48: An epic chapter ends, a new talent emerges.

When the enormous body of Morpheus, the Cave Lurker, dissolved into countless specks of light, Lin Mo's nerves, which had been taut for several hours, finally completely relaxed. He leaned against the cold rock wall, letting out a long sigh of relief, feeling a wave of exhaustion from the depths of his soul surge over him like a tide.

This epic quest, which lasted for nearly three hours, had a difficulty and danger level far exceeding his imagination. Whether it was Templar Knight Carlos's grand and sweeping Wither sword techniques, Selene the Lake Siren's despair-inducing shields and bullet hell, or the final extreme hunt by Morpheus the Lurker in absolute darkness, any slight error in any single step would have led to his irreversible doom.

This was not just a test of operation and attributes, but a duel of will and wisdom.

Fortunately, he won the gamble.

The golden light of leveling up dispelled all negative statuses and instantly restored his Life and Mana to full. Lin Mo straightened up, his gaze falling upon the pile of spoils dropped by the BOSS, their brilliant glow almost completely illuminating the entire dark cave.

Even with Lin Mo's usual composure, his heart couldn't help but race, and his breathing quickened a few beats.

The drops from a Level 35 epic grade Lord! The value of these items was probably higher than all the BOSSes he had participated in killing before combined!

He didn't rush to pick up the equipment, but immediately locked his gaze on the tear of purification, which was quietly suspended in mid-air, emitting a sacred white light.

tear of purification (Quest Item)

Description: A tear containing the pure power of Saintess Aila, the only sacred relic capable of purifying abyssal Corrosion.

Quest Progress: 3 / 3

The three Tears of Purification were finally gathered!

The huge stone weighing on Lin Mo's heart finally fell. He glanced at the quest log; the crimson countdown showed a remaining 00:28:15, plenty of time.

Only then did he relax and begin to carefully count his spoils of war.

The first item that caught his eye was a pair of leather leg guards shimmering with a deep purple light.

Dread Stalker Legguards (Amethyst Grade)

Type: Leather Armor

Level Requirement: 25

Defense: +180

Agility: +55

Stamina: +40

Special Effect One: Shadow Affinity — Your Stealth effect is increased by 15%, and the movement speed penalty in Stealth is reduced by 20%.

Special Effect Two: Dreadful Stride — When you move, there is a 5% chance to be immune to the next control effect received. This effect can trigger at most once every 30 seconds.

Set (1 / 5): Collect the Dread Stalker set to activate extraordinary set attributes.

“It's a set!” Lin Mo's eyes instantly lit up.

Amethyst grade equipment was already rare, and a set was even rarer! The attributes of these leg guards were exceptional; both the basic attribute bonuses and the two powerful special effects perfectly matched the characteristics of his Shadow of Deadly Poison class. Especially Dreadful Stride, it was simply a divine skill in PVP, capable of changing the tide of battle at crucial moments!

He unhesitatingly equipped the leg guards, immediately feeling his body become several times lighter.

The second item was a skill book glowing with a dark golden light, clearly of extremely high grade.

Skill Book: Fear Spike

Class Requirement: Assassin-type

Learning Level: 25

Skill Effect: Condenses the power of fear onto your weapon, launching a surprise attack on the target, dealing 250% physical damage, and having a 50% chance to inflict the [Fear] status on the target for 1.5 seconds. If the target is poisoned, the [Fear] judgment chance increases to 75%.

Cooldown: 45 seconds

“Hard crowd control skill!” Lin Mo gasped.

This was simply a divine skill tailor-made for him! What do Assassin-type classes lack most? Stable control! Fear Spike not only had extremely high damage amplification but also provided a valuable hard crowd control effect, and it could perfectly synergize with his poison damage. A 75% chance of judgment meant it was almost guaranteed to trigger in combat!

With this skill, whether in PVP duels or dungeon raids, his tactics would become more flexible and varied.

He immediately chose to learn it, and the crimson icon that appeared in his skill bar filled him with a sense of security.

Besides these two top-tier items, two other Blue Crystal grade pieces of equipment lay quietly on the ground, along with a large pile of rare quality alchemy materials and a few glittering gems. Lin Mo roughly estimated that these materials and gems alone could fetch at least a hundred gold coins at the auction house.

This wave, a huge profit!

However, for Lin Mo, the biggest gain this time was not these equipment and skills, but... He slowly closed his eyes, sinking into his mind, and began to carefully sense the changes in his talent.

Divine Talent: Endless Poison Source (Stage Two • Activated)

Current Level: LV3

Effect One: Poison Stacking — All your poison damage can be stacked infinitely, with no upper limit.

Effect Two: Rule: Corrosion — Your poison will Corrode the target's defense. For every 5 layers of poison stacked, ignore 1% of the target's physical and magical defense, up to a maximum of 20%.

Effect Three: Rule: Withering — Your poison will disintegrate the target's Life force, reducing all healing effects they receive by 20%. This effect can be strengthened by your will to dispel certain negative mental states from yourself or friendly targets.

Effect Four: rule: Fear (New) — Your poison has absorbed enough power of fear. Now, it will strike directly at the target's soul. Any of your poison damage has a 1% chance to put the target into a [Stun] state for 0.1 seconds. This effect will not trigger consecutively.

“This... this is...”

When he saw the description of the fourth rule, Lin Mo's pupils suddenly contracted, and his heart skipped half a beat!

Control! It was a control effect!

Although it was only a 1% trigger chance and a short 0.1-second Stun, don't forget, what was the core of his talent? It was [Infinite Stacking]!

This meant that as long as his attack frequency was fast enough and the number of poison stacks was high enough, theoretically, he could inflict endless tiny control effects on the target!

A 0.1-second Stun might be insignificant, but what about ten times, a hundred times? In high-speed combat, these few tenths of a second of Stun would be enough to interrupt an opponent's casting, disrupt their attack rhythm, and even create fatal openings!

This was no longer just a pure damage talent; it was a monster that combined damage, weakening, anti-healing, and control!

What surprised Lin Mo even more was the evolution of Rule: Withering. Previously, at a critical moment, he had, as if by inspiration, used the power of Wither to dispel fear. Unexpectedly, this talent growth had completely solidified this usage!

“Dispelling certain negative mental states from yourself or friendly targets” — this short sentence directly elevated his strategic value from a mere top-tier DPS to a tactical core that could assist the team!

“Too strong...” Lin Mo murmured, his eyes shining with unprecedented excitement.

The gains from this epic quest had far exceeded his expectations. He felt that his current strength had at least doubled compared to before entering the Withered Snow Domain!

He put all the spoils into his backpack, no longer lingering, and turned to sprint back the way he came... [00:05:12]

When Lin Mo's figure reappeared before the Icebound Throne, the quest countdown had only five minutes left.

The wind and snow continued, and the beautiful figure of Saintess Aila was still imprisoned within the ancient profound ice, her face bearing eternal pity and desolation.

“I'm back.”

Lin Mo walked to the throne, his voice slightly breathless from the rapid run.

Aila's ice-blue eyes slowly opened. When she saw the three Tears of Purification emitting a soft glow in Lin Mo's hand, a trace of excitement and relief finally appeared in her millennia-unchanging cold gaze.

“You... you did it... you really did it, brave hero from another world.”

“I have not failed my mission.”

Lin Mo stepped forward and gently placed the three Tears of Purification on the base of the Icebound Throne.

Buzz—!

The three tears seemed to be drawn by some mysterious power, slowly floating up and transforming into three pure white pillars of light. In a triangular formation, they enveloped the entire Icebound Throne.

The sacred light, like the warmest sunlight in spring, began to dispel the chill and Wither that had accumulated in this snow domain for a thousand years. The black ice crystals, corrupted by abyssal demonic energy, rapidly melted under the light, like snow meeting the sun, emitting a “sizzling” sound of Purification.

The oppressive, despairing aura was visibly receding.

Ding! You have successfully submitted quest item [tear of purification] * 3. Epic unique hidden quest [Omen of the Scarlet Tide] has been completed!

Ding! You have received quest rewards: Experience * 5,000,000, Gold Coins * 500, Shadow Sanctuary Reputation + 3000!

Ding! You have received the epic quest's final reward: [Blessing of the Saintess]!

Ding! You have received the epic quest's final reward: [Aila's Wither Amulet (legendary grade)]!

A series of system prompts, like heavenly music, rang out one after another in Lin Mo's ears!

The massive amount of experience made his experience bar shoot up another large chunk, not far from Level 24. And the high 3000 reputation points directly boosted him from the “Friendly” faction of the Shadow Sanctuary to “Revered”!

This meant that he would be able to receive higher-tier quests and purchase rarer items from the Shadow Sanctuary NPCs!

But these couldn't compare to the shock brought by the last two rewards!

Blessing of the Saintess (Special Status)

Effect: Your soul has received the Blessing of the Saintess. In the upcoming version update [Demon Invasion], your damage to all demon monsters is increased by 10%, and you will be immune to all [Abyssal Corrosion] effects attached to demonized creatures no more than 20 levels higher than you.

“Version buff!” Lin Mo's breathing stopped.

This was simply an official cheat! In the upcoming Demon Invasion version, all players would face the trouble of Abyssal Corrosion—a terrifying negative status that would continuously reduce attributes and even had a chance to forcibly demonize. And he was directly immune to it!

Coupled with the 10% damage bonus, he could already foresee what a terrifying “Demon Harvester” he would become the moment the version update began!

He suppressed his excitement and looked at the necklace in his backpack, which was emitting a dazzling orange light.

That light was the symbol of legendary grade!