In essence, Roy was undergoing a conversion—transferring from the protection of one god to another.
Centered on the point where Goddess Astraea's blood fell, wide ripples spread outward, and lines of text gradually appeared, their color and shape becoming clearer by the second.
On Roy's back, Astraea's divine emblem manifested as well—the Sword of Justice and a pair of wings.
As the blood-red light grew ever more brilliant, more and more sacred characters emerged. These were the writings used by the gods, completely incomprehensible to ordinary people. Using divine blood as a medium, they were engraved upon the recipient to enhance their abilities—power that only gods could wield.
When Astraea saw Roy's status, a flicker of shock flashed through her gem-like eyes.
What… is this supposed to be?
Leaving aside the Dexterity that had broken past the limits to reach SS, his SSS-ranked Agility alone belonged to a realm only legendary prodigies could touch. Anyone with such potential, without exception, had left behind a resounding name in history.
And the two skills he possessed were even more terrifying.
Blood for Blood—a revenge-type skill with no theoretical upper limit. Based on Roy's emotional fluctuations, it accumulated all damage he received and returned it tenfold, a hundredfold, in a single burst!
An ultra-rare skill!
What concerned Astraea even more was the skill listed after that—"My Lord Is Here."
No god required. Able to update his own status and choose his own level-ups.
In over a thousand years, Astraea had never heard of a child who could independently update their status and decide their own advancement. This was a miracle—a miracle of the Lower World!
Astraea pressed her slender hand to her forehead, feeling a little dizzy.
She had found a treasure… no, not found—one had walked right up to her doorstep. A gift fallen straight from the heavens.
Roy had always refused to speak about his previous god, which had left Astraea with some doubts. But at this moment, all her worries and suspicions vanished completely.
With such extravagant status values and skills, no god would ever send someone like this out as a spy.
This child had the potential to become a hero!
Astraea copied Roy's status onto paper, converting it into the common language. After that, she performed a "lock" procedure—a technique exclusive to gods. By concealing the sacred text engraved on a familia member's back, it prevented others from peeking at their status.
"The conversion is complete."
After finishing everything, Astraea handed the paper to Roy, her expression complicated.
Roy took the paper but didn't look at it right away. How could he not know his own status? He looked at the goddess in confusion.
"What's wrong with you?"
"I feel a little tired. Sorry—I'll go rest for a bit," Astraea replied, a faintly apologetic and weary smile appearing on her delicate face.
Watching that slightly frail retreating figure, a trace of heartache surfaced on Ryuu's face. She had never seen such an expression on the goddess before—and the root cause of it all was…
Ryuu's sharp gaze shifted to Roy.
Roy spread his hands innocently. He hadn't done anything.
Ryuu didn't leave. Her eyes drifted toward the paper in Roy's hand, curiosity flashing within them.
That small gesture, of course, didn't escape Roy's notice.
"If you want to look, just look. There's nothing worth hiding," Roy said, raising the paper.
"You're the one telling me to look. It's not that I want to," Ryuu said softly. Revealing one's status and skills was no small matter—normally, even familia members kept such things confidential.
But this boy was far too mysterious, making it impossible not to want to probe his secrets.
Just one glance. Just one!
They were about to face the Rudra Familia together—understanding a companion's abilities would only help in battle. The elf girl comforted herself with that excuse.
Ryuu skimmed through the contents at a glance. Her beautiful face froze on the spot.
"What… is this?!"
Her eyes widened. No wonder Goddess Astraea had reacted like that—Roy's status and skills could no longer be described as merely shocking. They were downright terrifying!
Stats that broke past their limits, a revenge skill with no upper bound, the ability to independently update status and level up…
If the contents of this paper ever got out, not just Orario—the entire world would go insane.
Other gods would stop at nothing to snatch him away. This boy himself was a miracle!
Ryuu felt a headache coming on as well. No wonder he was always with her, yet his status kept climbing steadily. So that was the secret behind those absurd skills.
Roy glanced at the status values on the paper too. Turning a man into minced meat with his fists and getting blown up once had raised his Strength and Endurance quite a bit—especially Endurance, nearly a hundred points. Envious? That came from nearly being blown to death.
When he saw the skill "My Lord Is Here," Roy finally understood why Goddess Astraea had looked that way. Updating status and leveling up on his own!
His expression turned strange. Interesting. Was his dungeon panel disguising itself—covering for him?
In truth, Roy had another purpose for this conversion: to see whether Goddess Astraea could detect his dungeon panel.
Though he lacked a god's ability to discern lies, Roy trusted his own judgment of people.
Judging by the result, Astraea most likely hadn't noticed his dungeon panel at all.
Yet when he tried to transfer to the dungeon world, the Dungeon itself had noticed!
Perhaps a conclusion could be drawn from this.
The Dungeon > ordinary gods!
The corners of Roy's mouth lifted slightly. He felt he had taken another step closer to the truth of the Dungeon.
Compared to the natives of this world, Roy could infer a thing or two based on the myths from his previous life.
To create such a vast, endlessly wondrous underground world, along with countless monsters—other than the Mother of the Earth from myth, Gaia, Roy couldn't think of any other explanation. Even if she wasn't directly responsible, she had to be deeply involved.
That would also explain why the gods collectively fell silent.
Given the personalities of those fun-loving gods—who would openly brag about peeping on women bathing—it was impossible for them to suddenly become evasive and tight-lipped about other matters.
There was likely some kind of power or contract restraining them, preventing them from revealing the truth to mortals.
Seen from that angle, his desire to conquer the Dungeon really was "arrogant." That was the birthplace of all things—the mother of the gods themselves. According to ancient myth, even the great god Ouranos was one of her children.
Yet there wasn't a trace of discouragement on Roy's face. The more grand the goal, the more it stirred his fighting spirit.
Inside the room.
Astraea lay on her bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. Her rosy lips pouted slightly.
As a goddess, one of her few roles in the Lower World was to update her children's status.
Yet that ability could do nothing for Roy.
Her feelings were complicated. She felt like a useless goddess, watching a child of her familia walk farther and farther away, with no intersection between them—like two parallel lines, leaving behind a sense of loneliness.
When she stepped out of the room, Astraea returned to her usual self. A calm smile rested upon her flawless face, her words and actions once more dignified and elegant.
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