Ice Element Control Talent Skill Book!

Xiao Wen flicked the longsword in his hand, tracing several sword flowers through the air as he thrust toward the Frost Crocodile Dragon's tail.

He naturally would not dare do something as foolish as using an egg to smash a rock.

At the instant the sword thrust out, the blade's vibration frequency suddenly increased dozens of times over.

The vibrating blade drew the surrounding airflow inward, forming a small spiraling force that altered the blade's trajectory. Rather than stabbing, it clung tightly to the Frost Crocodile Dragon's tail like a magnet. Several strands of lightning, like thin chains, could even be seen coiling around its tail from the sword tip.

Watching this unfold, Xiao Wen's smile deepened. "Got it."

He yanked his arm back, using the Frost Crocodile Dragon's recoil to launch himself swiftly onto its back. At the same time, the lightning at the sword tip vanished at a visible rate.

Putting away the Sword of Lightning, Xiao Wen repeatedly drove his longsword down, stabbing directly into the Frost Crocodile Dragon's back and dealing blow after blow.

Health -730.

Health -730.

...

Damage numbers rose from the Frost Crocodile Dragon's back, and its health bar visibly dwindled. When Xiao Wen drove in his final strike, its health was completely depleted. It collapsed to the ground, its body gradually sinking into the ice.

Player Experience +36242.

Xiao Wen glanced at his significantly increased experience bar, then looked back toward where the Frost Crocodile Dragon had died. A small blue ball of light floated above the ground.

Besides that, there was also a teal-blue book.

"This is..."

Xiao Wen narrowed his eyes, walked over, and picked up the book.

Ice Element Control · Talent Skill Book

Class: Mage, Magic Warrior

Level: 15

Bonus: Ice element affinity talent +10%

Description: A book containing a trace of the Frost Crocodile Dragon's power. It can help its user increase their affinity with the ice element.

"Looks like something incredible dropped. If this thing got out, those three Ice Snow guys would probably go crazy, wouldn't they?"

He picked up the talent skill book and tossed it into his backpack. Xiao Wen felt that this trip had been worthwhile.

Even if gathering the remaining nine sacrifices yielded nothing, it would still have been worth it!

Ice Element Control alone was enough to drive the Ice Snow Three Kings mad—or rather, every mage and magic warrior who followed the path of ice.

"I really didn't expect such a good thing to drop from the second sacrifice. Looks like my beloved Goddess of Luck hasn't abandoned me after all."

Xiao Wen smacked his lips before turning to the second small blue Energy Sphere.

Offering Two

Ritual Material

Grade: None

Level: None

Description: One of the sacrifices said to be used in rituals for the phantom beast Dream Eater. It escaped for unknown reasons. If all nine sacrifices can be gathered in the depths of the Dream Eater's Forbidden Ground, there may be unexpected gains.

Other than its color and clearly being different, its description was no different from Sacrifice I.

Xiao Wen did not dwell on it and continued waiting for the next battle.

The third stage took place in a forest. Xiao Wen's opponent was a Tree Python coiled around a trunk. It was likewise the projection of a powerful monster, level 15, and not much different from the Frost Crocodile Dragon and Cyclops before it. Xiao Wen only managed to defeat it after great effort.

The fourth stage was a lava region...

The fifth stage... the sixth stage...

When Xiao Wen severed the head of a Golden Leopard, he successfully cleared the eighth stage.

His level also jumped directly from level eight to level nine, leaving him only one step away from level ten.

Rising from level six to level nine in a single day, gaining three levels so quickly—none of the Four Emperors had ever achieved such a leveling speed.

Not even Xiao Wen himself had expected it.

Fortunately, he had entered this strange Nightmare Forbidden Ground and encountered eight powerful level 15 elite monsters along the way.

Though the strength of those eight elite monsters did not differ much, each one gave more experience than the last. After Xiao Wen killed the sacrifice in the eighth stage, the experience he received had reached over fifty thousand, equivalent to others killing nearly a hundred monsters of the same level.

"Ninth stage already. I'm getting more and more curious about what the Nightmare Forbidden Ground behind this final stage looks like." Xiao Wen glanced at the eight balls of light in his backpack and spoke softly.

He lowered his head to look at the Sword of Lightning in his hand. Its once-solid blade had become illusory, as if it might dissipate at any moment.

Xiao Wen knew this was a sign that, after battle after battle, the energy within the Magic Card had gradually been exhausted.

"Looks like I need to hurry. I have to deal with the final sacrifice before the Sword of Lightning disappears."

Light flashed, and a mass of white mist once more rose from beneath his feet, shrouding the surroundings.

When the white mist dispersed, Xiao Wen suddenly found himself in a world of darkness. After a long while, a faint light gradually emerged from the darkness. He could vaguely see stark white bones scattered across the dark red earth. The land was barren, without even a single wild weed. There was only endless red soil, while vultures occasionally screeched through the sky and landed on the pale bones.

"Could the sacrifice of the ninth stage be these vultures?"

Xiao Wen looked toward the vultures, wanting to inspect their information, but there was no response at all. This only made him more doubtful.

He cautiously surveyed the surroundings, then slowly approached a nearby vulture. When he was close enough, he picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it at the bird.

The pebble flew straight through the vulture's body, sending ripples spreading outward.

An illusion?

The ninth stage of the Nightmare Forbidden Ground was an enclosed stone cavern. Oil lamps made from corpse oil burned all around it, while a huge formation covered in strange runes lay on the ground. And wasn't Xiao Wen standing in the center of that formation?

Only, Xiao Wen now stood motionless with vacant eyes. He had clearly fallen into an illusion and could not free himself.

"Hehehe... Human! Old Dream has waited so long, and a human finally came! Hehehe... My traps here weren't set up for nothing. Now I can finally leave this damned place."

At the end of the stone cavern, a mass of black mist drifted over. Two crimson points of light flickered within the dense fog.

It was the sacrifice of the ninth stage, as well as the phantom beast Dream Eater's favorite sacrifice—Nightmare!

It had no powerful offensive abilities, but it could rely on illusions to bewilder enemies and make them forget everything, just as Xiao Wen was now.

Nightmare floated before Xiao Wen and let out an indulgent moan. "Mmm... the scent of a living human. I haven't smelled it in so long. Can't eat him, have to hold back. I'm counting on this little cutie to take me outside. That damned Dream Eater, even after dying, it insisted on dragging us down with it!"

"But it doesn't matter. Old Dream can finally leave this damned place."

Amid its sighs, Nightmare plunged toward Xiao Wen.

Ding!

In that instant, the Millennium Puzzle on Xiao Wen's chest bloomed with dazzling light, illuminating the entire stone cavern.