Chapter 60: Skill Fusion and the Titan's Source Code

The private laboratory at the Office of Ancient Language Research sat bathed in the soft glow of a magical lamp set on the oak desk.

Lucian leaned back in his chair, fingers laced together, eyes locked on two lines of gold-glowing text on the Unified System v2.0 interface.

[SKILL FUSION AVAILABLE!]

• Skill 1: 'Weakness Sight' — Level: Lv.10 (MAX).
• Skill 2: 'Value Assessment' — Level: Lv.1.

[Logical compatibility detected: Fusion candidate — Syntactic Weakness + Asset Assessment.]

[Proceed with fusion?]

Lucian tapped the confirmation button hovering in midair.

The two skill icons shattered instantly into thousands of blue and gold particles, spiraling together like two Lego pieces snapping into place, then reassembling into a new icon: a magnifying glass nested inside a contract.

[FUSION SUCCESSFUL!]

→ NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: 'READ THE FINE PRINT' LV.1!

[Effect breakdown:]

1. Combat: Instantly reveals structural weaknesses, cooldown timing, and magical vulnerabilities of any target within 0.1 seconds.
2. Economic & Social: Automatically dissects fraudulent clauses, hidden costs, legal risk, and true underlying motive in any contract, document, or spoken statement.

[NEW ANCIENT LANGUAGE IDENTIFIED: TITAN SCRIPT — COMPREHENSION: 5.0%!]

• Initial passive effect: Endurance +10%, increased resistance to physical impact damage.

Lucian stared at the words "Read the Fine Print," his mouth twitching slightly.

"This name... doesn't sound the least bit intimidating for a forbidden power."

He glanced over at the corner of his desk, where a pink envelope sat radiating a heavy rose perfume — a love letter from a second-year noble girl that had arrived earlier that afternoon.

Read the Fine Print Lv.1 activated automatically.

A faint red analysis window overlaid itself on the envelope.

[TEXT ANALYSIS: LOVE LETTER FROM SECOND-YEAR STUDENT]

• Emotional sincerity: 0.00%.
• Number of hollow promises: 12 lines.
• HIDDEN TRUE MOTIVE: Approach the young master of House Vance to secure an unsecured 500-gold loan, for the purpose of buying a ball gown for the autumn festival.

Lucian picked up the envelope and tossed it straight into the trash bin beneath the desk.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Peak anti-scam technology."

Click.

The lab door opened. Sylvia stepped in, carrying a thick stack of leather-bound magical maps, and set them on the desk.

"Master, this is the official terrain map of the Jungle Dungeon (Rank B), just released by the Academy administration for the field trip teams."

Lucian unrolled the hide map across the table.

With Read the Fine Print Lv.1 active, all the "safe" green terrain markings the school had advertised were instantly stripped bare.

Three flashing streaks of dark red light appeared across the map.

• Zone A (Marsh, Floor 3): Magical sinking earth capable of swallowing heavy armor whole; estimated fatality rate 45%.
• Zone B (Cavern, Floor 4): A nest of mana-corroding fungal spores; risk of temporary blindness, 70%.
• Zone C (Rocky Ravine, Floor 5): Heat exhaust vents from an underground Titan smelting furnace; risk of third-degree burns.

Lucian picked up a red-ink quill and drew a firm X through each of the three zones, muttering as he worked.

"The administration hid three death traps just to lower the student accident insurance premium? Absolutely shameless people running this school."

Beside him, Sylvia watched Lucian sketch a series of red arrows routing around the danger zones, her silver ears twitching faintly. She observed the decisive strokes of the ten-year-old's quill in silence, her sapphire eyes shining with admiration.

Master received the map and immediately saw through every trap the professors worked so hard to hide... He's secretly redrawing the safest route to protect the lives of every student at this school.

Sylvia pointed at the square, blocky characters engraved in the corner of the map.

"Master, those mechanical symbols on Floor 5 are Titan Script. The pre-war Titan civilization once built this entire dungeon complex as an underground manufacturing facility before it was buried."

Lucian scanned over the Titan characters.

Thanks to Photographic Recall Lv.1, the crude, heavily mathematical and mechanical grammar structure of the giant race was instantly loaded into his memory. His Titan Script comprehension on the System panel jumped from 5% to 12%.

A dense, solid sensation ran down Lucian's spine, his flesh and bones feeling somehow sturdier than before.

"Alright," Lucian said, folding the map and tucking it into his spatial ring. "Tomorrow, tell Astra to bring two folding camp chairs and a sun umbrella. We're camping on Floor 2 for three days, then heading back to collect our attendance credit."

"Yes, Master."

...

The next morning. The central plaza of Solaris Academy.

Two thousand students in gleaming armor, arcane weapons at the ready, stood lined up in formation by squad. Banners from every college fluttered in the sky above the triumphant blare of the departure horns.

At the front of the plaza, a massive spatial transport gate — a giant arched portal — spun with swirling green light: the official entrance to the Jungle Dungeon.

On the platform of honor, Princess Eleanor stood tall in her pristine white-and-gold holy knight armor, the holy sword at her hip blazing with radiant light in the morning sun.

She drew her sword half an inch from its sheath, pointed the tip toward the gate, and called out in a voice that rang across the entire academy.

"The Jungle Dungeon field exercise is officially underway! All squads... ADVANCE THROUGH THE GATE!"

BOOM!

Two thousand students roared in unison, marching forward in thunderous unison toward the swirling, radiant magical gate.