Lucien was still thrilled about having such an incredible plugin when a brilliant beam of light suddenly descended within the hall.
From the light emerged a cold and aloof woman.
She glanced at Lucien indifferently and spoke in an emotionless tone:
"Adventurer, I am your guiding angel, Phyllian. Step forward to awaken your talent and profession."
The formulaic introduction felt stiff and impersonal.
Lucien furrowed his brow slightly…
This guiding angel's attitude wasn't exactly friendly.
Never mind, better to awaken his talent and profession first.
He stepped forward and stopped a short distance from Phyllian.
She conjured a golden staff and asked coldly,
"Shall we begin the awakening?"
"Yes!" Lucien nodded.
Phyllian raised her golden staff and touched it to Lucien's forehead.
The next moment, a powerful golden light enveloped Lucien's body.
[Ding! Awakening your talent… Your talent is: Mana Refund (F)]
[Ding! Awakening your profession… Your profession is: Summoner (Common)]
The notifications rang in Lucien's ears as the light faded, leaving him standing there in shock.
Talents were graded from F at the lowest, followed by E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS.
An F-grade talent? The lowest of the low!
Hurriedly, he opened the details of his talent:
[Mana Refund (F): Refunds 1% of mana when using a skill.]
Lucien's mouth twitched.
Refund 1%? That's practically nothing!
Then he looked at his profession and almost spat out blood.
Professions were categorized as: Basic, Common, Excellent, Elite, Epic, Legendary, and Mythical.
Higher-ranked professions provided better stat boosts upon leveling up and more powerful skill effects.
At the same level, without equipment, a Mythical profession's stats were ten times that of a Basic profession.
A Common profession was second to last—not the worst, but still bad enough.
And worst of all… he was a Summoner!
Not a Warrior or Knight—just a fragile, mana-draining caster.
Summoners were notorious for consuming massive amounts of mana,
and their early summoned creatures were pitifully weak.
He checked his skill panel and saw only one skill:
[Summon Goblin: Consumes 50 mana to summon a Common Goblin.]
A Goblin… a trash mob so weak that even unawakened commoners could kick it around.
And to summon one, he needed 50 mana!
At level 1, he only had 200 mana in total!
Looking back at his talent, Mana Refund… yeah, useless.
Lucien felt the universe mocking him.
If not for the plugin, he might have despaired on the spot.
"Never mind. I'll just pick a simple dungeon, pass the trial, and figure things out later…" Lucien thought gloomily.
At that moment, Phyllian spoke again with her cold, indifferent tone:
"You have one chance to purchase talents from the Talent Shop. Would you like to access the Talent Shop panel?"
Lucien froze.
"Talent Shop? What's that? I've never heard of it before."
But then his eyes widened.
If it was a shop, then his plugin might work here!
A Talent Shop… where you could buy talents? Oh, hell yes!
Lucien's mood lifted instantly. "Yes! Open it now!"
Phyllian smirked coldly and explained:
"Only adventurers who awaken F-grade talents can access the Talent Shop.
It's rare for anyone to meet the conditions—you may be the first in twenty years."
Lucien narrowed his eyes. He could hear the mocking tone in her voice!
Without saying more, Phyllian waved her golden staff. A panel appeared before Lucien.
The Talent Shop was filled with an assortment of talents, ranging from F to A grades.
It also offered items to upgrade talents from E to SSS.
All were priced in gold coins, and the prices were absurdly high.
Even the cheapest F-grade talent cost ten gold coins—enough to feed a family of four for a month.
Meanwhile, the cheapest A-grade talent started at a million gold coins!
Lucien touched the two silver coins in his pocket… his entire fortune.
Thankfully, the plugin was active!
Every price in the shop was slashed and replaced with one copper coin.
Grinning, Lucien scrolled through the options.
After a while, he frowned and asked,
"Why aren't there any S-grade or higher talents?"
Phyllian froze for a moment, then chuckled mockingly.
"S-grade talents cost tens of millions of gold coins. Could you even afford them?"
Lucien glared at her.
"Whether I can afford them is none of your business! Show me the SSS-grade talents! Forget the rest!"
His tone was sharp, and Phyllian was clearly irritated.
It was the first time an adventurer dared speak to her this way!
These musclebound men were so crude and infuriating!
Still, as a guiding angel, she had no authority to refuse his request.
"Fine, I'll show you… but let's see how you plan to pay for talents worth over ten billion gold coins each!"
She waved her staff again, and the panel refreshed to display only SSS-grade talents.
Lucien's eyes sparkled as he scanned through the options.
Drool almost dripped from his mouth.
Each talent was incredibly powerful—game-changing, even. He wanted them all!
"Can I only buy one? Can't you let me pick more?" he asked excitedly, wiping the corner of his mouth.
Phyllian was briefly stunned before sneering.
"You can only purchase one talent. However, if you have spare money, you can consider buying a talent upgrade item.
"With an SSS-grade talent upgrade item, you could enhance your F-grade talent to SSS-grade.
That way, you'd have two SSS-grade talents."
The upgrade items were just as expensive as the talents themselves.
Phyllian's words were dripping with sarcasm.
But Lucien thought it was a fantastic idea.
He carefully selected an SSS-grade talent that suited his Summoner profession,
then purchased an SSS-grade talent upgrade item.
After confirming his purchase, he felt his pocket lighten.
One silver coin was gone, replaced by eight copper coins.
Phyllian's cold expression shifted into one of utter shock.
Her eyes widened as she stared at Lucien, unable to believe he had actually paid for both the talent and the upgrade item!
Two SSS-grade talents right off the bat?!
How was this possible?!
Phyllian gritted her teeth in frustration.
Lucien's ability to pay wasn't her concern, but their earlier conflict made this feel like a slap in the face.
The smug look Lucien gave her only added fuel to the fire.
Phyllian's face darkened. After a moment of silence, she spoke coldly:
"You've completed your talent and profession awakening.
"Now, select the difficulty level for your Trial Dungeon.
Friendly advice: the higher the difficulty, the greater the rewards. Choose carefully."
Lucien sneered.
This angel clearly wanted him to pick a higher difficulty and get himself killed. Dream on!
He pointed at the "Normal" difficulty option without hesitation.
Phyllian squinted, her eyes gleaming with malice.
She suddenly smiled and raised her golden staff.
Lucien sensed something was wrong.
"Wait, you—"
Before he could finish, a golden light enveloped him. Moments later, a notification rang out:
[Ding! You have entered the Hell-Level Dungeon: Blood Moon Castle.]
As Lucien vanished, Phyllian smirked smugly.
"That's what you get for crossing me. Let's see how you survive this hell-level dungeon!
"Lose your talents, your profession, and become nothing but a commoner. Then we'll see how smug you are!"