...???
Hearing Alyssa’s words, Caelan froze on the spot, completely stunned.
Wait—are you kidding ?
When did I ever pursue you? Don’t ss with , okay? With a face that looks so much like my lazy cousin’s, I’m not interested at all!
Caelan coughed heavily, forcing a serious expression onto his face.
"Um... I think you’ve misunderstood."
"The reason I wanted to protect you was simply because you look a lot like my cousin..."
Alyssa blinked, staring at Caelan with a strange expression.
"No way... you actually like your cousin?!"
Clearly, Alyssa was shocked—because that kind of thing seed to involve a taboo that normal people simply couldn’t comprehend.
anwhile, Caelan felt his fist tighten.
What the hell is wrong with this woman?
Is Alyssa’s brain... a little broken?
He imdiately explained, "Don’t overthink it. I’m just telling you—you misunderstood. I don’t feel anything for you."
"I only saved you as a favor, for my cousin’s sake. So could you please stop writing extra drama for yourself?"
After saying that, Caelan still worried Alyssa wouldn’t believe him. He took off his necklace and showed her a childhood photo of him and his cousin together.
He might detest that lazy cousin, but they had grown up together. To say there was no bond at all would be a lie.
The mont Alyssa saw the old photograph, her eyes went wide.
Wait—Caelan really does have a cousin?!
At that instant, if there were a crack in the ground, Alyssa would’ve crawled into it without hesitation.
Humiliating. This was beyond humiliating!!
She had assud Caelan was just making up an excuse.
But now, it looked like he was being completely honest—aning she was the one who’d overthought everything.
At the sa ti, the onlookers nearby widened their eyes too.
"Wait... that works?"
"Why do I feel like Alyssa’s expression is... kind of weird?"
"Hey, keep your voice down! It’s already awkward enough—why are you shouting it out loud?"
By now, Alyssa’s pale cheeks were burning red.
In all her life, she had never experienced sothing this mortifying.
She hurriedly apologized to Caelan, again and again.
"I’m sorry. I got carried away."
"I’m not asking you to forgive —I just hope this doesn’t affect your decision to join the Ironclad Legion."
"Um... I just rembered there are so things I still need to handle. I’ll be going now—bye!"
After that, Alyssa fled the front-line camp at the fastest speed she had ever achieved in her life.
Watching her retreating figure, the spectators couldn’t help sucking in a sharp breath once more.
"I thought we’d get to see Caelan make a fool of himself today... but it turns out the clown was Alyssa."
"I don’t get it. Why is Caelan so straight? Is Alyssa not pretty enough or what??"
"Maybe that’s the difference between us and a real steel-reinforced straight guy... alright, alright, everyone disperse."
"Today’s incident is really... just thinking about it makes cringe for Alyssa."
Sothing like this would be an absolute social death for anyone.
At last, the whole commotion finally settled down.
Including Caelan, all the participants of this trial mission received a basic point reward from the Ironclad Legion.
As for the points earned from killing monsters, those would be distributed after the totals were calculated.
In addition, every single mber—without exception—was recruited into the Ironclad Legion and granted official mbership.
The staff in charge of reception finally let out a breath and congratulated everyone.
Caelan, unsurprisingly, also received an official mber badge.
The mont he pinned it on, he felt his attributes surge dramatically.
At the sa ti, the receptionist’s unhurried voice sounded by their ears.
"I’m sure you’ve all felt the boost granted by the legion badge."
"I won’t go into the complicated details. Just rember this: the more you contribute to the legion, the greater the boost your badge will provide."
"And also, points are extrely valuable. In our Ironclad Legion, obtaining any item requires spending points."
At those words, a sharp glint flashed in Caelan’s eyes.
Just the attribute boost from the badge alone made this trip completely worth it.
But that wasn’t even the best part—what truly excited Caelan were the points he had just earned.
From the receptionist’s description, as long as you had enough points, you could buy almost anything useful in the Ironclad Legion.
Now Caelan was eagerly anticipating the final number—how many points would the legion reward him in the end?
His performance... could be considered turning the tide, right?
Caelan shook his head, temporarily pushing those ssy thoughts aside.
What he needed to think about now was the next [Class Mutation Quest — 3-Star].
Only by completing the class mutation quest could he continue raising his level cap.
From his observations during the earlier battle, Caelan had noticed sothing interesting.
That was: geniuses like Alyssa basically all possessed 4-star strength!
Compared to them, his raw power was still sowhat lacking.
So Caelan’s plan was to raise his level as quickly as possible—at the very least, he wanted to be on par with Alyssa.
He shook his head again, clearing away the clutter in his mind, then opened his [Class Mutation Quest — 3-Star].
[Quest 1: Clear the Endless Abyss and kill the Cataclysm Beast at the bottom of the Abyss.]
When Caelan saw the task, he was completely stunned.
Wait... this is only a [3-star] quest, and you want to hunt a Cataclysm Beast??
Are you sure you’re not just sending to die?
A Cataclysm Beast didn’t have a fixed level, but it was universally recognized as a disaster that could destroy an entire region of the world.
If a Cataclysm Beast appeared in a region, terrifying disasters would inevitably occur at regular intervals.
So areas, because of a Cataclysm Beast, had seen dozens of human cities turned into dead cities.
That alone showed how horrifying the threat was.
That was why many Awakeners would spare no cost to hunt Cataclysm Beasts.
Not because they weren’t afraid of death—but because humanity had to survive.
In short, when facing a Cataclysm Beast, there was no point in running.
Other than fighting, there was no solution at all.
The system really thinks highly of , huh!
Caelan gave a bitter smile and shook his head, continuing to read—only for his expression to stiffen!
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