Caelan frowned slightly, then repeated himself,
"I need a map of the instances in Mylanne City."
"O–okay, please wait a moment!"
Elimont bent down in a bit of a panic, trying to find the instance map of Mylanne City.
But in her agitation, she accidentally knocked her dinner box onto the floor.
"Ow!"
She cried out softly, but by the time she reacted, it was already too late.
Looking at the dinner she had been looking forward to all day, she felt as though her heart had shattered along with it.
"Mr. Caelan, this is the map you requested."
With a dejected expression, Elimont took out a map of Mylanne City's instances from the safe.
The reason it was kept in a safe was that many instances were not open to the general public. Only registered members of the Instance Management Center had the appropriate access.
Under normal procedures, if Caelan wanted the instance map of Mylanne City, he would have needed approval from the person in charge—Marov.
But…
Lord Marov had personally instructed them that Mr. Caelan was their most distinguished guest. That was why Elimont was cooperating so readily.
Caelan took the map and scanned it carefully.
In the end, his gaze stopped on a blank area.
Unlike the other locations, which had detailed descriptions, this place had only a single name—
Unstable Zone.
In fact, Unstable Zones were not especially rare in this world.
When the game invaded reality, overlapping spaces inevitably formed.
These areas were unable to stabilize into proper instances. As spatial conditions shifted, they could produce unpredictable effects—and sometimes even give birth to extremely powerful monsters.
As a result, even level-300-plus powerhouses rarely ventured into such places.
Instead, only the truly desperate poor, or gamblers hoping to turn a bicycle into a motorcycle with one risky bet, would dare to enter.
"Mr. Caelan, is there anything else I can help you with?"
Hearing Elimont's voice, Caelan snapped back to reality.
He smiled faintly, then after a moment of thought, took out a handful of gold coins from his storage space and placed them on the counter in front of her.
"This is compensation for you. Take it."
Elimont froze for a moment. When she saw the hundreds of gold coins on the desk, her heart nearly skipped a beat.
As an ordinary person who had failed Awakening, a hundred gold coins represented several years' worth of her salary.
She immediately shook her head and instinctively refused.
"Mr. Caelan, I'm very sorry, but I can't accept such a huge sum."
"Hm? Mr. Caelan?"
Elimont lifted her head—only to find that Caelan was already gone.
If not for the hundreds of gold coins still sitting on the counter, she would have doubted whether Mr. Caelan had ever been there at all!
Maybe… I should help Mr. Caelan keep these gold coins safe for now?
Thinking that, Elimont carefully stored all the gold coins away.
Only a single silver coin remained, which she held tightly in her palm.
Compared to that wicked boss Lord Marov, Mr. Caelan was far more gentlemanly. And he was rich—and handsome too!
If she could be together with Mr. Caelan… that would be unbelievably blissful!
This silver coin—she'd just treat it as compensation for her ruined dinner!
...
Caelan returned home.
Seeing that the place was still fairly tidy, he let out a small sigh of relief.
It seemed his slovenly, useless cousin hadn't returned from her business trip yet. Otherwise, the house definitely wouldn't be this clean!
Lying down on his wooden bed,
Caelan casually opened his [Class Mutation Quest].
The reason he had asked Elimont for the instance map of Mylanne City was precisely because this quest was related to an Unstable Zone.
This mutation quest still had two objectives:
[Quest 1: Enter an Unstable Zone and defeat the boss within.]
[Quest 2: Participate in Ranked Match and achieve a 100-win streak.]
[Quest Reward: Unlock level cap; unlock a brand-new skill.]
Now that the instance location issue was resolved, the next thing to consider was the Ranked Match.
The problem was that participating in Ranked Match required a complicated application process. Just thinking about how troublesome it had been to apply for insurance in his previous life gave Caelan a headache.
Spending money wasn't the issue—the real problem was how much time it wasted and how badly it disrupted his pace.
Caelan shook his head, temporarily pushing those chaotic thoughts aside.
In the next moment, he focused all his attention on his storage space!
A staggering 1.2 billion gold coins were gleaming with dazzling golden light!
He was rich—absolutely filthy rich!
Ever since awakening his class, Caelan had never fought a battle with such abundant funds.
His gaze immediately locked onto [Sword Rain], and without the slightest hesitation, he chose to upgrade it!
[Sword Rain] Lv +1
[Sword Rain] Lv +1
...
In just a few breaths, [Sword Rain] was boosted straight to Lv. 99999, and even ascended into a higher-dimensional skill—
[Cataclysmic Sword Rain]!
When Caelan saw the effects of [Cataclysmic Sword Rain], he couldn't help but inhale sharply.
[Cataclysmic Sword Rain (Lv. 99999): A skill evolved from the Archer skill tree's Arrow Rain.
Effect: Creates tens of millions of longsword phantoms that rain down from the sky like a sword storm, covering a vast area. Each sword deals area damage equivalent to a small nuclear explosion.]
???
This effect was completely absurd!
...
Mylanne High School
The balding principal was currently staring at a freshly issued notice, his face filled with confusion.
How strange—why was there suddenly an official push encouraging students to participate in Ranked Match?
In this world where the game had fused with reality, anyone over the age of eighteen and under level 100 could take part in Ranked Match.
Players fought one another, earned rankings, and received rewards.
Letting students participate in this?
And from now on, the resources allocated to schools would be tied to their Ranked Match results?!
The principal let out a soft sigh. He knew Mylanne High School's situation all too well.
Ranked Match didn't care about background or age—any member of the human race could participate.
In other words, students would have to face strong competitors from across the entire nation, not just from Mylanne City.
Mylanne City itself wasn't wealthy to begin with. Compared to major cities, its training resources were pitifully scarce. Even the highest-tier controllable instance was only B-rank.
Making a name for themselves in Ranked Match was nothing short of a pipe dream.
Poor rankings wouldn't be a big issue—but if bad rankings led to reduced national resource allocation, the school board would definitely hold him accountable.
Just as the principal was worrying about this, Caelan's voice came from the teachers' office next door.
"Teacher, I need to transfer my student records."
The principal's eyes lit up instantly upon hearing that.
Mylanne High School still had Caelan!
Although Caelan had already received his graduation certificate, according to the rules, true graduation only occurred once a student officially transferred their records out of the school.
That meant—as long as his records hadn't been transferred—Caelan was still officially part of Mylanne High School!
With that thought, the principal shoved open the door to the neighboring office and spoke eagerly,
"Caelan, wait a moment!"
"There's something I'd like to discuss with you!"