[Name: Lyra]
[Profession: Frost Prison Mage (Epic Professional)]
[Rank: 0th Rank 0th Level]
[HP: 500]
[MP: 6000]
[STA: 67]
[Attack: 55]
[Magic: 695]
[Defense: 45]
[Magic Resistance: 45]
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Constitution: 10]
[Spirit: 30]
[Skills: Frost Prison Envoy (Passive), Touch of Arctic lv1, Ice Crystal Wall Mirror lv1, Professional Ultimate Skill: Withering End lv1]
...
[Frost Prison Envoy (Passive): A being close to the Frost Prison world. Any attack will apply the 'Frostbite' status to the target (reduces the target's movement speed, attack speed, and spell casting speed, stackable, lasts for a certain duration). Maximum stacks: Five. Each stack of Frostbite status increases magic damage by ten percent. After five stacks of Frostbite, 'Frostbite' will explode, dealing a large amount of magic damage while restoring the Frost Prison Envoy's consumed MP and a certain amount of HP. (Restores one percent HP and five percent MP per stack)]
...
[Touch of Arctic: Single target lock-on skill. Extends a frigid ice crystal tentacle to instantly strike the target, dealing moderate frost damage and applying the 'Frostbite' status.]
[Cost: 50MP]
[Cooldown: 3 seconds]
...
[Ice Crystal Wall Mirror lv1: Instantly condenses a massive, portable barrier composed of countless prismatic ice crystals around oneself or an ally. It can absorb a large amount of damage (ten percent of MP) and deals reflected damage and a slowing effect to melee attackers. While the barrier exists, friendly units around it gain increased frost resistance.]
[Cost: 300MP]
[Cooldown: 30 seconds]
...
[Professional Ultimate Skill: Withering End]
[Withering End: Detonates all 'Frostbite' stacks on the target, each stack dealing frost damage based on five percent of the target's maximum health, and applies the 'Life Withering' effect (continuously takes true damage based on one percent of maximum health, and healing effects are halved). May execute targets with health below a certain percentage (five percent).]
[Cost: 5000MP]
[Cooldown: 30 minutes]
Lyra stared, dumbfounded, as the translucent panel before her instantly transformed from its familiar, clinical white into a deep, vibrant purple.
Frost Prison Mage (Epic Professional).
The words branded themselves onto her mind. Epic Professional! The rarity, the sheer overwhelming power implied by those two words, surpassed anything she had ever dreamt of. Her old class, Priest, the support role she had struggled with, was gone, replaced by a destructive, specialized Mage path.
Her level, previously Rank 0, Level 9, was now reset to Rank 0, Level 0. Yet, far from weakening her, her core attributes had surged. Her Magic stat was nearly 700! The passive skill alone, Frost Prison Envoy, offered devastating damage amplification and self-healing. She was a mobile fortress, a glass cannon with a formidable shield.
Lyra was completely bewildered, shaking her head as if to dislodge the impossible data. Her entire understanding of the world, where Professionals were locked into their initial class, was shattering.
The Paradise contract. That silent, burning vellum held the key. It hadn't just changed her class; it had fundamentally rewritten her destiny, sacrificing ten hard-won levels for immediate, legendary power.
She suddenly understood the secrecy. The boss hadn't merely asked her to conceal her identity; he had demanded it as a prerequisite for global peace. If the world knew a struggling Rank 0 Priest could be instantly elevated to an Epic Professional by signing a simple contract, chaos would erupt. Every nation, every major guild, and every sinister organization like the God Advent Sect would hunt Paradise to extinction to seize the method.
Her sister, the one who set this path for her, must also be a member of Paradise. Only that could explain her own Epic Professional potential. Lyra stood blankly in her room, her confusion churning with an unprecedented, terrible hope.
In his cramped apartment, Vincent was simultaneously flooded with multiple system notifications.
[Congratulations on signing your second exclusive employee. All achievements of this employee are now shared with you.]
[You have gained the 'Frost Prison Envoy' passive skill, you have gained the skills 'Touch of Arctic lv1', 'Ice Crystal Wall Mirror lv1'...]
[You have gained the 'Professional Ultimate Skill - Withering End'!]
[Your Strength increased by 10, Agility increased by 10, Constitution increased by 10, Spirit increased by 30...]
A genuine smile spread across his face beneath the notification text. The deception was a resounding success.
He quickly reviewed the newly acquired skills. Epic Mage skills were, as expected, terrifyingly potent. The Frost Prison Mage was a blend of offense and unparalleled defense. Offensively, the Frostbite stack mechanic and the execution effect of Withering End were devastating.
However, it was the defensive synergy that truly astonished him.
The Epic Mage class featured a massive Spirit coefficient for MP calculation, specifically Spirit multiplied by 200. Vincent, as a Rank 0 Level 5 Shadow Assassin, previously had a near-negligible MP pool because his class coefficient was the lowest, only Spirit multiplied by 10. Even with his 30 base Spirit, his MP was a mere 950.
But now, the +30 Spirit from Lyra's bonus, combined with the shared Mage coefficient, launched his total MP to a staggering 14,250!
The Ice Crystal Wall Mirror shield absorbed damage equal to ten percent of his MP value. This meant that every thirty seconds, Vincent could deploy a barrier capable of absorbing 1,425 damage.
This was a game-changer. Coupled with his high resistances, this shield meant that breaking his defenses in a single attack below Rank 1 would be virtually impossible. His survivability had exponentially increased, and the passive healing and mana recovery provided by Frost Prison Envoy only solidified his status as a dual-class powerhouse.
"A mobile magic cannon with the agility of a Shadow Assassin," he mused, completely satisfied.
He had spent eighty Enterprise Reputation points to secure this contract, plus the effort of the elaborate deception. The return on investment was immediate and immense. He had paid a slight price in his Enterprise Reputation, but he had gained an entirely new, life-saving dimension to his power.
After soaking in the magnitude of the shared power, Vincent let out a long, satisfied sigh. His current objective remained clear.
"There are no earnings to settle today, but I have a new priority: leveling up," he murmured. "I need to hit Rank 0 Level 10 quickly, then achieve the Rank One breakthrough. I also need to replenish the spent Enterprise Reputation."
This thought brought his attention back to his new employee. Lyra, now Agent Frost, was his key to recovering the spent Reputation.
"She needs to start performing achievements under the Paradise name," he calculated. "Which means I'll have to trick my second employee again, this time into achieving her first record."
He allowed himself a small, anticipatory smile. For now, he decided not to disturb her. She needed the night to fully process the seismic shift in her life. He would contact her with her first assignment in the morning.
Vincent slept soundly, but Lyra did not. She hadn't closed her eyes all night, pacing her room, unable to reconcile the reality of her dazzling purple panel with the mundane objects around her. Epic Professional. The two words screamed her secret, her impossible future.
Did her sister awaken an Epic Profession the same way? Was that why she vanished? The questions were overwhelming, but she had no one to ask, locked into the silence of the Paradise contract.
As morning broke, the quiet was shattered by a crisp, electronic Ding-dong.
She looked at her phone, seeing a voice message from Lisa.
"Sister Lyra, Sister Lyra, are you up? We're all ready, let's meet at the usual spot! Today we're going to Undead Mountain!"
Lisa was the Mage at her old fixed party. They were scheduled to run the dungeon today. Lyra instinctively raised her hand to reply, then froze.
No.
The realization hit her with brutal force. She was not a support Priest anymore. She was a Frost Prison Mage. If she joined her old Rank 0 party, the mere display of her basic attack or shield would instantly expose her as an Epic Professional. The contract's clause regarding secrecy, previously an oddity, was now the absolute foundation of her existence. She couldn't casually team up with anyone. Her old life was over.
While she stared at the phone, formulating a vague excuse for Lisa, the device rang again. It was an unfamiliar number.
She paused, then answered with a tentative, "Hello?"
"I trust you've finished processing the wonderful benefits of joining the Paradise?"
On the other end, the gentle, smiling voice of the CEO cut through the morning silence. Lyra's breath caught in her throat.
"I have an assignment for you, Agent Frost," Vincent continued, his voice calm and commanding. "We need a public display of our organization's capabilities."