Inside the tranquil stone chamber of the Shadow Sanctuary.
Lin Mo let out a long breath, as if expelling all the fatigue and lingering fear from the life-and-death battle.
Only now, as he looked at the gleaming "LV20" on his attribute panel, felt the shadow energy flowing through his body—several times stronger than before—and saw the purple breastplate emanating a faint lava aura, did he finally feel a sense of reality.
He had survived.
And he had become stronger!
He had won this high-stakes gamble against death, and he had won big!
"So… next, it's time to examine the fruits of victory."
A fervent flame rekindled in Lin Mo's eyes. Without hesitation, he immersed his mind in his backpack space.
There, in addition to the quest rewards of a [Skill Enhancement Scroll] and a [Map Fragment of the Withering Snowfield], lay a pile of loot shimmering with various colors.
They all came from the Level 28 Rare Lord—the Screaming Queen Medusa!
As the highest-level and highest-tier BOSS Lin Mo had ever single-handedly killed, the drops were beyond imagination!
First to catch his eye were a pair of leather leg guards shimmering with a faint green light.
[Serpent Scale Bindings] (Blue · Excellent)
Part: Legs
Level: 20
Physical Defense: +65
Magic Resistance: +50
Agility: +20
Special Effect: [Spirit Serpent]: Your movement speed is slightly increased, and the sound you make while in stealth is reduced by 20%.
"Not bad, it's exactly a Level 20 equipment, and its attributes are much stronger than the Level 15 common item I'm wearing."
Lin Mo nodded in satisfaction and casually put them on. Instantly, he felt his legs become lighter, as if filled with explosive power.
Besides this blue-grade item, there were a few green-grade pieces of equipment with decent attributes, but they no longer caught Lin Mo's eye. He planned to sell them at the auction house for gold later.
What truly made his heart race were the remaining three items!
The first was a skill book radiating a faint purple glow!
[Skill Book: Petrifying Arrow]
Class Requirement: Archer, Hunter
Skill Effect: Shoot an arrow imbued with petrifying energy, dealing 150% physical damage to the target, with a 30% chance to inflict [Petrification] status for 2 seconds.
"It's actually a rare skill book with powerful crowd control!" Lin Mo's breath hitched.
Control skills in "Epoch" were rarer and more valuable than high-damage skills! A stable control often played a decisive role in a evenly matched battle!
Although he couldn't use this skill book himself, its value was absolutely astronomical! Once listed on the auction house, it would cause top archer players to fight over it! This was definitely a huge sum of money that could greatly improve his real-life situation!
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Lin Mo's gaze turned to the second item.
It was a fist-sized ore, entirely dark red, its surface covered with bizarre serpentine patterns, emanating waves of scorching heat.
[Molten Serpent-Patterned Steel] (Rare Material)
Description: A special metal formed from the Screaming Queen Medusa's bones and the surrounding rocks of her lair, after years of absorbing telluric fire energy. It is a top-tier material for forging fire and poison-attribute equipment.
"Good stuff!" Lin Mo's eyes lit up.
This kind of rare material was a strategic resource that couldn't be bought with money. Whether he used it himself for forging later or sold it to a top blacksmith, it could earn him immense favor or wealth.
He carefully put it away, and finally, his gaze fell upon the last, and most mysterious, piece of loot.
It was an eyeball.
An eyeball about the size of a fist, seemingly carved from the purest grayish-white crystal! Its pupil was a constantly burning, pulsating dark red flame!
Just by looking at it, Lin Mo felt a chill from the depths of his soul, as if his body was about to be frozen into stone by that eerie power.
He endured the discomfort, reached out, and touched its attributes.
[Queen's Eye] (Purple · Excellent · Unique)
Part: Accessory
Level: 20
Attributes: Spirit +30, Perception +20
Special Effect One: [Petrifying Aura] (Passive): All your attacks have a 5% chance to cause a brief stun effect (0.2 seconds) on the target.
Special Effect Two: [Fatal Gaze] (Active): Consumes 500 mana, targets a designated enemy. After channeling for 1.5 seconds, a judgment is made on the target. If the target's Spirit attribute is lower than yours, the target will fall into [Petrification] status for 3 seconds. If the target's Spirit attribute is higher than yours, the target will fall into [Confusion] status for 1.5 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Description: "Open your eyes and appreciate… the despair… from the abyss!" —Screaming Queen Medusa
"Hiss—!!!"
When he saw the attributes of this accessory, even with Lin Mo's calm temperament from two lifetimes, he couldn't help but gasp!
Purple! Excellent! Unique!
These six words already represented its supreme status at this stage!
And its attributes were simply heaven-defying!
The passive effect [Petrifying Aura], although the 5% chance wasn't high, for an assassin like Lin Mo with a high attack frequency, a 0.2-second stun at a critical moment could determine life or death!
And the active skill [Fatal Gaze] was an absolute "god skill"!
A hard crowd control lasting 3 seconds!
Lin Mo knew better than anyone what this meant in PK and BOSS battles! It meant he could safely unleash an entire burst combo, or even calmly stack twenty layers of severe poison, while the enemy was completely helpless!
Although there was a prerequisite of "Spirit attribute lower than your own," for Lin Mo, a magic-based assassin with all his points in Spirit, how many players at this stage could have higher Spirit than him?
This was a sure-kill trump card! A trump card that would allow him to transcend levels and equipment to challenge stronger enemies!
"I hit the jackpot… This time, I really hit the jackpot!"
Lin Mo didn't hesitate and immediately equipped the [Queen's Eye]. Instantly, a cool yet powerful energy surged through his limbs and bones, making him feel that his mental power was more concentrated and powerful than ever before!
After doing all this, he finally turned his attention to the [Skill Enhancement Scroll] that also emitted a purple light.
[Skill Enhancement Scroll] (Rare)
Effect: You can designate one of your skills to increase its level by +1. There is a low chance for the skill to gain additional special effects.
"Skill enhancement…" Lin Mo's gaze swept over his skill list.
[Poison Blade], [Poison Burst], [Toxic Shadow Conversion], [Stealth], [Shadow Strike], [Backstab], [Venom Spray]… Every skill was crucial to him.
Enhancing [Poison Blade] could increase his normal attack output and poison stacking efficiency.
Enhancing [Toxic Shadow Conversion] might reduce cooldown and increase his survival capability.
But Lin Mo's gaze ultimately settled on his most core and powerful burst skill.
[Poison Burst]!
This skill was the core of all his tactics, the foundation for his ability to challenge higher-level enemies and deliver a decisive blow!
Enhancing it would absolutely yield the greatest benefit!
"You're the one!"
Lin Mo made up his mind, chose to use the scroll, targeting—[Poison Burst]!
[System Prompt: Do you wish to use the [Skill Enhancement Scroll] on the skill [Poison Burst]?]
"Yes!"
[System Prompt: Enhancing….]
A purple light completely enveloped Lin Mo. He could feel a mysterious energy surging into the depths of his soul, analyzing the constituent runes of the [Poison Burst] skill and performing some profound upgrade on it.
[System Prompt: Enhancement successful! Your skill [Poison Burst] has been upgraded to LV2!]
[System Prompt: Congratulations! A special effect has been triggered during the enhancement process!]
[Poison Burst] (LV2)
Effect: Detonates all [Endless Toxin Source] effects on targets within the designated area, each layer of poison dealing (20 + 50% Spell Power) damage.
New Special Effect: [Plague Link]: Units killed by [Poison Burst] will have their remaining poison stacks automatically spread to up to 3 new enemy units within an 8-meter radius.
"This… this is…"
When he saw the newly added special effect, Lin Mo's pupils suddenly contracted, and his heart skipped a beat!
Plague Link!
These four words instantly reminded him of a certain necromancer's ultimate arcane art in his previous life's game!
What did this mean?
It meant that his [Poison Burst] would no longer be a mere finishing move!
It had become a true "clearing" god skill that could create a chain reaction!
Imagine, in a group of monsters, he only needed to focus fire and kill one of them, and the twenty layers of severe poison on that monster would instantly spread to three other surrounding monsters!
Then, he would detonate one of them… and so on. As long as he had enough mana, theoretically, he could clear the entire battlefield like toppling dominoes, in a snowballing fashion!
"Monstrous… simply monstrous!"
Lin Mo's breathing became somewhat rapid.
If the previous [Poison Burst] gave him powerful single-target and area-of-effect burst damage.
Then now, [Poison Burst] with [Plague Link] truly gave him the… potential to become a "one-man army"!
He suppressed the wild joy in his heart and opened his attribute panel to check the final results of this massive power surge.
[Player: Lin Mo]
[Class: Shadow of Venom]
[Level: 20]
[Health: 1250 / 1250]
[Mana: 1880 / 1880]
[Physical Attack: 85-95]
[Spell Power: 210]
[Physical Defense: 215]
[Magic Resistance: 180]
[Attributes: Strength 35, Constitution 50, Agility 70, Spirit 105, Perception 40]
Terrifying!
A truly luxurious set of attributes!
Level 20, coupled with a full set of excellent-grade or higher equipment, especially the purple breastplate and purple accessory, made his attributes completely overwhelm all current mainstream players!
Whether it was survival capability or output capability, he had already stood at the pinnacle of the "Epoch" pyramid!
"Phew…"
Lin Mo slowly stood up, clenched his fist, and felt the unprecedented, surging power within him, his eyes filled with immense confidence.
"Mentor, I won't be going to the Sanctuary's treasury for now," Lin Mo said softly to the empty stone chamber, knowing that his mentor would surely hear him.
"The current me needs a bigger stage to test this new power."
"And… it should be quite lively outside by now, shouldn't it?"
A meaningful smile curved at the corner of his lips.
It was time to leave this temporary haven and embrace the storm he had personally stirred up, a storm that would sweep across all of "Epoch"!