For you, what is the most important thing in a novel?

The thing which you spend the most time when you write your novel or your favorite thing in the novel you read. Here are the options:

-Story

-Plot

-Characters

-Character development

-Setting

-Tone

-Theme

-Other(Write that down, please)

I agree, all of them are very important, but if you would put them in order, which one would come first, for you? For me, it's the characters. I love to read complex characters.