The golden-eyed cadet, whose eyes were perhaps selectively and specifically drawn toward prices, definitely did not miss that fateful moment.

Honestly, the prompts came rushing toward him so quickly that it looked like someone was frantically shuffling an entire deck of cards.

Or worse—

Throwing them aside carelessly, as though none of them were extremely important, while frantically searching for the one that actually was.

It was the first time Luca had ever witnessed prompts behaving like this, and the overwhelming cascade of information left him frozen in place.

But make no mistake.

The dungeon owner’s discerning eyes and painfully honed money-grubbing instincts still managed to catch every horrifying detail.

[PURCHASE PURIFICATION CHAMBER UPGRADE?]

[COST: 2,000,000 CP.]

Then—

[PURCHASE DUNGEON-LINKED SPACE UPGRADE?]

[COST: 1,000,000 CP.]

And after that came an entire barrage of additional upgrades that somehow felt less optional and more like mandatory expenses needed to fully maximize the current dungeon level.

Yet he was concerned because they kept on going, not even giving him the time or the option to purchase all those unnervingly necessary upgrades.

Hey! Wait—!

As the prompts continued flipping past his vision like aggressively shuffled flashcards, Luca’s finger twitched repeatedly.

Dangerously.

But just as the golden-eyed dungeon owner—currently being psychologically assaulted by what looked like a grocery list of impending financial ruin—thought the nightmare was finally about to end, he suddenly stopped breathing.

Because a completely different prompt appeared before him.

One that was also unlike anything he had ever seen before.

The frantic shuffling abruptly ceased just as Luca wondered if something was wrong with D-29 today.

But then, out of the blue, the prompts condensed together into a single box surrounded by alternating yellow and black borders.

Oddly enough, it looked so much like a warning sign or perhaps a hazard label.

A warning for what exactly?

Well, apparently, the danger warning was for the progress bar that suddenly materialized right beneath it.

[INITIATE PHASE I OF BRIDGING?]

[COST: 10,000,000 CP]

[YES] [YES]

__

Now, in a game of two truths and a lie, between the statements below, which one shouldn’t be believed?

Statement 1: A mandatory upgrade with no attached description had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Statement 2: The options provided for said upgrade were surprisingly generous and fair.

Statement 3: The cost of such an upgrade could, in fact, be considered reasonable.

"..."

"..."

"Reasonable, my ass!"

That was definitely one blonde rushing to the rescue of his good brother after witnessing Luca collapse even further against both his husband and father.

"It’s asking for ten million CP and yet D-29 still can’t identify what the upgrade even is?!" the mop screeched dramatically while clutching onto one of Luca’s legs as if that somehow constituted meaningful support.

"Yes, brother," Luca replied weakly while looking visibly pale. "But the thing is... I don’t think this is actually an upgrade."

"Huh?"

"Normally, the prompts can all be identified through the correct labels," the dungeon owner explained carefully. "But this one only says ’Initiate Phase I of Bridging.’"

And right on cue—

A hand immediately flew over Ollie’s mouth.

"Mmph!"

Kyle was absolutely certain the next thing his wife was about to yell would be something along the lines of:

"If there’s a Phase I, then doesn’t that mean there’s a Phase II?!"

Frankly, those were not the kinds of heavily implied words they needed to introduce, while Luca already looked one bad notification away from death.

Thankfully, Xavier was much more prepared.

"Luca," the Imperial Prince said calmly, "even after the upgrade, there’s still a reasonable amount of CP remaining, correct?"

The pitiful money-grubber could only give a weak nod before hesitantly voicing his other concerns. His fingers fidgeted against each other while his expression grew increasingly conflicted, as though he were trying to convince himself just as much as everyone else.

"Before this unusual prompt, I actually watched the expected ones come up," Luca admitted while rubbing the side of his face awkwardly. "Well, at the very least, the labels were expected, but the prices were also a bit inflated."

He paused briefly before lowering his gaze.

"And as you can imagine, there were actually a lot of them now that we’re upgrading not just one, but two different areas."

Yes. That was exactly what Luca was worried about because they also had to consider the same things, or similar, for the dungeon-linked space.

And while they did have CP because of the battle at Zone Four, how could they possibly hope for something on that scale again just to replenish their balance?

The golden-eyed cadet unconsciously hugged his arms a little tighter while thinking about it, looking deeply troubled by the sheer amount of spending they were discussing.

Hearing that Luca had actually seen the other things they’d need to purchase, even Ollie paused to think.

"I see. But Brother, so far, we’ve only been asked to upgrade things when absolutely necessary, right?"

"Yes..." Luca nodded slowly before pressing his lips together. "And so far, the upgrades have all been beneficial, so I’m considering going through with them even if it’s a little risky."

Then he quietly added, almost like he was trying to reassure himself more than anyone else,

"If anything, we’ll just have to be more cautious until we can recover our emergency funds at the very least."

"Then let’s proceed with it for now," Xavier continued. "Afterward, we’ll simply prioritize replenishing the reserves in case of emergencies."

"Yes! He’s right, son!" Duke Leander immediately agreed with far too much confidence. "Once we’re allowed outside again, we can absolutely replenish everything! There’s no need to worry!"

The others around them also nodded in agreement.

The golden-eyed cadet took a shaky breath.

Honestly, the answer was already obvious.

They, as in him and even D-29, had already tried refusing the prompt.

Then they attempted to shelve it.

But unfortunately, neither worked.

Which meant that whether he liked it or not, he was going to have to agree to something unbelievably suspicious.

Truthfully, that part was terrifying. Far more terrifying than the glaring ten million CP attached to it.

Especially after learning that the prompt had not actually been authorized by D-29.

Still, with no alternatives available—but thankfully with everyone around him supporting him—Luca finally selected "Yes."

He even deliberately chose the option on the left side as always.

Just in case.

But what do you know?

It wouldn’t have mattered if they were to select the left one or the right one because, regardless of his choice, the prompt that followed what’d been initially a string of inviting ones was this:

[INITIALIZING PHASE I OF BRIDGING: SELECTING A DUNGEON...]

This time, the words appeared before everyone.

And Luca Soren Kyros—

A person who actually knew what dungeons truly were—

Understandably dropped to his knees.