CHAPTER 173: FROST GUARD AND FROST ELEMENT REAGENT

This time the silver door that appeared before him was indeed silver, but this door was different from the previous ones—along its edges it was inlaid with a strip of gold.

What is this… gold-wrapped silver?

In any case, it looked like a tier above the Silver-level chamber. No—more like a half-step higher than that.

The enemies hiding behind this chamber were probably different and tougher than before. He wondered whether his shadow clone could still defeat them.

Lin Mo sharpened his focus to the maximum, carefully controlled the clone, and pushed open the gold-edged silver door.

Almost the instant the door opened, a black shape suddenly lunged out.

Lin Mo reacted just in time, raising the Black Sword to block, but he was still slammed back over ten meters before he regained his footing.

Such power. Such speed!

Sure enough, this was completely different from the monsters in the Silver-level chambers. Even the Crimson Flame Tiger he had just killed paled in comparison to this creature.

This is not just level 4;

it might be level 4.5.

Lin Mo looked up and stared ahead. A black body over a meter thick coiled there, and it flicked out a blood-red forked tongue.

Judging by its appearance… could it be a Blackwater Serpent?

Lin Mo wasn’t entirely certain. He had only seen the basic monster compendium before and hadn’t memorized everything. But based on outward features, it did resemble the Blackwater Serpent in the compendium.

That was also an extremely powerful monster. Even if the Blackwater Serpent’s bloodline couldn’t quite match the Crimson Flame Tiger’s, the gap wouldn’t be that large—and this serpent was clearly at a much higher level than the tiger.

Relying solely on a clone, it would be hard to finish it off.

Try attacking it first and see?

After all, the clone was already in here and time hadn't run out. He might as well have some fun and give it a shot.

Lin Mo gripped the Black Sword and had the clone take the initiative to attack the massive serpent. But before the clone could reach it, the serpent lashed out with a thick tail like a whip.

In the narrow corridor Lin Mo had no room to dodge and could only brace himself and collide head-on. Unsurprisingly, the tail slammed him flying again, as if hit by a train—his body felt like it was about to disintegrate.

This was only survivable because he also had the Knight profession and a higher Constitution attribute. Otherwise, a normal level-3 Warrior or Assassin would have been seriously wounded, lost combat capability, or even died on the spot.

Definitely more than level 4!

This fellow’s strength was exactly as Lin Mo had guessed: level 4.5.

It seemed he would have to handle it himself. He was annoyed that the serpent had just been thrashing his clone, so he charged up again.

Mockery and contempt flashed in the Blackwater Serpent’s eyes, and it lashed its tail again.

But this time, the instant its tail struck the clone, Lin Mo suddenly ordered the clone to self-destruct.

A massive explosion erupted. The Blackwater Serpent felt searing pain and hastily withdrew its tail, which had been blown into a cratered wreck, and it let out a furious, hoarse hiss.

“Hmph.”

Element chuckled inwardly—even if it was a level 4.5 monster, that initial explosion likely hurt badly, right?

Although there was a small chance it might not go into the next chamber, since not all eight paths had been explored, it made sense to skip the first corridor.

So Lin Mo summoned a clone again and moved into the foremost room.

This time a normal silver door appeared—looking like an ordinary Silver-level chamber.

He pushed the door open and found a jet-black Cat Demon confronting him.

An agility-type opponent?

No matter. For Lin Mo, any opponent type had counters—being well-rounded in attributes was an advantage;

stat monsters were willful.

He wasn’t planning to waste much time on this fight, so he used the fastest, most convenient method. When the Cat Demon screeched and launched its attack, Lin Mo stood frozen as if stunned.

But the instant the Cat Demon’s claws touched the clone—

Boom!

There was a thunderous explosion. Even Lin Mo’s main body on the outside could faintly sense the commotion.

[Shadow Split] proficiency +15

This self-destruct move was unbelievably useful!

Next, he would deal with that damned Blackwater Serpent.

Lin Mo rose to his feet. Sherfilia, who had been resting with her eyes closed beside him, opened them and asked, “Decided?”

“Mm.”

Lin Mo nodded and pointed toward the third forked path. “Take this way.”

Sherfilia followed silently, staying about half a body behind him, studying his back with interest.

Although many things had not been openly discussed, Sherfilia probably already understood Miss Finnie’s feelings better than anyone involved.

Having grown up by her side, Sherfilia had been quietly observing them. Finnie’s expressions and behavior had been obvious to her.

Even Madam Shachel had shown some implicit approval, indicating she wasn’t opposed to it, which meant…

Sherfilia shook her head and stopped thinking further, though her face had become somewhat awkward—an unusual expression for the typically stoic Sherfilia.

Unfortunately, Lin Mo was fully focused on pressing forward to get revenge on the Blackwater Serpent and didn’t notice these subtleties.

They finally arrived before the gold-edged silver door. Learning from the previous setback, Lin Mo immediately used Rock Shield and walked forward under its protection.

Sure enough, the next moment a black tail whipped toward him.

The same trick again!

A fierce look flashed in Lin Mo’s eyes. The Rock Shield blocked the attack while his sword hand, which wasn’t holding the blade, rapidly condensed fire element into a blazing arrow and shot at the serpent’s tail.

[Flame Arrow Annihilation]!

The sharp, scorching arrow pierced through the Blackwater Serpent’s tail, leaving a red, gaping hole.

The serpent howled in agony and spat a cloud of black mist toward Lin Mo.

Lin Mo had anticipated this. He sidestepped to avoid the mist and, at the same time, ignited another Flame Arrow aimed at the serpent’s forehead.

A level-4.5 monster was not a trivial minion;

it wasn’t so stupid as to get hit easily.

The Blackwater Serpent twisted its head just in time to narrowly avoid Lin Mo’s strike.

But the next instant, Lin Mo’s figure vanished from the serpent’s sight.

Where did he go?

The serpent looked around in confusion.

Sherfilia stood outside the door, watching the scene with fascination.

The next moment Lin Mo suddenly materialized at the serpent’s flank, swung the Black Sword toward its huge head, and the serpent reacted by turning and swallowing Lin Mo whole in one bite.

Yet at that instant another thunderous explosion rang out. The serpent’s mouth was blown up with scars, its head dizzy and stunned, and it could not react to what had happened.

A figure then appeared behind it;

crimson sword energy sliced across the skull and neatly decapitated the serpent’s black head.

Handled easily.

Although a level-4.5 monster wasn’t a serious challenge for Lin Mo now, if the fight had been done by normal means it might not have been resolved this quickly or simply.

[Shadow Split] indeed had a very high skill ceiling.

This was only one of the simplest uses. As Lin Mo developed the skill and raised its level, there would be many more tactics.

If the skill evolved as Lin Mo hoped and unlocked selectable release options, the tactical possibilities would multiply.

No wonder it was an Epic-level skill—truly powerful.

[Blood Qi Blade] proficiency +26

Unfortunately, because the damage wasn’t dealt simultaneously earlier, only one skill’s proficiency increased.

That meant exploiting the proficiency bug for Shadow Split was somewhat demanding.

After gaining those 26 proficiency points, [Blood Qi Blade] was only four points away from leveling up.

As one of Lin Mo’s strongest single-target skills, [Blood Qi Blade] should be a primary training focus.

But Lin Mo had so many skills now;

he really had to train them one by one.

The Blackwater Serpent’s corpse still had value—its eyes and gallbladder were particularly useful materials.

Lin Mo carefully dug out the eye with a short blade while Sherfilia dissected the body and removed the gallbladder.

“Thanks.”

Lin Mo accepted the gallbladder and thanked her reflexively.

Sherfilia shook her head. “No need to be so formal.”

Does that mean they were close—friends now?

Lin Mo stood and began searching the chamber for the treasure chest. Compared to earlier rooms, these later chambers had much more light, making treasure-hunting easier. Soon he found an unusual silver chest tucked in a corner.

Just like the chamber’s door, the chest’s edges were highlighted with gold.

This chest should hold something good, right?

To be honest, up to now—even though he had obtained a Taunt skill—the treasure rewards from the Secret Realm had disappointed Lin Mo and fallen short of his expectations.

He hoped this chest wouldn’t disappoint.

With that in mind, Lin Mo opened the chest. Inside lay a blue reagent and a scroll.

A blue reagent?

Last time he entered the Secret Realm he had found a red Flame Reagent. Could this blue reagent be a Frost Reagent?

He touched the bottle;

it felt distinctly cold to the touch.

Lin Mo picked it up and suddenly blurted in surprise.

“Huh?”

Because a line of information suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Beginner Frost Reagent]: An alchemical potion infused with potent frost element. Drinking it increases the user’s frost element affinity by 13%.

Just as Lin Mo had thought, this blue reagent was a Frost Reagent.

What surprised him was the information that had popped up.

He clearly remembered last time he entered this Secret Realm he could not identify alchemical potions—their details did not appear for him—so he had to take that reagent to Yulian in Roland Town to learn its effects.

When had this changed?

He had never had such an opportunity, so Lin Mo had no idea when he had gained this new ability.

What caused the change?

After pondering with no clue, he opened his attribute panel and checked his current Spirit attribute bonus—which had reached 19 points.

Could this be caused by the Spirit attribute?

Although he had no definite evidence, Lin Mo felt the possibility was very high.

In any case, this was another pleasant surprise.

An enhanced identification ability not only meant he could now see reagent properties, but as his Spirit attribute continued to increase, perhaps this ability could develop further.

For example, could he someday identify other people’s attributes, skills, or weaknesses?

Of course, this was only Lin Mo’s conjecture.

Without hesitation, Lin Mo opened the bottle and drank the Frost Reagent in one gulp.

It had little flavor but tasted pleasantly icy.

Soon he felt frost element magic surge through his body, and he noticed subtle changes within himself.

[Used Beginner Frost Reagent. Frost Element Affinity +13%.]

Frost element magic was one of Lin Mo’s frequently used elements, so the affinity boost was significant.

He already had some frost element affinity from earlier—when he fought the Icy Rotted Corpse, its Core Bone had been made into a bead by Madam Shachel and mounted into his mithril gloves.

That bead had provided +16% frost affinity. Elemental affinity experiences diminishing returns;

he wondered how much 13% plus 16% would be after decay.

Lin Mo checked his attribute panel.

Frost Element Affinity: 27%

So the decay wasn’t severe. Normally 13% + 16% would equal 29%, but he had 27%—only 2% lost, which was acceptable.

However, if he kept stacking affinity, decay might worsen.

Besides the Frost Reagent, the chest also contained a skill scroll.

Lin Mo opened the scroll and his eyes lit up.

A magic scroll!

That was more like the sort of thing a gold chest should contain.

The spell on the scroll was Frost Guard—a defensive-type skill.

But Frost Guard differed from his Rock Shield.

Rock Shield truly created a shield constructed of earth element, while Frost Guard was similar to a traditional mage protection: a magical barrier released around the body to defend from all directions.

Compared to Rock Shield, Frost Guard would probably be weaker against physical attacks but broader in range and more effective against magical assaults.

Since Lin Mo now had 27% frost element affinity, Frost Guard would be especially potent.

This skill’s future utility looked promising.

[Frost Guard] was an Excellent-grade skill. Excellent-grade magics were composed of four magic circuits, making them relatively complex.

Lin Mo studied the circuits written on the scroll for a good while and felt the residual spiritual energy left by the scroll’s creator, which helped him quickly grasp the skill.

After some time, Lin Mo put the scroll down.

A message then appeared before his eyes:

“Skill learned: [Frost Guard]. Attribute points gained: Mana +2.”

“All right, let’s keep going.”

Lin Mo tucked the scroll into his pack and stood, heading toward the door at the other end of the chamber.

Sherfilia hesitated a moment, then couldn’t help asking, “Were you just learning a skill?”

“Sort of…”

Lin Mo gave an ambiguous reply, and Sherfilia didn’t press further.

He pushed open another silver door edged with gold like the entrance, and before him were five branching paths.

One more than before. According to the pattern Lin Mo had deduced, the path’s end this time should lead to a Gold-level chamber.

Lin Mo used Shadow Split to create a clone and entered Path 1.

The route went smoothly and soon his clone reached a chamber door. As expected, a golden door gleamed before him.

Silver-level chambers sometimes had level-3 and 3.5 monsters, and the gold-edged silver had already produced level-4.5 monsters. A pure Gold-level chamber should contain monsters even stronger than the gold-wrapped-silver ones.

This was clearly far beyond a clone’s capability, but Lin Mo still pushed the clone’s door open.

Almost immediately a cone of ice shot out and pierced the clone’s chest.

An explosion sounded. Before his sight cut out, Lin Mo barely glimpsed the real attacker: a bear covered in deep blue fur.

An Ice Bear—similar to an Earth Bear but with ice attributes.

Judging by the ice cone it released, this Ice Bear was definitely above level 5, though whether level 5, 5.5, or higher was unknown.

Lin Mo released a second clone and sent it down Path 2. This time the room contained an Ogre.

A fairly common monster, though Ogres didn’t appear in Roland Forest, so Lin Mo had never seen one in person until now.

Ogres were widely known as mid-tier monsters and sometimes had an even worse reputation than Goblins in certain regions. When ordinary humans met Goblins and the number was manageable, there might still be a chance to resist;

meet an Ogre and whether you resist or flee, survival was unlikely.

An Ogre’s single-body power greatly exceeded a Goblin’s. Even a subadult Ogre could be around level 5;

an adult Ogre was usually level 6 or above—on par with Veteran-level professionals.

Fortunately, Ogres did not proliferate as widely, so their numbers weren’t huge, and in terms of danger to authorities, they were less problematic than Goblins.

Neither of these two monsters was easy to handle. The Gold-level chambers had ramped up in difficulty again.

Lin Mo didn’t rush. He sent out three more clones to inspect the remaining rooms. None had special gold-edged doors like the earlier one;

overall monster strength across them was similar—any of them would do.

In the end Lin Mo chose the chamber with the Ogre.

The reason was simple: with similar value outputs, the Ogre’s best material—its teeth—took up the least inventory space.

Everything still boiled down to the lack of a Magic Storage Bag;

backpack space was limited. If he had a Magic Storage Bag, many of these problems would be solved.

Having chosen the path, Lin Mo stepped into Path 2.

Sherfilia followed close behind. Along the way she watched Lin Mo fight. Although she had seen many battles before, seeing them up close felt different.

After so much time watching, what impressed her most wasn’t his flashy skills but his battlefield operations and reactions.

In fact, during their previous sparring, Sherfilia had noticed nuances: Lin Mo’s aptitude for skills was strong, and he was also a prodigy in combat.

He grasped taught techniques quickly;

tricks used to ambush him became ineffective after a few uses. His combat growth shocked Sherfilia, who had undergone training since childhood.

She knew how much effort it took to gain such combat experience—yet for Lin Mo it seemed effortless.

Spending too much time around someone like him could mess with your mind and occasionally deliver blows to your self-esteem…

Soon they arrived before a golden door. Because Lin Mo’s clone had already opened it earlier, they could see inside: a roughly three-meter-tall Ogre, gray all over, with very coarse skin.

The Ogre looked truly ugly, with a slovenly face and teeth that would terrify children.