[Warning! Warning!]
[Empire Watch Instance has suffered irreversible damage…]
The glaring red text on the screen pulsed like a tide, further fueling the unease already spreading through the crowd.
The technicians were in utter chaos, unsure where to even begin. The only good news was that—for now—nothing worse had happened.
The teleportation gate had dimmed, its surface riddled with cracks, but after the final student emerged, the situation stopped deteriorating.
An Instance gate collapsing like this had never happened before. The person in charge had even feared an explosion—or something far worse.
But the collapse had halted.
Still… it was obvious that this thing could no longer be returned to the military.
Of course, that wasn't their concern anymore.
Once the school's main representative for the graduation ceremony—Dean of Instruction Madeleine Shaw—confirmed that the situation would not worsen, she began calming the students.
Caelan stood outside the ring of frantic technicians, staring blankly at the red warning text on the giant screen.
In truth, he wasn't really looking at it at all.
He was waiting.
The loot notifications from the [Empire Watch] Instance… still weren't finished.
[You have obtained Common-grade equipment: Ruins Guardian Shield!]
[You have obtained Common-grade equipment: Ruins Guardian Bracers!]
[You have obtained Rare-grade material: Shadow Element Crystal (Small)!]
[You have obtained Rare-grade equipment: Mithril Crown!]
[You have obtained Epic-grade equipment: King's Spineblade!]
[You have obtained Rare-grade equipment: King's Armor (Damaged)!]
...
As the loot notifications rapidly finished scrolling, the entirety of the Instance's drops entered his inventory.
Or rather—
The final drops of the Empire Watch Instance.
Caelan glanced at the severely damaged teleportation gate.
If it truly couldn't be repaired, then everything he had just obtained was non-reproducible loot—
Thousands of pieces of "one-of-a-kind" equipment.
"Hey… did you guys notice earlier?"
Once the situation stabilized and the sense of crisis faded, someone whispered quietly in the crowd.
"Before the error message, didn't the rating look… ridiculously high?"
A brief silence followed—
Then the discussion exploded.
"Yeah! I saw it too—it looked like SSS!"
"Which bottom-ranked student pulled that off? No way it's real!"
"Isn't the scarier part that it only took five minutes?! He went in for five minutes, cleared it, and got SSS!"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Caelan? No way! He must've cheated with some forbidden spell!"
Shock and doubt spread among the students. Some even banded together, planning to complain to the teachers and demand that Caelan's results be revoked.
Caelan ignored the meaningless noise.
Just as he was about to leave, several figures stepped in front of him.
"Hello. I'm Eric Weissman. On behalf of Altera Academy, I formally invite you to join us!"
Eric Weissman set aside his usual stern authority and did his best to appear friendly, though the excitement in his voice was impossible to hide.
He understood all too well what an SSS rating meant.
The last time a school assessment produced an SSS evaluation was twelve years ago—
and that student was now the youngest general in the Empire.
And today, he had witnessed the birth of a new star.
More importantly, very few schools had received the news yet.
Eric glanced at the people beside him—representatives from other prestigious institutions, but ones that still paled in comparison to Altera Academy.
Eric was confident.
Very confident.
"I'm sure you've heard of our academy—the Empire's top military university…"
He suppressed the grin threatening to rise, coaxing gently like a witch tempting a princess with a poisoned apple.
The surrounding students' doubts and protests didn't affect his mood in the slightest.
This assessment used a military-provided Instance gate.
Eric was both Head of Admissions for Altera Academy and the military official overseeing this test.
Cheating right under his nose?
Such accusations were not only idiotic and laughable—they were an insult.
None of that mattered anyway.
What mattered was securing this prodigy before other schools showed up.
"As long as you join us, we can offer you two million gold coins annually as a bonus, provide two residences near the academy, and guarantee that upon graduation, you'll be granted the rank of Colonel and assigned directly to the army—"
"Sorry. I'm not interested—for now."
Caelan's blunt rejection stunned Eric for a moment. He quickly spoke again.
"Are you dissatisfied with the conditions? You can name any requirement—we'll do everything we can to meet it!"
"Oh come on, stop pestering him!"
Teachers from other schools seized the chance, pulling Eric aside as they eagerly turned to Caelan.
"Student, consider our academy! Everything he offered—except the military rank—we can match. On top of that, we'll gift you a Legendary-grade weapon, your choice!"
"Tch! And you dare call that generous?" another scoffed. "Join us—we'll give you an entire Legendary equipment set!"
"Don't listen to them. Our school is the real deal. Those places are basically suburbs—"
Caelan didn't listen to their verbal sparring or extravagant offers.
Instead, he looked at his Class Skill Panel.
In this world where games had merged with reality, skills were not learned via scrolls. Instead, they unlocked naturally through the Class Skill Tree as one's level increased.
Two skills were now available for unlocking.
Active Skill – Blink Step
After activation, instantly teleport to a nearby location. During teleportation, the body enters a phasing state, ignoring all damage and control effects.
Advanced Skill: Flashstep
For a melee fighter, the value of a mobility skill was self-evident.
Caelan was fairly satisfied with this skill's effect.
But what truly intrigued him was—
What would Flashstep look like at Lv.99,999?
Even if it only increased teleport distance, that alone would be insanely worth it.
Caelan nodded in satisfaction and shifted his gaze to the second skill.
Active Skill – Sword Aura
Requires a longsword. After attacking, releases a sword aura that deals physical damage in a 5-meter frontal area.
Advanced Skill: Thousandblade Rend
This meant another attack skill.
However, compared to Infinite Lightblade, Sword Aura dealt physical damage and had limited range.
Frankly, Caelan wasn't very impressed.
But then—
The name of the advanced skill caught his attention.
Thousandblade Rend.
Did that mean the sword aura would transform from a single slash into thousands?
Imagining an overwhelming sky filled with blade auras made Caelan's scalp tingle.
That scene would be—
Absolutely insane.
But what did "Rend" imply?
Caelan frowned slightly, unable to figure it out.
Looks like he'd only know once he maxed it out.
And that thought—
Made his desire for money explode to an unprecedented level.
Unfortunately, upgrading these two skills to Lv.99,999 required a ridiculous amount of money.
Each skill needed 100 million gold coins.
Two skills—200 million gold coins total.
That was ten times the cost of upgrading Slash to Lv.99,999!
"Sorry."
Caelan said briefly to the still-persistent Eric, then walked away.
No matter how generous the offers sounded, he knew the truth.
At his current level, he wouldn't learn anything meaningful at an academy—and joining the army would only mean working for others.
Making money.
That was his top priority now—and the fastest way to grow stronger.
He glanced at the equipment and materials obtained from the graduation Instance.
There were many of them, but the Instance rank was too low. Most were low-quality items.
Selling everything would net him at most around 100,000 gold coins.
Nowhere near enough to push his skills to Lv.99,999.
But—
That was five minutes of profit from an E-rank Instance.
"Grinding Instances really is a fast way to make money."
Caelan left the ceremony grounds and headed straight for the graduation certificate office.
This graduation Instance had been specially requested from the military by the academy. Normally, most Instances he could access now were government-controlled, requiring an entry fee plus a high school graduation certificate.
He did a quick calculation.
With his current gold reserves, he could run B-rank Instances several times in a row.
B-rank Instances were the highest-level Instances available in his city.
Graduation Certificate Office
Several teachers cheerfully sent off students who had completed their graduation paperwork. From afar, they spotted Caelan approaching.
"Oh? Am I seeing things?" one of them sneered. "Look who it is—what a miracle! Didn't expect to see you here. Take a wrong turn?"
"Caelan Grey, you're at the wrong place," another teacher said, tapping the sign labeled 'Graduation Certificate Office'.
"Maybe he's finally facing reality," a third added sarcastically. "After all, we also handle withdrawal paperwork."
Caelan had no interest in wasting time on this nonsense and was about to leave when a calm, steady voice spoke up.
"Caelan. I heard you just received an SSS rating."
Ignoring the two teachers frozen in shock, Caelan turned toward a middle-aged man in a sharply tailored black suit, with thinning hair.
He lowered his voice respectfully.
"Principal."