108: Happy +1

“No, Director Men?”

Cheng Zhen held the blue crystal between two fingers, his face a mess. “Are you sure this thing is meant to be eaten?”

Not to mention where it came from.

Just its hardness… there’s no way a normal person could chew through it, right?

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to bite it into pieces with your teeth,” Men Hao said, stifling a laugh. “You equip your title, then place the Snow Condensation Essence in your palm.”

“First, slowly, gradually feel its energy flow. Once you grasp it, absorb the energy within it as if you’re inhaling immortal qi. When the Endless Game gives you a notification, it means the absorption was successful.”

“Except for certain wealthy second-generation heirs, most new players wouldn’t normally get this kind of essence. So, sensing and absorbing energy isn’t part of the first-year curriculum. You’re completely skipping ahead.”

“With your ability, you’ll definitely encounter more knowledge like this. Try absorbing it first; it might take some time to sense it. Take your time, don’t rush.”

Cheng Zhen nodded. “Thank you, Director Men. I’ll go wash it first.”

Men Hao: ?

He needs to wash the essence stone before absorbing it? As expected of a genius, so particular!

Seeing that Cheng Zhen was about to use the material, Men Hao stopped bothering him, opened the door, and left.

Not having to use the red stone was certainly something to be happy about. But considering the origin of this thing, Cheng Zhen still meticulously washed it over and over.

Cheng Zhen placed the Snow Condensation Essence in his palm as Director Men had instructed. With the mindset of ‘eating nine-turn large intestine,’ Cheng Zhen closed his eyes and carefully sensed the energy.

The Snow Condensation Essence was like a block of ice that wouldn't melt, radiating coldness from the inside out, providing 24-hour continuous cooling.

Due to his lack of experience, Cheng Zhen initially didn’t feel any energy, only a cool sensation in his palm.

As the coldness surged, Cheng Zhen gradually grasped some tricks.

When he opened his eyes again, a brilliant blue light flickered and danced. Then, that blue light seemed to be drawn, detaching from the essence stone, rising into the air, converging, and was completely absorbed by Cheng Zhen.

Cheng Zhen felt as if he had eaten a large mouthful of ice cream, his entire mouth feeling icy.

The essence stone in his palm had changed from a deep sapphire blue to a transparent appearance, like a large piece of shattered glass covered in cracks, completely hollowed out with nothing left.

BEEP, successfully absorbed Snow Condensation Essence!

Title skill has been strengthened!

Active Skill (1) upgraded to: The Snowman will always follow you, forever and ever… (+1)

Active Skill (2) upgraded to: 100 Snowmen who really, really, really, really, really like you! (+1)

Cheng Zhen: “…”

What the heck is +1!

I used an epic material, at least! You’re just going to brush me off without even a reinforced special effect animation?

Fortunately, although the process was a bit perfunctory, the skill effects were not—

Active Skill (1): The Snowman will always follow you, forever and ever… (+1)

Lock onto a target and summon a snowman. The snowman will continuously follow the target for 3 hours. While the snowman persists, you can know the target’s location and gain a portion of the snowman’s vision. Cooldown: 16 hours.

Skill 1’s duration became longer and its cooldown shorter, which is only a minor enhancement. But gaining vision is a really good thing, directly turning it into remote monitoring. Additionally, the stack effect also received a good boost:

When the snowman is damaged, immediately summon another snowman within 4 meters of the target to continue following. If the snowman is damaged by the target, the target gains 2 stacks of ‘Snowman Resentment.’ If it is not destroyed by the locked target, it only gains 1 stack of ‘Snowman Resentment.’

Snowman Resentment: Reduces movement speed and defense by 1%, stackable up to 65 layers.

Active Skill (2): 100 Snowmen who really, really, really, really, really like you! (+1)

After activating the skill, greatly increases the snowman’s movement speed. When the snowman is too far from the target, it will self-destruct in place and summon a new snowman near the target. The skill lasts for 15 minutes. Cooldown: 36 hours.

Upon approaching the target, the caster can control whether the snowman self-destructs. Splash damage can still stack layers. A maximum of 100 snowmen can be summoned/destroyed. If the target’s ‘Snowman Resentment’ stacks have reached 30, this explosion damage will have armor penetration effects.

The maximum stacks for slow and defense reduction increased from 40 to 65, and the penetration effect for explosion stacks was reduced from full stacks to 30 stacks, which is a good effect.

In addition, it also increased ice attribute attack bonus by 15%. Unfortunately, Cheng Zhen currently doesn’t have related attack methods, so he’ll have to find similar attack methods later.

Epic materials are indeed good things. Cheng Zhen pondered what else to farm or buy, and would focus on strengthening his gear after Team Leader Men gave him his reward.

However, before planning all that, Cheng Zhen decided to—

Sleep soundly!!!

Even though he had been very comfortable playing games in the instance dungeon every day, it was still a solid twenty-plus days.

Using mental energy for skills every day made his head ache.

Moreover, because the survivors were constantly chopping wood and building houses, when Cheng Zhen opened his eyes, they were ‘chop, chop, chop,’ and when he closed his eyes, they were still ‘chop, chop, chop’…

Even now that he was out of the instance dungeon, Cheng Zhen still felt like he could hear phantom ‘chop, chop, chop’ sounds; his ears were seasoned with the sound of chopping wood!

Cheng Zhen took a lightning-fast shower, then drew the curtains, pulled up his blanket, closed his eyes, and no longer cared if the outside world was flooded.

He didn’t know that while he was dreaming, a new ‘storm’ had indeed arisen outside because of him—

“You’re talking nonsense! Cheng Zhen was clearly poached by Men Hao to come to me!” Director Tang fumed, his beard bristling and eyes wide.

“So what if he was poached to you? Do you think it’s appropriate for you to take him?”

The person ‘arguing’ with Director Tang was a small, bespectacled old man. Although he looked refined, his sleeve-rolling posture was not much more artistic than Director Tang’s.

“Our Martial Arts College isn’t suitable?” Director Tang looked at Director Lu opposite him, almost laughing in anger. “Then your Liberal Arts College is suitable?”

“Of course!”

The small old man, Director Lu, puffed out his chest. “You all know what Cheng Zhen’s skills are. Think about it yourselves, could he have achieved such results in three instance dungeons by relying on martial prowess?”

“From the guides he released, it’s clear he passed instance dungeons by relying on his brain, his intelligence!”

“Such a person should come to our Liberal Arts College to analyze and research items, and advance instance dungeon strategies. Sending him to your Martial Arts College to charge into battle is simply a waste of talent!”

“Nonsense!” Director Tang roared. “It’s a waste of talent if Cheng Zhen doesn’t go clear instance dungeons! Do you know how many people his guides have benefited? In the future, he will definitely be able to overcome more difficult challenges!”

“You’re short-sighted!”

“You old fool!”

Seeing that the two directors were about to start fighting, Men Hao and several middle-aged teachers were all numb. They wanted to stop them but didn’t know how to start.

“Alright, alright.”

Finally, the person in the main seat spoke. “Let’s listen to Cheng Zhen’s own thoughts on where to assign him!”

“Or, there’s another way…”