The SSS class adventurer is a divine cleric-Chapter 81: Am I good, or am I great

"That’s worse!" Derek threw his arms up. "You’ve eaten six hours of work!"

Kaelen blinked. "It’s not that much..."

Neal, still quiet, just lowered his head. "We lost an entire section."

Then Kaelen turned to Alira.

Even after everything that had happened... Even after the brutal battle, the healing, the trauma...

She had never once looked at him with hatred.

That was until now.

Her gaze was flat. Disappointed. Disgusted.

It hit harder than a sword to the chest.

Kaelen took a step back, hand still on his mouth. "Wait, why are you all looking at me like that?! What did I do?!"

"You’re the worst," she said coldly.

"...The what?"

Kaelen looked around helplessly. "Am I seriously the villain for eating dirt now?!"

Nobody answered.

He sighed and flopped down on the ground with a long groan, defeated.

"I’m gonna go find more snacks."

But in the next moment, Kaelen blinked.

"...Wait. What is this?"

He froze mid-chew.

Then it hit him. A wave of pure energy surged through his body like molten sunlight pouring into his veins. His fingers trembled. His core vibrated. Even the tips of his hair seemed to spark faintly.

Derek’s face drained of color.

"Oh no."

Kaelen tilted his head. "Oh yes...?"

"SPIT IT OUT!" Derek barked, lunging forward.

But it was too late.

Kaelen swallowed with a loud gulp and let out a satisfied sigh, patting his stomach. "Mmm. Tasted like enlightenment."

Neal stood up, alarmed. "Wait... what just happened?"

Alira narrowed her eyes. "You okay?"

"I feel amazing!" Kaelen beamed.

Derek ran a hand through his hair in horror. "That powder... we’re only supposed to consume one gram per person. You just swallowed, what, twenty? Thirty?"

Kaelen paused. "Oh."

Neal’s mouth fell open and stared at Derek. "Wait, you knew it was edible?"

Derek didn’t answer. He was really worried that Kaelen might explode out of energy overload.

He now grabbed the bowl like it was some poison. "It’s not edible! It’s concentrated origin powder! A thousand-year energy condensed into that dust! One gram is enough to evolve your class foundation!"

Alira stepped forward. "Then what happens if someone takes too much?"

Before anyone could answer, Kaelen let out a strange groan.

"Uhhhhhhhhhh... oh stars... this... this feels so good..."

Everyone stepped back.

Kaelen’s body lit up.

Not from a spell.

Not from a skill.

But from pure essence, flooding his circuits. Veins glowing white-gold, skin humming like a forged blade, aura thrumming with raw, untamed light. His eyes glowed faintly, like molten dawn.

Then.

Ding!

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

"Are... you kidding me?" Neal whispered, stunned.

Alira just blinked. "He went up five levels in one gulp?"

They cannot see the system notification but all of them were very familiar with the energy fluctuations when someone levels up. And that same energy fluctuated five times.

Derek’s worries didn’t come true and he was relieved, he didn’t want any life threatening situation to occur again but still he lamented and dropped to his knees. "I just gave a bottomless stomach a legendary-grade core meal."

Kaelen exhaled deeply, eyes fluttering shut. "This is what a real meal feels like... I finally understand... this must be what those heaven-blessed princes feel every day..."

He stretched, glowing from head to toe like a newborn sun.

And then, with absolute sincerity, he said,

"Do we have more?"

Derek groaned.

Alira looked away in secondhand embarrassment.

Neal buried his face in his hands.

And Kaelen?

He just laid back with his hands behind his head, basking in his unintentional genius.

Alira stared longingly at the shimmering residue Kaelen had just devoured.

"...I want to try," she whispered.

Neal didn’t even hesitate. "Same."

Derek turned toward them with the sharpness of a guillotine.

"No."

"But—" Neal started.

"No."

Alira narrowed her eyes. "If Kaelen could survive it—"

"Exactly!" Derek snapped, face twitching. "If Kaelen could survive it, by luck, then that’s divine blessing, or pure luck of stupidity, but I’m not risking either of you!"

He pointed dramatically at Kaelen, who was still glowing faintly like a smug holy candle.

"This idiot just swallowed a whole mouthful of XP bombs and somehow survived. That doesn’t mean we go feeding landmines to the rest of you!"

Somehow this unruly man, Kaelen seems to have influenced everyone around him since his childhood. No nobles, no teacher or parents could stand composed and calm in front of him. It was as if he was the seed of chaos and making everyone lose their composure was his fort.

Even Derek, his father and once the Stalwart of Starfall, couldn’t stand him.

Kaelen raised a finger. "Technically, I didn’t know it was a landmine. It just looks tasty, that’s all."

Derek rounded on him.

"You—! You’re grinding with us. NOW."

Kaelen blinked. "Wait what..?"

"Punishment," Derek growled. "And if you brag even once about your ’legendary digestion,’ I’m tying your mouth shut with mana rope."

Ten minutes later.

Kaelen sat cross-legged beside Derek and Neal, a small hand-sculpted basin of pure origin powder in front of him.

He pressed down with a specially-shaped stone, rotating it in precise, delicate motions. The white floor beneath him was chipped evenly into powder-thin shavings, uniform, smooth, not a grain wasted.

Neal stared, jaw clenched. He was still chiseling like a barbarian trying to shape glass.

"...How the hell is he this good at it?" he grunted.

Kaelen hummed. "Hmm? Oh. Just refined hand control. Comes with being a high-rank caster. I once sculpted an entire six-layer runic matrix with my eyes closed."

Derek’s eye twitched.

Neal rolled his shoulders. "That sounds fake."

Kaelen shrugged with a smirk. "Sounds fake to people who can’t do it."

He kept working, rotating the powder smoother than silk, hands moving with confident, artistic grace. Even Alira, sitting nearby with arms crossed, couldn’t help but mutter, "...he’s annoying. But that’s pretty."

Kaelen grinned wider. "Am I good, or am I great?"

Derek threw a tiny piece of debris at his head.

"Work. Not commentary."

Kaelen ducked, still smug. "Even the dust listens to me."

And somehow, he wasn’t wrong.

While Neal broke the floor into pebbles with brute force, Kaelen’s area looked almost meditative, a delicate circle of smooth powder being gently shaped like fine flour under a master baker’s hand.

It was annoying yet at the same time it was elegant.

It was Kaelen.

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