CHAPTER 71: GOLDEN SUN CITY

Rhys leaned back in his chair, the sunlight catching on the faint gold trim of his cufflinks."Then what did you mean?"

Maya’s eyes flicked away, finding sudden fascination in the swirl of juice in her glass. "I meant... someone like me doesn’t just fall into this kind of... situation."

He didn’t speak right away. Instead, he reached forward, cutting a piece of ripe melon and sliding the plate toward her. "You think you just fell into it?" His voice was quiet, but the edge of amusement was there.

She hesitated, picking up her fork. "You’re saying it wasn’t an accident?"

"I’m saying," he replied, leaning forward so his elbows rested on the table, "everything that happened last night... and everything that’s going to happen after... was already set in motion the moment we met."

Maya’s fork froze halfway to her mouth. "You sound like you planned this."

Rhys smirked. "I always plan, Maya. The only difference is... I enjoy it more when my opponent thinks they’re the one in control."

She set the fork down, narrowing her eyes. "Opponent? Is that what I am?"

His gaze didn’t waver. "Not anymore. You’re on my side now. Which means... your wins are my wins. And my wins..." He let the pause stretch, his eyes glinting with the same challenge from the night before. "...tend to be big."

Maya wanted to scoff, to roll her eyes, but the pull in his words made it hard to dismiss him. She took another sip of her drink instead, hoping it hid the small, treacherous smile tugging at her lips.

"Fine," she said, setting the glass down. "If I’m on your side now... what exactly am I winning?"

Rhys pushed his chair back slowly, rising without breaking eye contact. "You’ll see."

And with that, he extended his hand—not for a handshake, not for a deal, but simply for her to take.

Maya looked at the hand as she hesitated for some time but took it as Rhys smiled holding her hand he took her away.

Coming out of the room , he lead her all the way to the rooftop of the Golden Fox hotel as he asked her " What is your first Class?"

"huh?" She looked confused by the sudden question as he looked at her.

"Your class, Maya," he repeated. "Don’t make me ask a third time."

She exhaled slowly. "...Sun Warrior."

"Hm. Then I guess you can have this," he said, handing her what looked like a broken part of a scepter.

The moment she held it, a series of notifications flashed before her eyes, leaving her dumbfounded.

[ The fragment of the Sun God’s Scepter is reacting to your class... ]

[ Class Quest activated ]

[ You have acquired the class promotion quest for the Mythical Class: Saint of the Sun ]

[ Mythical Class – Saint of the Sun: The highest status figure after the Sun God, the Saint of the Sun holds powers equal to the god’s own. ]

[ The Saint of the Sun once served as the living symbol of the Sun God’s Church. But after the last Saint was killed in the Unification War a hundred thousand years ago, the scepter was lost, and the class disappeared with it. ]

[ But now, as a Sun Warrior, you have awakened the fragment once more. ]

[ Fate decrees that the Saint of the Sun shall walk the world again, cleansing it with purifying flames. ]

[ Quest: Find the remaining fragments of the Sun God’s Scepter ]

[ Time Limit

: None ]

[ Reward: Sun Warrior class promotion into Saint of the Sun ]

"What’s this? Is... is this a Legacy item?" she asked slowly.

Legacy items were at least legendary-grade rarity—on the same tier as treasures passed down from the heroes of the past or Powerful legacies of the dead.

And the legend of a Mythical-ranked class that had been absent for hundreds of thousands of years... something like that could easily be worth billions of Credits.

And she... she just got it for free?...Well, maybe not free.No, no, no—she didn’t sleep with him for it. She wasn’t that kind of girl—God, what was she even thinking?

"You know... I can literally see your thoughts, based on what your reactions," Rhys replied casually, dragging her thoughts back to reality.

Hearing him, she froze. Her face turned red as she stammered, "I– I can’t take this."

It took all the strength in her heart to say that... and maybe a piece of her sanity to even consider letting it go.

"Didn’t I tell you you’re mine?" Rhys said, suddenly pulling her by the waist.

Her breath hitched as she looked into his eyes—only to feel his lips press against hers, stealing the words from her mouth.

When he finally pulled away, he rested his forehead against hers. "You’re mine... and I’ll pamper you as much as I want."

His tone left no room for argument.

Her face burned, and she felt a strange, dreamy warmth seep into her mind at his words.

She blinked a few times, clutching the fragment as if it might vanish. "...Where did you even get this?"

Rhys shrugged, as if it was nothing. "Picked it up on the way here. Found it in a little shop."

She narrowed her eyes. "A little shop just happened to have the fragment of the Sun God’s Scepter?"

"My other class helps me in information gathering. With it, I can see an item’s history—that’s how I knew this ’antique junk’ was actually a powerful legacy class item," Rhys said simply, as it was indeed just a coincidence.

On his way here, he had simply been browsing antiques. It was a habit his grandfather had instilled in him—something about how the rich should have Rich like hobbies. Rhys had grown up surrounded by a collection of artifacts and rare objects, even keeping a grand hall in his home full of antiques from all around the world.

So, when he spotted an antique shop, he had entered out of curiosity. That curiosity, combined with his [Akashic Ruler] class skill—Authority of Lore—which let him identify anything tied to the world’s history, led him straight to the scepter fragment.

In the original book, this class had belonged to Raymond, a powerful ranker. He was known as "The Allrounder" because his class excelled in offense, defense, healing, and even buffs—truly an all-purpose class.

Rhys knew Raymond had once boasted about how he obtained it from the Golden Sun City, but never revealed exactly how. If not for that lack of detail, Rhys would have aimed for the class himself—but midway, he had already acquired the [Akashic Ruler] class. Now, he was set on giving it to her. She was already his, after all, so he saw no problem with it.

Maya nodded. "So... a support-based class. Your first class is truly great." She assumed [Akashic Ruler] was his first class, and Rhys didn’t correct her—just nodded.

He sat beside her, keeping Maya in his arms as she leaned against his chest. He added softly, "Now grow stronger, my little beauty."

She nodded, then asked, "What about the rest of the fragments?"

"The scepter will help you find them. The other fragments will resonate with it," he said. Then he glanced at her. "Where are you living right now? In the real world, I mean?"

"I live in City Thura, Sector X. I own a small apartment," she replied.

He nodded, then handed her his address. "Come to me in the real world. Virtual may feel real, but nothing beats the real thing," he whispered into her ear.

She shivered, fully understanding what he meant. "Yes... I will," she said, looking into his eyes with pure affection.

Rhys chuckled—she was completely smitten.

After a moment, she logged out.

Rhys stood up, stretching as he mumbled, "Now that Maya is on my side, time to get Mia a Special Class too."

Thanks to his knowledge of the book, he knew about many Special Classes—the only problem being that they were all notoriously difficult to obtain.

If it were just about his own strength, he would’ve already rushed ahead in power levels, but he also needed others to have strong combat power. That’s why, in the book, it was described that the Special Classe were always obtained by people of great talent or ridiculous luck.

And right now, he only had two to take under his wing: Maya—who now had her Special Class Ancient Tamer—and Mia, who was destined to become the Goddess of Ice, a Mythical Class.

But just Mythical Class won’t do him, he also want her to have a Special Class too and the only easily available one is now the Ancient Tamer.

He can just help Mia tame a normal Slime and evolve it into ist Ancient Variant and boom, she got the class with minor set back of having her level go back to level 1.

Which was nothing compared to a Special Class.

He could also try utilizing the same method Maya had used—the Endless Tower challenge, which churned out random rewards, sometimes even a Special Class, just like how Maya had gotten hers without any penalty.

However, that place had a heavy gacha element, and even in the book, he had never read about anyone actually obtaining a Special Class from it, so he ruled that option out.