36: Chapter 36, Fourth Aura Slot

To be honest, systematic low-level platinum sets like the shadow whisper set are incredibly rare worldwide. Although it is only a beginner set and its base attributes are limited by the level cap, its true power lies in its unparalleled set bonuses!

Relying on these extremely powerful percentage-based bonus effects, even collecting just a few pieces is enough for a Shadow Mage to possess terrifying damage output far exceeding their peers before level 20 or even level 30. It can be said that this is one of the ultimate end-game pieces of equipment that Shadow Mages dream of during the early stages.

"A team Dungeon directly dropped five pieces of the shadow whisper set... This efficiency is like a dream." Lin Muyang looked at the equipment in his storage space, which radiated an alluring dark purple light, feeling a sense of unreality. "If I can farm two more gold rank Dungeons of the same level and collect the full set of eleven pieces... Elabess's burst damage and sustained output could probably more than double!"

He suppressed his inner excitement and waved at the Succubus Maiden, who was currently clearing out the remaining small monsters with her new skill, Dark Lightning Chain.

"Elabess, come here, I have something good for you."

Upon hearing this, Elabess lightly waved the staff in her hand, casting the last leaping black lightning chain to precisely eliminate a stealthy magic leopard that was attempting a sneak attack in the distance. She then turned around gracefully and walked back to Lin Muyang with light, nimble steps.

Lin Muyang handed her the four newly acquired pieces of the shadow whisper set—the robe, ring, necklace, and belt—one by one.

When Elabess put on the Shadow Whisper Robe, even Lin Muyang, who was accustomed to her charm, couldn't help but brighten up. The silk fabric, which seemed to be woven from the deepest night sky, fit perfectly against her graceful and slender body, accentuating her exquisite curves. The robe was adorned with faint, shimmering silver patterns that resembled twinkling stars in the night sky, adding a touch of mystery and nobility to her Aura.

More importantly, as the three-piece set effect activated, an invisible power instantly flowed through Elabess's entire body. She could clearly feel her connection to dark magic becoming tighter, and her mana circulation becoming increasingly smooth and fluid.

"How does it feel?" Lin Muyang asked.

"Very... wonderful, Master." Elabess felt the changes in her mana, her tone carrying a hint of surprise. "I feel as though some shackles binding my mana have loosened, and casting spells has become much smoother and faster."

Lin Muyang nodded with satisfaction. "That's right. Originally, the cooldown for your core mob-clearing skill, Dark Surge, was 6 seconds. If you encountered large groups of mobs consecutively, you would inevitably have to wait for the cooldown, which would affect efficiency. But now, with the 35% cooldown reduction from the three-piece set activated, the cooldown has dropped directly to 3.9 seconds! The mob-clearing efficiency has improved by more than just a little bit."

This made him look forward to collecting the full shadow whisper set even more. Imagine, when Elabess possesses 70% cooldown reduction, 100% damage increase, and up to 70% armor penetration... never mind the boss of this gold rank Dungeon, even a boss from a higher difficulty platinum rank Dungeon probably wouldn't be able to withstand a few rounds of her berserk dark magic bombardment!

Furthermore, the gains from this Dungeon trip were far more than that. Besides equipment, Lin Muyang also obtained several mage-type skill books from the boss drops. One of them happened to be a dark-attribute attack skill extremely suitable for Elabess:

"Dark Lightning Chain (platinum rank)": Mage skill. Channels shadow energy to release a powerful dark lightning chain at a single target. The lightning chain will automatically jump to up to 4 nearby enemies, dealing massive dark-type damage. If there are no other enemies in range and the skill hits only a single target, the damage is increased by 100%. Cooldown: 8 seconds.

"Learning Requirement: Level 10"

This is a highly adaptable skill that combines group clearing and single-target burst! As a level 10 platinum rank skill, both the group damage and single-target damage values far exceed the two initial mage skills Elabess currently possesses.

There was no need to hesitate.

Learn!

Thus, when facing the final guardian of this gold rank team Dungeon—the colossal, giant-axe-wielding, thunderously roaring "Divine Power Minotaur Chieftain"—Elabess displayed the power of this new skill for the first time.

She held her Weeping Moon Staff high, shadow energy boiling around her. A thick, ferocious bolt of black lightning, like a giant python waiting to devour its prey, shot out from the tip of the staff and accurately struck the Minotaur Chieftain's head, which was covered in thick bone armor!

Critical Hit! 15892!

A huge scarlet damage number floated up! The Minotaur Chieftain let out a painful roar, its massive body trembling violently. The black lightning did not dissipate after completing its first strike; instead, as if possessing a life of its own, it split into several thinner arcs, whipping frantically at the elite Minotaur guards surrounding it...

Under the terrifying buffs of the Attack Aura and Eye of Lethality, combined with the high base damage of the new skill and Elabess's own powerful dark talent, this final Dungeon boss, which had over 400,000 HP and should have caused a standard eight-person team to struggle for a long time, didn't even last a minute. Amidst the continuous bombardment of shadow magic, it let out one last unwilling wail, collapsed with a crash, and transformed into a large expanse of dazzling light—that was rich experience and a massive amount of loot!

With the death of the final boss, three soft yet dazzling golden pillars of light shot up into the sky simultaneously from Lin Muyang, Elabess, and Lilia!

"Not bad, just leveled up to 15." Lin Muyang glanced at his attribute panel and nodded with satisfaction. "This 10x Experience Aura combined with the high base experience of the team Dungeon is just the right efficiency; not a single bit was wasted."

Due to level restrictions, the experience points that monsters in level 11 Dungeons and secret realms can provide to a Class Transferee are capped, usually only supporting a character up to level 15. After exceeding level 15, killing level 11 monsters no longer grants experience. Their Dungeon trip this time ended perfectly at the node of hitting level 15, maximizing all potential experience gains.

After reaching level 15, Lin Muyang's base attributes received a leap in improvement due to level growth and the buffs from his set of platinum equipment. His Strength, Constitution, and Agility all broke the 300-point mark, and Spirit, the main attribute for a Summoner, exceeded 400 points! Compared to when he first entered the Dungeon, his overall attributes had almost doubled!

But what made him feel most excited was another key breakthrough brought about by leveling up—he had finally unlocked the fourth Aura slot!

"This way, tactical combinations will be much more flexible." Lin Muyang planned quickly in his mind. "When farming monsters, I can simultaneously activate 10x Attack, 10x Defense, 10x Experience, and Eye of Lethality, pushing output and survival to the extreme, and leveling speed will soar."

"And when traveling, I can switch to Stealth Field, Power of Wind Control, and the newly unlocked Attribute Amplification (doubles all attributes)! With my base Agility now doubled, and then amplified again by the Attribute Amplification Aura, my flight speed will definitely break the sound barrier, truly achieving supersonic flight!"

When he came, his flight speed was only about one-third of the speed of sound. But now, with his base Agility doubled, plus the double bonus from the Attribute Amplification Aura, his speed has instantly increased by more than four times; breaking the sound barrier is a certainty!

Besides this, Lin Muyang studied his massive library of Auras in his spare time and discovered a rather peculiar God-Tier Aura:

"Divine Touch (God-Tier Aura)": After activation, every monster corpse within a certain range centered on you has a 1 in 10,000 base probability of triggering a Holy Resonance, summoning a special 'Divine Touch' monster. Upon successfully killing this special monster, you are guaranteed to obtain a 'modification stone (god grade)'.

Lin Muyang is not yet clear about the specific use of this "modification stone (god grade)", but it sounds like an extremely rare reinforcement material. Anyway, he now has four Aura slots, and when cleaning up the battlefield and looting corpses, he can easily activate this Divine Touch Aura. Although the 1 in 10,000 probability seems very low, under the influence of the 100 points of heaven-defying Luck provided by Heavenly Blessing, the actual trigger probability will definitely far exceed the theoretical value! When one is summoned, he can just kill it and see what this thing is really for.

"Alright, the harvest has been counted, and it's time for us to leave." Lin Muyang put the last piece of loot into his bracelet and clapped his hands with a pleasant mood. "Next, let's find a few more gold rank Dungeons or secret realms to clear. Today's goal is to collect the full shadow whisper set for Elabess!"

He took the Elf Princess, who was still wanting more, and the still calm and elegant Succubus Maiden, turned, and stepped into the light curtain leaving the Dungeon.

...

When he left the Dungeon, within the forest Dungeon area in the south of Zhongnan City, the brilliant golden entrance light curtain representing the Roaring Forest Land team Dungeon flickered a few times like a firefly that had exhausted its energy, then gradually dissipated into the air, as if it had never existed.

At the same time, the top-tier big shot Shen Yanshan, who had been sitting quietly on the side like a stone statue, eyes closed in rest, suddenly opened his eyes, which radiated sharp light! He stood up, his robes fluttering without wind, a extremely grave expression on his face, his gaze scanning the empty area in front like lightning.

"Friend, please stay!"

He spoke in a deep voice. It wasn't loud, but it contained a peculiar penetrating power that echoed clearly across the silent forest clearing. Although there was no one in his field of vision, relying on his superhuman perception and keen insight into energy flow, he was absolutely certain—that "super genius" who had soloed the Dungeon had come out and was nearby!

This completely impenetrable stealth ability caused stormy waves in his heart. A rookie Class Transferee whose level definitely didn't exceed 15 had actually mastered such a heaven-defying concealment method that even he, a level 100 powerhouse, couldn't see through their tracks; this was simply unheard of!

He quickly suppressed the shock in his heart, maintained his outward composure and friendliness, and said to the empty space in front, "I am Shen Yanshan, the guild leader of Tianqi Tower in Zhongnan City!"

"Perhaps you are low-key by nature and unwilling to reveal your true face easily; I completely understand this. However, forgive my bluntness, in this era, if you want to climb to the peak faster and become stronger, relying solely on personal strength is often half the effort for double the result. Sufficient resources, reliable intelligence, top-tier inheritance, and like-minded partners are all crucial."

"I have presumptuously waited here just to ask one question: do you currently have any intentions of joining a guild?"

"If you have such an intention, my Tianqi Tower is willing to offer you the top-tier, most sincere conditions in the guild's history! Resource allocation, permission access, core cultivation... everything can be negotiated!"

As his voice fell, the scene fell into an eerie silence.

Only the wind passing through the forest, the rustling sound of leaves being blown, and the faint roar of monsters from afar remained.

Shen Yanshan and Sun Wenyuan beside him, who was also tensing his body, remained standing in place, motionless. They didn't look around like headless flies but locked their gazes firmly on the area where the Dungeon entrance had just disappeared, showing that they were convinced the other party was right there.

However, such a scene of two big shots solemnly soliciting the air was really a bit overwhelming for Lin Muyang, who had just stepped out of the Dungeon and was still in a state of stealth.

He almost shuddered and reflexively wanted to activate that life-saving Aura with huge consumption, the Holy Hourglass.

"Why is another big shot coming to find me?" Lin Muyang looked at the dignified middle-aged man not far away who looked somewhat similar to Shen Muyao, his heart skipping a beat, feeling a bit of a headache. "Is this Shen Muyao's father?"