Happiness sometimes arrives without any warning at all.
For example—right now.
The moment Caelan looked at his skill panel, his entire mind went completely blank.
What… what was he seeing?
Three skill trees. Five unlocked skills.
Ever since awakening his class talent, Caelan had never fought such a "luxurious battle" before!
He swallowed hard, then began checking the newly acquired skills one by one.
From the White Swordsman path:
[Charged Slash], [Rage Burst]
From the Archer path:
[Hunter's Endurance], [Eagle Eye]
From the Summoning path:
[Imitation of Dragonlord]
Just a quick glance at the skill descriptions was enough to make Caelan's heart feel like it was about to leap straight out of his chest.
If all of these skills were upgraded to lv99999…
Just how powerful would he become?
But the moment he looked at the prices, Caelan was dragged straight from heaven down into hell.
Damn it—this crooked merchant system even raises prices now?!
Among the five skills, the most expensive one was [Imitation of Dragonlord] from the summoning tree.
Just maxing out this single skill would cost a staggering 900 million gold coins!
If he didn't count the gold coin rewards from Ranked Matches, Caelan's private treasury would be wiped clean on the spot!
As for the other skills, none of them were cheap either.
Even the cheapest one, [Eagle Eye]—a simple target-locking skill—still required 300 million gold coins to reach lv99999!
So… why don't you just rob me outright?!
Caelan cursed inwardly more times than he could count.
Yet at the same time, his brain was spinning at full speed.
If he included the rewards promised by the principal, he might still have some room to maneuver.
The problem was that the principal's reward hadn't arrived yet, and the rewards from the city lord and the church would take time to process.
On the surface, Caelan seemed to have plenty of options.
In reality, he had almost none.
The value of [Imitation of Dragonlord] needed no explanation.
Even without reaching lv99999, the skill's base effect was already incredibly powerful.
[Imitation of Dragonlord]:
Summon an Imitation of Dragonlord. The Dragonlord will perfectly imitate your actions and perform attacks accordingly.
(Cannot imitate skills.)
For ordinary summoners, this skill was honestly pretty useless.
Summoners were spell-based classes—summoning something like this had terrible cost-performance.
What, summon a Dragonlord just to draw circles in the air together with the caster?
That would be pure comedy.
But for Caelan, this was nothing short of a divine skill!
Even without the ability to copy skills, Caelan's already masterful swordsmanship alone was enough to let the Imitation of Dragonlord massacre enemies across the battlefield!
And that was without dimensional ascension!
The more he thought about it, the more tempted Caelan became. His resolve hardened instantly.
He chose to upgrade it—without hesitation.
"Upgrade. Upgrade!!"
A flash of pain crossed Caelan's eyes.
Inside his storage space, nine massive piles of gold were disappearing at a terrifying speed, visible to the naked eye.
All that hard work… gone just like that!
Clutching his chest, Caelan watched as [Imitation of Dragonlord] rapidly leveled up.
[Imitation of Dragonlord] upgraded to lv88
[Imitation of Dragonlord] upgraded to lv188
[Imitation of Dragonlord] upgraded to lv3860
…
[Imitation of Dragonlord] upgraded to lv99999
[Imitation of Dragonlord] has triggered dimensional ascension.
Successfully evolved into [Divine Mirror Dragonlord]
[Divine Mirror Dragonlord]:
Summon a Divine Mirror Dragonlord. Its chest is covered by a vast Divine Mirror, said to be an artifact lost by an unknowable existence.
The Divine Mirror can reflect damage-type skills up to three times, ignoring all conditions.
The Divine Mirror Dragonlord can imitate your actions, act as your substitute, and follow your will.
It can use any skill you possess.
(Skill usage consumes the player's mana.)
Holy shit…?!
Just a second ago, Caelan was heartbroken over his gold coins.
The next moment, he was completely shaken by the effects of [Divine Mirror Dragonlord].
This was… absurdly broken.
According to the description, how was this any different from a clone?
Wasn't this basically giving him a perfect duplicate of himself?
More importantly, this substitute meant that any fatal damage he suffered could be transferred entirely to the Divine Mirror Dragonlord!
Powerful.
Ridiculously powerful.
This was effectively an extra life.
There was no doubt about it—the 900 million gold coins had been more than worth it.
Caelan's heart surged with excitement…
until it suddenly didn't.
Because inside his storage space, there were now only 300 million gold coins left.
Should he save up more gold?
Or should he try upgrading [Eagle Eye]?
Caelan hesitated.
Judging from its current effect, [Eagle Eye] really was underwhelming.
But he noticed something else.
Among all the skills he possessed, [Eagle Eye] was the only detection-type skill.
So while its surface effect seemed ordinary, once it underwent dimensional ascension…
Surely it wouldn't be that useless, right?
Go big or go home. A bicycle can turn into a motorcycle!
Having made up his mind, Caelan pressed the "Upgrade" button once again—without hesitation.
After just a few breaths,
[Eagle Eye] upgraded to lv99999
[Eagle Eye] has triggered dimensional ascension.
Successfully evolved into [Eye of Insight]
[Eye of Insight]:
Passive. You do not need to consume any resources to gain its full effect.
You can observe targets from extreme distances, ignore all concealment-type effects, and see through all disguises and illusions.
He won the gamble!
Caelan clenched his fist hard, excitement flashing through his eyes.
Although [Eye of Insight] had no direct damage effects, its ability to see through everything was enough to keep him undefeated.
From now on, whenever he encountered an enemy, the first thing he'd do was check their status panel.
If he could win—he'd fight.
If not—he'd run.
And being able to see enemy weaknesses?
Who would dare say this skill wasn't insane?
Even though Caelan had completely spent all his gold coins, he still felt like he'd won big time.
Which meant… it was time to push his strength even further.
With that thought, Caelan took out the card his cousin had given him earlier.
[Ironclad Legion].
Looks like it was time to pay them a visit.
Even if he could just land a pension plan, that wouldn't be bad at all.
If his lazy cousin really didn't want to work anymore, he could just let her use the pension.
After all, even though they were only distant relatives…
They had grown up together. That bond still counted for something.
With that, Caelan didn't linger any longer and turned to leave his luxurious villa.
What he didn't know—
Was that a petite figure was silently watching everything from the shadows.