[Fire Thief]

For this kind of special class, ordinary attribute stacking and skill practice simply could not meet its requirements for taking up the class.

Its only mandatory requirement was that the candidate had to accomplish some kind of achievement in this world.

Just as its name suggested, it was a great deed through which mortals could reach for Mythical heights.

The most typical example was the widely celebrated Great Deed Class in history: [Fire Thief].

To take up this class, the challenger had to successfully steal a top-level core secret or piece of knowledge from a massive organization with absolute authority.

Then make it public.

That alone was not enough.

After revealing the secret, the challenger could not flee. They had to remain where they were and wait calmly.

Only by surviving the organization's most brutal retaliation could this "great deed" be considered complete, granting them the qualifications to take up the class.

Although Gideon did not know what specific great deed the Rosenthal family needed to accomplish.

Everyone knew that to inherit that ultimate Great Deed Class, the family heir's initial class had to be a rare class. That was a non-negotiable requirement.

That was why the path of common classes simply would not work for Cecilia.

Among Violet Academy's current class pool, the rare caster classes placed far too many restrictions on a half-elf like her.

At that thought, Gideon sank into deep contemplation.

If he kept her at Violet Academy for selfish reasons, he would only be wasting this child's Talent with Legendary potential.

During the age of heroes, only those Legendary companions who stood beside the heroes possessed Talent of that caliber.

The office fell silent.

Seeing the professor's tightly furrowed brow, Cecilia lowered her head.

She felt deeply guilty for causing the professor such a great deal of trouble.

In the end, Gideon let out a long sigh.

As a mentor, he could not delay this girl's entire life for the sake of the academy's reputation.

He made his decision.

He planned to write the girl a letter of recommendation and send her to study with Violet Academy's old rivals in the Southern Mages' Alliance.

This would be an enormous loss for Violet Academy.

With an aching heart, Gideon pulled open the drawer and prepared to take out a quill.

However, his gaze fell upon a sheet of letter paper in the drawer that was only half-written.

The reply he had originally intended to use to mock his old friend in Grayrock Town seemed to shine at that moment.

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Gideon.

"Cecilia."

He abruptly raised his voice, startling the guilt-ridden girl.

"I'm here!"

Cecilia hurriedly straightened her back and responded.

Gideon looked at her, and a smile returned to his eyes.

"Next, Violet Academy will be establishing an off-campus internship program with the Adventurers' Guild in Grayrock Town."

"The branch president there may happen to possess information about a rare mage class that is completely unrestricted by race."

Gideon clasped his hands beneath his chin, his expression serious.

"I can recommend you for this internship team."

"If you achieve an outstanding result in the internship assessment, you can obtain the information needed to take up that class."

"Do you have confidence in facing this challenge?"

This was an incredible turn of events.

Cecilia's previously dim eyes instantly lit up, and an unmistakably delighted expression appeared on her face.

She immediately rose from her chair and gave Gideon a deep bow.

The girl raised her head, a dazzling smile revealing several neat teeth blooming across her face. It lacked some of her usual composure, but held more of the liveliness expected of someone her age.

"Thank you, Professor! I'll definitely earn an outstanding result!"

Seeing his student regain her vitality, Gideon smiled in relief.

"However, the internship will not begin until two weeks from now."

"Go back and prepare properly. In particular, focus on the Wilderness Survival section of the Adventurers' Handbook."

"Off you go."

Cecilia thanked him once more and left the office with light steps, even the sound of her footsteps brimming with joy.

Then the door closed.

Inside the office.

Professor Gideon, who had worn a smile just moments ago, instantly crumpled.

With a bitter expression on his aged face, he slowly took the sheet of letter paper from the drawer.

Magic surged at his fingertips.

The sharp, gloating words on the page that had originally mocked the other's predicament were gradually erased by the magic.

Gideon took a deep breath, picked up his pen, and wrote a new line at the beginning of the letter:

"My dear old brother, Necros..."

Seven days later.

Early morning, Grayrock Town, Adventurers' Guild.

Lance sat behind the guild counter, mechanically sorting through the week's quest receipts while his mind reviewed what he had gained lately.

The past week had been busy and fulfilling.

He had found time to visit Copper Creek Forest twice more, deliberately choosing unpopular routes, and had finally gathered enough Blood-Clotting Moss.

Judging by the system's progress bar, he only needed to finish the final drying process when he returned tonight for the Research task on the improved [Hemostatic Ointment] formula to be completely finished.

That gave him a little more confidence.

Yet alongside those gains, his unease had continued to grow.

During these outings, Lance had kept the system entry that monitored the environment activated at all times.

What he observed weighed heavily on his heart.

The green entry representing the area's condition still displayed "Restless," but the note after it had undergone a terrifying change.

[The range of fluctuation in this area's Environmental Stability has been adjusted to 8%]

A week ago, that number had still been 5%.

That additional 3% meant the instability within the forest was worsening.

The ever-increasing casualty reports arriving at the guild each day confirmed it as well.

This sense of urgency did not allow Lance to relax at all.

Over the past week, he had trained himself like mad.

Besides his unshakable daily sword drills, he had also forced himself to spend a full hour in the training room practicing archery every day.

Lance summoned the system panel and swept his gaze over the two skill entries.

[Castro Swordsmanship LV3 (176/250)]

After this period of relentless honing, this military swordsmanship was already on the verge of advancing to the Mastery level, LV4.

And beneath it, another new line had appeared.

Inspired by those Botany books last time, he had not sought out a teacher to learn the skill this time. Instead, he had spent 6 silver coins buying someone else's books on archery.

Sure enough, this could also generate a skill in the skill list. Paying someone to teach him last time had been a loss.

Still, that person was from the Veterans' Guild. That connection might prove useful later.

[Levin Archery LV2 (42/240)]

But the difference between them revealed a pattern to him.

At the same level, archery required far more experience to level up than swordsmanship.

And the attribute feedback it provided was completely different as well.

From beginner level until now, swordsmanship had given him roughly 3 points of basic attribute bonuses in scattered increments.

Yet despite archery increasing by one level, it had not provided him with any attribute improvement.

"Looks like the harder a skill is to train, the greater the improvement isn't necessarily going to be."