Chapter 29: Breaking Records Like Crazy!

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Breaking Records Like Crazy!

"On the way."

Hearing those two words, Captain Adrian Cross’s eyelid twitched violently.

The stranger had spoken about entering the highest-security conference room in the City Lord’s Mansion as casually as someone announcing a trip to the grocery store.

Just how powerful was this man?

The City Lord, standing beside the conference table, quickly composed himself and asked respectfully, "Your Excellency, how may we assist you?"

The man in black looked at him.

"Bring up Nathaniel Beaumont’s complete file."

The City Lord didn’t hesitate. He immediately activated his highest-level access permissions.

Within moments, streams of encrypted data appeared across the conference room’s enormous light screen.

Nathaniel’s birth records.

His family background.

His enrollment at Westmere No. 1 Academy.

His class awakening.

The incident involving the Lion Syndicate.

The battle in which he had killed three powerful enemies.

And, most recently, his solo clearance of the Frost Cave on Hell difficulty.

Every available detail had been organized into a comprehensive file.

The man in black raised one hand and casually tapped the screen.

A strange ripple passed across the display.

In the next instant, all the data condensed into a tiny sphere of light, which floated directly into his palm.

The entire process took less than ten seconds.

The man turned toward the door.

The City Lord hurriedly called out, "Your Excellency, regarding Nathaniel..."

The stranger stopped.

"For now, there’s no need to inform him of my visit."

His voice remained calm, but his next words carried unmistakable authority.

"Don’t draw unnecessary attention to him. And don’t reveal to anyone that I’ve been here."

His gaze moved from the City Lord to Adrian.

It was an ordinary look, without any visible hostility.

Yet both men felt an oppressive weight settle deep within their souls.

"Do you understand?"

The City Lord immediately bowed.

"Understood. Westmere will not leak a single word."

Adrian followed suit.

"We will keep this confidential."

The man in black nodded once.

Then his figure began to fade.

There was no flash of light.

No teleportation formation.

No visible distortion of space.

He simply dissolved into nothingness, like a drop of ink disappearing into clear water.

Within seconds, he was gone.

The conference room returned to silence.

Neither the City Lord nor Adrian spoke for a long time.

Cold sweat had already gathered on Adrian’s back. He had faced dangerous professionals before, but he had never encountered anyone who could enter and leave such a heavily guarded room without triggering a single alarm.

Eventually, he turned toward the City Lord.

"Sir, who exactly was that man?"

The City Lord took a deep breath. Even now, his eyes retained a trace of disbelief.

"The High Command."

Adrian frowned.

"The High Command?"

The City Lord glanced at him.

"It’s understandable that you haven’t encountered them directly. Their existence isn’t something ordinary professionals can easily learn about."

Adrian’s heart sank.

The City Lord continued in a measured voice.

"The Aurelian Alliance has five top academies. They’re regarded as the highest destinations for young professionals, and their graduates are sought after throughout the Alliance."

He paused before continuing.

"But above those institutions stands an organization that operates on an entirely different level."

"The High Command."

Adrian’s pupils contracted.

The City Lord nodded.

"The High Command doesn’t recruit through ordinary public channels. It doesn’t participate in conventional rankings, and it doesn’t belong to the academy system, the regular military, or the local administration."

He lowered his voice slightly.

"It answers directly to the highest authorities of the Aurelian Alliance."

Adrian listened without interrupting.

"Every member is selected from an enormous pool of exceptional professionals. The screening process is so demanding that even the most outstanding graduates of the Five Top Academies are only eligible to participate in the selection."

BOOM!

The words struck Adrian like a thunderclap.

The most outstanding graduates of the Five Top Academies could only qualify for selection?

Those academies already represented the pinnacle of professional education. Their students were geniuses who had surpassed countless competitors to earn their places.

Yet even those people weren’t guaranteed entry into the High Command.

They merely received the opportunity to try.

Adrian swallowed.

"No wonder..."

His voice came out dry.

"No wonder none of the Five Top Academies have contacted us about Nathaniel."

The City Lord nodded slowly.

"If the High Command has taken an interest in him, the Five Top Academies would naturally be cautious. They may not even dare to compete for him."

He paused.

"After all, what could they offer him that would compare with an opportunity from the High Command?"

Adrian felt a chill run down his spine.

Just last night, he had imagined the Five Top Academies competing fiercely to recruit Nathaniel.

Now, he realized that even that assumption might have underestimated the young man’s importance.

A faint but unprecedented light appeared in the City Lord’s eyes.

"If Nathaniel passes the High Command’s assessment and earns a place there..."

His voice trembled slightly.

"Then Westmere might finally have a way out of this crisis."

Adrian exhaled slowly.

"That boy..."

He shook his head.

"He’s truly terrifying."

Neither man spoke for a while afterward.

They had spent the morning discussing how to protect a city that had suddenly lost its three strongest guardians.

Now, their hopes rested partly on a young man who had awakened his class only yesterday.

And that young man wasn’t even aware that the High Command had already sent someone to investigate him.

...

Westmere Professional Center

For Nathaniel Beaumont, the rest of the day passed in a completely different world.

He wasn’t thinking about the Three Pillars.

He wasn’t thinking about the High Command.

And he certainly wasn’t thinking about the commotion his achievements were causing throughout Westmere.

He had only one objective.

Level up.

As quickly as possible.

The Frost Cave had been his first stop. After clearing it on Hell difficulty, he immediately moved on to the Lava Ruins.

And then the next dungeon.

And the next.

Each time he entered, he selected Hell difficulty.

Each time he cleared the dungeon, he collected the rewards, recalled his Shadow Soldiers, and returned to the Professional Center to choose another destination.

His army made the process remarkably efficient.

Rather than relying on a conventional party of five professionals, Nathaniel could deploy Shadow Soldiers in multiple directions, overwhelm groups of monsters, and concentrate his forces against powerful bosses.

As his level increased, his strength grew alongside it.

And as his strength grew, dungeons that would normally require hours of careful coordination became increasingly difficult to resist.

The results soon began appearing across the Professional Center’s historical records.

10:10 AM

[Lava Ruins: Hell Difficulty]

[Clear Type: Solo]

[Clear Time: 34 minutes, 12 seconds]

[Final Rating: SSS]

[Previous Historical Record: 4 hours, 5 minutes]

11:30 AM

[Poison Mist Swamp: Hell Difficulty]

[Clear Type: Solo]

[Clear Time: 37 minutes, 56 seconds]

[Final Rating: SSS]

[Previous Historical Record: 4 hours, 41 minutes]

1:00 PM

[Bone Graveyard: Hell Difficulty]

[Clear Type: Solo]

[Clear Time: 32 minutes, 9 seconds]

[Final Rating: SSS]

[Previous Historical Record: 3 hours, 58 minutes]

2:20 PM

[Thunder Canyon: Hell Difficulty]

[Clear Type: Solo]

[Clear Time: 41 minutes, 33 seconds]

[Final Rating: SSS]

One record after another was shattered.

The Professional Center’s light screens refreshed so frequently that the staff barely had time to finish reading one result before another appeared.

And Nathaniel wasn’t simply choosing dungeons that were easy for his current level.

He deliberately selected each dungeon as soon as he met its minimum entry requirement.

Level 13 entering a Level 13 dungeon.

Level 17 entering a Level 17 dungeon.

Level 20 entering a Level 20 dungeon.

Then Level 25.

Then Level 30.

Every time, he selected Hell difficulty.

Every time, he entered alone.

And every time, he emerged with an SSS rating.

The historical records of Westmere’s Professional Center were being rewritten at a pace nobody could have imagined.

At the entrance to the dungeon hall, Administrator Lucas Bennett stood before the enormous display, staring at the latest result.

His expression had gone strangely blank.

"He went in again..."

His voice was barely audible.

At first, Lucas had been shocked when Nathaniel cleared the Frost Cave.

Then came the Lava Ruins.

Then the Poison Mist Swamp.

Then the Bone Graveyard.

After that, the Thunder Canyon.

At some point, his astonishment had reached its limit. He no longer knew what expression he was supposed to make whenever another impossible result appeared.

He had spent the entire day watching Nathaniel enter dungeons and emerge with records that made experienced professionals look ordinary.

And the most frightening part?

Nathaniel showed no intention of stopping.

Whenever he returned, he checked his experience, selected his next destination, and entered again.

His Shadow Soldiers did most of the fighting, but Nathaniel remained the one issuing every command. He adjusted their numbers and deployment according to each dungeon’s layout, sending larger groups against crowded monster territories and concentrating his forces against bosses.

He wasn’t blindly charging through every dungeon.

He was learning how to use his army more efficiently.

The difference became increasingly obvious as the day progressed.

What had begun as a handful of Shadow Soldiers had grown into a much more formidable force. Nathaniel could now deploy enough soldiers to overwhelm entire groups of enemies while keeping others ready to respond to threats elsewhere.

He didn’t need to wait for a party member to recover.

He didn’t need to worry about someone running out of stamina.

And he didn’t need to stop because one fighter had been injured.

His army could continue fighting as long as he had the resources and strength to command it.

That was what made his leveling speed so absurd.

The dungeons were becoming an experience assembly line.

Enter.

Clear.

Collect.

Level up.

Repeat.

By late afternoon, Nathaniel had cleared sixteen dungeons.

Sixteen.

All on Hell difficulty.

All solo.

All with SSS ratings.

And all in a single day.

Even as the experience required for each subsequent level grew increasingly demanding, Nathaniel kept pushing forward.

Eventually, the system announced another level-up.

[Level Up!]

[Current Level: 40]

Nathaniel glanced at the notification.

Then he closed the interface.

Level 40.

It was a substantial improvement, but he wasn’t satisfied yet.

His ultimate goal wasn’t to collect impressive dungeon records. He needed enough strength to investigate the Abyss Rift, uncover the truth about his parents, and find them if they were still alive.

Every level brought him one step closer.

He had no intention of wasting the opportunity.

"Next dungeon."

With that, he turned toward the Professional Center’s administrator.

Lucas stared at him.

For a moment, he wondered whether Nathaniel was even human.

Then he hurriedly opened the dungeon selection panel.

...

Westmere City Lord’s Mansion

By the time the latest news reached the City Lord’s Mansion, the City Lord and Captain Adrian Cross were discussing the city’s emergency defense arrangements.

They had been reviewing patrol routes, allocating available personnel, and considering which districts would be most vulnerable if hostile organizations decided to take advantage of the city’s weakened defenses.

Then Adrian’s communicator rang.

He glanced at the screen.

Another call from Lucas Bennett.

He answered.

"Captain Cross speaking."

Lucas’s voice came through immediately.

"Captain, Nathaniel has cleared another dungeon!"

Adrian closed his eyes for a brief moment.

"...What level?"

"Level 39 entry requirement. Hell difficulty. SSS rating."

Adrian remained silent.

He already knew what Lucas would say next.

After a few seconds, he ended the call and slowly lowered his communicator.

The City Lord looked at him.

"Nathaniel again?"

Adrian nodded.

"Yes."

The City Lord rubbed his temples.

"What level dungeon did he clear this time?"

"Level 39."

The City Lord stared at him.

"...Then he’s probably Level 40 already."

"That’s what I suspect."

Neither man spoke.

They were both trying to process the same ridiculous reality.

Nathaniel had awakened his class only yesterday.

Yesterday.

And today, he had already reached Level 40.

What kind of leveling speed was that?

For an ordinary newcomer, reaching Level 40 could take months of hunting monsters, completing missions, exploring dungeons, and carefully managing resources.

Even talented professionals needed time to develop their skills, assemble reliable teams, and overcome increasingly difficult enemies.

A well-supported genius might progress faster than most, but reaching Level 40 in a single day was beyond anything the City Lord had ever considered reasonable.

Nathaniel had done it anyway.

And he had accomplished it right under their noses.

After a long silence, the City Lord suddenly asked, "What’s Westmere’s record for reaching the first class advancement?"

Adrian answered without hesitation.

"Six months."

He paused.

"The record was set by Nathaniel’s father, Nathan Beaumont."

The City Lord looked out the window.

"To complete the first advancement, a professional must reach Level 100."

His fingers tapped lightly against the table.

"How long do you think Nathaniel will need?"

Adrian considered the question.

"Half a month?"

As soon as he said it, he realized how absurd it sounded.

Reaching Level 100 in half a month would have been considered an outrageous claim just a day ago.

But when the subject was Nathaniel Beaumont, even that estimate didn’t sound entirely impossible.

The City Lord shook his head.

"Ten days."

Adrian turned toward him.

"Ten days? You’re being even more optimistic than I am."

The City Lord gave a weary smile.

"It’s not optimism. It’s an attempt to keep up with reality."

He leaned back in his chair.

"This boy doesn’t seem to follow any of the rules we’ve used to measure professional growth."

Adrian couldn’t disagree.

For ordinary professionals, leveling up involved fighting monsters, resting, coordinating with teammates, recovering from injuries, and preparing for the next challenge.

For Nathaniel, the process was far simpler.

Enter a dungeon.

Send in the Shadow Army.

Clear the dungeon.

Collect the rewards.

Move on to the next one.

And repeat until the level-up notification appeared.

His army had turned the most dangerous dungeons in Westmere into a succession of challenges that he could tackle one after another.

The City Lord looked at the latest report on the screen and shook his head.

"An experience assembly line..."

He let out a quiet sigh.

"That’s exactly what he’s turned them into."

Outside the City Lord’s Mansion, Westmere continued preparing for an uncertain future.

Inside the Professional Center, Nathaniel was already choosing his next dungeon.

The High Command had begun investigating him.

The City Lord was placing his hopes in him.

And the city’s strongest guardians were still missing.

But Nathaniel knew none of this.

For now, he had only one thing on his mind.

Level 100.

The first class advancement.

And after that, the power to search for his parents.

Whatever stood in his way, he would overcome it.

One dungeon at a time.