Chapter 74 -74-The Three Great Legions Gather

Mylanne City.

On the streets of the Upper District, there weren’t many people—but every single one of them wore exquisite, luxurious clothing.

Alyssa moved through the crowd, yet she couldn’t feel even a hint of joy.

She truly couldn’t understand why so many girls enjoyed shopping. It didn’t feel fun at all.

Guess I’m still better suited to fighting inside Instances...

Alyssa shook her head. Compared to the thrill of clearing Instances—dancing on the edge between life and death—shopping was unbearably dull.

With the threats facing the human race growing by the day, why was she wasting time on something so meaningless?

No. She needed to raise her strength as soon as possible!

Alyssa snapped back to herself, but soon let out a soft sigh.

She had just reached the peak of 4-star. As long as she completed the [Class Star Ascension Quest], she could step into the realm of 5-star.

The problem was... this time, her [Class Star Ascension Quest] was absurdly difficult.

Every time she thought about it, Alyssa ground her teeth in anger.

"Damn it! Why is my [Class Star Ascension Quest] so hard? This is completely unreasonable!"

"Those damn elves—always obsessing over that stupid Instance research!"

A flash of unwillingness flickered in Alyssa’s eyes.

...

After leaving the Instance Control Center, Caelan changed into the [Oathbound Swordsman Set].

Although he still chose to keep [Sacred Armor] as his chest piece, it didn’t ruin the set’s overall coherence.

If anything, the outfit’s quality looked like it had jumped several levels.

Now Caelan looked like the commander of an empire’s most elite guards—every gesture carrying a deep, unfathomable pressure.

He quietly felt the buffs granted by the [Oathbound Swordsman Set].

[Set Effect 1: Increase maximum spirit by 30%]

[Set Effect 2: Swordsman’s agility — increases agility by 30%, and grants a brief hovering ability]

The attribute boosts weren’t low at all.

But what Caelan truly cared about wasn’t the stats—it was the hovering ability.

As the saying went: when you’re higher, you’re hitting down on a melon.

In any fight, if firepower wasn’t wildly different, the most important thing was seizing the high ground.

Hovering just happened to patch up one of Caelan’s weaknesses.

If he used hovering together with [Infinite Lightblade]... wouldn’t it be possible to fly above someone’s head and drop a nuke?

Just imagining that kind of inhuman tactic made his blood boil with excitement.

While Caelan was still thinking about what other new tactics he could develop—

A rough, booming voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Kid, you’re from the Ironclad Legion, right? Get over here. The meeting’s about to start—stop dragging your feet!"

Caelan paused, then instinctively turned his head.

And saw a hulking figure with a broad back and thick shoulders staring at him.

Holy— a beastfolk?!

As one of humanity’s few allies, beastfolk held equal status among humans.

But beastfolk reproduction was notoriously difficult, so sightings of them had become rarer and rarer.

Caelan fell silent for a moment, then chose to ask directly:

"What do you want with me?"

The beastfolk looked visibly impatient. He swept Caelan with his eyes and urged,

"Stop wasting time. The meeting about the Bloom Elf tribe is about to start."

"Are you seriously going to let a tiny Bloom Elf tribe provoke the human race like this? This isn’t child’s play!"

Caelan frowned. He hadn’t expected to get dragged into something like this.

Then he suddenly noticed something on the beastfolk’s chest—

A silver horn medal that marked him as a captain.

So this beastfolk was actually a captain in the Ironclad Legion?

Why had Caelan never seen him before?

As Caelan was thinking, he noticed two burly human men behind the beastfolk—thick muscles everywhere, so beefy they looked like gorillas that had lost their fur.

But the insignias on their chests weren’t Ironclad Legion badges.

They belonged to the Stonebrawn Legion.

As one of humanity’s top warbands, the Stonebrawn Legion set even higher requirements for physical conditioning.

After all, their mounts were ferocious monsters. If your body wasn’t strong enough, it was hard to dominate the beast beneath you.

Besides them, there were also several mages standing not far away.

They seemed to be deliberately keeping some distance from the Ironclad Legion awakeners.

Still, no matter how you looked at it, it was obvious this meeting was extremely important.

Otherwise, these legions would never have gathered in one place.

At the same time, some awakeners nearby also sensed that something was off.

After all, whether it was the Ironclad Legion or the Stonebrawn Legion, both were famous among awakeners.

"Damn—what’s going on? Aren’t these three great legions usually on bad terms? Why are they suddenly gathering in our little city-state?"

"You think something terrifying happened?"

"What terrifying thing? I’d say the Supreme Staff Legion and Stonebrawn Legion might be here to pick a fight."

"I heard that last time in the Arena of Races, the Supreme Staff Legion got screwed over hard by the Ironclad Legion. Like—massive losses."

"So you’re saying the Supreme Staff Legion teamed up with Stonebrawn Legion on purpose to cause trouble?"

"I can’t be sure... but probably not, right? We’re all human!"

"Hard to say. Who knows how many—interests—are tangled up in this?"

...

Just then—

Space suddenly warped, and a crack tore open without warning.

A strangely shaped shadow slipped out of the crack—then flashed past in an instant.

It left several glittering gold coins on the ground.

The people who had been discussing the meeting a moment ago all went wide-eyed.

Wait—why would a Treasure Bug appear in Mylanne City?!

A Treasure Bug was exactly what it sounded like: a bug whose entire body was "loot." Once killed, it could drop random rewards.

To any awakener, a Treasure Bug was a heavenly gift that you absolutely could not miss.

"Don’t just stand there! Didn’t you see the Treasure Bug pass by? Chase it!"

"Are you brain-dead? Treasure Bugs travel between planes—what’s the point even if you catch up?"

For a moment, the awakeners fell into silence.

Then everyone suddenly turned to look at Caelan at the side.

"Kid, do you have a way to team up with us and kill the Treasure Bug?"

"If you can restrain it, we can work together."

Hearing that, Caelan immediately shook his head.

A Treasure Bug was useless to him.

Because Caelan could clear an Instance casually and get even more—there was no need to waste time on it.