Once they returned to the Zeus & Hera familia home, Maxim called everyone for a meeting to discuss battle plans. While they did this, Shurry and his friends left their familia returning to Hathor familia's home, where, Nernatti took first claim of Shurry…
"I missed you so much! Don't stay away for so long again!" She said in a rather doting tone, hugging and nuzzling Shurry's cheeks.
Shurry giggled, and hugged her back. "But-"
"No buts! I can't do it again! I need my daily dose of smothering my cute little brother! Don't make me go cold turkey again!"
"Cold turkey? Where?" Shurry's ears perked up.
Alise, Ardee, and Neze all shyly giggled at Shurry's insistence on eating food. The three of them ran off to the kitchen to see what was cooking, leaving Shurry stuck in Nernatti's grasp.
"You came back from the dungeon quickly. What happened?" Hathor smiled, and managed to get a kiss on Shurry's forehead before Nernatti started getting defensive of her time with the cute little brother.
"Mommy, it was cool! I killed lots, and lots of prey!!! And then, I killed more, and I… Can you update my status!"
Silence fell in the hall. It was a well known fact at this point… That Shurry would never ask to get an update, unless he'd done that one thing. Even the chef came out from the kitchen… Basically everyone's eyes went wide. After all, the rest of the dungeon team combined struggled against the Amphisbaena… And were ultimately unable to truly defeat it. Now Shurry went and slew another monster rex one level higher… It was crazy, and even though she was a goddess and could tell Shurry wasn't lying when he said those things… She still opted to ask another couple of questions:
"Son, do you want me to check where you're at, or do you want an update?"
Shurry tilted his head, confused. But answered anyway. "I want an update! Can you do it, mommy?" He asked making a cute puppy dog face, with sparkly eyes and everything.
"And do you remember what you said that needed to be done before you'd ask for an update?"
"Yep! I killed it! Udaeus conquered!" He said with a wide smile, and struck a victory pose, now free of Nernatti's hold on him due to the sheer shock of his achievement.
"Let's go and get you an update then." Hathor said, picking Shurry up, carrying him into the private status update room.
This is crazy, he leveled up in roughly a year. And killed a monster rex 3 levels higher than his own, on his own… Even if his combat ability is that high, the falna would definitely generate enough of that best quality excelia… He doesn't need any more of it though, That act he pulled off against the Leviathan… Baldr said it was more than enough to be worthy of a few level ups. But… Is it right to just leave this stuff hanging?
"Shurry, before I change anything. I want your honest answer. What do you want to do? Use all of the excellia you've earned, for one huge jump now? Or save most of it for another time?"
"Uhm, it's more fun to just keep as much as possible, but not miss out on anything I can get right now. So maybe like how daddy used to do it?"
Hathor looked over at the status sheets Baldr had given her… A sigh left her lips, and she smiled.
"Alright, next is to pick your new development ability… But I get the feeling this one will suit you very well. The others are kinda lame ones that everyone gets…"
"Oh? Lemme have the good one then!" He said, restraining tail from obstructing Hathor's efforts.
"Alright, all done. I'll translate everything for you, and write it similar to how your daddy did."
"Yay!"
--------------------------
Shurry
Hathor Familia
Level : 3 -> 4
STR : (C -> SSS -> I) : (604 -> 1057 -> 0)
END : (C -> SSS -> I : (658 -> 1152 -> 0)
DEX : (C -> SSS -> I) : (609 -> 1066 -> 0)
AGI : (C -> SSS -> I) : (664 -> 1328 -> 0)
MAG: (S -> SSS -> I) : (943 -> 1839 -> 0)
--------------------------
Development Abilities :
Agile Body : D -> C : 578 -> 601
Pursuit : G -> E : 208 -> 453
Sorcerer : I : 0
--------------------------
Shurry read his status sheet with glee, loving how it's written just like his daddy used to. "I love it! Only people who know all the languages I do, can read it! And! I'm level 4!"
"Pfft, yes, that's right. You're a level 4 now. But I want you to understand something very important. You're much stronger than anyone else at your level. In fact you're a super special secret!" … "Anyway, let's get some good food in that belly of yours. I'm going to snuggle you so much, my proud little wolf."
"Hmm? But what does this Sorcerer thing do? It wasn't in the books they let me read over there."
"Let's see, it works a lot like the development ability Mage, but seems to remove chant constraints as an added bonus." Hathor mentioned, then noticed that there was something else to another skill. "Do you know everything about the Wolf Pack skill you have? Specifically the part about storing monsters in the soul to come out whenever? You can basically bring the wolf pack wherever you go."
"Awesome! I thought I couldn't bring them around with me yet. But maybe I can try to bring some? But not now, it's dinner time!"
And once more there was a huge party, familia members praised Shurry's exploits with cheers, and even started tossing him in the air, catching him and tossing him up again. It was a drunken mess of a party, but one that everyone seemed to enjoy, that included the guests they had that night.
Eventually, Alise, and Neze went to bed cuddled up with Astraea. And Hathor went to bed cuddling the son she was incredibly proud of right now. Ardee followed her since her mother wasn't there that night, on guard duty somewhere in the city.
…
Zeus & Hera heard the accounts of Maxim, and Lyca. They almost couldn't believe it themselves.
"You're certain about this? Such power, from such a little boy? Maybe it was a mistake not to take him into our familia." Zeus suggested.
"No, I don't believe that for a second." Zald said. "If he was in our familia, there'd be far too many issues we'd need to contend with. Mainly, it's expensive enough to feed one bottomless pit, two would break out budget."
"And, there'd be no out for him later. He wants to grow stronger. And if in the event we fail… He'd likely be exiled from this city, or forced to obey a goddess that would only continuously activate his trauma."
"Good, then I suppose we can just continue to hire him for his assistance."
They continued mapping out their assault plans into the night, attempting to work out the kinks that presented themselves. It was not nearly as easy as it seemed at first, getting in was the easy part, escaping it after finishing the training was the hard part.
…