Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

Since hiding it held no meaning, he might as well be honest.

“I defeated Chaos.”

Lance steadied himself and raised his head toward Ryan, revealing a relaxed smile filled with amusement.

“And incidentally obtained a Legacy.”

The moment those words left his mouth—

A dull sound of cracking wood suddenly exploded through the air.

Crack.

Lance froze.

He clearly saw the cane Ryan had carried for many years get directly crushed into two pieces by the old soldier’s single hand!

Sharp splinters pierced the old soldier’s palm, while several drops of blood trickled along the wood grain onto the floor.Ryan stood there like a stone statue, completely frozen in place, his pupils unconsciously widening.

“No way?!”

Lance was startled by the old soldier’s violent reaction.

He knew defeating a god as a mortal was extremely unreasonable, but he truly hadn’t expected it to produce this kind of shock effect.

“Uncle Ryan, are you alright?”

He quickly stood up and prepared to move forward to support him.

A trace of confusion flashed through Ryan’s eyes as his body suddenly swayed, as though he had just awakened from a long dream.

“I’m fine... I’m fine...”

He repeatedly waved his hand while lowering his voice, stopping Lance from approaching.

The old soldier did not even glance at the broken cane on the floor as he dragged his injured leg and staggered toward the cabinet in the corner of the room.

Pulling open the drawer, he took out a bottle of green alchemical potion.

Using his thumb to pop out the cork stopper, the old soldier raised his head and poured the bitter potion directly down his throat in one gulp.

The bloodline modification surgery he experienced years ago within the Directorate had left hidden dangers within his body.

Now that he had reached this age of decline, whenever his emotions suffered a major shock, his heart would produce wrenching pain, as though it might completely stop functioning at any moment.

Only after the potion flowed into his stomach did the violent heartbeat finally calm slightly.

Only then did Lance notice—

Ryan’s arm, resting upon the table while holding the empty glass bottle, was trembling uncontrollably.

The bottle repeatedly struck the solid wooden table, producing rapid tapping sounds.

“Tch... pfft...”

Within the silent attic, Ryan clenched his teeth tightly, seemingly trying to forcibly swallow his emotions back down.

But he failed.

“Haha... hahaha...”

Laughter squeezed out from the old soldier’s throat.

Immediately afterward, the laughter grew louder and louder, transforming into irrepressible ecstasy.

“HAHAHAHAHA!”

Ryan threw back his head and laughed wildly.

The booming laughter shook dust loose from the attic ceiling.

He laughed so hard that even the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes bunched together, tears sliding down his cheeks.

A rare True Dragon Species Source Essence! A Legacy earned by defeating a god!

These two miracles that should never appear simultaneously upon the same mortal—

Had now completely converged upon the young man standing before him.

A mad thought continuously circled within his mind.

Perhaps—

Within this shabby attic, he might truly one day witness the birth of another “Clovis Pendragon.”

The founding monarch of the Iris Kingdom.

A true legend who brought an end to the age of chaos.

And now—

The seed of a brand-new legend had already taken root and sprouted within this tiny room.

……

Inside the dining room on the first floor of Ryan’s home.

A massive iron pot sat atop the wooden dining table, vigorously bubbling with steaming hot meat soup.

Lance sat nearby, currently devouring food without any regard for appearance.

Completing the Class Advancement Ritual had exhausted every bit of energy stored within his body, leaving him in an abnormally hungry and weakened state.

Seeing how starved the boy looked, Ryan had personally gone downstairs to the kitchen and busied himself for quite some time to prepare this nutrient-rich meal.

Lance gripped a tough strip of dried meat in his left hand and tore into it forcefully, while his right hand continuously used a spoon to shovel delicious broth into his mouth. His eating speed was astonishingly fast.

The old soldier quietly sat opposite him, his gaze gentle as he watched Lance, who currently looked no different from an ordinary neighborhood youth.

The terrifying pressure Lance emitted when he opened his eyes upstairs in the attic earlier had now completely vanished without a trace.

While dealing with the food before him, Lance also shifted part of his attention onto the System Panel, carefully studying the gains from his Class Advancement.

With the formal completion of his Class Advancement, the Attribute Lock restricting ordinary humans had finally been completely removed.

All of his base attributes now possessed enormous room for further growth.

However, after stepping into Professional Rank, humans could no longer increase base attributes through simple physical training alone. Future growth would rely entirely upon continuous level advancement.

His current status was Level 1 Legacy Class 【Pale Sentinel】.

The class panel clearly listed the attribute growth values for stages from Level 1 to Level 5.

Every time he leveled up, he would gain Constitution +4.0, Strength +2.0, Spirit +2.0, Perception +1.5, Agility +0, along with 2 freely distributable attribute points.

The total gain per level reached an astonishing 11.5 points.

One must know that ordinary combat classes generally only possessed around 8.5 total growth points per level.

【Pale Sentinel】 granted a full 3 additional growth points per level compared to ordinary classes.

At the early stages, this gap might not appear obvious.

But once levels accumulated, the gap in base attributes would become absolutely terrifying.

Lance also finally understood why he had experienced that unprecedented hunger as though he could swallow an entire cow.

Because the Class Advancement Ritual had caused explosive all-around growth in his body’s statistics.

Lance summoned the attribute panel.

Strength: 23.75 (12.5 + 90%)

Agility: 18 (10 + 80%)

Constitution: 16

Spirit: 12

Perception: 21.25 (12.5 + 70%)

Free Attribute Points: 2

The values inside the parentheses represented the permanent Dragon-Hunting Breathing Technique enhancement after activating Furnace Reverse Lock from that book.

As his base attributes experienced leap-like growth, the attribute amplification provided by this Breathing Technique had become increasingly terrifying.

No wonder this technique dared to carry the title “Dragon-Hunting.”

If this outrageous percentage-based growth curve continued developing like this—

Then once he stepped into even higher Professional Ranks in the future and stacked his base attributes to a sufficient level, perhaps he truly could confront genuine Dragons head-on using only his physical body.

What satisfied Lance even more was that the combination of Dragon-Hunting Breathing Technique and Pale Sentinel did not push his attributes toward extreme specialization.

Instead, they perfectly compensated for each other’s shortcomings and developed in a balanced manner.

This was the development direction most suitable for Lance at the moment.

After all, he currently operated as a lone wolf.

That kind of extreme stat distribution which sacrificed defense in pursuit of maximum damage output was more suitable for team compositions possessing frontliners capable of tanking damage.

For someone like him, this balanced “all-rounder” development model without obvious fatal weaknesses was the only way to survive longer within dangerous and complicated Underground Dungeons.

Yet even while following such a balanced and stable development route—

Lance’s current attributes had already far surpassed Professionals of the same rank.

At this point, he was clearly charging headlong toward the template of a terrifying stat monster.