Chapter 218: The Despicable Outsider

Following this disturbing trail of clues backward—

The background description of the scabbard clearly stated that it was related to an “aged Red Dragon.”

And among everything currently connected to a Red Dragon on his person, there was only one thing—

His second Source Essence, 【Red Dragon】, along with the Dragon-blooded lineage derived from its associated specialties.

And the origin of all that was precisely the Dragon-Hunting Breathing Technique he cultivated.

To completely master that breathing technique, he had to rely on his red talent, 【Hvergelmir's Surge】, which granted unlimited stamina recovery.

What a perfect chain of calculations.

Every link connected seamlessly to the next.

Even the smallest choice had been paving the road toward a final destination.

This even implied that the Heroic Spirit Baptism proposed on the surface by Uncle Ryan had actually been accounted for by that mastermind long ago.

No wonder Uncle Ryan had been rescued by Moloch when he was on the verge of death.

The other party had paid such a tremendous price and laid the groundwork for so long.

Most likely, it was all for the sake of guiding him toward a predetermined conclusion at this specific point in time, during this Heroic Spirit Baptism.

Since all clues pointed toward that scabbard connected to the Red Dragon—

It meant the other party's scheme must have a deep connection with the Pendragon Royal Family of the Iris Kingdom.

Thinking this far, Lance felt a layer of cold sweat appear on his back.

Another piece of information flashed through his mind.

That same entity had once interfered with the Fate Grafting of the Legendary Adventurer Karen and the Starnight Witch Ilysia.

Could it be that Karen also possessed some sort of connection to the Pendragon Royal Family?

The mysteries hidden within the fog of history were enough to make one's skin crawl.

Fortunately—

Thanks to his resurrection talent and the assistance of the system panel, he had already successfully interfered with his arranged fate multiple times.

That should have caused most of the mastermind's plans to collapse by now.

Since the scabbard was tied to so many things—

Lance secretly felt relieved that he had not impulsively chosen the Sword of Selection earlier.

That sword was connected to the Red Dragon as well.

Anything related to the Pendragon Royal Family was something he should stay as far away from as possible while his wings were not yet fully grown.

Having finally sorted through all the hidden connections—

Lance tightened his grip on the spear and gave his final answer inwardly.

【You have selected Noble Phantasm: Spear of the Lake】

【Reputation Acquisition Rules confirmed...】

【Detected: Your special Source Essence "Outsider" (partially unlocked state) has been stimulated by high-dimensional Astral Realm energy and is currently extremely active...】

Seeing this notification, Lance's heart stirred.

So the fluctuation he had sensed from his Source Essence earlier had not been an illusion.

【Outsider】, this special Source Essence, was highly responsive to this sort of dimensional energy.

Even while incomplete, it was already capable of exerting a degree of influence over rules themselves.

Suppressing his excitement, Lance continued staring at the screen expectantly.

【Outsider is attempting to overwrite the underlying rules of the current trial...】

【Overwrite successful!】

【Final Trial Objective forcibly altered: Travel across the continent to reach the Canyon of Kings while accumulating 1000 points of "Generalized Concept Reputation."】

【Note: As a traveler from another world, you need not pursue humble faith, nor concern yourself with cheap gratitude. Once you cease being a silent observer, every footprint you leave behind shall become an indelible mark upon this world!】

【Whether you become a benevolent Sacred King adored by all, or a tyrannical monarch whose name terrifies children into silence—】

【As long as your name is remembered and sung by all living beings, it shall become legend!】

【Ever since Outsider backstabbed the god Chaos during that point-betting game, it seems to have become addicted to and begun enjoying the thrill of cheating. — The Despicable Outsider】

“Holy shit!”

After reading the modified completion conditions, Lance immediately blurted out a curse.

This was a cheat!

It was already this overpowered inside a single-player projection instance.

If he entered a large multiplayer instance in the future, wouldn't this rule-modifying Source Essence become absurdly powerful?

It seemed his understanding of Source Essences was still far too shallow.

These Source Essences had indeed activated successfully the moment he advanced classes.

The problem was simply that his current level was too low.

His soul capacity and physical strength remained restricted by the laws of the Material Realm.

As a result, Outsider had remained suppressed in a dormant state.

However, once he entered a dimension like the Astral Realm, the characteristics of 【Outsider】 would emerge and provide assistance.

Just from the effects of this modification alone, Lance could already tell how monstrous this Source Essence truly was.

The so-called 【Generalized Concept Reputation】 differed vastly from the original 【Positive Reputation】 required by the trial.

Previously, if he protected civilians and then demanded tribute according to the Spear of the Lake's rules, it would be difficult to earn genuine gratitude from them.

But now—

Even their fear and curses toward him would be converted into reputation points by the system.

This was equivalent to forcibly transforming a traditional RPG where players slowly farmed favorability—

Into a high-freedom sandbox game where they could cause chaos everywhere.

Although obtaining reputation still required following the framework of the Spear of the Lake's “Equivalent Protection” doctrine—

With the absurd loophole known as 【Generalized Concept Reputation】, dozens of unethical strategies instantly appeared in Lance's mind.

After all, if this trial world originally required Positive Reputation, then the villages and cities along the journey would inevitably be populated with plenty of morally manipulative, greedy, and irritating NPCs.

If Lance remained trapped within the framework of Positive Reputation and insisted on being a “good person”—

Then whenever he encountered those situations, he would inevitably have to swallow his anger and be disgusted to death by those troublesome civilians.

But now everything was different.

As long as he could step outside the moral shackles of conventional good and evil at any time—

“Then don't blame me... for refusing to eat beef.”

He could not help laughing softly.

His mood improved considerably as he casually spun the heavy Spear of the Lake through a flourish in midair.

“What happened?”

Sensing the drastic fluctuation in his wielder's emotions, Ascalon immediately asked within his mind.

“Nothing. I just suddenly thought of something amusing.”

Lance casually brushed the question aside.

His attention quickly shifted toward more important matters.

“By the way, judging from the trial requirements, I need to travel across the continent and accumulate reputation.”

“No matter how I look at it, this isn't something that can be completed quickly. What about my situation in the Material Realm—”

Before he could finish the question, Ascalon provided the explanation.

It turned out that the flow of time between the Astral Realm trial space and the Material Realm differed greatly.

The ratio was approximately 720:1.

In practical terms—

If Lance spent an entire month struggling through this Astral Realm instance—

Only a single hour would pass in White River City.

Because of this, Heroic Spirit Baptisms throughout history possessed an unwritten elimination rule.

If a trial participant spent a full month within the trial world and still failed to complete it—

Then once the energy sustaining the Heroic Spirit Baptism in reality was exhausted and the ritual ended—

The unfortunate participant would be forcibly expelled from the Astral Realm by its rejection force, resulting in complete failure.

“Time is limited.”

Ascalon's voice became serious.

“During this next month, you'll spend your days traveling and completing tasks.”

“At night, I'll do everything possible to build a solid foundation for your spearmanship.”

“Since you've never touched a spear before, I can't teach you advanced spear techniques directly.”

“All of those skills require specific specialties to be developed first.”

“And you should prepare yourself mentally.”

“In the Astral Realm, none of the physical training effects you achieve here will be carried back into the Material Realm.”

“You also cannot form any genuine skill specialties through training here.”

“That is a law unique to the Material Realm. Even gods cannot easily bypass it.”

“Still, don't be too discouraged.”

Ascalon's tone softened somewhat.

“Every life-and-death battle you experience here, every judgment you make in combat, and every lesson learned through training will be engraved perfectly into your soul.”

“With a full month of training experience accumulated here—”

“When you return to the Material Realm and pick up a spear again, you'll rapidly catch up on all the progress you've missed.”

“I understand.”

Lance tightened his grip on the spear.

His eyes shone with anticipation.

“Then there's no time to waste. Let's start learning tonight.”

When he had first heard about the time dilation, a shocking idea had briefly occurred to him.

If someone could spend years or even decades conducting physical training within the perfectly safe environment of the Astral Realm—

Wouldn't they instantly become overpowered once they returned to reality?

Now, after hearing Ascalon's explanation, he finally understood.

The Astral Realm could never fully replace the genuine tempering of the physical body within the Material Realm.

Such limitations had both advantages and disadvantages.

In a sense, they maintained the balance of the world.

And this was also the first time he had come into contact with deeper knowledge concerning the world of Professionals.

It turned out that those powerful advanced combat techniques could not simply be learned by obtaining a skill manual.

Every one of them required corresponding physical specialties as prerequisites.

Without those foundational specialties protecting the body, forcibly activating advanced techniques that exceeded physical limits would not only fail to unleash their proper destructive power—

They would even trigger backlash from Aether Energy and cause severe, irreversible damage to the user's body.

It seemed that there truly were no shortcuts to becoming a top-tier powerhouse.

However, when Lance began practicing the spearmanship techniques taught by Ascalon—

A notification suddenly appeared on the panel.

【Gale-Tail Sweeping Spear Technique Proficiency +1】

Eh?

Eh?!