Everyone watched Nana’s growth with surprise.
Kousuke asked Nana to fight one more battle on the spot.
While she couldn’t quite match Kouhi or Mitsuki’s swordplay, she still defeated her opponent with ease.
By the way, Kouhi and Mitsuki can do that on this floor, but comparing them is a mistake.
In the first place, their species name is “Silver Great God,” so they are practically gods or beings close to them.
One would probably conclude that she has the second-highest combat ability after Kouhi and Mitsuki at this point.
“…Even so, she probably can’t defeat a dragon species, though…”
Perhaps overhearing Kousuke’s mumbling, the surrounding members nodded.
However, unfortunately, that hope (?) was shattered by Kouhi and Mitsuki.
“What do you think?”
Mitsuki asked Kouhi while watching Nana’s fighting style.
“Hmm… I don’t think she can handle upper-tier dragons, but she might be able to manage lower-tier ones one-on-one.”
“Right. I think so too.”
Kousuke couldn’t help but interject, “What kind of nonsense is that?”
Glancing at the other members, they all had similar expressions.
“…Do dragon species even have upper and lower tiers?”
To humans, dragon species are all lumped together and are the kind of creatures you’re told to run away from if you encounter them.
There’s no clear distinction made.
“Of course, they do. The highest-tier species are on par with or even above gods, so defeating them would be quite a struggle.”
No one made the extra comment, “She can defeat them.”
In the first place, in this world, legendary dragon species are treated the same as gods.
If others heard that someone could defeat such dragons, they would laugh it off as a joke.
However, among the members present, no one would take Mitsuki’s words as a joke.
“…We’ll be finishing up soon.”
As if to prove Kouhi’s words, Nana’s monster opponent made a last-ditch effort, but it was easily brushed aside.
Everyone let out a sigh at the overwhelming victory.
“Nana! That’s enough!”
As Nana was about to head towards the next objective, Kousuke called out to her.
Even though she was at a considerable distance to avoid getting too close, Nana properly heard his voice and immediately ran over to Kousuke.
It seemed she managed to defeat the enemy without getting splattered with its blood this time, and she immediately started playing with Kousuke.
Of course, she wasn’t still in her combat size.
She had changed back to her familiar size and jumped at Kousuke.
Nana had only one idea in mind as to the cause of this change, or rather, evolution.
Kousuke resolved to inquire about it as soon as they returned to the Management Layer.
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After telling Nana not to overexert herself, Kousuke and the others returned to the Management Layer.
Kousuke immediately tried to contact Jal.
However, surprisingly (?), there was no response, so thinking she might be busy, he decided to contact Eris.
“Yes, yes! Kousuke, long time no see!”
It was supposed to be Eris’s Divine Tool, but for some reason, Asura appeared.
“Oh, how mean! I need to talk like this sometimes too, or I’ll be forgotten, you know?”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Of course, about you, Kousuke. You can be surprisingly cold, so if we don’t keep in touch like this, you’ll forget me right away, won’t you?”
Kousuke felt a pang of guilt.
Come to think of it, he couldn’t deny it.
“More importantly, Jal and Eris are busy right now, so I came out.
“Is it okay for me to interrupt?”
“It’s fine. Besides, Eris is right in front of me. She’s lecturing Jal? She told me to step in because she’s busy.”
“…Huh?”
He didn’t understand why Asura was asked to appear when Eris herself was present.
He decided to accept that they probably had their own reasons.
At the same time, he heard a familiar voice from somewhere in the distance saying, “Asura, don’t spill the beans~,” but he decided to ignore it.
“So, what you wanted to ask about is Nana?”
As expected of Asura, she had already seen through the purpose of his call.
“Yeah. That’s right, but is that because Jal is involved?”
“That’s part of it, but even after meeting you directly, she seems to have done a lot of things under direct instruction.”
Kousuke felt a surge of anxiety at her phrasing.
“…I’m very curious about what she did…”
“Hmm… I think I could tell you, Kousuke, but if I say anything, Eris will probably get mad at me later, so I’ll stop.”
Kousuke became even more curious, but since he might get caught in the crossfire if he asked, he reconsidered.
“Haa… Well, I guess it’s fine. At least, there’s no harm done, right?”
“None, none at all. How could there be?”
“Then I guess it’s fine. By the way, has that child become a divine race or something similar to a god?”
“Yes, yes. To be precise, she’s a divine beast. Amazing, isn’t it? She evolved so quickly in such a short period.”
As he thought “As expected,” he also heard another important word.
“…So it was evolution after all…”
“Is it evolution, or deification? The very change of species in itself is evolution. Once you can use divine power, you could say it’s deification.”
Kousuke, who was about to let it slide with a “I see,” suddenly remembered something important.
“Wait a minute!”
“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
“The point at which you could use divine power, does that perhaps include…?”
“Of course, it includes all of you? Well, you haven’t reached deification yet. But at the point of learning divine power manipulation, you’ve reached the stage of enlightenment.”
He was casually told something incredibly significant.
“So, what does it mean? Being able to use divine power manipulation means becoming a divine race?”
“It’s one of the conditions, perhaps?”
Could it be that, without realizing it, they had acquired something else conspicuous?
Even without that, with the existence of Kouhi and Mitsuki, it seemed they had acquired something even more troublesome.
At that moment, Kousuke suddenly remembered.
Kousuke himself had been taught how to handle divine power from the very beginning in the [Evergreen Garden].
“…Um, by any chance, was learning divine power in the [Evergreen Garden]…?”
“Ah, it’s not to make Kousuke a divine race, you know? That’s entirely up to Kousuke, so you don’t have to aim for it. Of course, if you want to become a divine race, we welcome it?”
“…Let me think about it.”
“Of course. Besides, you’re getting ahead of yourself. It’s not decided that you can become a divine race yet.”
“…Is that so?”
“That’s why I said it’s just one of the conditions.”
Hearing that, Kousuke somehow felt relieved.
No, it’s not that he didn’t want to become a divine race.
He was just bewildered because it was so sudden.
“As I said at the beginning, you are free to live your life. You don’t have to be bound to the tower. Well, it seems you’re enjoying yourself now.”
“Ah, I can definitely say that.”
“Right. …Oh, too bad. It’s almost time. One last thing. You should go and see Wanri properly too, okay?”
Leaving him with a seemingly ominous remark at the very end, the divine union was cut off.
Remembering the story he had just heard, Kousuke let out a sigh.
The last remark about Wanri felt like a foreshadowing.
On top of that, he found himself worrying about how to tell everyone about the divine power.
By the way… the highest-tier dragon species did not appear during the conquest of the tower. It was up to the upper-tier species.
Naturally, the highest-tier species are in the same position as divine beasts.
At present, Nana is just one step away from being a divine beast, so she does not yet match the highest-tier species.
2014/5/24 Typo correction
2014/6/3 Typo correction (Jami -> Jal)
