hope you enjoy it. Finally time for the good stuff. Onto the story!

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Ais looked down at her status sheet with discontent in her eyes.

Status:-
Level: 1
Strength: 591(D)→593(D)
Endurance: 559(D)
Dexterity: 788(B)
Agility: 800(A)→801(A)
Magic: 0(I)
Magic: N/A
Skills: Avenger
Development Abilities: N/A

What the hell was this? It had been two whole weeks since she last had a status update, and she had killed a lot of monsters in the Dungeon, and yet this was all she had to show for it? 'It's too low...' she thought, wondering why her status wasn't growing as fast as it normally did.

"Ais, this is the same path that everyone has followed. Don't take it too hard..." said Riveria, knowing exactly what the girl was thinking. Plateauing was simply a part of being an adventurer, to reach the pinnacle of where developing skills and stats are easier. She had experienced this herself years ago, and had just recently risen her Magic stat to 999.

Finn nodded along with his friend. "As you master your ability, your rate of development naturally decreases. It's not like you have no more room to grow." he taught, hoping to ease the mind of the young girl just a bit.

Loki smiled at Ais. "Yeah, that's just how Status works." she said in a much more serious voice than her usual mischievous one, but still casual enough to not give Ais any reason to worry.

That did not work, however, as Ais became more desperate. Desperate enough to do anything. "Rank Up." she muttered to herself, but Riveria heard her. Not needing to hide it anymore, she turned to the group. "What do I need to do... to Rank Up?"

Riveria sighed. "Rank Up is not something that an adventurer simply just does. There are steps you have to go through." she informed the girl.

Gareth nodded. "You just need to keep going through the Dungeon like you have been. I know it's frustrating, but that's the fastest way." he said.

Riveria piped up again. "We have all seen countless adventures like you self-destruct when they could not control their impatience. So just calm yourself, Ais." she said.

But that wasn't good enough for Ais.

'What are you saying?' she thought as she looked amongst them. 'This isn't a joke. I need to get stronger. I don't have time to be standing still!' she thought, before turning and sprinting out of the room.

After a moment, the goddess of trickery turned to her Vice Captain. "Riveria, about telling Aisuu how to Rank Up..."

"I won't tell her." sternly said Riveria, looking at the door the young girl had fled through. "There's no way I could."

"Yeah, I guess so." responded Loki, looking down. "Ranking Up requires high quality Excilia."

Finn nodded. "Yes, that means a great accomplishment... something you can only achieve by adventuring." he said, thinking back to all his accomplishments that lead to his Rank Ups.

"Defeating an opponent far stronger than you, facing death deeper in the Dungeon... it's the last thing we should be letting Ais do." said Gareth, thinking about all the possible scenarios in which Ais gets killed.