Chapter 179: Furnace Reverse Lock, Preparing a Class

In this otherworld—

Fabricating legends about false gods was considered the grave sin of blasphemy punishable by execution at the stake.

And the fact that this book could openly sit within the Guild’s official library without being classified as forbidden literature—

Fully proved that the contents within were tacitly acknowledged by the higher authorities as true history.

Back then, Icarus really had relied upon completing the Sevenfold Great Achievement Trials to gradually become a god step by step.

So completing Great Achievements was actually the key to mortals ascending into divinity?

Stormy waves surged within Lance’s heart.

No wonder, even in a remote place like Graystone Town, he constantly heard rumors about adventurers falling into madness while chasing after Great Achievements.

This kind of temptation truly was impossible for anyone to resist.

As the heavy pages turned one after another—

Lance’s understanding of knowledge related to Great Achievements also deepened further and further.

The book recorded in detail the giant bell within the City of Glory capable of sounding the Voice of Great Achievement, along with the Great Achievement tales throughout history that had either already been confirmed or still remained speculation.

Until he flipped to the chapter introducing Great Achievements related to Breathing Techniques.

Lance halted his movements and softly muttered to himself.

So this was the true reason the old Guildmaster specifically asked him to read this book.

That experienced old man had probably already noticed that he possessed the potential to complete this Great Achievement.

According to Hermann’s theoretical explanations—

As a person’s strength continuously increased, the number of Great Achievements capable of matching their current realm would naturally become fewer and fewer.

By the time a professional reached the peak state of Level Twenty—

The only remaining Great Achievement they could trigger and complete would be that single dead-end path:

Godslaying.

Thus, the old Guildmaster simply did not want Lance to waste such a precious opportunity to obtain a Great Achievement while still in the mortal stage.

In the old Guildmaster’s view, this merely required Lance to forcibly delay his Class Advancement by roughly another month.

Did he really have no choice but to stupidly freeze his level and wait for an entire month?

Lance softly voiced his confusion.

Continuing to read downward with questions in mind, Scholar Hermann provided extremely in-depth explanations in the following chapters.

In truth, the reality was completely different.

The judgment mechanism behind Great Achievements was extraordinarily flexible. It was not as rigid or harsh as requiring every single condition to follow standard procedures exactly.

The Great Achievement known as Permanent Breathing Technique fundamentally tested whether a mortal’s willpower could perfectly dominate the flesh.

And whether their body possessed the qualifications to bear the descent of a Great Achievement.

Neither condition could be missing.

As for why the Permanent Breathing Technique Great Achievement was generally considered achievable only during the ordinary mortal stage—

It was merely because attempting it during the mortal stage possessed the lowest difficulty.

Once a person officially completed the ceremony and became a professional—

An irreversible 【Source Essence Furnace】 would condense within their body.

Afterward, all inhaled Aether Energy would instinctively be guided by the body into the furnace first for gentle filtering and conversion.

As a result, maintaining the Permanent Breathing Technique would no longer become a struggle between flesh and spirit, but rather the operation of the furnace itself.

That fundamentally could not satisfy the confrontational conditions demanded by the Great Achievement.

And the method for breaking this limitation was actually quite simple.

It involved using an extreme technique called 【Furnace Reverse Lock】.

This technique forcefully intercepted and violently ignited Aether before it could enter the 【Source Essence Furnace】.

Not only would it not interfere with the furnace’s normal daily functions, it could even bypass its protective mechanisms.

However, once this Reverse Lock method was adopted—

The body would once again have to bear the full crushing burden brought by the Breathing Technique.

And the most terrifying part lay precisely here.

After advancing into the professional class, the human body’s affinity toward Aether would greatly increase.

Which meant that if someone deliberately chose not to process the violent Aether introduced through the Breathing Technique via the 【Source Essence Furnace】—

Then the quantity of inhaled Aether would exceed several times the scale experienced during the ordinary mortal stage.

Consequently, the resulting exhaustion of stamina and oppressive pressure upon the spirit would also increase madly by multiple times.

Seeing this, Lance heavily closed the thick book in his hands.

For ordinary professionals, this exponentially increasing difficulty was no different from suicide.

If someone else attempted this method, they might truly end up with their body collapsing on the spot or their mind completely descending into madness.

But he was different.

He possessed talents capable of serving as his safety net.

Since there was no need for him to freeze his level and stagnate—

Then he could confidently let loose and go all out without restraint.

……

The final traces of evening light eventually disappeared completely beyond the streets of Graystone Town.

Lance stood before Ryan’s stone house and deeply inhaled the slightly cool early summer air.

The violent explosion that occurred within that small courtyard last midnight had simply been far too massive. News of it had already spread throughout every street and alley within town.

Now, as long as one walked through crowded areas, they could hear idle townsfolk passionately discussing the incident.

Everyone was guessing exactly which unlucky bastard had somehow enraged a hot-tempered mage in the middle of the night.

When Ryan heard the knocking and opened the wooden door, seeing Lance standing awkwardly upon the steps, the retired soldier was somewhat surprised.

Facing the elder’s puzzled gaze—

Lance could only awkwardly rub his nose and brace himself as he briefly explained how his house had become a pile of ruins.

Since things had already escalated this far and the entire town knew about it—

That terrible excuse about “traveling around with merchant caravans” was obviously impossible to maintain any longer.

Lance simply steeled his heart and decided to stop hiding things.

He confessed everything—that during this entire period, he had secretly been working as an adventurer behind Ryan’s back, and that he was now on the verge of crossing that threshold and officially becoming a professional.

After hearing this somewhat bizarre story, the living room fell into a long silence.

Ryan sat upon that somewhat aged wooden chair.

His large hand unconsciously rubbed the handle of his cane while his complicated gaze sized up the young man standing before him.

The old soldier rapidly calculated the timeline within his mind.

Less than half a year had passed!

Yet a commoner brat without any background had actually managed to forcibly reach the edge of the professional class purely through his own potential?

Ryan could not help recalling the hellish brutal training he experienced back within the Black Iron Directorate in order to cross this very threshold.

This brat’s growth speed could no longer be described merely with the word genius.

This was a monster completely defying common sense.

However, after the brief shock faded, the most realistic issue now stood before the two of them.

Lance’s recently rented house had been completely flattened by magic, meaning this brat would definitely have no choice but to stay here temporarily.

Ryan rubbed his aching temples with a headache.