36: Queen's Eye
Inside the quiet stone chamber of the Shadow Sanctuary.
Lin Mo exhaled a long, heavy breath, as if trying to expel all the exhaustion and lingering fear from that Life-and-death battle.
Only now, as he looked at the glittering "LV20" identifier on his attribute panel, felt the shadow energy flowing within him that was several times stronger than before, and noticed the purple chest armor emitting a faint volcanic aura on his body, did he finally feel a sense of reality.
He had survived.
And, he had become stronger!
This high-stakes gamble in a race against death—he had won, and won big!
"Then... now is the time to examine the fruits of victory."
A fiery blaze reignited in Lin Mo's eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately submerged his consciousness into his inventory space.
There, in addition to the [Skill Enhancement Scroll] and the [Withered Snow Domain Map Fragment] from the quest rewards, lay a pile of loot flickering with various colors, resting quietly.
They all came from that Level 28 rare boss—Wailing Queen Medusa!
As the highest-level, highest-tier boss Lin Mo had killed single-handedly to date, the richness of its drops was beyond imagination!
The first thing that caught his eye was a pair of leather leggings flickering with a dark green glow.
[Snake Scale Bindings] (Blue · Fine)
Slot: Leg
Level: 20
Physical Defense: +65
Magic Resistance: +50
Agility: +20
Special Effect: [Spirit Snake]: Your movement speed is slightly increased, and while in Stealth, the noise you produce is reduced by 20%.
"Not bad, it's exactly Level 20 equipment, and the stats are much stronger than the Level 15 white-tier item I have on."
Lin Mo nodded in satisfaction and casually equipped it. Instantly, he felt his legs become lighter, as if filled with explosive power.
Besides this blue piece, there were a few green items with decent stats, but they couldn't catch Lin Mo's eye; he planned to toss them directly into the auction house later to trade for gold coins.
What truly made his heart race were the remaining three items!
The first was a skill book emanating a faint purple aura!
[Skill Book: Petrification Arrow]
Class Requirement: Archer, Hunter
Skill Effect: Fires an arrow containing Petrification energy, dealing 150% physical damage to the target and having a 30% chance to cause the target to enter the [Petrification] state for 2 seconds.
"It's actually a rare skill book with hard crowd control!" Lin Mo's breath hitched.
Crowd control skills in epoch were rarer and more precious than high-damage skills! A stable crowd control effect could often play a decisive role in an 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 be enough to make those top-tier Archer players fight tooth and nail for it! This was definitely a huge sum that could significantly improve his real Life!
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Lin Mo turned his gaze to the second item.
It was an ore the size of a human head, dark red throughout, with eerie snake-like patterns covering its surface, and it was emitting waves of scorching heat.
[Molten Snake-Pattern Steel] (Rare Material)
Description: A special metal formed by the Wailing Queen Medusa absorbing geothermal energy year-round, fusing her remains with the rocks surrounding her lair. 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 money couldn't buy. Whether he used it later for learning forging or sold it to a top-tier blacksmith, it could secure massive favors or wealth.
He carefully put it away, and finally, turned his gaze to that 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 mass of dark red flames that burned and flickered constantly!
Just by gazing at it, Lin Mo felt a chill originate from the depths of his soul, as if his own body were about to be frozen into stone by that eerie power.
He endured the discomfort, reached out, and touched it to reveal its attributes.
[queens eye] (Purple · Excellent · Unique)
Slot: Accessory
Level: 20
Attributes: Spirit +30, Perception +20
Special Effect 1: [Petrification Aura] (Passive): All your attacks have a 5% chance to cause a brief stun effect (0.2 seconds) on the target.
Special Effect 2: [Deadly Gaze] (Active): Consumes 500 Mana, target one enemy. After channeling for 1.5 seconds, a check is performed on the target. If the target's Spirit attribute is lower than yours, the target will enter the [Petrification] state for 3 seconds. If the target's Spirit attribute is higher than yours, the target will enter the [Chaos] state for 1.5 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Description: "Open your eyes and truly admire... the despair... from the abyss!" — Wailing Queen Medusa
"Hiss——!!!"
When he saw the attributes of this accessory clearly, even with the steady temperament of someone who had lived two lifetimes like Lin Mo, he couldn't help but gasp!
Purple! Excellent! Unique!
These six words represented its supreme status at this current stage!
And its attributes were nothing short of heaven-defying!
The passive effect [Petrification Aura], while the 5% chance wasn't high, for an assassin with a high attack frequency like Lin Mo, a 0.2-second stun at a critical moment could decide Life or death!
And the active skill [Deadly Gaze] was an absolute "god-tier skill"!
A hard crowd control lasting 3 seconds!
What this meant in PK and boss battles, Lin Mo knew better than anyone! It meant that he could safely, while the enemy was completely unable to resist, unleash a full burst combo, or even calmly stack up twenty layers of [Deadly Poison]!
Although it had the prerequisite of "Spirit attribute lower than yours," for Lin Mo, a magic-based assassin who put all points into Spirit, how many players at this stage could have higher Spirit than him?
This was a trump card for a guaranteed kill! A trump card sufficient to let him overcome level and equipment gaps to challenge even stronger enemies!
"I've hit the jackpot... this time, I've really hit the jackpot!"
Lin Mo didn't hesitate and immediately equipped the [queens eye]. Instantly, a cold and powerful energy surged into his limbs and bones, making him feel that his mental power had become unprecedentedly focused and powerful!
After doing all this, he finally turned his attention to that [Skill Enhancement Scroll] which was also emitting a purple glow.
[Skill Enhancement Scroll] (Rare)
Effect: Can target one of your skills to increase its level by 1. There is a low chance for the skill to gain an additional special effect.
"Skill Enhancement..." Lin Mo's gaze swept across his skill list.
[Poison Blade], [Poison Burst], [Poison Shadow Shift], [Stealth], [Shadow Strike], [Backstab], [Venom Spray]...
Every skill was crucial to him.
Enhancing [Poison Blade] could increase his basic attack output and poison-stacking efficiency.
Enhancing [Poison Shadow Shift] might reduce cooldown and increase survivability.
But Lin Mo's gaze ultimately settled on his core, most 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 the finishing blow!
Enhancing it would definitely yield the greatest returns!
"It's you!"
Lin Mo made up his mind and chose to use the scroll, targeting—[Poison Burst]!
[System Prompt: Do you wish to use [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 runes that made up the [Poison Burst] skill and performing some profound upgrade on it.
[System Prompt: Enhancement successful! Your skill [Poison Burst] level has increased to LV2!]
[System Prompt: Congratulations! During the enhancement process, a special effect was triggered!]
[Poison Burst] (LV2)
Effect: Detonates the [Endless Poison Source] effect on all targets within the designated area, dealing (20 + 50% Spell Power) damage per layer of poison.
New Special Effect: [Plague Link]: Units killed by [Poison Burst] will have their remaining poison layers automatically spread to up to 3 new enemy units within 8 meters.
"This... this is..."
When he saw that newly added special effect clearly, Lin Mo's pupils suddenly contracted, and his heart skipped a beat!
[Plague Link]!
These four words instantly reminded him of the ultimate mystery of a certain Necromancer in the game from his past Life!
What did this mean?
It meant that his [Poison Burst] would no longer be a simple finishing move!
It had become a true "field-clearing" god-tier skill that could trigger chain reactions!
Imagine, among a group of monsters, he only needed to focus fire and take down one of them, then the twenty layers of [Deadly Poison] on that monster would instantly spread to three other monsters nearby!
Then, he would detonate one of them...
Repeating this, as long as he had enough Mana, theoretically, he could clear the entire battlefield like knocking over dominoes, in a snowballing fashion!
"Perverted... this is too perverted!"
Lin Mo's breathing became somewhat rapid.
If the previous [Poison Burst] had given him powerful single-target and area-of-effect burst capabilities.
Then now, [Poison Burst] with [Plague Link] truly gave him the potential to become a "one-man army"!
He suppressed the ecstasy in his heart, opened his attribute panel, and checked the final results after this surge in strength.
[Player: Lin Mo]
[Class: Shadow of Deadly Poison]
[Level: 20]
[Health Points: 1250/1250]
[Mana Points: 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!
What could be called luxurious attributes!
A Level 20 status, combined with a full set of Fine-tier or better equipment, especially the bonus from the purple chest armor and purple accessory, meant his attributes had completely crushed all current mainstream players!
Whether in survivability or output capability, he was already standing at the top of the epoch pyramid!
"Hoo..."
Lin Mo slowly stood up, clenched his fist, and felt the unprecedented, surging power within his body, his eyes filled with powerful 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 the mentor would surely hear him.
"Right now, I need a bigger stage to test this new power of mine."
"Besides... it should be quite lively outside by now."
A meaningful smile curled at the corners of his mouth.
It was time to leave this harbor where he had temporarily taken shelter and go to welcome the storm that he himself had unleashed, which would sweep across the entire epoch!