Both of them stared at the descriptions of the two Mythic skill tomes, rendered speechless for a full minute.
"Insane…"
After what felt like an eternity, Kalis managed to squeeze out two words, his eyes blazing with sheer shock.
"Unbelievable…"
Lia let out a soft murmur, her fingertips still trembling slightly.
These two skill tomes were the ultimate divine abilities of their respective classes. Their seven-day cooldown was proof enough of their terrifying power; once unleashed, they would bring nothing short of apocalyptic destruction to anyone caught in their radius!
"Too bad the mana cost is completely ridiculous. There's no way we can cast them right now." Kalis rubbed his chin, his voice heavy with regret. "Mine's [Black Hole Cataclysm] isn't too bad, 2000 mana per second. Maybe by the time we hit Level 100, I can just barely sustain it. But your [Final Sacrifice] costs 5000 mana flat. I doubt even Level 100 will be enough to cover that."
"You're right… Still, might as well learn them now. They'll come in handy sooner or later." Lia nodded in agreement, a tinge of disappointment clouding her features.
Both skill tomes were soul-bound on pickup. Instead of letting them gather dust in their inventories, they might as well master them right away.
Almost in unison, the two raised their hands and pressed the tomes to their palms. Two bursts of brilliant light flashed, and the two world-shattering divine skills settled neatly into their respective skill bars.
"With that taken care of, our inventories are practically bursting at the seams. Let's head back to the main city."
Kalis glanced down at his inventory interface. The dense grid of item slots was already half red with overflow. He hadn't had time to stash the loot from the Abyss yet, and now the mountain of gear from Dafiona's drop was having to sit temporarily in the party's shared inventory.
But Lia suddenly frowned, hesitating for a moment before speaking up. "Can we… really go back to the main city right now?"
The two looked up at the same time, their eyes falling on the devastation around them.
The once-thriving Boulder Town was now nothing but a smoldering ruin. The broken walls and crumbling debris were littered with the bodies of fallen NPCs.
Most of the destruction had been caused by Dafiona's moonlight shockwave, sure, but the [Star Wind] and [Meteor Descend] Kalis had cast later had also done a number on the surrounding buildings. Who knew if the Lord of Valorian City wouldn't slap a bounty on their heads the second they stepped foot back in town?
The two exchanged a worried glance, completely at a loss for what to do.
Just then, the townsfolk in the distance—who'd been scared out of their wits earlier—finally found their bearings.
A few bloodied town militiamen, clinging to life with barely any HP left, stumbled over to them, their faces filled with tears of gratitude. "Brave adventurers! Thank you so much for saving us! We didn't get to see the whole fight, but you two must be the heroes who saved Boulder Town!"
"That evil sorceress is finally dead! We'll draft a petition to the Lord of Valorian right away, begging him to reward you two with the highest honors!"
Kalis let out a huge sigh of relief at that, a grin spreading across his face.
So not only were they not going to be arrested, they were going to get a reward! The militiamen who'd been so rude to him earlier were now looking at him with nothing but admiration and friendliness.
Truly, slaying demons and doing good deeds always paid off in the end!
"Let's go back to the city!"
After exchanging a few pleasantries with the townsfolk, the two wasted no more time.
They crushed the [Recall Scrolls] in their palms at the same time. Dazzling white light enveloped their figures, and in the next second, they vanished from the war-torn ruins of Boulder Town.
...
"Move aside! Out of the way, all of you! Don't block the patrol's path!"
On the streets of Valorian City, the iron-clad city guards strutted about as arrogantly as ever. Kalis was long used to their attitude, though—he kept his eyes straight ahead and walked right past them without a second glance.
The two headed straight for the Market District in the center of the main city, then hurried into the Warehouse.
They dumped the mountain of valuable items from their inventories into the storage slots in one go, then sorted through the gear in the party's shared inventory and moved everything into their private warehouses.
Their trip to Boulder Town might not have ended with them completing their second class change quests, but the haul they'd walked away with was absolutely game-breaking. Both of their levels had blown past the Level 80 mark, leaving them just one step away from their third class advancement.
Lia finished organizing her inventory, then turned to Kalis, her voice light and cheerful. "With Dafiona's mess sorted out, I need to head back to Lunaris City to finish my class advancement. Let's team up again sometime to grind dungeons!"
Kalis nodded, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Go on then. I'll probably head to the Lunar Temple with a friend later too. If it's not too much trouble, put in a good word for me with your Archbishop. Maybe he'll make an exception and let me in to get my second class advancement."
After fighting side by side for hours, his impression of Lia had completely changed. He no longer found her as annoying and chatty as he had at first. After all, if it hadn't been for this powerhouse support backing him up with heals and crowd control, there was no way he could've taken down so many powerful foes one after another—let alone secured the first kill on a Level 200 Mythic Overlord.
"No problem! Leave it to me!" Lia agreed readily. She quit the party, waved at Kalis, and called out, "I'm off then! See ya later~"
Before the words even faded, her figure dissolved into a flash of white light and she was gone.
Left alone, Kalis gathered up all the Epic gear from the warehouse that neither he nor his friends could use, then made his way straight to the Auction House. He set starting prices for each piece based on their level and rarity, then listed all the loot in the system auction.
As for those top-tier Legendary and Mythic items? He held off on listing those for now. Players at this stage of the game were all strapped for cash—hardly anyone would be able to afford the sky-high prices they'd fetch. Rather than wasting money on listing fees for nothing, he might as well leave them sitting at the bottom of his warehouse for now.
The gear he'd listed last time had already sold. Notifications of incoming gold coins pinged one after another. Kalis checked his inventory—and his jaw dropped. His account balance had surged to a whopping 2.5 million gold coins!
"Sitting on this much gold isn't doing me any good. Might as well cash it out into real-world money sooner rather than later."
Kalis muttered to himself. After all, the main ways players spent gold at this stage were buying HP and mana potions, and upgrading their gear. But he didn't need to worry about any of that. Keeping a few tens of thousands of gold coins in his inventory for emergencies was more than enough. If he held onto all this gold, he'd end up kicking himself if the currency devalued later in the game.
"2.5 million gold coins, plus one [Guild Residence Token]… That's going to net me another huge payday…"
It had been less than 24 hours since his last cash-out, and already he was looking at another massive sum of money. *Eternal Realm* really was a walking gold mine!
A smile tugged at the corners of Kalis's lips as he silently celebrated his good fortune.
"First, I'll hit up Lenore to help me offload all this stuff. Then I'll log off to take a break. I've been grinding nonstop for so long, I'm starving…"
Thirty-six hours had passed since the game's launch. In real-world time, it was already evening. After logging off to grab some dinner and rest up a bit, it would be almost the next day in the game. And when that time came, he still had to help the Spheres Crusaders defend their guild residence!
"Lenore…"
Kalis opened his friend list, about to shoot Lenore a message—when a flood of voice messages popped up all at once, nearly deafening him.
"OMG Kalis! You're *insane*! You actually beat a Level 200 Mythic Boss?! Spill the tea—what insane loot did it drop?!"
"Was there any gear good for Clerics? You *have* to save some for me!"
"Wait a second! Hold on! You teamed up with a *girl* to take down a boss? And you didn't even call me and Eira?!"
"Hmph! Not inviting us? That's so rude!"
"Hellooooo! Answer me! Are you too busy hanging out with your girl to reply to messages now?!"
These voice messages had been pouring in nonstop ever since he killed Dafiona. The latest one had been sent just a minute ago.
Kalis listened to them, half-amused and half-exasperated, then quickly fired off a reply. "It was just a random team-up for a quest that turned into a boss fight. She's just a regular teammate. Where are you two right now? I got my hands on a bunch of skill books and gear—hurry over to the Warehouse in Valorian City to pick them up."
Seconds after he sent the message, Lenore's reply popped up, her tone suddenly turning overly sweet and ingratiating. "Ugh, you finally replied! Valorian City, got it! Eira and I are on our way right now! Oh, and by the way—this Lia girl… is she your new girlfriend? Is she still around? Tell her to wait a bit, we wanna meet her~."
"Meet her? My foot! Keep spouting nonsense, and you won't get a single copper coin from me!" Kalis shot back, not bothering to hide his annoyance.
"Noooo! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! You're the best, Kalis! We'll be right there!" Lenore backtracked instantly, spamming him with apologetic messages.
"What a dork…"
Kalis shook his head helplessly, about to close his friend list—when he noticed another familiar name had sent him a message too. Magnus. The founder of the famous Golden Treasury Merchant Guild.
Besides Lenore and Eira, Magnus was the only other person who knew he had his hands on some top-tier loot.
Kalis thought for a moment. He'd originally planned to ask Lenore to help him find a buyer for the Guild Residence Token. But since Magnus had messaged him first, he might as well cut a deal with the big shot directly.
He tapped his finger on the screen, firing off a reply to Magnus. "Mr. Magnus, sorry for the late reply. I've been swamped with stuff."
Magnus replied almost instantly, his tone polite and friendly. "No worries at all! Just took down a Mythic Boss, you must have been busy sorting through and dividing up the loot."
"Exactly." Kalis didn't beat around the bush, cutting straight to the chase. "You messaged me earlier about representing the sale of my [Guild Residence Token], right?"
Magnus let out a hearty laugh when he saw the message, typing back quickly. "That's right! As I'm sure you know, our Golden Treasury Merchant Guild plans to establish a long-term presence in [Eternal Realm]. These early days of the game are crucial for building our reputation—and we're desperate to get our hands on rare, high-value items like this to auction off. The value of a Guild Residence Token speaks for itself, I think. Yours should be only the third one to drop server-wide. It's priceless! If you're willing to let our guild handle the auction, we won't charge you a single copper coin in commission fees!"