"Azure Flame Flowing Fire? The name was pretty cool, but I wondered whether its actual effects lived up to it."
Chen Ming looked at the Pale Flame floating in his hand, his expression shifting slightly.
Only now, examining this strange flame carefully at close range, did he notice some clues.
The blue tail flame of the Azure Flame Flowing Fire was scorching hot, blazing fiercely.
Yet the pale white flame at its core was the complete opposite, seemingly devoid of any heat.
Chen Ming could even feel a faint chill in his palm.
Just then, the scenery in the canyon began to change.
[Congratulations! You have completed the 'Cloud Hidden Ravine Dungeon'!] [1. Treasure Hunt: Obtained 10 or more energy-attribute substances!] [Progress: 18/10] [2. Challenge: Successfully killed 5 or more Treasure-Guarding Exotic Beasts!] [Progress: 6/5] [Time Taken: 5 hours!] [Rating: Perfect!] [Dungeon Points +20!]
"The dungeon's cleared."
A perfect rating, just as expected!
He had already pushed himself to the limit. If he still couldn't earn a perfect rating, that would have been absurd.
"The dungeon points were actually 20?"
Dungeon points were, in truth, the points for the Grand Exam.
After the seventh day, dungeon rankings would open, and Class Changers would be ranked according to their points.
Twenty dungeon points were already equivalent to clearing three or four large-scale dungeons.
While other Class Changers were still struggling bitterly to reach Level 5,
Chen Ming had already begun accumulating dungeon point records.
['Cloud Hidden Ravine' Dungeon, Perfect Rating Clear Reward:] [Experience +500! First-Rank Epic Grade spiritual equipment!]
"Hiss... Epic Grade?"
Chen Ming's eyes lit up.
He had never expected to be rewarded with such rare equipment!
If he wanted to buy one from a guild, spiritual equipment would already cost far more than usual.
And Epic Grade spiritual equipment was simply impossible to find.
[Dust Heart Ring]: First-Rank Epic Grade spiritual equipment!
Just as he was about to inspect it, the aura around his body suddenly changed.
[Congratulations! Your level has risen to Level 6! (1,200 experience required for the next level)]
Chen Ming had only been one or two hundred experience away from Level 6.
The dungeon reward of 500 experience had successfully brought him to Level 6.
"This Dust Heart Ring even came with a 100-point Spirit bonus!"
The instant Chen Ming checked the Dust Heart Ring's attributes, he was stunned.
That was equivalent to having ten Spirit Rune Stones already embedded in it.
With that thought, Chen Ming took out the Spirit Rune Stone he had obtained from killing the Flame Spirit from his spiritual space and embedded it into the Dust Heart Ring.
[Spirit +110!]
"Not bad, not bad."
This attribute bonus was already comparable to leveling up.
And it was still nowhere near the limit.
A First-Rank Epic Grade piece of equipment could hold a total of thirty rune stones!
It was just that Spirit Rune Stones were rather difficult to obtain.
Once he returned, he would ask around at a few guilds to see whether they had any available.
Chen Ming equipped the Dust Heart Ring.
He glanced at his current attributes.
[Class]: Shield Guard [Level]: 6 [Strength]: 80 [Constitution]: 3500/4550 (20%) [Recovery]: 435 (19%) [Agility]: 79 [Spirit]: 820 (20%) [Skills]: [C-Rank · Battle-Hardened (Lv. 9)] [SSS-Rank · Absolute Defense (Max Level)]
"This wilderness dungeon was absolutely worth it."
Chen Ming was in an exceptionally good mood.
That was the advantage of wilderness dungeons. If one was lucky, the rewards could be enormous.
Of course, the greater the rewards, the greater the danger that accompanied them.
One might even encounter some terrifying dungeon and enter never to return.
After settling the matter of his equipment, Chen Ming looked once more at the [Azure Flame Flowing Fire] in his hand.
"This time, it couldn't possibly fail to make even a splash, could it?"
This thing was visibly far stronger than the [Mind Crystal].
Chen Ming did not hesitate and began absorbing it.
He used his Spirit to envelop the entire flame, drawing out the pure attribute energy within.
Compared with the rapid absorption of the Mind Crystal, the Azure Flame Flowing Fire was clearly much slower to absorb.
At the bottom of the ravine,
Chen Ming sat on the ground, the pale flame floating before his brow and giving off a dim radiance.
As time slowly passed, the flame could be seen growing smaller and smaller.
Only after it gradually vanished did Chen Ming slowly open his eyes.
[Spirit +10]
"They really weren't on the same level."
After absorbing two Mind Crystals without gaining even a single point of Spirit, he had been thoroughly disappointed.
Yet this mere wisp of flame directly gave him +10!
The difference was obvious.
Though looking at the numbers alone, it was merely equivalent to the bonus from one Spirit Rune Stone.
But the significance represented by the two was entirely different.
The greatest purpose of rare resources was to awaken skills.
And after absorbing the Azure Flame Flowing Fire, Chen Ming could finally sense some progress.
If absorbing attribute energy to awaken a skill was like storing water in a Water Pool, then there was now, at the very least, a layer of water covering its surface.
"Hmm, what was this?"
Suddenly, Chen Ming sensed something unusual.
He lowered his head to look at his hands, his expression briefly blank.
A faint flicker of fire flashed past.
The next second, a cluster of sparks abruptly appeared at his fingertips.
The pale flame swayed gently, its tip trailing a blue tail flame.
It was precisely the Pale Flame Chen Ming had already absorbed!
"This..."
Chen Ming's mouth fell slightly open, and for a moment, words caught in his throat.
[Armor Piercing: Attacks are imbued with Pale Flame, Armor Piercing +20%!]
Chen Ming spent a full half-minute processing the information before him.
To be honest, he was truly shocked.
Absorbing a rare resource had actually directly granted him an effect similar to a skill!
Chen Ming had heard of such things before.
But those were all resources said to be extraordinarily powerful, enough to be called treasures.
After absorbing such resources, Class Changers could "prematurely" grasp certain partial abilities they were about to awaken.
In other words,
after Chen Ming absorbed the Azure Flame Flowing Fire, the spiritual skill he would awaken would be an ability related to "Armor Piercing."
And now, he had "prematurely" gained control over part of that ability.
"So this thing was actually this powerful?"
Had it already reached the level of the treasure-grade resources from the rumors?
Looking at the Pale Flame's effect, Chen Ming could not suppress the upward curve of his lips.
This was an extra surprise, an unexpected gain.
What did he lack most when fighting across levels?
First, offensive methods.
Second, the Exotic Beasts' defenses were too high, making the damage he dealt far from impressive.
And now, 20% Armor Piercing!
This was even more useful than a 20% increase in attack power.
Chen Ming could not help beginning to look forward to it.
Just how powerful would the spiritual skill he awakened later be?
Before you continue