Chapter 370: Stage 40's Reward, Epic-Level Skill Teleport! |
The consumption for the shadow split outside had now doubled. Lin Mo roughly assessed it and confirmed that with only one split active and the split not engaged in combat, even with this doubled consumption, it was still completely insignificant as a burden for him.
Since they didn't plan to rest for a very long time, there was no need to enter the Portable Space. Everyone just found spots to sit and rest within this lounge area.
Although this space was relatively open, given their numbers, it still felt somewhat crowded.
Normally at times like this, Eve would never compete or fight for anything, preferring to retreat to a corner by herself to ponder things like skill techniques. But this time, she acted completely out of character, directly claiming a spot on the bed and then fixing her gaze intently on Lin Mo.
Seeing this, Lin Mo smiled slightly, immediately understanding her thoughts.
Eve usually maintained a rather placid demeanor. This didn't mean she didn't like Lin Mo; it was just that this girl herself didn't place as much importance on matters of emotion and wasn't good at expressing her feelings, which made her seem somewhat aloof.
But in reality, that wasn't the case. After spending more time with her, Lin Mo discovered that Eve was just a somewhat clumsy girl, not adept at expression.
In certain aspects, she even had unexpectedly contrasting traits... sometimes she could be even crazier than Ellie.
One could only say it was fortunate that Lin Mo's current Constitution attribute was strong enough; even so, he could still easily keep her in check.
However, this state didn't last long. After about ten minutes, Eve sat up from the bed and said, "I've rested enough. You should spend time with the others."
With that, she walked to a corner by herself, crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and began thinking.
Lin Mo shook his head somewhat helplessly. Wasn't this just pure teasing without taking responsibility?
But it wasn't a big problem. Tonight happened to be her turn on watch duty. He could properly deal with her then.
Just as they were resting, Lena, having received the news inside the Portable Space, prepared some simple snacks and fruits and came out to give them to everyone.
Everyone sat together chatting. At first, it was everyone talking together, but as the conversation went on, the more familiar girls naturally clustered into groups, forming several small circles discussing more... stimulating topics.
Like sharing experiences and techniques...
One could only say, once they truly became familiar, they weren't shy at all.
The rest period didn't last too long, about an hour, as everyone wasn't particularly tired to begin with. They just relaxed a bit because Eve suggested it.
Soon, Lin Mo led everyone forward again.
The path ahead was one they hadn't traveled last time, but overall, it wasn't much different. With Lin Mo's inexplicable, unreasonable intuition guiding them, the journey proceeded very smoothly.
The overall level of this Secret Realm wasn't particularly high. The highest-level Magical Creatures at Stage 30 were only Level 15.
Extrapolating from that, the Magical Creatures from Stages 30 to 40 should be around Levels 15 to 20. Creatures of this level posed absolutely no threat to the current Silver Radiance Team and instead had some value as practice targets.
The Magical Creatures encountered earlier on the road were simply too low-level even for Ellie and the others. They were instantly killed with a single move, offering no real combat value. But from Stage 30 onward, especially after Stage 35, the Magical Creatures were relatively more durable, at least not being instantly killed. So they could be used to practice certain skills or test out ideas. For example, Eve, after pondering for a moment earlier, had some new ideas she wanted to try.
Those Magical Creatures just happened to serve as perfect target dummies.
As for Lily... well, those Magical Creatures were far too weak for her.
They progressed smoothly through the stages and soon arrived at Stage 40.
The Magical Creatures at Stage 40 had a minimum level of 20. In theory, this level being similar to Lin Mo and the others should make them excellent practice opponents, but the actual situation wasn't like that. After receiving Lin Mo's Attribute Enhancement, his companions were now all-rounded warriors in multiple aspects, their actual combat power far exceeding that of other Professionals at the same level.
They had already warmed up earlier. Serious combat could be saved for later.
So Lin Mo didn't need to leave any monsters for them, taking care of them all himself to farm skill proficiency.
Among them, since the Shadow Split skill was a newly acquired Legendary Level skill, it naturally took priority. So Lin Mo created another shadow split, had the split kill the Magical Creatures, and smoothly raised the skill to Level 3.
This was also a relatively crucial level. Previously, Epic Level skills, upon reaching Level 3, would grant attribute points and the opportunity to choose an Evolution Path. Would Legendary Level skills be the same?
Before this, Lin Mo didn't have a clear answer. After all, based on prior experience, the level cap for Legendary Level skills was definitely different from Epic Level skills. Excellent-Grade skills had a cap of Level 6, Exceptional-Grade was Level 7, and Epic Level was Level 9. So what would the Legendary Level cap be? Level 11 or 12?
Would the number of times Legendary Level skills grant attribute points be the same as Epic Level skills, four times?
There were no clear answers to these questions.
Now it seemed that at least Level 3 yielded gains...
"Skill [Shadow Split] Lv2 (120/120) leveled up!"
"Current skill [Shadow Split] Lv3 (40/240)"
"Gained basic attribute points: Strength +2, Agility +8!"
As expected of a Legendary Level skill. Reaching Level 3 granted a full 10 basic attribute points. Lin Mo had only recently advanced to the Transcendent Level as an Assassin, and now his basic Agility attribute had reached 380 points, only 20 points away from leveling up again.
But the most important thing was undoubtedly the choice of Evolution Path.
Please choose evolution direction —
Evolution Path 1: Double Shadow II: The maximum number of shadow splits changes to 4!
Evolution Path 2: Finale I: The damage of the finishing Shadow Split increases by 70%!
Both evolution paths remained the same as when the skill was first acquired. One increased the maximum number of shadow splits, while the other boosted the damage of the finishing skill. But this time, the consideration needed to be more careful.
Because Lin Mo already had a maximum of three splits. If he chose Evolution Path 2, the total finishing skill power would be 3 × 1.7 = 5.1. If he chose Evolution Path 1, it would be 4 × 1 = 4. The difference in power was quite significant.
Moreover, increasing the maximum number of shadow splits by one would consume additional Qi and Blood.
Therefore, from a cost-effectiveness perspective, choosing Evolution Path 2 this time was undoubtedly more reasonable.
Additionally, during the previous battle, Lin Mo discovered another issue. Similar to when skills increased in grade before, using a Legendary Level skill to kill lower-level Magical Creatures resulted in attenuated proficiency gain, and the attenuation wasn't small—almost half compared to Epic Level skills.
Coupled with the fact that the proficiency required for leveling up was inherently much higher than for Epic Level skills, this back-and-forth made Legendary Level skills far more difficult to train than Epic Level ones.
This was the case for Magical Creatures below Level 20. Would it be the same for those above Level 20?
Lin Mo didn't have an answer, but there would be an opportunity to verify it soon.
After easily clearing Stage 40, another resting area appeared before them.
The lounge at Stage 40 was much wider than the one at Stage 30, but that wasn't important. What mattered was that there was finally a reward.
Lin Mo looked at the treasure chest in the center of the lounge. After walking through 40 stages, there was finally a treasure chest to open.
He remembered that from the Stage 30 reward, he had obtained [Spatial Creation], an incredibly useful Epic Level Space Magic skill, plus a lower Epic Level piece of equipment—the Magic-Resisting Gold-Thread Armor he was currently wearing.
And the treasure chest before him...
If his memory served him right, the gate after clearing Stage 10 was light blue, Stage 20's was dark blue, Stage 30's was light purple, and the one before him was dark purple. The reward was definitely better than Stage 30's.
Lin Mo rubbed his hands together and eagerly stepped forward to open the treasure chest.
What appeared before him was, once again, a skill scroll and a piece of equipment.
Lin Mo first picked up the skill scroll and unrolled it.
At the top of the skill scroll, only two words were written — Teleport!
The moment he saw the skill name, Lin Mo's eyes immediately lit up, followed by a surge of wild joy.
He had been coveting the Teleport skill for a long time. For no other reason than it was just too convenient... After experiencing large teleportation arrays a few times and comparing it to traveling on foot, the difference was immense.
Before entering this Secret Realm, the skill Lin Mo wanted most was the Teleport skill, and now it was actually given to him.
Ask and you shall receive?
Lin Mo recalled when he first entered this Secret Realm, he sensed that besides space, this realm seemed to have some connection to Time Magic as well.
If it really was "ask and you shall receive," then next time, how about giving him some Time Magic to enjoy?
Thinking this, Lin Mo laughed at himself. That was probably too wishful thinking...
Regardless, the Teleport skill before him was an absolutely delightful surprise. Lin Mo set the skill scroll aside and then looked at the Epic Level piece of equipment next to it.
Unlike the Magic-Resisting Gold-Thread Armor from Stage 30, the Epic Level equipment before him was an Upper Epic Level piece.
It was a bracelet.
[Soul-Condensing Bracelet]
Weapon Type: Magic Equipment / Accessory
Grade: Epic (Purple)
Attributes: Durability +240%, Sturdiness +190%
Hidden Attribute: Spirit Accumulation IV: Increases casting speed of all elemental spells by 20%; Enhances power of all elemental spells by 15%
Equipment Enhancement: Soul Condensation 1√: Gain 80 points of Spirit attribute enhancement during combat, and reduce received mental interference effects by 30%
Equipment Skill: Calm Mind: Dispels all mental negative effects below Legendary Level, greatly soothes mental state, and replenishes consumption.
A quite decent piece of equipment. The hidden attribute [Spirit Accumulation] offered lower bonuses compared to some Upper Epic Level equipment specializing in a single attribute, but its advantage lay in being more universal, providing bonuses to all attributes.
The equipment enhancement provided a substantial amount of Spirit attribute enhancement and also reduced received mental interference effects.
Before this, Lin Mo might have thought this effect wasn't particularly strong. But now, knowing of the existence of the Dark Tide, the value of this equipment rose considerably, as the Dark Tide could bewitch and erode the mind.
Even someone as powerful and willful as Joan, a Saintess, according to her own words, had developed significant mental issues under the long-term erosion and interference of the Dark Tide. This left her remaining wisp of a remnant soul extremely fragile, unable to stay conscious most of the time and constantly at risk of dissipating.
So, to avoid energy consumption that would further destabilize the remnant soul, Joan had been in a state of deep sleep recently.
After all, Lily now had Lin Mo by her side, so she no longer needed to constantly divert her attention to care for and look after her.
Later, Lin Mo would definitely need to find a way to solve this problem. He didn't want to watch this young woman, synonymous with the title of Saintess, simply dissipate.
Returning to the topic, the equipment skill [Calm Mind] on this item also had a very good effect.
For Mages, the depletion of Mana and Spirit was an unavoidable challenge.
Mana was relatively easier to manage, but the Spirit attribute... Many Mages were deficient in this aspect, leading them to be unable to continue fighting even before their Mana was exhausted due to excessive mental strain.
With equipment like this, that problem could be greatly alleviated.