[Nightmare Purified]
[Purifying the nightmare with a designated identity, evaluation increased]
[Sever the Curse: Tongue in the Mirror, evaluation increased]
[Killing the Captain of the Guards Claus, evaluation increased]
[Ensuring Tan Juan's survival until the end of the instance, evaluation increased]
[Overall evaluation——A]
[Received 32 points of public experience, Perception +1]
"Cleared it, huh..."
Annand took a deep breath and raised his head.
He had just recovered from the intense dizziness.
Fortunately, I made a timely rescue in the end, and Justice's precise last hit managed to snatch the kill. Otherwise, things could have gotten worse.
It seems in the future I'll have to snatch more kills...
It was still dusk when he entered the instance.
But now the sky was dim, and the morning fog was thinning. Dawn was nearing.
The sun had not yet risen, but on the eastern horizon, over the sea, intricate runes could already be seen slowly rotating.
John's corpse, whose eyes were still not closed in death, lay next to the rope ladder.
Looking at the familiar wound that had pierced his chest, Annan couldn't help but sigh.
He already knew how John had died.
From this wound, Annan could tell it was caused by John's own killing blow being reflected by Claus... In other words, it was John himself who killed John.
"I guess I have avenged you."
Annand muttered, "I can take this sword now, right?"
He took John's gauntlet sword out. Unlike Annan's impulsive actions, John carried his sword in a scabbard, so Annan took the scabbard as well.
An ideal weapon for John, but for Annan at his current height, it was too big.
Using this sword as a reference, if John's height was 1.8 meters, then Annan was only about 1.55 meters. He would not handle this sword too well.
But Annan wasn't looking for a convenient weapon...
[Purified Nightmare Shard]
[Current purification rate is 1/3, can re-enter the instance after 71:59 minutes]
Its properties had changed to this.
Meanwhile, data still flowed slowly before Annan's eyes:
[Received instance clearance reward: Profession (Swordsman) increased by 1 level]
Swordsman LV4: [Guardsman Swordsmanship LV4], [Disarm LV1], [Frost Sword Technique LV1], free skill point 1
Free skill point?
Without hesitation, Annan applied it on [Frost Sword Technique LV1].
Although he didn't know whether Guardsman Swordsmanship would undergo a qualitative change at LV5, a doubled level of Frost Sword Technique would definitely bring a significant benefit...
Annan only worried whether this Frost Sword Technique could be an advanced skill he gained early and therefore might not be upgradable—after all, its power didn't seem like something an unranked professional could acquire.
Fortunately, whether it was because his template was special or the Sword Technique really didn't have that many restrictions, spending one skill point successfully raised his third skill to [Frost Sword Technique LV2].
The details of its improved effect would have to be examined later...
"Hmm? What's this?"
He saw a prompt emerge:
[Hidden elements decoded: 67%]
[Eligible to claim Phase One reward (acquired at 33% completion)]
[Eligible to claim Phase Two reward (acquired at 66% completion)]
"Claim all."
After pondering for a moment, Annan decided to claim them right away.
[Received instance decryption reward: 24 points of public experience, health restored to 100%]
[Received instance decryption reward: Profession (Wizard Apprentice) increased by 1 level]
——Wizard?
Annan's eyes lit up immediately. This was indeed quite good.
He still remembered the scene where the old wizard Benjamin was like a living disaster.
Moreover, his intuition told him that a wizard might not be the strongest, but definitely wouldn't be the weakest——
With this prompt, a dense array of light screens flashed before his eyes:
[Mana Pool activated]
[Current Power of Order/Distortion force ratio is: 12 (dependent on will) / 4 (dependent on erosion)]
[Based on the Rare Elite (Gold) template, your Mana Pool has been expanded to: 48/16]
[Based on your characteristics and the ratio of mana, you have obtained the Order Spell: Cold Touch (Instant)]
[Cold Touch (Instant): Curse your dominant hand to gain the temporary ability to instantly freeze anything it touches. Each second of duration (dependent on the total level of the wizard profession) consumes 1 Power of Order]
[At sunrise, you can recover all of your Power of Order]
[At sunset, you can recover all of your Power of Distortion]
[Warning: When the Mana Pool ratio is reversed (currently when Power of Order is less than or equal to 5 points), you will enter a slightly uncontrollable state that intensifies as time passes]
...So this is how a wizard's power system works?
Annan observed the two numbers, one white and one red, that emerged on his attribute panel, lost in thought.
The power of a wizard stemmed from balance. He had to maintain the balance of his Mana Pool, not allowing the Power of Order to drop below one-third of the Power of Distortion... This ratio represented his current level of erosion in relation to his willpower attributes.
At least for Annan at the moment, this wasn't too difficult. Because his level of erosion was very low, while his willpower attribute was high, this made his available Power of Order quite substantial.
The only disadvantage was that he didn't have any spells to expend his Power of Distortion.
So, what if his level of erosion caught up with or even matched his willpower attributes? Wouldn't he almost be unable to use any spells? Because if the Power of Order dropped by a few points, the ratio might be reversed.
What would happen if his level of erosion exceeded his willpower attributes?
Annan decided to experiment with his power to see what using a spell was really like.
He gently grasped the mast beside him with his right hand, while placing his left hand about a half elbow's height above his right hand.
Following the memories that emerged in his mind, he used the newly acquired spell.
Cold Touch——
His right hand instantly turned a bluish-black color, much like the hand of a corpse that had been frozen for a long time, with visible cold air seeping through his fingertips. Within two or three seconds, his left hand distinctly felt the coldness.
But the mast wasn't frozen.
Annan had an idea and quickly cancelled the spell. The ghastly bluish-black glow instantly receded from his right hand.
"Sorry about this, brother."
Annan casually remarked, then placed his right hand on John's corpse and used the spell [Cold Touch] again.
This time, the effect was more apparent. In about a second or two, frost clearly formed on John's face, and his sub-dermal tissues hardened.
Annan opened John's mouth and found that even his tongue had been frozen.
Then he touched John's abdomen. About a second later, after moving away his hand, he discovered the liver had also frozen.
Annan raised his eyebrows.
...Although it was an apprentice-level spell, the effect was surprisingly decent.
While the external changes to the skin weren't very noticeable and it couldn't cause an almost instant death like his Frost Sword Technique, the cold air seeping from Annan's right hand could clearly damage internal organs through the skin.
John's combat ability and physical condition should've been at the peak level before initiation.
This meant that against similarly uninitiated enemies, as long as Annan could touch their chest or abdomen for a second or two, he could directly freeze their internal organs. Or he could also freeze their joints or the like...
It could be considered a trump card.
Since it didn't require a weapon to be unleashed, its disguisability was also very strong.
Especially since Annan hadn't been initiated yet, this might actually turn into an advantage.
He was just twelve or thirteen years old, not even reaching one meter sixty in height, a weak, pitiful, and helpless tender child.
Without carrying a weapon on him and devoid of any strange metallic ornaments, who would be wary of him?
Then Annan would show a naive and harmless pure smile, lean in with his icy hand and touch you on your lower back...
And there goes your kidney.
This wasn't some "Cold Touch," it was clearly a strike to the organs!
The Xuan Ming Elders sent their congratulations.