Chapter 37: A Crazy Idea!

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: A Crazy Idea!

The man in the black trench coat fell silent.

Given their experience, both High Command members had witnessed countless difficult class advancement quests. Every formal member of the High Command had been an extraordinary talent in their younger days.

Yet Nathaniel Beaumont’s quest was still absurdly demanding.

The gray-robed man couldn’t help voicing his disbelief.

"Earning ten million gold coins within twenty-four hours? The basic requirement seems manageable."

He glanced at the virtual screen again.

"With Nathaniel’s ability to clear dungeons at incredible speed, collecting valuable equipment and rare materials should allow him to reach that amount."

His expression quickly turned troubled.

"But the evaluation thresholds are another matter entirely."

He counted them off with his fingers.

"Fifty million for S-Rank. One hundred million for SS-Rank. Five hundred million for SSS-Rank."

The corner of his mouth twitched.

"Has the Class Advancement Crystal gone mad?"

He shook his head in disbelief.

"It expects an eighteen-year-old professional to generate five hundred million gold coins in a single day without using existing assets or accepting outside assistance. What kind of requirement is that?"

The man in black remained calm.

"The Class Advancement Crystal doesn’t make mistakes."

The gray-robed man turned toward him.

"I know it doesn’t make mistakes. But the difficulty is outrageous."

He paused, then continued.

"At the same level, even if you and I worked together, completing the SSS-Rank evaluation would be practically impossible."

His expression grew more serious.

"Honestly, even SS-Rank would be difficult."

If an ordinary professional had heard that statement, they would have struggled to believe it.

The High Command recruited some of the most powerful individuals in the Aurelian Alliance. Its members had survived extraordinary trials and reached heights most professionals could only dream of.

Yet one of those members had just admitted that even the two of them, working together at the same level, would struggle to meet Nathaniel’s advancement requirements.

This wasn’t ordinary difficulty.

It was an entirely different level of challenge.

The man in black studied the virtual screen.

"The greater a professional’s potential, the more demanding the Class Advancement Crystal’s assessment becomes."

The gray-robed man fell silent.

They both understood that principle.

Advancement quests weren’t generated randomly. The crystal considered a candidate’s class, potential, abilities, and previous performance before determining the appropriate trial.

The stronger the class, the more difficult the challenge.

The more extraordinary the candidate, the more unusual the assessment.

In a sense, the difficulty of the quest itself reflected the crystal’s judgment of the candidate’s potential.

The gray-robed man looked at the screen again, and his expression gradually changed.

"So..."

He spoke slowly, as though testing the implication of his own words.

"The Class Advancement Crystal believes Nathaniel’s potential is so extraordinary that it needs a challenge of this magnitude to evaluate him properly?"

The man in black didn’t deny it.

The gray-robed man drew a deep breath.

"This could become troublesome."

He folded his arms.

"Of course, Nathaniel could complete the basic requirement and receive an ordinary evaluation. He would still advance."

"But that might not be the best outcome for someone with his potential."

He continued, "If his first advancement evaluation falls too far below what his class is capable of achieving, he could lose an enormous advantage in his future development."

The man in black remained silent.

The gray-robed man looked down toward Westmere.

"With a class like his, every advantage matters. If he settles for an ordinary evaluation simply because the highest requirements seem impossible, he might regret that decision later."

Far below them, Nathaniel had already left the Westmere Professional Center.

From such a height, he looked like an ordinary young man walking through a busy city.

Compared with the countless pedestrians moving along the streets, there was nothing particularly remarkable about his appearance.

Yet both High Command members understood what lay before him.

Nathaniel Beaumont stood at the first major crossroads of his professional career.

If he conquered this challenge, his future growth could become even more extraordinary.

If he failed to meet the higher standards, he would still have a path forward, but he might lose an opportunity that could never be recovered.

The gray-robed man exhaled.

"Let’s see what he does."

The man in black gave a slight nod.

Neither of them could make the decision for Nathaniel.

The next move belonged to him.

Westmere: A Problem Worth Five Hundred Million

Nathaniel didn’t rush into action after leaving the Professional Center.

Instead, he found a quiet place and carefully examined the quest requirements again.

Five hundred million gold coins.

Twenty-four hours.

No existing assets.

No gifts.

No outside financial assistance.

Every coin had to come from value he personally created.

He rubbed his chin.

"If I only wanted to complete the basic requirement, this wouldn’t be particularly difficult."

His strength was already far beyond that of an ordinary Level 100 professional. Hell-difficulty dungeons that once required coordinated teams could now be cleared by his Shadow Soldiers with remarkable efficiency.

But his goal wasn’t merely to complete the quest.

He wanted the SSS-Rank evaluation.

And that meant generating five hundred million gold coins in a single day.

"There are too many restrictions."

He considered the most obvious solution first.

Dungeon farming.

With his current strength, he could sweep through Level 100 Hell-difficulty dungeons, defeating their bosses and collecting the valuable equipment and materials they dropped.

Hell difficulty offered better rewards than ordinary dungeons. Rare boss materials, high-grade equipment, and special items could fetch substantial prices.

However, there was a problem.

Most ordinary materials weren’t worth very much individually.

The truly valuable items were rare boss drops, special crafting components, and materials that were difficult to obtain elsewhere.

Even if Nathaniel spent the entire twenty-four hours clearing dungeons without stopping, he estimated that selling everything he collected might bring in a little over one hundred million gold coins.

That was already an astonishing amount for a single day.

But it was nowhere near enough.

He needed five hundred million.

Even his optimistic estimate left him hundreds of millions short.

Nathaniel’s brow furrowed.

"Simply collecting random drops won’t work."

He needed to make each dungeon run more profitable.

His thoughts shifted to the quest board at the Westmere Professional Center.

The board was filled with requests from major commercial organizations, potion workshops, equipment manufacturers, and research institutions.

They regularly posted acquisition contracts for rare materials.

A boss’s heart core might be worth only a few million gold coins to an ordinary recycler. However, if a major organization urgently needed that exact material for an important project, it might offer twice or even several times the usual price.

The same applied to rare mineral crystals, specialized crafting components, and potion ingredients that could only be obtained from Hell-difficulty dungeons.

If Nathaniel targeted specific materials instead of collecting whatever happened to drop, he could sell them through high-value acquisition contracts.

That would significantly increase his earnings.

He considered the idea carefully.

Targeted farming.

Premium acquisition contracts.

Rare boss materials.

It was certainly better than selling everything indiscriminately.

But after calculating the potential returns, he shook his head.

"Still not enough."

Even under an extremely optimistic scenario, he might earn two hundred million gold coins if he spent the entire day farming and selling valuable materials.

That would be impressive.

It would also leave him three hundred million short of the SSS-Rank threshold.

Nathaniel leaned back and stared at the sky.

He needed a different approach.

One Person, Multiple Dungeons?

Another possibility came to mind.

"What if I carried other professionals through dungeons and charged them for the service?"

The idea seemed reasonable at first.

Nathaniel could clear difficult dungeons much faster than ordinary teams. Other professionals would gladly pay for the chance to obtain experience, equipment, and dungeon rewards without facing the full danger themselves.

However, he quickly identified two problems.

First, other professionals couldn’t keep up with his pace.

His movement speed, combat ability, and experience with dungeon layouts allowed him to advance at a speed that ordinary parties simply couldn’t match.

Bringing a team along would force him to slow down.

Instead of improving his efficiency, he might end up wasting valuable time waiting for people to catch up.

Second, the quest restrictions were explicit.

He couldn’t accept gifts or outside assistance.

If other professionals deliberately overpaid him simply to help him complete his advancement quest, the Class Advancement Crystal might not recognize the transaction as legitimate income generated through his own efforts.

He couldn’t risk spending hours on an approach that might be rejected during the final evaluation.

Nathaniel rubbed his temples.

For the first time in days, he faced a problem that couldn’t be solved simply by hitting something harder.

He wasn’t struggling to defeat his enemies.

He was struggling to generate enough income within the time limit.

"What’s the point of being able to clear dungeons this quickly if I can only clear one at a time?"

The moment the words left his mouth, he froze.

One at a time?

Nathaniel slowly straightened.

A new thought had appeared in his mind.

It was so simple that he couldn’t believe he hadn’t considered it earlier.

His eyes drifted toward the shadow beneath his feet.

"Wait a minute."

He looked down, his expression changing.

"Why do I have to clear only one dungeon at a time?"

His Shadow Soldiers weren’t ordinary weapons he needed to carry around. They were independent summons capable of moving, fighting, and following commands without requiring him to stand beside every single one.

He could send them to different parts of a battlefield.

He could divide them into units.

He could coordinate their movements through Shadow Command.

And as long as his Shadow Energy allowed it, he could summon far more than a handful of soldiers.

His army was already capable of clearing several areas simultaneously within a single dungeon.

But what if he expanded that principle beyond one dungeon?

Nathaniel’s breathing quickened slightly.

"Suppose I divide my army into separate units."

He began working through the idea.

One unit could enter one dungeon.

Another unit could enter a second.

A third could tackle a third dungeon.

If the units could operate independently after entering, they might be able to clear several dungeons simultaneously while he coordinated their progress.

Instead of clearing one dungeon after another, he could potentially clear multiple dungeons at once.

The number of simultaneous runs would depend on the soldiers available, his Shadow Energy, the dungeon entry requirements, and whether the dungeon system allowed summoned units to enter without their master.

That final condition was important.

He couldn’t assume the system would permit it.

But if it did...

Nathaniel’s eyes lit up.

The entire calculation changed.

He wouldn’t need to personally travel through every corridor or fight every monster.

His Shadow Soldiers could attack multiple groups, clear separate routes, and confront enemies simultaneously. He could focus his attention on coordination, directing reinforcements wherever a unit encountered a difficult opponent.

Each completed dungeon could yield valuable equipment and materials.

And if several dungeons were cleared during the same period, the combined value of their rewards could be many times greater than the rewards from a single run.

He might finally have a way to approach the five hundred million gold coin target.

Nathaniel’s heart began beating faster.

The idea was audacious.

It was also the first plan he’d considered that might genuinely bridge the enormous gap between two hundred million and five hundred million.

He looked at his shadow again.

"Let’s test the principle before I get ahead of myself."

There was no guarantee it would work.

The dungeon system might reject summons entering independently. His Shadow Soldiers might require his presence, or the dungeon’s rules might prevent separate entry.

He needed to find out.

If the attempt succeeded, he could build a strategy around it.

If it failed, he would have to find another solution.

Nathaniel clenched his fist, a determined smile appearing on his face.

"One person clearing multiple dungeons simultaneously."

He let out a quiet laugh.

"That’s crazy."

Then he turned toward the Westmere Professional Center.

"Good. Let’s see if it works."

For most professionals, the idea would never have crossed their minds. Even summoners generally relied on their summons to support them in a single battle, not to operate as independent dungeon-clearing units.

Nathaniel’s class was different.

His Shadow Soldiers could move under his commands, and his army had no fixed numerical limit.

If the system permitted his plan, he wouldn’t merely have a way to clear dungeons faster.

He could turn his entire army into multiple independent dungeon-clearing forces.

And that might be exactly what he needed to earn five hundred million gold coins in twenty-four hours.

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