Azathoth's Minions
Xiao Yu opened the skill menu, but to his surprise, this time there was no direct skill selection; instead, another option appeared.
Now that you have become the leader of a monster faction, you have gained more skill options (you get one chance to learn a leader skill every 20 levels).
Option 1: Obtained through normal means.
Option 2: Learn the leader's skills.
What does this mean? Xiao Yu thought about it for a moment, and then quickly understood.
Back when he was playing as a fire elementalist, he didn't advance to the beginner BOSS template until level 30, and to the intermediate BOSS until level 40, becoming the leader of a monster force. Therefore, the skills he learned were all conventional skills. But now it seems that if he had started as a BOSS, the skills he learned from level 20 onwards would be different from those of ordinary elemental creatures, and he could choose them. This gave him an unexpected surprise.
He first looked at the skills he had learned.
Skill 1, Cone of Cold: Unleashes frost power, dealing significant cold damage to enemies within a cone-shaped area and slowing them down.
Skill 2, Flame Dragon Wave: Unleashes a Fire Blast on enemies in a straight line, dealing massive fire damage and leaving a trail of fire that inflicts continuous damage on enemies within it.
Skill 3, Tidal Surge, summons a raging torrent that crashes into enemies in front, dealing damage to enemies in a straight line while continuously knocking them back.
Then he looked at the skills he had learned from the leader.
Skill 1: Summon Minion--Water Elemental. Use elemental power to create a group of Water Elemental that will fight for you for a short time. The number of Water Elemental created depends on your level; you can create one more Water Elemental for every 10 levels. Skill duration: 180 seconds; skill cooldown: 60 seconds.
Skill 2: Summon Minion--Fire Elemental. Use elemental power to create a group of fire elementals that will fight for you for a short time. The number of fire elementals created depends on your level; you can create one more fire elemental for every 10 levels. Skill duration: 180 seconds. Skill cooldown: 60 seconds.
Skill 3: Summon Minion--Boiling Water Elemental. Use elemental power to create a group of Boiling Water Elemental that will fight for you for a short time. The number of Boiling Water Elemental depends on your level; you can create one more Boiling Water Elemental for every 10 levels. Skill duration: 180 seconds; skill cooldown: 60 seconds.
So that's where the Summon Minions skill comes from! Xiao Yu was speechless. He had seen many bosses with the ability to summon minions before, and he had wondered why he, a dignified three-skull-level boss, couldn't summon minions and could only use powerful moves like Elemental Gate. Now it seemed that one had to be at level 20 and have the boss template to obtain such a skill.
Is there even a choice? There are several AOE skills available later on, so creating minions is still more effective.
Xiao Yu decisively chose to learn the leader skill, and then chose the second one: Summon Fire Elemental. Although he himself was Boiling Water Elemental, in terms of damage alone, the fire elemental was still higher. Most importantly, the fire elemental could obtain the Body-Burning Blast skill in the later stages, which was perfect for using as cannon fodder. He was currently level 20, so he could summon two fire elementals at a time.
Xiao Yu first tried summoning two. His elemental power surged, and instantly, two fire elementals whose bodies were made of flames were summoned.
This skill differs from ordinary summoning skills. In reality, these two fire elementals are temporarily created using elemental power, so they have no intelligence whatsoever and are completely controlled by their creator. They also do not require any sacrifices, and of course, their combat power should not be relied upon too much.
Xiao Yu glanced at the attributes of the two fire elements.
[Monster Name: Fire Elemental (Minion of Azathoth)]
[Monster Category: Fire Elemental (Medium Elemental)]
[Monster Rank: Level 20 Monster Minion]
[Monster Skills: Fire Bolt, Fire Nova]
It only has a little over a thousand health points and only two skills, but it's passable as a minion monster.
The next step was still frantic leveling. With the assistance of monster minions, Xiao Yu's efficiency in killing monsters and gaining experience increased significantly. He could summon up to six fire elementals at the same time. When six fire elementals fired their Fire Bolt together, it was like a machine gun. For the creatures of the Water Elemental Plane, it was an absolute harvesting machine.
Of course, fire elementals die quickly when attacked. When encountering high-level monsters, such as the Hydra or the Blackwater Lizard, a single, powerful attack can instantly reduce them to ashes. However, since they are summoned creatures, it doesn't matter if they die; just summon another one. Xiao Yu would occasionally act as a tank, allowing his summoned creatures to unleash their full damage potential. In this way, he cleared his way through the Realm of Ten Thousand Streams and by midnight, he had reached level 24.
Level 24, just a third of the experience needed to reach level 25. Keep it up! It's a pity all the monsters here have been burned away, otherwise I could have continued to have fun. Now I can only try to find a way to move to another area.
Xiao Yu looked at the empty plains around him and thought to himself.
He didn't know if it was because it was nighttime or because he had killed too many monsters before, but after searching for a long time, he couldn't see any other monsters except for a few glowing crabs that were no longer giving him experience. While he was wandering around, a summoning message in the summoning channel caught his attention.
System notification: Leah Bloodmoon (High Elementalist) has sacrificed an elemental essence to summon a high-ranking elemental creature to serve her. Respond to the summons? (This summons can only be responded to in Descent Mode). Yes/No.
Elemental essence! This is a fantastic item for enhancing elemental creatures. It can be exchanged for a large amount of experience at once, and it permanently increases elemental power by 1 point. For elemental creatures, this is equivalent to a +1 to all attributes. A +1 to all attributes might not sound like much, but it's permanent. For elemental creatures without an equipment system, it's incredibly valuable. It's a rare item that sells for thousands of dollars at the auction house. This guy is way too rich! He's willing to sacrifice something like this?
The key is that this thing is extremely rare; so far, Xiao Yu hasn't seen many people with it.
Responding to the call! Xiao Yu clicked the corresponding button abruptly, but he was still a step too slow.
System notification: Aristide (Granite Golem) responded to the summons. The summoning ritual has ended, and your response to the summons has failed.
"Damn, this guy really acted fast," Xiao Yu thought to himself. Just as he was feeling regretful, another system notification popped up.
System notification: Leah Bloodmoon (High Elementalist) has sacrificed an elemental essence to summon a powerful high-ranking elemental creature to serve her. Respond to the summons? (This summons can only be responded to in Descent Mode). Yes/No.
"Huh, again? What's going on? Only a few minutes have passed." Xiao Yu was suspicious. This Leah Bloodmoon summoned a high-level elemental creature, and the Granite Golem was a BOSS-level creature, known for its toughness and having the strongest magic resistance and defense among elemental creatures of the same level. Under what circumstances could a Granite Golem be killed in such a short time?
What terrifying monster is Leah Bloodmoon fighting? Summoning so many times in such a short time! But he didn't have much time to think. Looking at the 30% experience bar he was still short, Xiao Yu gritted his teeth and chose to respond to the summons.
In an instant, he vanished from the spot.