Chapter 52: Chapter 50: Natural Maze · Silver Coast
Chloe looked at the crimson gem in her hand and suddenly felt a bit sad.
But that’s just life.
Just because you give it your all doesn’t mean you’ll get the reward you desire.
The crimson gem, infused with several [Vibrant] talents’ life energy, possesses the ability to grant vigorous life force to others.
It’s an extraordinary item, like the Red Moon’s Cage Hand.
"Is this a gift from Walnut?"
He felt a little sad.
Feeling the extraordinary traits of his body fully digested.
Already just a step away from stepping into Sequence Eight, he absorbed all the power on the spot.
He merged the Red Moon’s gem with the Cage Hand.
The gem embedded into the back of the Cage Hand, with crimson runes spreading across it.
As if activated, he felt a vigorous life force permeate his body.
The specific effects of the Cage Hand remain to be developed.
But even its most apparent effects are quite clear.
Giant Strength (SR), allows him to have the strength of a giant in the corresponding sequence.
After the promotion, he felt his strength became even more exaggerated.
Previously, he could shatter boulders as tall as a person.
But now, he felt he could rip up a tree and smash people with it.
With his build and this strength, he could only think of one meme.
Lin Daiyu uprooting the willow.jpg
But that’s not the most outrageous part.
Once the Red Moon’s Cage Hand is activated, the strength of his right hand will surge even further.
Even the strength enhanced by the Cage Hand surpasses the Giant Strength enhancement.
He suspects this enhancement effect is equivalent to the top-tier SSR power talent [Titan’s Power].
And that’s not all.
In condensing the Red Moon’s Cage Hand, he consumed 3 instances of [Vibrant (SR)].
Now, with Walnut’s gem absorbed, it’s up to 5 instances.
Talent-derived life energy doesn’t disappear; it simply transfers.
It merely shifted from him to the Cage Hand.
What does the concept of 5 Vibrant blessings mean?
He feels even the top-level SSR life energy talent barely compares.
In total, his life energy hasn’t decreased but increased.
He thinks he might need a Sea-Stabilizing Divine Treasure.
It doesn’t need any special traits, just needs to be hard enough.
With that item, he could beat opponents of the same sequence out of recognition.
He might even ask, "How much is this pork per pound?"
Yet he’s not happy.
With a powerful weapon in hand, a murderous intent arises.
When in a bad mood, he just wants to tear something apart.
Just as well, he knows some people who deserve the "initial experience with the Cage Hand."
...
The next day.
The sophomore practical class team gathered.
Voodoo Master Teresa.
Warrior Rooney.
Hunter Gregory.
And Chloe, dressed in a white robe.
All gathered in the Duel Plaza at this moment.
After the last cooperation and clashes with demons, they developed the most basic synergy.
And today, they will leave the academy for a whole week.
Their destination is to explore the D-class Maze [Silver Coast].
What’s special is that this time, the maze is not a man-made one.
In other words, it’s an [unexplored maze] not yet taken over by the academy.
Such mazes are breeding grounds for monsters and paradises for adventurers.
This time, Teresa is still leading the team.
She told the group:
"This time it’s a true adventure, although we’re just a makeshift team.
But I still have to say, I don’t want anyone in the team to hold us back."
Hunter Gregory grinned and asked:
"Big sis, what counts as not holding us back?"
"Gregory, if you stop fooling around all the time, you won’t hold us back."
"Hey, won’t that be killing me?"
Gregory scratched his head.
As a comical person, he thought lightening the team’s tense mood would help with the maze exploration.
But apparently, Teresa didn’t see it that way.
But smart as he was, his eyes twinkled as he shouted:
"But Chloe is also smiling."
Chloe said lightly, "I’m smiling from the surface, not from the heart. Didn’t you feel the murderous intent behind my smile?"
He wasn’t joking.
He truly came with the intent to kill.
In the second simulation, Rooney made a move against him during this maze strategy.
However, he had hidden quite a bit, almost turning the tables.
Unfortunately, in the simulation, his strength was limited at that time.
Not to mention Sequence 9, he didn’t even have the Red Moon’s Cage Hand.
But this time is different.
He wouldn’t give Rooney a chance; he wanted to scatter his ashes legitimately.
Teresa naturally didn’t know what Chloe was thinking.
She only said, "Chloe, don’t be all smiles either. Besides being the top of the healing class, you’re nothing."
Rooney, who had been silent, couldn’t hold back anymore.
Young Lady, are you scolding him or praising him?
Teresa felt this team was a bit hard to manage.
A disobedient one → Chloe
A clown → Gregory
A mute → Rooney
Play ball.
She instinctively glanced at her own assets.
Reasonable.
After the practical session is over, she might as well play ball herself.
With a sense of responsibility for stepping up, she gave the few a final reminder.
"The Eisen Coast we’re exploring this time is an unexplored area, the Ethereal Dawn Divine Sword cannot interfere with such a maze, so stay alert."
Everyone nodded.
Playing is playing, laughing is laughing, but don’t joke with your life.
However, as qualified Ethereal Emblem students, everyone knew this adventure wouldn’t be easy.
An unexplored maze has a unique assessment mechanism among students.
That is [Hell Mode].
Yes.
The difficulty coefficient of the hell mode in man-made mazes was referenced from the unexplored mazes.
Teresa calmly talked to everyone about the precautions:
"There are plenty of precious materials in mazes.
But only one out of ten adventurers can enter a proper maze.
The academy follows the "Adventurer Union Convention", requiring us to complete testing in our freshman year to enter a real maze.
Simply put, clearing D-class man-made maze’s difficult mode 10 times, or hell mode just once.
This is to protect students’ safety.
Still, over the years, the adventurer mortality rate hasn’t been low.
What I want to say is, even in hell mode, it’s hard to simulate the dangers of an unexplored maze.
You all should have encountered the [Labyrinth’s Lone King] during the freshman year.
That’s an existence far beyond the limits of D-class maze creatures.
Unlike the traceable Lone Kings in man-made mazes, the real maze isn’t like that."
Chloe nodded.
Teresa probably had ventured into a real maze before and knew what could most easily bring fatal blow to a team in such an environment.
The basic assessment for D-class mazes is that the overall strength of the creatures is below Sequence Nine, with some being Sequence Eight.
Yet the Labyrinth’s Lone King is infinitely close to Sequence Seven.
Only with excellent combat power of Ethereal Emblem students did the academy require them to take on greater challenges.
Adventurers outside, under the leadership of Sequence Seven, have to organize six or seven Sequence Eights, and with a group of Sequence Nine backups, dare to explore deeply.
At this moment, Teresa turned her head to look at him.
"Chloe, I heard you were injured before. Will it affect this mission?"
Chloe glanced at her and said:
"Having or no impact, there’s no clear difference."
"The difference is quite big."