Chapter 98: The First Snow
2014-12-04
Author: Floating Tower
The name sounds quite tricky.
But in fact, this thing has only fired a shot so far; although it directly took down an adult black dragon, it hasn’t fired again since. Due to the loss of the arcane power source from the Arcane Empire era, the Arcane Crystal Superconducting Pulse Cannon is now just a decoration. In the future, to fire it again, the Autumn Leaf Council even opened a portal connecting to the seabed to issue a quasi-legendary level mission. One shot can consume half a month’s energy of a floating city, and relying on a wizard’s mana recharge can at most create a few sparks.
Don’t be fooled by its appearance, resembling a lightning rod; it is now merely a lightning rod.
This kind of arcane weapon is very powerful but impractical; it can’t attack across planes, nor can it penetrate twisted space. The remaining usage records primarily come from the Abyss battlefield, where the Arcane Empire once used it to decimate the demon army. One shot could wipe out an organized demon legion; apart from the high-level demons that could escape, other low-level demons were directly evaporated. Currently, the only operational Arcane Crystal Superconducting Pulse Cannon is in a place where constructs thrive.
That is the world of construct life. The challenge level there is 25, which corresponds to the level of demigods and divine beings!
Any living flesh that enters will be affected by high-intensity energy radiation, and there are no wild plants on the surface, only gigantic gear mechanisms and constructs that have guarded this place for countless years. This is a place that druid sees as worse than hell. Because here, the natural environment they belief in has been thoroughly twisted. You can’t see a hint of green; only endless steel and a gray sky that looks like the apocalypse has arrived.
Soren has been there.
In the end, he barely made it back alive.
………………
“Do you know it?”
Gloria glanced at Soren beside her, retracting her gaze from the Arcane Crystal Superconducting Pulse Cannon. With a sigh, she said, “A weapon left over from the Arcane Empire era, boasting power close to that of an artifact. Too bad the usage restrictions are too great.” Dragon race.
This world has powerful beings second only to the gods; they are not mere beasts that can only breathe dragon fire. The dragons in this world can cast spells, possessing strong melee abilities and effectively equivalent to a sorcerer several levels lower. An adult dragon can release eight-ring spells, and slightly stronger ones can cast nine-ring spells.
They have as many spells as wizards!
But their casting style, like sorcerers, is turret-like. The types of spells they master vary by dragon type, and an adult dragon’s challenge difficulty requires a complete legendary adventurer team to have a fifty percent chance of dealing with it. Dragon blood sorcerers are the most typical of the cheating profession types among casters; their abilities only inherit a third of the dragon race.
Perhaps influenced by stories.
Once, someone excitedly went to slay a dragon only to be trapped in a maze spell at the onset, followed shortly by a high-level roar spell that shocked the entire team. After about an hour, when the warrior emerged from the maze spell, all his teammates besides the wizard, who triggered a teleportation, had perished.
Stationary spells are indeed easier to deal with. For example, many white dragons’ attacks follow a set pattern.
But when facing those cunning adult dragons, you’ll quickly realize they are completely cheating! Their tactical setups make even seasoned adventurers break a sweat. Once, statistics showed that if an adult dragon’s template spells were handed to top adventurers, at least three legendary level adventurer teams could be wiped out.
Transformation, sneak attack, assassination, maze, traps, banishment, monster siege, and so on.
Once a set of spells is exhausted. Then it’s the turn for dragon breath, dragon wing strike, dragon bite, and more. Surviving this onslaught leaves you facing an adult dragon equivalent to a legendary melee warrior.
When Soren teamed up for dragon slaying, tactical simulations were done at least twenty times!
Six quasi-legendary level adventurers worked together for a day and night, simulating dragon assault methods before they actually set out to slay the dragon. Without tactical simulations, understanding the combat environment, terrain inside the dragon’s lair, and distribution routes of the monsters, the final outcome has only one result. That is total party wipe!
Once, there was a demigod lich; its fighting method was merely casting imprisonment spells. Many believed this was a weakness.
When a legendary level adventurer team finally prepared to eliminate the demigod lich, everyone was stunned in an instant. It turned out that it was just bored and tossing around imprisonment spells to supplement spell items, and when faced with real danger, it used a legendary spell, instantly obliterating the entire team.
Summon demons, projection techniques, *anatomy spell, space lock, Bigby’s hand, edicts; intimidation, blasphemous words.
A set of spells later, the whole team was wiped out, the wizard couldn’t escape either.
Since that day, everyone learned a lesson: stationary output leads only to death; the enemy is not a wooden puppet that merely plays by the rules.
Without the favor of Lady Luck, it’s best to prepare more.
………………
A group of people prepared to stay a day in Leaffall City.
The Northern Witch obviously did not know that the Arcane Crystal Superconducting Pulse Cannon had become a decoration, still casting a reverent glance that way.
Soren hadn’t slept for several days, and now he felt somewhat fatigued.
First, he booked two rooms to settle Vivian in, and then tidied up to prepare for sleep. The city was still quite intact. If Vivian was truly the Demon Son, then it was highly likely to be the Demon Son of Fear. There were some things he hadn’t mentioned to Gloria, but the area close to the elves was indeed a forbidden zone for the Demon God of Fear. His believers and followers had a hard time penetrating elven territory. So, for the time being, they were quite safe, and there should still be plenty of time.
Soren also had another important purpose for coming here. That is a special area near the Elf Kingdom.
There is a legendary level piece of equipment there.
Moreover, it is also a teleportation point connecting to the earth element plane, where an earth element can yield nearly three thousand points of killing experience. If luck favors him, he might accumulate over thirty thousand points of killing experience there.
However, he couldn’t handle it alone.
There are a total of four such special areas located in the Frozen Kingdom, Elven Forest, Lava Lands, and Cloud Sea Forbidden Zone.
This is a legendary level mission.
The four places represent the elemental powers of water, fire, earth, and air, and each location has a piece of legendary level equipment. Combined, they create a special item.
It will summon four elder elemental beings, all with a biological level of 24; only by defeating them can you obtain the final item.
A sealed piece of divine fragment.
The descent of the gods to the mortal realm brought not only destruction but also endless opportunities.
Soren remembered quite a bit. However, there were few items he could actually retrieve; this is the legendary equipment with the lowest challenge difficulty and the easiest to obtain. Because the challenge level of the earth element is only 9, about twice as powerful as the initial abyss serpent demon, as its movements and attacks are slow, making it a type Soren can handle relatively easily, so if he has assistance, defeating them shouldn’t be too difficult. If he encounters a wind element, he’d be doomed; he wouldn’t even have a chance to retaliate.
Just as the dawn light broke.
Soren’s door was knocked on rapidly. He almost leapt up and instantly grabbed the curved blade by his bedside, rushing out and saying in a deep voice, “What’s wrong?”
Outside was a serious-looking Gloria, who pointed outside. In a low voice said: “Look!”
A world covered in white snow.
Not sure when, the outside was already blanketed in heavy snow, and overnight it turned into a white wonderland, with the snow thickness approaching fifteen centimeters, hard to believe it had fallen in just one night.
“How is this possible?” Soren’s expression was also very serious, muttering, “Isn’t it still late September? It’s already starting to snow.”
Gloria raised her hand to point at the sky, lowering her voice, “Could it be related to what’s up there?”
The gods?
Soren wasn’t sure either, replying, “It’s possible.”
He had not been active in this area, so he was not clear about whether snow was early. He guessed that if it did snow, no one would care much; after all, so many things happened at that time. But snowing in September wasn’t a good omen. Many things Soren realized only after the gods descended had already shown signs, and if this heavy snow came for some reason early, it must be related to the deity overseeing the ice and snow.
Is it the Winter Maiden? Or the Snow Goddess?
Did the chaos of the tumultuous years not affect them? The events in the Frozen Kingdom seemed to have erupted several years later?
Could it be brewing already?
Outside, some people were already busy shoveling snow, and occasionally someone cursed the awful weather, especially the traveling merchants, who were practically blocked here. With this much snow, there was certainly no way to leave; it might well be until next spring before they could depart, which would mean all the money they’d earned along the way would be spent here. At the same time, many others appeared worried, as with snow starting this early, this year’s winter would likely be very cold. If the wilderness monsters did not adequately store enough food in advance, they might frequently launch attacks on other creatures.
The sudden heavy snow would freeze many animals to death.
They might not survive this year’s winter. These seemingly minor issues, compounded, would result in significant changes.
The natural world is always a chain reaction!
………………
