Rank 8 Dragon Mage, new forbidden spell! (5000)

Chapter 567: Eighth-Tier Dragon Mage, A New Forbidden Spell! (5000)

Ilena was currently lying on the dragon's back, her serpentine lower body covered in white scales that swayed slightly.

Meanwhile, the other snake-person, Lana, was still tightly bound, her head resting in her sister's arms.

The green snake's eyes were still bloodshot, and she looked at Cao Xing with hatred.

However, she was no longer struggling and trying to escape all the time like at the beginning; now she was much quieter.

Cao Xing chuckled, "Ilena, come here."

"Yes, dear—Lord."

The snake-person obediently twisted her body and came to his side.

Then, Cao Xing took out that soul and deliberately waved it in front of Lana.

Seeing this, the green snake's eyes showed disdain.

Cao Xing didn't mind and said, "Come, Ilena, use it."

"Thank you, Lord." The snake-person priestess had a gentle smile on her face.

Then, she directly absorbed the soul into her body.

The next moment, a deep soul-throbbing sensation emerged from her.

Then, Ilena's body quickly became covered in white scales, spreading to her waist in the blink of an eye,

her back, and her neck.

It was as if a giant white python stood before him, looking utterly monstrous!

As time passed, an increasingly terrifying aura emanated from her, as if a fierce beast was awakening!

Even the elves discussing matters in the distance couldn't help but look over.

Ilena's breakthrough to Commander-level was quite astonishing, which also meant she had a high chance of succeeding this time!

Just then, Cao Xing suddenly noticed that a faint white layer of skin, like Ilena's snake skin, appeared on the white serpent's body.

But this layer of snake skin didn't last long; it merged into her body in an instant.

Then, a system notification appeared.

[Your territory member: Ilena has successfully evolved into a Commander-level creature, base attributes increased by 30%, learned new skill: Life Soul Snake Shed]

[Life Soul Snake Shed: When health is below 10%, if not killed, can enter 'Life Soul Snake' state, rapidly recover all injuries, and perform one shed.

After shedding, health is restored to full, and attributes permanently increased by 10%. Cooldown: 24 hours]

(Note: After using shed 3 times, subsequent entries into 'Life Soul Snake Shed' state will only restore health, no further attribute increases.)

Seeing this skill description, Cao Xing's face showed a thoughtful expression.

"Permanent attribute increase? This skill seems a bit powerful!"

"And it can be used 3 times, which means it can almost make Ilena a mutated Commander?"

He felt delighted.

Clearly, this new skill's attributes were quite good.

If other Commander-level creatures had this skill, their survivability would increase dramatically.

Ilena was also very happy.

She quickly went to the green snake and excitedly said, "Lana, did you see that?"

"Your sister has become stronger again, and will soon catch up to you!"

"This is all thanks to Lord's help."

Lana snorted, "Hmph! Humans are all hypocrites!"

"He helps you because you can fight for him. If you were useless, he'd kick you away."

"Don't be deceived by him, Ilena!"

Ilena slowly said, "You can't say that, Lana. All relationships are mutual."

"Just like now, Lord helps me improve, and I contribute my strength to him. This is only natural."

"You can't expect others to help you for free, right?"

Cao Xing, hearing this from behind, could hardly suppress his smile.

As expected of his subjects, they all had proper values!

Seeing she couldn't win the argument with her sister, the green snake turned her head away, not intending to continue.

Ilena didn't mind and continued to gently hold her head, softly massaging her temples.

After Cao Xing finished tallying the spoils,

the Elf Clan leader had also finished the meeting and gradually approached with the entire tribe of elves.

Their gazes toward him were filled with complex expressions.

Clan Leader Oruel said, "Lord Cao Xing, we have discussed it."

"All clan members have agreed to go to your territory to live."

Hearing this, a smile gradually appeared on Cao Xing's face.

"That's a wise choice, Clan Leader Oruel."

"Trust me, in my territory, you will live better and safer than now."

The Elf Clan leader said solemnly, "We also believe that a lord who can make so many strong ones serve him, and even gain the recognition of the Tree of Knowledge, must be extraordinary."

"We will need your guidance in the future."

Pausing, he continued, "So, are we leaving now?"

Cao Xing shook his head.

"Not yet, Clan Leader Oruel. My territory is quite far from here; walking normally might take over half a month."

"I'll have warriors pilot a few goblin airships over, and then we'll go together."

"In the meantime, we need to wait a few more days."

The Elf Clan leader nodded in realization, "I see—then these few days, we'll go pack our things."

"Lord Cao Xing, please wait here for a moment."

"Alright."

With that, the Elf Clan leader turned and gave instructions to the other elves.

Cao Xing also pressed the communication device on his ear and asked, "Yaskin, how are the warriors' upgrades recently? How many have reached level 7 max?"

Soon, the voice of the Ascalon captain came through.

"Honored Lord, after these days of battle."

"Most warriors are between level 64 and 68, and only about 100 have reached max level."

Hearing this number, Cao Xing smiled.

"Good. Now lead these max-level warriors, split into ten squads, and pilot ten goblin airships to a forest."

"It's about five thousand kilometers from the territory. I'll wait for you here."

Hearing such a distance, the Ascalon captain was somewhat surprised.

But he didn't ask more, instead responding solemnly.

"Yes! Lord!"

After hanging up, Yaskin quickly took action.

It would take about two or three days for the goblin airships to fly from the territory.

And there were still seven days until the final wave of monsters attacking the city.

Including round trip, it was completely enough.

During this time, Cao Xing decided to personally stay in the Ancient Elf tribe to prevent any accidents in the final days.

Then, he called the Dragon Speaker.

"Bing Lan, you and Seraphis take Ilena and her sister back to the territory now."

"On the way, keep an eye on that woman, don't let her escape."

The Dragon Speaker looked at him in confusion and asked, "I'm leaving here, will you be okay?"

Cao Xing knew she was worried about his safety.

"Of course, no problem. Don't forget, I brought a killer!"

In his backpack, besides the lizardman statue and the Ascalon Book of the Dead.

Valkyrie Malenina was still in the necromancer's bag!

It could be said that Cao Xing could summon a powerful legion at any time!

The Dragon Speaker nodded slightly and said no more, then lightly leaped onto Seraphis's back.

Then, the dragon carried her and the two snake-people into the sky.

In the blink of an eye, they disappeared into the horizon.

Only Cao Xing and Renice remained.

In the afternoon, Clan Leader Oruel came over.

He arranged temporary residences for Cao Xing and Renice, two small treehouses with fireplaces.

Transparent Wind Wings appeared behind Cao Xing; with a flap, he flew to the tree trunk and pushed open the door of the small treehouse.

Inside was a small room with simple facilities.

A small wooden bed, a fireplace, and a small table.

Cao Xing laughed, "You know, this experience of living in a treehouse in the forest really feels like wilderness survival."

He went in directly, lit the fireplace, and the room's temperature rose sharply.

He lay on the bed, waiting silently.

Time flew, and it was past seven in the evening.

Night fell, and the entire forest darkened completely.

Including this Ancient Elf tribe, all light sources were extinguished to maintain concealment.

[part:gemini-3.0-flash]

In the evening, Cao Xing had nothing much to do. Although he could enter a meditative state in the wild to recover his mental energy,

the effect was not as good as it was in a Mage Tower, so there was no way for him to absorb 'Magic Crystals'.

After pondering for a moment, Cao Xing took out a crimson power crystal from his backpack.

It was the [Hero's Heart] he had obtained earlier that day when he opened the Bright Moon Treasure Chest.

He thought to himself, "Currently, many people in my territory need to break through to the eighth rank as soon as possible."

"However, those who need it most are Braum and Isabelle."

"After all, as long as these two break through and reach the maximum level, they can try to charge toward the Legendary realm."

"As for Isabelle, she's still undergoing her inheritance, and I don't know when she'll return."

"As for Braum, I won't be able to make it back to him in a short time."

After thinking it over, Cao Xing finally decided to use this Heart of Power for himself first.

After all, the improvement he would gain after breaking through would be quite powerful.

The values of his Ice Healing Art and Ice Armor Technique would both increase significantly.

Plus, he held a Forbidden Spell in his hands—Doom Ice Star.

The destructive power caused by a Hero-level mage would not be much less than that of a Legendary one!

"Let's give it a try and see if I can break through to the Hero-level too."

Thinking of this, he crushed it on the spot.

"Crack!"

After the crystal shattered, pure power flowed out from within and was then absorbed by him.

In an instant! A strong chill erupted from within his body!

This chill was so intense that it covered the entire Elf tribe in an instant.

The originally warm temperature dropped directly below zero, and a thick layer of white frost quickly covered the trunks of those towering trees.

The Ancient Elves who were sleeping were also woken up by the cold one after another, looking at the outside world with a dazed expression.

Including the Elf Clan leader, Oriel, who had also awakened.

He seemed to realize something, and a look of disbelief appeared in his eyes.

"This aura is—Lord Cao Xing?"

"Is he… about to break through again?"

Thinking of this possibility, Oriel's eyes gradually filled with shock!

After all, the combat power Cao Xing had shown today was already terrifying enough!

What kind of existence would he become if he broke through again?

Obviously, he would be at the Hero-level!

And there was no need to say how terrifying the destructive power of a Hero-level mage was.

With just one spell, he could level their entire Elf tribe!

Oriel murmured, "Truly an incredible Lord—"

"And in the records of the clan leaders of past generations, such existences never have an ordinary life, always accompanied by endless war and slaughter."

"It seems that the future life of our Ancient Elf clan will not be peaceful—"

A trace of worry appeared in his eyes; this Elf Clan leader also didn't know if his choice was right or wrong—

Cao Xing was unaware of the situation outside.

Because his consciousness had once again entered that vast white space.

It was the same place where he had seen the Dragon of Fate—Oruen, during the Battle of the Oracle.

However, there were no longer any dragon silhouettes inside, only a huge dark purple crystal standing there.

"Hmm? When did this crystal appear?" Cao Xing felt a bit strange.

By now, he already knew what this vast white space was.

This was his own spiritual domain, the deepest part of his mind.

"Is it because I inherited Krakatoa's traits?"

Just as Cao Xing was filled with doubt,

a deep power burst out from the crystal and instantly bored into his mind!

At this moment, Cao Xing suddenly received a large number of memory fragments.

From these memory fragments, he saw a large number of dark purple crystals and transparent ice crystals floating in front of him.

Two completely different powers began to reorganize, split, and merge over and over again.

In just one second, at least ten thousand combinations were carried out.

Every time the crystal and ice powers merged, an extremely terrifying power would erupt.

Not long after merging, they would directly collapse and shatter, as if the two powers were repelling each other.

However, this power did not give up and continued to attempt to merge with perseverance.

In this way, Cao Xing watched the crystals and ice crystals repeat the cycle in front of him.

It felt as if a month had passed, and then as if a whole year had gone by.

In these countless combinations, the fusion of crystal and ice powers also experienced countless failures.

Among them, only two or three fusions were successful, but the effects seemed unsatisfactory, as the power that erupted was not as strong as imagined.

On this day, Cao Xing suddenly saw a different change.

A mass of crystal power merged with an ice crystal, gradually forming an irregular diamond-shaped crystal body.

Then, this crystal body seemed to set off some kind of chain reaction, causing more and more crystal bodies to appear around it.

And all of them quickly concentrated toward the same area.

Every crystal body would make a violent "Crack!" sound upon impact.

After a while, a large number of crystal bodies condensed into the shape of a crystal mountain.

It contained infinite sealing power and the aura of destruction.

Just a trace of leakage made Cao Xing feel extremely endangered!

"Hmm? Is it a success?"

Before he could react, a strong light burst out from this crystal mountain, as if it were about to explode!

"Boom~!"

With a world-shaking explosion, this crystal mountain burst apart in an instant, and terrifying power vented out!

Cao Xing's consciousness space was instantly filled with this terrifying power, and he was ejected from that space.

Then, a system notification appeared.

[Survivor Cao Xing, please note! You have successfully evolved into an eighth-rank creature. Basic attributes increased by 100%, skill attack range increased by 100%, and level cap increased to level 100!]

(For every subsequent level up, you will gain 1,000 points of basic attack power and a 10% increase in skill coefficients.)

At this moment, Cao Xing felt the abundant magic power in his body, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Finally, I've broken through to the eighth rank—"

"This feeling—is really not bad!"

After breaking through to the eighth rank, his spirit attributes and physical quality increased by a huge margin!

Plus, the attack range had increased by 100%!

In other words, his current [Frozen for a Thousand Miles] could directly cover four kilometers!

One Ice Breaking Flying Blade would deal damage over at least a hundred square meters.

Even Cao Xing himself didn't know how much output he could produce in a state of full eruption!

However, before he could feel the powerful strength he possessed after the breakthrough, a second system notification appeared.

[Survivor Cao Xing, please note! Due to unknown reasons, you have activated a hidden Forbidden Spell skill: Frost Crystal Prison · Ice Burial!]

Cao Xing was stunned at first, and then a look of intense joy appeared in his eyes!

"Holy crap! Another hidden Forbidden Spell?"

Previously, he had already obtained a hidden Forbidden Spell—Doom Ice Star.

And now, [Frost Crystal Prison · Ice Burial] had come along too.

At this moment, Cao Xing seemed to understand why he had entered that consciousness space when he broke through and why he had seen that kind of scene.

Clearly, this was the crystal power left by Krakatoa combining with his own Frost Mage abilities to form a new skill!

"Haha! This hidden class is just too awesome!"

"Not only can I learn skills from the Frost Mage system, but it also directly activated a hidden Forbidden Spell for me during the breakthrough. This is great!"

With an excited mood, he glanced at the attributes of this Forbidden Spell.

[Frost Crystal Prison · Ice Burial: Select a target enemy and condense a large amount of crystal and ice power to seal them for 1~5 seconds (can cause a sealing effect on enemies one major rank higher than yourself, with the minimum sealing time not less than 1 second).

During this period, a large number of crystal fragments will be condensed to reinforce the seal and form the Frost Crystal Prison.

Each time a crystal fragment hits the enemy, it will deal 257% of attack power as damage, for a maximum of 12~22 attacks.

When the Frost Crystal Prison is completely formed, detonate all crystal fragments to deal 2148% of attack power as Ice Burial damage to the sealed target!

Cooldown: 24 hours!]

After reading the attributes of this Forbidden Spell, Cao Xing took a sharp breath of cold air!

"Holy crap—this is actually a single-target Forbidden Spell?"

"Not only does it come with an extremely strong control effect, but it also has a terrifying damage coefficient!"

"Calculating it this way, just this one Forbidden Spell can cause at least tens of millions of damage. This is too terrifying!"