Diere looked at Shien scrutinizingly.
“Well, sort of.”
Shien touched his nose.
When he left the capital, his level was fifty-five. During the battle in Cosmos, after fighting against the rampaging Lilith, although he didn’t defeat her, he gained valuable combat experience from fully experiencing the world’s highest level of power.
Therefore, his level had unconsciously reached fifty-nine, just like Diere before, reaching the threshold of a breakthrough, just one step away from level sixty.
In other words, Shien was about to overcome his weakness of having a low level.
Even though he still couldn’t compare to those truly high-level experts, Shien was no longer the newbie who had just joined Vivian’s squad.
Back then, he was only level ten.
Now, his level had surpassed Lumia and Melika, even reaching Vivian’s level, and was about to catch up to Diere.
Diere had been stuck at this stage for a while, so she almost instinctively sensed Shien’s current situation.
“As expected of the Hero.”
Diere commented.
Shien chuckled, feeling somewhat grateful.
Because he knew that Diere must have some doubts in her heart.
How long had it been since Shien joined Vivian’s squad?
It had only been about three months, right?
In three months, he had gone from level eleven to almost level sixty. Such an astonishing growth rate, even for a Hero, was a bit too much.
Therefore, Diere might have already realized that Shien had something that allowed him to grow rapidly.
However, Diere chose not to pry.
She probably thought this secret was very important to Shien, so she deliberately chose to ignore it.
Shien understood the level of trust this represented.
“It’s so late, and you’re still training here?” Shien suppressed his gratitude and said, “You’re already growing fast enough. There’s no need to rush.”
Diere shook her head.
“This isn’t enough.” Diere said calmly, “At this level, I can’t even make that man bat an eye, let alone surpass him.”
The person Diere was referring to was naturally Aldia.
Surpassing Aldia was Diere’s goal, even her wish.
“You seem to care about him quite a bit.” Shien said casually, “Do you want me to beat him up for you?”
“That’s meaningless.” Diere said indifferently. “It’s not that I don’t believe you can do it. You probably can, but even if you beat him up, he probably wouldn’t feel anything. It’s better to not do it at all.”
Diere’s words sounded a bit obsessive to Shien.
“Actually, I had a brief encounter with him after returning this time.” Shien pondered for a moment, then said, “I think he might not be as emotionless as you think.”
Shien wasn’t speaking up for Aldia.
After interacting with Aldia, Shien did discover that although the rigid knight’s emotions were very subdued, he wasn’t completely emotionless.
He cared about Shien’s strength and expressed his desire to fight him.
He also cared about Shien’s words. After hearing Shien mention Diere, he also said, “No matter what, she has the blood of my Elvenbein family flowing through her veins. She did in the past, she does now, and she always will.”
Shien didn’t know what Aldia was thinking when he said these words.
But he was certain that Aldia was indeed paying attention to Diere, not treating her like she didn’t exist, as Diere said.
However…
“Do you think I’m wrong?”
Diere seemed to frown.
“I didn’t say that.”
Shien raised his hands in surrender.
Diere’s tone was filled with displeasure, telling Shien that she was in a bad mood.
It couldn’t be helped.
If someone else said these things to Diere, she would simply ignore them.
But when Shien said this, Diere couldn’t pretend she didn’t hear it.
The reason was simple.
“You are someone I acknowledge, someone I’ve entrusted everything to.” Diere looked directly at Shien and said seriously, “Others can acknowledge that man’s actions, but you can’t.”
Shien was speechless.
He knew what Diere meant.
Diere was saying that if even he, whom she had entrusted everything to, acknowledged Aldia, then her denial of Aldia would become a joke.