58: Evolved Fireball, unexpected elemental essence fragments

After reading the annotations, the calm Ye Xiao felt his emotions surge again.

His Fireball had actually evolved.

It transformed from single-target damage to area-of-effect damage.

Although the target count only increased to three, this was a significant improvement for Ye Xiao.

Don't let his previous monster-grinding efficiency fool you.

That was based on the premise that a single Fireball could instantly kill a target.

Because his previous Fireball casting mode was a rapid-fire type, it only appeared like rapid-fire due to the stacking effect of his God-tier Talent.

But Ye Xiao knew very well that his Fireball would only target the second enemy after the first locked-on target was killed.

Now it was different.

With the upgrade of Fireball, he could simultaneously cast three.

This meant his monster-clearing efficiency would increase to three times its original rate.

Moreover, under the blessing of Dual Casting, Ye Xiao could originally launch a total of 200 Fireballs per second; after the evolution, this directly became 600.

Even without considering its area-of-effect nature, the sheer number alone could inflict terrifying damage.

More importantly, these 600 Fireballs only consumed 20 Mana points from Ye Xiao.

If he were fighting a city defense battle in an Advanced Zone, Ye Xiao alone would be enough to defend a city.

Imagine 600 Fireballs, each dealing 9500 damage, raining down from the sky.

That scene would be enough to make enemies feel suffocated and despair.

Calming down, Ye Xiao took a deep breath.

He looked at the Skeleton King lying on the ground, his eyes filled with delight.

He truly hoped for more such unexpected surprises.

Just then, Ye Xiao suddenly noticed a task progress update prominently displayed on the system information panel.

He hadn't paid attention to these messages earlier due to the mythical equipment and Fireball's advancement.

Now, upon seeing them, he was momentarily stunned.

---

【Ding! You have collected 5 fire element essence fragments, increasing all your Dark-type skill damage by 60% and Dark Element resistance by 40%】

【Ding! You have collected 4 wind elemental essence fragments, increasing all your Wind-type skill damage by 40% and wind elemental essence resistance by 40%】

---

What was going on?

Ye Xiao opened his task panel.

He immediately found that his Fusion Mage specialization quest had indeed changed accordingly.

---

【Collection of Elemental Essence: To fuse different powers, please collect at least three Elemental Essences.】

【Current Collection Progress: fire Elemental Essence (Completed), (5/10) Dark Element Essence, (4/10) wind elemental essence】

---

Ye Xiao blinked, his heart surging with excitement.

This Skeleton King could actually drop Elemental Essence fragments.

And it dropped more than one type of element; there were actually both Dark and Wind elements.

This was something he had never dreamed of.

More importantly, a single Skeleton King boss had dropped a whopping 9 Elemental Essence fragments for him.

It was simply too unexpected.

He knew that previously in the underground cave, he had spent nearly a day to obtain 10 fire element essence fragments.

The battles during that time were also quite grueling.

Ye Xiao had originally thought that collecting other Elemental Essences would be similarly difficult.

He never expected the result to be so simple.

Calculated this way, he was only a little over one-third away from specializing as a Fusion Mage.

How could Ye Xiao not be pleasantly surprised?

However, calming down, Ye Xiao couldn't help but wonder why there were Elemental Essence fragments in this Path of Exile.

According to the previous task description, these Elemental Essences should only drop from demonic creatures conceived within pure elements.

But the Skeleton King was clearly a dual-element demonic creature, not at all pure.

Ye Xiao couldn't figure it out.

However, the next moment, from the hole where the Skeleton King had emerged, a strong wind element mixed with a very rich dark aura continuously overflowed from the depths of the underground palace.

Ye Xiao's heart stirred, and he immediately had a guess.

He quickly walked to the edge of the hole and looked down into the underground palace.

Although he had only glanced at it before, upon closer inspection now, he found that the underground palace below was filled with extremely dense Dark and Wind elemental energies.

In an instant, Ye Xiao seemed to understand.

This Skeleton King's underground palace should be similar to the situation he encountered in the underground cave before, containing both Dark and wind elemental essences.

His eyes flickered with the light of contemplation.

Such an opportunity was rare.

To specialize as a Fusion Mage, Ye Xiao had no reason to ignore it.

Anyway, his level had already reached 90, and there was still nearly a day until the first phase of the Path of Exile ended.

Staying longer would only be a waste of time.

It would be better to take this opportunity to enter the underground.

If things went smoothly, he might soon complete the task and successfully specialize as a Fusion Mage.

Having made his decision, Ye Xiao no longer hesitated.

He leaped down into the underground.

Instantly, a powerful tearing force struck him, and Ye Xiao felt his body become uncontrollable.

His vision was also enveloped by countless dense Dark Elements, preventing him from seeing his surroundings.

At the same time, his breathing became somewhat difficult as he continuously descended.

Fortunately, this process only lasted about ten seconds.

When his feet touched the ground again, Ye Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This uncontrolled sense of weightlessness always made Ye Xiao somewhat uncomfortable.

However, just then, Ye Xiao suddenly realized that what he was stepping on was not the ground, but a pile of long-decayed white bones.

After being stepped on by Ye Xiao, these white bones immediately turned into dust, floating around him.

In front of him, large and small coffins were scattered everywhere.

With Ye Xiao's arrival, these coffins began to emit faint, eerie glows.

At this moment, a strong gust of wind swept through.

From within the coffins, a mournful wail, like weeping and lamenting, echoed and reverberated throughout the entire underground palace.

Ye Xiao was instantly deeply shaken by this bizarre scene.