"You're the pride of our school now!"
The principal's gaze swept past Caelan to the people standing behind him, deliberately stressing the words pride of our school.
"Just good luck," Caelan replied quietly.
"Excessive humility is another form of pride." The principal shook his head and did not pursue the topic further. "You're here to register and complete your graduation, right?"
"Yes."
"Earlier, the head of Altera Academy came to see me. There were also messages from several other military academies…" The principal looked deeply at the student before him.
There was no need to spell it out—Caelan understood what he meant. However…
"I don't plan on attending a military academy. I want to strike out on my own."
The moment those words left his mouth, several teachers could no longer sit still.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Do you have any idea how much honor and how many resources a student admitted to a military academy brings to the school?!"
"I told you there was something wrong with your head! You skipped proper combat classes to go hammer away in the Armory, and now that you've earned an SSS evaluation, you're not going to a military academy? You're wasting the school's resources!"
Their faces were filled with the expression of wasted potential, as if they had completely forgotten how they had mocked him only minutes earlier.
"That's enough!"
The principal cut them off sharply, then turned back to Caelan, his tone gentle. "Since you've already made up your mind, the school will support your decision. Normally, graduation paperwork takes a week… but since you have other plans, I'll have it done for you right now."
A few minutes later, Caelan left with a freshly issued graduation certificate in hand.
"Principal, what are you thinking?!"
Watching Caelan's departing figure, the teachers began pacing anxiously.
"Shut up. I'm warning you—don't make comments about that child again in the future."
The principal's face was cold as he looked at them. He had seen their attitudes toward Caelan very clearly just now.
"Do you know who that kid's parents are? Do you know that the Armory the school built for several hundred million was funded by Caelan's parents?!
"As punishment, your salaries for the next three months are gone!"
Leaving those words behind, the principal walked away, while the teachers stood there in stunned silence.
...
With his graduation certificate secured, Caelan headed straight for the nearest Instance portal.
He urgently needed a large amount of gold coins to upgrade his skills. The simplest way he could think of to make money was to grind Instances and sell the equipment drops.
"Hello, you…"
The receptionist took out several registration forms and looked hesitantly at Caelan, who stood alone.
"It's just me."
Caelan said simply, taking the form, filling it out quickly, and handing it back.
"This is a B-rank Instance…"
Facing the receptionist's tactful reminder, Caelan nodded calmly to show he understood.
She said nothing more. After all, she had already done her duty to warn him—if someone wanted to court death, it wasn't her responsibility. She accepted the payment without another word.
After more than a dozen people entered the portal in teams, the supervisor led Caelan to the entrance.
Light flashed.
This world was one where games had merged with reality, yet to this day, no one knew what game it originally was.
According to historical records, this world had once been spherical—but after the Great Fusion, it became a vast plane resembling a Möbius strip, its total area expanding several times over.
The distances between cities became unimaginably vast. An eternal fog isolated them from one another.
Terrifying, powerful monsters lurked within the fog. Worse still, those monsters seemed impossible to kill permanently.
Slain monsters would always respawn.
Fortunately, each city was protected by a special force field that shielded humanity from the creatures in the fog.
In addition to those monsters, various Instances would descend upon the world from time to time.
Scholars believed these Instances were fragments of worlds that had collapsed after being invaded by games—their world origins damaged, making them relatively controllable.
In theory, each Instance allowed up to five teams to challenge it simultaneously. Each team existed in a parallel space during the raid, never interfering with the others.
Caelan was lucky. Four teams had already entered before him, making him the fifth.
Dry. Scorching.
The air was thick with the acrid stench of sulfur.
Magma flowed slowly through cracks in the ground. Amid the spine-chilling rumbling, jets of lava occasionally burst into the air, crashing down onto the black rock floor and solidifying into searing clumps.
Caelan frowned slightly, staring at something writhing in the magma not far away.
Several monsters—two meters tall, formed of black stone blocks with dark-red lava coursing over their bodies—climbed ashore.
Caelan ignored the lesser monsters entirely, fixing his gaze instead on a massive creature rooted in a magma pool in the distance, seemingly unable to move.
[Name: Magma Lord (BOSS)]
[Level: 40]
[Skills: Lava Servants, Magma Eruption, Fire Elemental Summoning, Mental Guard, Earth-Shattering Smash…]
[Description: An immortal being that dwells within magma. For certain reasons, it has been permanently sealed here, unable to move. Yet its endless servants inherit its immense power. Even eternally trapped, I am still your lord—an unrivaled king!]
It opened its mouth, molten magma pouring out as countless smaller lava servants crawled from the pool and charged toward Caelan.
"A summoner build, huh… Too bad. Summoned mobs don't count as units—no extra rewards."
Caelan's voice was calm. "Then let's not waste time."
He sprinted toward the gathering monsters, his steps nimble as he weaved among them without striking.
Based on prior experience, he drew their aggro, herding all the drop-eligible monsters together and forcing them onto a single rock formation.
He drew his longsword. Blinding white light flared at its tip, hotter than the surrounding magma itself. The razor-sharp blade, the surging tide of monsters, and the immobile behemoth lined up in a single straight line.
The Magma Lord seemed to sense the threat. With a low roar, the lesser monsters' charge became even more frenzied.
Dozens of fire elementals formed a barrier between Caelan and the Magma Lord.
But it was meaningless.
"Infinite Lightblade!"
His voice was steady, devoid of emotion.
The next instant, a radiance capable of annihilating everything erupted forth. All colors were swallowed by an eternal white.
...
[You have slain a Magma Giant. Gained 789 EXP!]
[You have slain a Magma Giant. Gained 944 EXP!]
[You have slain the Magma Lord (BOSS). Gained 10,089 EXP!]
...
[You obtained a rare-grade item: Lava Armguards!]
[You obtained an epic-grade item: Lava Helm!]
[You obtained a rare-grade material: Black Essence Rock!]
[You obtained a legendary-grade material: Molten Core!]
[You obtained an epic-grade material: Fire Element Crystal!]
[Congratulations on clearing a B-rank Instance. Overall Rating: SSS!]
"B-rank Instance rewards are a lot better than E-rank,"
Caelan muttered after tallying his gains. He glanced back toward the portal and added quietly,
"And they're sturdier than E-rank ones too…"
To avoid another Instance collapse, Caelan abandoned his earlier plan and chose the safer option—B-rank Instances with better rewards.
Without hesitation, he hurried toward the next Instance trial point.
Although Instances allowed multiple teams to enter at once, individual raiders were restricted—once a person entered an Instance, regardless of how they exited, they had to wait twenty-four hours before entering another.
Fortunately, this city had no shortage of B-rank Instances.