"Come on Atreus, we need to go back, I'm getting hungry."
"Don't you have some jerky in your pouch or something, I wanna keep going."
"Fine it's not because I'm hungry, but we've been here for almost 15 hours, I want a nice cold bath, plus you need to get fixed up."
"Me? Fixed up?" I asked. "I'm fine."
Raza looked down at me for a moment, she looked up and down.
"One cracked rib, three canine bites along your left arm, swollen face, one claw slash on your right leg. The only thing that isn't in a bad state for some forsaken reason is your mind. And the sole reason you have been able to keep fighting is because of adrenaline and picking fights at every possible moment, the moment you cool down, you're gonna faint."
'Great Sage?'
[She's right.]
'You can take over my body if I faint right?'
[I can]
'Cool so we can keep leveling then.'
[Sir your stats have already risen a lot from this morning, I suggest rest as well or your bodies functions will begin to fail sooner or later.]
'Fine, let's go back for some rest. Show me my stats though.'
[Status:
Strength: I (2) → I (24)
Endurance: I (1) → I (17)
Dexterity: I (0) → I (13)
Agility: I (0) → I (21)
Magic: I (11) → I (38)]
'While not comparable to Bell's growth rate, I'm still faster than most other adventurers, if I want to get all my stats to s rank before leveling up, I think it will take me almost a year, maybe less if I grind all the time. Great Sage thoughts?'
[According to my predictions if we continue at this rate of growth, including the decline of high excelia needed for faster growth rate, we will have capped every stat at 8 months, 17 days and 14 hours.]
'Do you have any clue how to get past the s stat limit.'
[Negative.]
'That's disappointing.'
I looked around the dungeon floor we were currently on. The walls were pretty much like everything else hear, rock and some glowing hues that illuminated the tunnels, really damn boring. The scent of dust and something primal filled my nostrils. My muscles ached pleasantly from the exertion of the day, and the sting of my wounds provided a constant, thrilling reminder that I was alive. I wasn't ready to leave yet.
"So do you wanna keep going or what?" Raza asked, her face a little too full of herself.
The way she stood there, arms crossed over her chest, one eyebrow raised, told me she already knew the answer. The confident, almost smug look on her face made it clear that she knew I was in no condition to continue.
"We can go up," I sighed, reluctantly conceding.
"There we go, you little sociopath you."
Oh yeah and this, for some reason she kept calling me little sociopath after my first fight with the goblins. I suppose my reaction to the pain and combat might have been a bit... enthusiastic. But how else was I supposed to react? The rush, the thrill of battle, it was like nothing I'd experienced in either of my lives.
'Oh yeah, Great Sage, I wanted to check something, can you show me all your sub skills as of now.'
[Indeed.]
[Thought acceleration (inactive): It allows the user to greatly increase the speed of their thought process. The user can adjust the level of acceleration as needed, as well as extend the effect to other individuals. The exact factor by which their thought process is accelerated varies from several hundred to millions or even hundreds of millions, depending on the individual.]
[Analytical Appraisal (active): releases waves that enter the target of analysis and perform a full scan of their composition, which is then sent back to the user. Through this, the user can gain information such as the material composition of the target, the amount of mana or falna it possesses, and if they're under the effects of Skills or Magic. The strength and precision of Analytical Appraisal varies depending on the level of the user.]
[Parallel Calculation (inactive): It allows the user to carry out multiple thought processes simultaneously. Possible applications include the detachment of analysis of phenomena from the user's regular thoughts, and the preservation of consciousness by using additional thought processes as backups.
[Chant Annulment (active): It eliminates the need for chanting when using magic after a spell is analyzed or successfully cast.]
[All of Creation (active): It allows the user to comprehend anything as long as they have a basic understanding of it and it is perceivable to the user.]
[Magic Slot Generation (active): It allows the user the ability to create infinite magic slots for spells.]
'Didn't Rimuru, also have a sub skill to analyze and gain skills from things he ate, why the hell don't I have that. That way I could just eat monsters or human dna and bam instant opness.'
[What you're mentioning sounds like a sub skill of Unique skill Predator called Analysis, perhaps it was transferred to the Great Sage of this Rimuru after the skill Predator was destroyed or evolved.]
'Well that's a bit disappointing. Guess I can't take Bell's dna and get his Liaris Freese skill, then again, I'd have to fall in love or with someone or have strong emotions for it to take effect.'
I picked at the dried blood on my daggers, wiping it off on my already filthy clothes. The blades had served me well today. The blue steel caught the dim light of the dungeon, and I could see my reflection in them, a small, white-haired child with blue eyes. Blood spattered across all of my face cheeks. I looked like some kind of feral young Gojo.
"You know, for your first dungeon crawl, you did pretty well," Raza said, breaking the silence. Her tone had softened slightly, almost like she was impressed despite herself. "Most newbies don't make it past the first floor on day one. You got to the third."
"I know," I said.
"Sociopath and prideful, you got it all kid," she laughed.
I shrugged. She wasn't entirely wrong. I didn't have a Bell-like dream of becoming a hero or meeting girls in the dungeon. I just wanted to feel something, anything. And pain, excitement, fear, those were all emotions I could get in abundance down here.
As we climbed the dungeon floors back up from the third floor, my steps were becoming heavier. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, and the full extent of my injuries was starting to make itself known. My cracked rib sent sharp pains through my chest with each breath, and the bite marks on my arm throbbed in time with my heartbeat.
'Great Sage?'
[Yes, sir.]
'Is there a way to activate thought acceleration all the time.'
[I calculate you'd have to be at least level 3.]
'No, I'm not talking about that, like what if you just keep it at the level I can take and up it every time I can sustain more until we reach the maximum.´
[Very well then, I shall activate thought acceleration.]
Immediately I felt it, the thoughts rushing in my head, it was still fast not even a millionth of what it had been in the library but it still seemed to put me on some strain. The world seemed to slow down just a fraction, giving me extra milliseconds to process everything around me.
I noticed details I hadn't before – the way Raza's fingers twitched slightly toward her weapon when we heard distant monster noises, the patterns in the stone walls that might indicate where monsters would emerge, the subtle shift in air pressure as we moved between floors.
"Hey, you okay?" I heard Raza's voice at my side. She was looking at me with concern, probably noticing the slight strain on my face.
"Fine, thanks," I replied wondering how she knew that something was wrong. Was it that obvious?
"Okay this is gonna take too long, get on my back."
"What?" I asked.
"Get on my back, I'm faster than you like by a lot, and we need to put some food in that sociopathic stomach of yours."
I hesitated. Being carried like a child, which I technically was in this body, felt like a blow to my dignity. But then again, my legs were feeling increasingly like they were made of lead, and the prospect of walking all the way back up to the surface was becoming less appealing by the second.
"What about the nagitana?"
She pulled out her pouch and opened it up.
"Hand it over."
I did as I was told and the naginata fell into the pouch like some Mary Poppins level shit. The magical item seemed to swallow the weapon whole, despite being far too small to hold it. She also unstrapped her halberd from her back and placed it in the pouch, then she squatted in front of me and tapped her back.
"Come, get on."
I sighed but didn't object. Climbing onto her back, I could feel the elf's muscles, toned and ready beneath her clothing. Being this close to her, I caught the scent of pine and something vaguely floral, surprising given the hours we'd spent down here the dungeon. Must be some kind of elvish thing.
"Hold tight," she warned, adjusting her grip on my legs.
Before I could even respond, we were off. The dungeon walls became a blur as Raza moved with a speed that left everything else in the dust. Even with thought acceleration active, I could barely process the rate at which she weaved through the tunnels, effortlessly dodging obstacles and making sharp turns that should have been physically impossible at such velocity.
The air whirled past my face, the rushing of the air as my hair went in all possible directions, this sensation wasn't bad at all either.
"Still think you want to spend more time down here?" Raza called back to me, laughter in her voice as she darted up a staircase, taking the steps three at a time without breaking her stride.
"Most definitely," I managed to reply, my voice nearly lost in the rushing air.
A/N: Yeah if you guys have any clue on how he can get past the s stat limit, give me ideas cause I have one but I don't really like it, plus I'd only be able to put it into effect after something like level four if we're being real here, so he would be behind Bell by like a thousand points (each level) up to there.