CHAPTER 174: INTERMEDIATE FLAME REAGENT!

Seeing two humans suddenly appear before it, the ogre's first reaction was naturally excitement.

However, after clearly seeing Lin Mo's face, its enthusiastic mood was instantly doused like a bucket of cold water.

It remembered that this was the guy who had rushed right up to it after pushing the door open, then inexplicably exploded. Although the explosion wasn't powerful enough to cause serious injury, it still hurt quite a bit.

Most importantly, being able to see food but not eat it made this seasoned gourmet ogre rather frustrated.

Human sightings were already rare in this godforsaken place, and most of the time it had to rely on eating those filthy goblins to fill its stomach. This ogre, who particularly enjoyed eating humans, found it quite uncomfortable. Now that delicious food had finally appeared before its eyes, it turned out to be fake and would explode...

Clearly, it had developed some psychological trauma.

Lin Mo smiled slightly and used the [Shadow Split] skill again, creating a clone.

The next second, two Lin Mos simultaneously charged toward the ogre before them.

While the ogre was still stunned, Lin Mo had already rushed to its front and slashed at its ankle with his sword.

There was no helping it—this thing was just too tall. If he wanted to attack its vital points, he'd have to jump, and dodging in mid-air was difficult. Against an opponent of similar level, such movements couldn't be used lightly.

The sharp Black Sword left a deep, bone-revealing wound on the ogre's ankle. The ogre, feeling the pain, finally snapped out of it and hurriedly swung the Spiked Club in its hand, smashing toward Lin Mo.

Ogres weren't low in intelligence;

they could even rival ordinary humans. Since two Lin Mos had attacked simultaneously but with different strength, causing different levels of damage, it quickly determined which one was Lin Mo's true body.

Thus, it also figured out why this guy had exploded earlier.

The enraged ogre put all its strength into this strike, its massive Spiked Club wrapped in powerful Qi and Blood. If hit by this blow, even a level 5 Knight probably wouldn't fare well.

Lin Mo's Constitution clearly wasn't sufficient to withstand such an attack head-on.

Therefore, he had no intention of trying to grind [Fortitude] proficiency and naturally had to avoid its sharp edge.

But he showed no intention of dodging, instead looking toward the clone that had continued forward after initiating the attack and had already covered some distance.

The next moment, with a thought from Lin Mo, the scenery before him instantly changed.

"Beau—"

A roaring explosion sounded behind him. Clearly, after he swapped positions with his clone, the ogre's strike had directly smashed the clone, thus triggering the clone's explosion effect. ṙ𝘼ꞐО฿Еᶊ

The ogre, having eaten another point-blank self-destruct, looked utterly disheveled, with numerous wounds appearing on its rough skin. Although none were fatal, they clearly caused significant damage.

Just the power of this self-destruction probably surpassed many Excellent-grade skills.

Of course, since it was ultimately an AOE skill, its single-target damage was relatively lacking.

Without hesitation, Lin Mo turned around and unleashed an Accumulated Sword Combo—seven Sword Energy blades simultaneously flying toward the ogre. The ogre, having just taken a self-destruct hit and being furious, completely failed to notice the incoming Sword Energy, so all blades struck it.

Lin Mo deliberately directed all Sword Energy toward one spot, so the power of seven blades stacked up, leaving a deep, bone-revealing wound across the ogre's chest and abdomen.

Gushing blood poured out. The ogre, without even touching Lin Mo once, had suffered such severe injuries, making it even more furious.

However, no matter how angry it got, it was ultimately just futile rage.

Lin Mo knew that even if he wasn't inferior in strength, he couldn't gain much advantage, so he didn't give it any chance for a straightforward fight.

Originally, in such relatively narrow environments, even with a speed advantage, space limitations might prevent constant evasion.

But after obtaining the [Shadow Split] skill, the situation became completely different.

Lin Mo only needed to create a clone and position his true body and clone in different spots, allowing him to swap positions at any time. This made the ogre's attacks miss entirely—not only failing to hit him but also getting blasted by the clone's explosion.

After several such instances, it became somewhat afraid to fight.

Fighting meant getting blown up, while not fighting meant passively enduring Lin Mo's Sword Energy and magic consumption. This thoroughly confused and disoriented the ogre.

It was about time.

Lin Mo's gaze sharpened as he looked at the battered ogre, and a bloody Sword Energy suddenly shot out.

[Blood Qi Blade], as a single-target Excellent-grade skill that traded self-inflicted damage for higher power, could be said to be Lin Mo's current highest single-target damage skill against enemies.

The ogre's condition had already been heavily depleted by Lin Mo's previous combat tactics. Its mind was unclear, and continuous blood loss accelerated its stamina drainage. It completely failed to dodge this sudden bloody Sword Energy.

Thus, a red line suddenly appeared across its neck, and the ogre's movements froze.

It lowered its head, and that ugly head consequently rolled off.

[Blood Qi Blade] proficiency +30!

Only 30 proficiency points for a level 5 magical creature?

Lin Mo shook his head—the value really wasn't great. Rather than this, he might as well directly fight level 6 creatures.

That way, fighting two levels higher would grant additional proficiency.

After all, judging from this battle's performance, as long as he stayed steady and didn't get reckless, maintained distance, and used the [Shadow Split] skill to kite, level 6 magical creatures might not be impossible to fight.

Of course, the prerequisite was that they weren't agility-type creatures.

He approached and extracted the ogre's two sharp teeth, placing them in his backpack.

These things seemed quite valuable. Although untreated, they were smelly and looked somewhat disgusting, but after careful polishing by a Blacksmith, they became excellent materials for making short-handled weapons. In the hands of highly skilled Blacksmiths, they could completely produce Excellent-grade or even near-Excellent-grade daggers.

As for proper Excellent-grade weapons, those required at least Lord Level magical creature materials.

After collecting the materials, Lin Mo began searching the secret room.

Compared to the previous Bronze-rank and Silver-level secret rooms, the Gold-level secret room's space seemed larger again. The ground was covered with ogre excrement and what looked like goblin remains.

Couldn't this guy pay some attention to hygiene and at least clean this stuff out?

Enduring the foul odor assaulting his nostrils, Lin Mo quickened his pace searching the room.

Soon he found what he wanted—a pure golden treasure chest.

The chest felt heavier than previous ones, and the external material seemed to be genuine gold. Just this chest itself was probably worth no less than 30 Gold Coins.

If there wasn't more to carry later, he could put this chest in his backpack too.

But comparatively, what was more important was definitely the treasure inside this chest.

The previous gold-wrapped silver chest had already given an element reagent plus a Skill Scroll. He wondered what this Gold-level treasure chest would contain?

With expectant and excited feelings, Lin Mo opened the treasure chest.

Inside was a red potion, and nothing else.

Only one potion?

Lin Mo frowned—this was even worse than the previous gold-wrapped silver chest.

Unless...

His gaze fell on the reagent before him. This was clearly a Flame Reagent, but Lin Mo's first impression was that this reagent seemed different from the Flame Reagent he obtained during his last Secret Realm entry.

Now he could see alchemical potion information, so he didn't need to guess himself.

Soon, information about this element reagent appeared before Lin Mo's eyes.

[Intermediate Flame Reagent]: An alchemical potion containing powerful fire elements. Drinking it increases the user's fire element affinity by 26%. (Note: Requires having consumed a Primary Flame Reagent first, otherwise it may affect the reagent's effectiveness.)

Well then... this was actually an Intermediate Flame Reagent!

Lin Mo remembered clearly: if Primary Flame Reagents were generally worth around 600 Gold Coins, then Intermediate Flame Reagents cost at least 5,000 Gold Coins or more!

And based on previous experience, the element reagents crafted by this Secret Realm's owner had stronger effects than ordinary element reagents.

From this perspective, if the Secret Realm's element reagents were about 30% stronger than the most basic ones, then this Intermediate Flame Reagent's actual value would be at least 6,500 Gold Coins or more!

Even for current Lin Mo, this was an completely unaffordable huge sum.

Mages really were a money-burning profession... Ordinary mages might fare slightly better—they only needed to buy one such potion. But for a mage like Lin Mo who developed all attributes comprehensively, the goal was naturally to drink all element reagents. The combined value was quite frightening.

Moreover, based on the note above, element reagents couldn't be shortcut—they had to be consumed in order from primary upward. Not a single reagent's cost could be saved, otherwise it would affect subsequent reagent effects.

"Flame Reagent?"

Sherfilia beside him also recognized the alchemical reagent in Lin Mo's hand and stopped him from his intended action of drinking it.

"If you plan to drink a reagent of this level, you'd better make some preparations first."

"Preparations? What preparations?"

Lin Mo was stunned—did drinking a reagent require preparations?

But since Sherfilia said so, she must have her reasons, so Lin Mo stopped his action of uncorking the bottle and listened attentively.

"Unlike Primary Flame Reagents which contain relatively little fire element energy and are easier for newcomers to accept, Intermediate Flame Reagents contain much more fire element energy. At your current level, although you barely meet the requirement to drink it, the overly strong fire element energy will still affect you somewhat. Normally, this situation requires a water or ice element mage to provide support to ensure no issues occur..."

Sherfilia paused here: "We're in a Secret Realm now and don't have the conditions to find others for help. But since you know ice element magic yourself, you might attempt it, but be very careful. Remember to use your magic power to resonate with ice elements promptly to counteract the effects of excessive fire element energy. To be conservative, I suggest you drink half the reagent first."

"I see..."

Lin Mo nodded, "I understand."

He opened the potion bottle and, as Sherfilia suggested, drank half the reagent first, then recorked the bottle and placed it aside.

Lin Mo closed his eyes and sat cross-legged, soon clearly feeling the half portion of Flame Reagent he'd consumed gradually taking effect. A scorching energy quickly gathered in his lower abdomen and spread throughout his limbs.

This scorching energy was quite immense, somewhat beyond Lin Mo's expectations, making his whole body feel as if on fire, with faint burning pain.

Lin Mo quickly mobilized his magic power to resonate with ice and water elements, using these elemental powers to balance the excessive fire element energy within.

This approach clearly worked—the intensifying burning sensation noticeably slowed its progress. But the Flame Reagent's potency wouldn't dissipate that quickly, so it only prevented further deterioration for now.

The elemental energies gradually reached a delicate balance, and to maintain this balance, Lin Mo's magic power was being consumed at an extremely rapid rate.

His body felt like a furnace, while the ice and water elements he resonated with enveloped this furnace. This alternating ice and fire sensation was truly unpleasant, making Lin Mo quite uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Sherfilia had warned him, so he only drank half the Flame Reagent. Even with just half, if he had drunk the entire bottle in one go, Lin Mo didn't dare imagine what would have happened.

His internal organs might have been burned by this massive fire element energy.

As the potency gradually dissipated, the scorching sensation finally began to fade. Lin Mo sighed in relief and continued mobilizing his magic power, no longer resonating with ice and water elements but beginning to adapt to and accept the suddenly increased fire element energy within.

In this gradual integration, his magic power's affinity for fire elements slowly improved.

"Phew—"

After a long while, Lin Mo exhaled a turbid breath and opened his eyes.

Finally over... and that was just half.

Preparing to strike while the iron was hot and drink the other half of the Flame Reagent, he reached out and suddenly discovered his clothes had disappeared at some point, including the leather armor and that Frost Chill Robe...

Could they have burned away?

Lin Mo was startled—if that were true, the loss would be huge!

However, his peripheral vision soon noticed the blue robe folded very neatly nearby, and beside it was his leather armor, also intact.

Good, these two pieces of equipment were fine.

While relieved, Lin Mo also felt somewhat puzzled. He had been completely immersed in digesting the Flame Reagent's potency and didn't know what happened externally. When exactly were these equipment removed?

He couldn't help looking around and soon found Sherfilia's figure.

In his previous condition, Lin Mo clearly couldn't remove the equipment himself. That meant Sherfilia had helped take them off?

Thinking this, Lin Mo's gaze suddenly fell on his own body, and he hurriedly covered himself awkwardly.

Due to the scorching medicinal potency, his clothes had been completely burned away, leaving nothing behind.

Didn't that mean he'd been seen completely naked?

Lin Mo's expression turned somewhat strange, but the person involved, Sherfilia, didn't seem embarrassed at all, maintaining her usual aloof demeanor with no expression on her face.

Fortunately, he had prepared a spare set of clothes in his backpack for emergencies.

But now wasn't the time to put them on yet.

Lin Mo picked up the half bottle of Flame Reagent nearby, uncorked it again, and drank it all in one go.

Then he cleared his mind, closed his eyes again, and began digesting the Flame Reagent's potency.

With previous experience, this process went much smoother. Moreover, after his body underwent cleansing from the first half's potency, it clearly adapted better to this half's effects. Taking only about half the previous time, Lin Mo completely digested the Flame Reagent's potency.

And a prompt appeared before his eyes:

"Used Intermediate Flame Reagent. Fire element affinity +26%."

Previously, Lin Mo had a total of 26% fire element affinity—13% from the Primary Flame Reagent and another 13% from the Flame Magic Stone obtained together with that Flame Reagent.

After attenuation, these combined ultimately showed 25% fire element affinity effect.

What about now?

Lin Mo opened his attribute panel and looked at the element affinity section.

Fire element affinity: 35%

Indeed, as element affinity increased, attenuation became more severe.

Lin Mo's total element affinity should be 26% plus the magic stone's 13%, totaling 39%, yet the final display was only 35%—a 4% attenuation.

But then again, 35% fire element affinity was already quite powerful. The element affinity attribute not only increased casting speed for corresponding elements but also enhanced skill power—both crucial things for mages.

Opening his eyes, Lin Mo could finally change into the spare clothes from his backpack.

Putting on clothes finally eliminated that exposed feeling. Lin Mo donned the leather armor, draped the blue Mage Robes over it, then looked at Sherfilia, his expression still somewhat awkward.

"Thank you."

Honestly, he didn't know whether he should thank her or not.

Compared to his reaction, Sherfilia was the calmer one. She just glanced at Lin Mo calmly: "I told you, there's no need to be so polite with me."

It was strange.

Although their actual time together wasn't very long, based on Lin Mo's understanding of Sherfilia, if this had happened when they first met, she would have at most kindly reminded him about possible side effects of using the Flame Reagent—she wouldn't have specifically helped him remove his equipment.

This made it seem like she had become his maid...

Dismissing this somewhat impolite thought, Lin Mo stood up and stretched, confirming he was fine before continuing toward another door at the secret room's end.

Pushing open the golden door, five different branching paths appeared before him again.

For this Gold-level secret room, he only needed to use clones for scouting—fighting was completely unnecessary. After all, given the strength of magical creatures in Gold-level rooms, Lin Mo's clones had little room for resistance.

During this time, Lin Mo could also check a previously missed message.

"Skill [Blood Qi Blade] Lv4 (100/100) upgraded!"

"Current skill [Blood Qi Blade] Lv5 (26/180)"

[Blood Qi Blade] reached level 5, but level 5 still had level 6—still far from this skill evolving.

This Secret Realm trip had yielded several treasures for Lin Mo, but proficiency gains weren't substantial.

To quickly improve proficiency, he really needed to find his old friends—the goblins.

These numerous groups with generally low strength were the best choice for grinding skill proficiency.

Lin Mo's several significant improvements so far were all connected to goblins.

He hoped to obtain another relatively powerful skill next—that would make this Secret Realm trip quite perfect.

As his thoughts wandered, the scouting work reached the final path.

Lin Mo controlled the clone to walk to the path's end, then his face showed delight.

The door before him was overall golden but with some purple on the edges.

Just like the previous gold-wrapped silver, this room was "purple-wrapped gold."

No need for words—the next path was naturally this one.

Lin Mo quickened his pace and directly entered the fifth branching path.

As he walked, he suddenly looked at Sherfilia following behind: "This next battle might require your help."

Magical creatures in Gold-level rooms started at level 5, so for a "purple-wrapped gold" room half a level above Gold-level, the creatures inside likely reached level 6 or higher.

Lin Mo might not be completely unable to handle creatures of this level—he even had high probability of solo killing them—but that would be exhausting. Having been in the Secret Realm for so long, his condition wasn't great either.

Especially frequently using the [Shadow Split] skill to create clones for scouting—the Qi and Blood consumption was quite severe.

Including magic power—although Lin Mo hadn't used magic much along the way, when drinking the Flame Reagent earlier, to counteract the negative effects of the overly powerful fire element energy, he used tremendous magic power to resonate with ice and water elements.

So now his magic power was also nearly depleted.

As the saying goes, when you have external support, use it—no need to suffer unnecessarily.

Sherfilia nodded: "Leave it to me."

Soon they reached the path's end. This time, Lin Mo didn't have the clone push the door open in advance, saving it from instant annihilation and wasting Qi and Blood for nothing.

Thus, the door remained closed, but the clone hadn't expired yet. Now it could go open the door—even if instantly killed, it would at least have value, buying them an attack opportunity.

The clone walked to the golden door with purple edges and slowly pushed it open.

Just as Lin Mo expected, the next moment, a sharp Wind Blade shot out from inside, directly cutting Lin Mo's clone in half at the waist.

Simultaneously, they saw their opponent this time—a completely cyan wolf, not very large in size, less than two meters tall, with beautiful body lines that looked powerful and vigorous.

"Gale Wolf..."