Chen Ming's slash was swift and clean.
His long blade cleaved through the flames before him and struck the Flame Spirit.
"Whoosh—"
A wave of scorching heat surged upward.
The Flame Spirit drew back in a fury, the flames on its body burning fiercely.
Why wasn't this human following the usual script?
" its defense is pretty high."
After the strike, Chen Ming furrowed his brow slightly.
Against a normal level 8 beast, his current combat strength would let him deal with it easily.
But this Flame Spirit was far stronger than a normal beast.
With two skills on top of that, it might already be on par with a level 10 beast.
This wasn't simply a matter of fighting across five levels anymore. It was a gap between entire tiers.
Most importantly, the Flame Spirit had a means of launching mental attacks.
Compared to his Constitution, his Spirit was much lower.
Without further hesitation, Chen Ming tightened his grip on the Rock-Shattering Blade.
The faint red patterns on the blade immediately began to show.
Bloodthirsty Enchantment!
Strength +50%!
The massive boost filled Chen Ming with strength.
But the next moment,
he felt another strange power stirring in the Rock-Shattering Blade in his hand.
A faint, bloody aura seeped from the long blade and coiled around his palm.
Chen Ming instinctively understood that this energy carried a debuff.
Then...
Nothing happened.
The debuff energy wound once around Chen Ming's entire arm, seeming to fall into a daze.
Finally, the bloody aura sank into Chen Ming's body.
Like a mud ox entering the sea, it failed to stir even the slightest ripple.
Debuffs ineffective!
Boom—
At that moment, a wave of heat surged toward him.
The Flame Spirit attacked Chen Ming again.
A fireball several meters across came crashing down, its blaze nearly lighting up the night fog.
The whole canyon brightened.
At the same time,
above its flaming body, what looked like a pair of eerie pupils lit up, gleaming with a faint, ghostly light.
A dim beam shot toward Chen Ming at incredible speed.
Physical and mental attacks at once.
A double-pronged assault!
The enormous fireball came hurtling down from above. From Chen Ming's perspective, it looked like a sea of fire rushing at him.
At the same time, that heart-stopping sensation struck again.
Chen Ming still charged "straight into danger," barreling headlong into the attack's range.
His only target was the Flame Spirit itself.
[-1!] [-1! (Mental Damage)]
The moment the enormous fireball engulfed Chen Ming, it burst with a bang.
The exploding flames blossomed like a flower, scattering in every direction and landing on the surrounding rock walls, scorching the stone red.
Seeing its attack engulf the human below, the Flame Spirit let out several shrill cries.
Heh heh heh—
Its laughter echoed through the canyon.
Foolish human! He actually dared to take its skill head-on.
But the next second, the Flame Spirit was dumbfounded.
Once the surging flames had settled, the figure holding the long blade was still standing below, completely unharmed.
A faint bloody aura coiled around him as he walked straight through the wall of fire, paying no heed to the flames that had nearly reached his face.
Those flames were hot enough to burn through rock, yet they hadn't harmed him at all?
[-90!]
While the Flame Spirit was momentarily stunned, Chen Ming's attack had already landed.
After activating Bloodthirsty Enchantment, he seemed to radiate a berserk aura, surging forward without hesitation!
[-90!]
A blood-red slash struck the Flame Spirit, snuffing out some of the flames that made up its body.
"This ability is incredibly useful."
Seeing that he'd dealt half again as much damage, Chen Ming was very pleased.
He'd have to keep an eye out for Bloodthirsty Enchantment in the future.
And this was only the effect of a Tier 1 Bloodthirsty Enchantment.
A higher-tier one would surely provide an even stronger boost.
Although the greater the boost, the more severe the corresponding debuffs would probably be,
for Chen Ming, it was pure benefit.
It couldn't get much better!
"Hum—"
Just then, a strange vibration rippled through the air.
Chen Ming's mind went hazy, and his vision blurred for an instant.
But moments later, he broke free of its influence, his eyes clear once more.
He took a closer look.
The Flame Spirit seemed to be using some kind of mental skill.
The flames covering its body had all turned a dim, eerie color.
It looked like a ghost.
When the Flame Spirit saw Chen Ming break free of its control almost instantly, it froze in confusion.
[-90!]
Before it could think, Chen Ming's blade struck it head-on.
The Flame Spirit was utterly enraged.
Without hesitation, it unleashed its strongest attack: Mental Spike!
The dim light condensed into a sharp spike, which then appeared before Chen Ming in an instant, as if it had ignored the distance between them.
The spike pierced Chen Ming between the brows without any resistance.
[-1! (Mental Damage)]
It worked!
Seeing this, the Flame Spirit was overjoyed.
This human would suffer a mental breakdown the next second and become a useless...
[-180!]
The only response was a plain, unadorned slash.
"Chii!"
The Flame Spirit let out an enraged howl.
What on earth was wrong with this human?!
Physical attacks didn't work, and neither did mental attacks.
Weren't human Class Changers all supposed to be fragile, with paper-thin skin, breaking at the slightest touch?
"Huh? Why did the damage double?"
Seeing the doubled damage, Chen Ming was puzzled.
Had he somehow hit this beast's weak point?
He looked at the Flame Spirit. Its fiery body was no longer as vigorous as before; it had grown listless.
That mental attack skill had drained too much of its Spirit.
Simply put, it was exhausted...
Seeing this, Chen Ming sped up his attacks.
[-180!] [-1!] [-180!] [-1! (Mental Damage)]
"Chii—!"
[-180!] [Killed Flame Spirit (Lv. 8), Experience +200!] [Obtained: Flame Spirit - Beast Core (Lv. 8)] [Obtained: Strength Rune Stone ×2, Spirit Rune Stone ×1] [Obtained: Tier 1 Crystal ×1]
"Another crystal, and a Spirit Rune Stone!"
Chen Ming's face lit up with delight.
Now he had two Tier 1 Crystals.
Once he reached level 10, he could upgrade the two pieces of equipment he already had straight to Tier 2.
No need to buy new Tier 2 equipment.
"The Flame Spirit's beast core should be rather special, right?"
Looking at the beast core in his hand, Chen Ming fell into thought.
It was a Trick Beast, and its core came from a beast with mental skills. It had to be different from an ordinary beast core.
For instance, this kind of core was needed to craft equipment that boosted Spirit.
"This one can't be sold for cheap," Chen Ming muttered.
Alternatively, he could hand the core over to the guild, pay a commission, and have them craft a piece of Spirit equipment.
Spirit equipment rarely appeared on the market.
And Spirit Rune Stones were hard to come by.
If Chen Ming wanted the guild to craft Spirit equipment, he'd have to spend a fortune on Spirit Rune Stones as well.
Trying to get Spirit Rune Stones by killing beasts wasn't very realistic.
For one thing, beasts with mental abilities were extremely rare. Even if he killed one, it might not drop a rune stone.
If he tried to save them up one at a time, it would take forever.
After putting the beast core away, Chen Ming used the two Strength Rune Stones he'd obtained to empower the Rock-Shattering Blade.
[Strength +17!]
Then Chen Ming took a deep breath and looked toward the little rise.
He hadn't forgotten what he'd come here for.
A rare mental resource!
Chen Ming quickly climbed the rise and searched the smooth, cratered wall in the middle.
The azure flame still rested within the mass of air, burning quietly and giving off a faint, ghostly glow.
Like an oil lamp.
[Azure Flame Flowing Fire]: A mental attribute resource!
Before you continue