Chapter 24 - Boosting the Booster
Due to Haruhime's unusual progress during the last few days, there was a lot of excitement that she may be gaining ability from the fighters she boosted during their battles.
The theory does help explain how Haruhime unexpectedly leveled after the war when she did not enter the dungeon during the war. Of all the unexpected leveling at the Hestia familia, she was the least plausible one. In comparison, Lili's daring spy mission changed the course of the war. Welf's lightning charge in the Lili javelin blew a large hole in the Black Dragon and was the attack that freed most of the Great Spirits. Mikoto was heavily involved in the fighting, constraining and crushing many elementals and several heavenly male cows - both are high level opponents. In fact, she went mind zero twice and almost a couple more times.
The question is if there was a way to help Haruhime go the remaining 25% and level up. Thus, a special project will try to increase her ability by boosting Bell and then have Bell engage in tough battles. After lunch, the Haruhime boosting activity started.
Two primary tasks are having Bell physically fight a tough opponent and then having Bell fire off magic attacks with argonaut charging. To get Bell the toughest physical battle, Ottar would be the opponent. For the magic exercise, Bell would charge up during battles with Ottar but then fire argonaut firebolt into the sky.
For 5 hours, Bell and Ottar fought. Since Ottar is level 8, he gave Bell quite a tough time even if Bell was level-boosted to level 7. However, Bell did improve over those hours, much to Ottar's surprise. By the end of the 5 hours, a substantial improvement is noticeable. After the physical battle, Bell and Ottar traveled a substantial distance from the secret headquarters with help from Asfi and Ais. Ottar and Bell then fought more while Bell took the limit off Argonaut. At the last second, Bell fired the argonaut firebolt into the sky. After Bell returned, Haruhime was sent to Hestia for updating again. However, there was no definitive difference so they would try again the next day. Afterwards, the 4 returned back to headquarters.
By the end of the day, other team members made substantial progress. Welf finished adding the reactive charging to the armor for Ottar and Finn. Hephaestus and Tsubaki figured out a way to add one more thin armor layer so that 3 charges can be added instead of 2. That is apparently the limit though before the layers started to interact with each other. Welf would thus only need to add an extra layer to the armor sets for Bell, Ais, Ottar and Finn. Wiene has been training with Tiona and Tione and has been improving. She told everyone that she wants to join the Hestia familia, which would be quite a precedent if allowed.
Dinner was a cookout, and everyone enjoyed the grilled meats. Wiene ate too much and had to rest. Lili and Haruhime helped her by rubbing her tummy. Bell and Ais were playing a new card game against Tione and Tiona. Bete and Gareth were drinking, but Loki was keeping her eye on Bete to make sure he does not embarrass her in front of so many other gods. Finn was still complaining about his thumb. Welf was having a private chat with Hephaestus about the future. Asif got angry with Hermes and hung him upside down again.
After dinner, Bell again gave Ais her nightly lap pillow. However, Bell caught Tiona, Tione, Riveria, Lili, and Haruhime spying on them. To give them a subtle message, he starting charging argonaut with the limit off, causing them all to run for their life at top speed...
The next morning, Ais again woke up inches away from Bell's face. Realizing she clung to him after lap pillow again, she immediately took a look at her door. Thankfully, Bell closed it this time.
Bell's day was totally committed to testing the theory about Haruhime. He spent the entire day taking turns fighting with Finn, Gareth and Ottar. At the end of the day, he again created fireworks far off in the wildness with another argonaut firebolt. At the end of the day, Haruhime was again sent to Hestia for updating. After one and a half days of work, it appears that an improvement was detected. Haruhime was really happy as she was 80% to the next level, an improvement of 5%. However at this rate, about 1 week would be needed to raise her to level 4.
Welf refinished the armor sets for Bell, Ais, Ottar and Finn so they now have 3 charges each. If they are correct, this should protect completely for the 1st strike while reducing the severity of the 2nd strike to the same armor piece by about two-thirds. Hephaestus and Tsubaki are now focused on fabricating more of the thin metal layers so that the armor of other members can be upgraded with Welf's reactive charging.
Wiene trained the entire day with Tiona, Tione and Ais. The big news is that the gods have approved her request to join the Hestia familia. When Haruhime goes back to Hestia in 2 days, Wiene will go with her to get her falna. In the meantime, Hermes and Loki are looking for outdoor locations for Wiene to gain more experience without having to go into the dungeon. Ais, Tione, Asif and Tiona plan to go with Wiene on her first outdoor adventure.
That evening, Bell and Ais talked about Hestia, Wiene and Haruhime while Ais got her nightly lap pillow. Ais was a bit worried about Wiene trying to help too quickly. They also do not totally believe that Haruhime is able to gain experience through the person she boosted.
The next day was mostly more of the same. Bell fought with Ottar, Finn and Gareth. Welf upgraded the armor for Gareth and Tione so they both have 3 charges. Tsubaki worked on more thin metal pieces for upgrading armor. In the meantime, Hephaestus started researching options for magic weapons to attack Revis. Wiene training took a slightly different direction. She fought in her Wyvern form against Ais, Tiona and Tione. Wiene is quite formidable in that form, which made Ais consider additional options...
At the end of the day, Haruhime, Bell and Wiene were sent to Hestia for updating again. Bell showed reasonable progress, being about 40% of the way to level 7. Haruhime showed reasonable improvement at 87% of the way to level 4, which showed a 7% increase in 2 days. Finally, Hestia was really happy to make Wiene a member of her familia.
That evening, Bell again gave Ais her nightly lap pillow, but apparently the other ladies stopped spying on them. Perhaps everyone has gotten used to their nightly relaxation outside the headquarters... Meantime, Loki is crying her eyes out in her room. Tiona and Tione are teaching a card game to Lefiya and Bete in the entertainment area on other side of the headquarters. Next to them, Mikoto and Welf have been teaching another card game to Wiene and Lili...
.