Chapter 26: Soul Frozen, Indestructible Dharma Body! An Unprecedented Sense of Security!

Percentage-based damage vulnerability plus percentage-based damage!

This mechanism is somewhat unique and quite powerful. Although it requires the use of fire-type "Ice Breaking" to trigger, this is not difficult for other mages to achieve. Even an ice-specialized mage only needs to learn a low-level Fireball spell to complete the break.

When dealing damage based on a target's maximum health, it allows for extremely fast kills against monsters with massive HP pools that lack ice resistance. It is often much faster than trying to brute-force damage with fire spells alone.

Next is the 7th-tier ice spell. It differs significantly from the fire and wind types. The 7th-tier spells for fire and wind usually have large areas of effect and potent results, but this 7th-tier ice spell is surprisingly a single-target ability.

[Soul Freezing]
[Type: Active Skill]
[Rank: 7th Tier]
[Element: Frost]
[Cost: 28,000 Mana]
[Cast Time: 15 seconds]
[Cooldown: 30 minutes]
[Effect: Channel terrifying cold energy to seal the target's soul within eternal ice, rendering them unable to move or use skills. It also removes all buffs from the target. The duration is infinite.]
[Targets sealed in the ice are immune to all damage except for fire damage.]
[The ice will melt and shatter when affected by 6th-tier or higher fire-type skills.]
[Note: A soul imprisoned, a body bound, frozen for all eternity.]

Another skill with no damage, but it extends the crowd control duration from finite to infinite. As long as it is not broken by fire, it is a permanent lock!

Lin Yi was very satisfied. Since he now mastered three full elemental specializations, he was not lacking in damage at all; rather, he had been short on crowd control. The ice element now perfectly filled that gap.

After upgrading the ice skills, Lin Yi looked at the other passive skill he received after his successful second advancement.

[Mana Shield]
[Type: Passive Skill]
[Rank: Novice]
[Element: General]
[Effect: When you take damage, 10% of that damage is absorbed by your mana instead.]

It was a decent survival skill. For a mage whose mana pool is far greater than their health, this skill can be considered a flat 10% damage reduction. Lin Yi began to allocate his points. More than ten minutes later, this survival skill was completely transformed.

[Immortal Mana Body]
[Type: Passive Skill]
[Rank: 7th Tier]
[Element: General]
[Effect 1: When you take damage, 40% of that damage is absorbed by your mana instead.]
[Effect 2: When you take elemental damage, gain additional damage reduction based on your affinity for that element, with a minimum increase of 10% and a maximum of 100%.]
[Current Elemental Damage Reduction:]
[Fire: 80%]
[Frost: 80%]
[Storm: 80%]
[Effect 3: When you receive fatal damage that would reduce your health to zero, that damage is entirely absorbed by your mana. After this effect triggers, your mana becomes zero, and your health is reduced to 1 point. This effect can only trigger once every 30 days. Current remaining charges: 1]

So powerful! Not only does it provide high damage reduction, but it also gives Lin Yi a chance to cheat death! This skill gave him a full sense of security. To be honest, when facing a boss like the level 200 Alienated Death Knight, Lin Yi had actually felt a bit of pressure. After all, he was not truly invincible. While his output capacity far exceeded his current advancement level, his survivability had always been weak. If he hadn't finished chanting and used "Thousand Storm Break" before the Death Knight unleashed its "Undead Void Slash" at Rivendell, his 5th-tier "Gale Wings" wind shield would never have blocked that hit. He might have been finished.

Now, if Lin Yi encountered a similar situation, or even a higher-pressure one, he wouldn't panic. With improved survivability and new crowd control capabilities, even if he encountered an enemy he couldn't instantly kill, it shouldn't be hard to escape.

With the two new second-advancement skills upgraded, Lin Yi still had over 500,000 skill points left, enough to promote one of his 7th-tier skills to the 8th tier. It was indeed time to choose one for promotion, though Lin Yi intended to ponder the choice a bit more.

Lost in thought, Lin Yi walked through the gates of Jiangcheng No. 2 High School. As he walked up to the teaching building, he noticed something was wrong. Where was everyone? Why was there no one around? Even though the entire senior class had already undergone their job advancement, there were usually still students returning to school to ask teachers questions about leveling or skills, and the school would often organize leveling activities. It was impossible for both students and teachers to have all vanished.

Filled with questions, Lin Yi went to the staff building and knocked on the door of the principal’s office.

"Please, come in." A withered voice came from inside. Lin Yi pushed the door open and entered.

The principal of No. 2 High School was named Zuo Qian, the same man who had presided over the senior advancement ceremony. Seeing Lin Yi, a flash of surprise appeared in the old man's eyes.

"Student Lin Yi, you’ve finally moved past the setback! I am so relieved! You have always been my favorite student; I truly didn't want to see you fall into ruin." Zuo Qian looked Lin Yi up and down. He could sense that the boy before him seemed to have grown much stronger. As a mage himself, he shared a certain intangible psychic connection with other mages. He could feel that Lin Yi had definitely not been wasting his time over the past half-month. That put his mind at ease.

Lin Yi didn't offer any explanations, asking directly instead: "Principal Zuo, I heard my homeroom teacher was looking for me urgently, saying it had to do with my future. What is this all about?"

Zuo Qian took off his reading glasses, stood up, and his expression turned serious. "It does indeed concern your future. Let's talk as we go!"

After saying this, Zuo Qian led Lin Yi out of his office. A moment later, Lin Yi heard a melodic sound of a flute, and a strange beast with messy fur and a somewhat unsightly appearance appeared. It had the antlers of a deer, the face of a cow, and the hooves of a horse—a complete hodgepodge. Furthermore, it had multicolored feathered wings on its flanks.

His principal was only a 3rd-advancement professional, and at that level, one could learn riding skills and possess a mount space. This was clearly his mount.

"Get on, what are you standing there for?"

Lin Yi climbed onto the stirrups of the creature and sat down. Under Zuo Qian's control, the beast flapped its wings and took off, panting heavily.

Lin Yi: "..."

The creature was wheezing as if it might drop dead at any second, not to mention its flying speed was no different from an electric scooter.

"Ahem, Little Flower is getting on in years. When it was young, it flew quite fast. Don't worry about the details, let's get to the point. To make a long story short, this morning, an unknown abyssal aura erupted in the leveling zone in the eastern suburbs of Jiangcheng, and a time-limited trial dungeon appeared. What's more, this dungeon can only be entered by those with the Mage class."

"So, I had the teachers notify all the students in the school who successfully advanced to Mages, and that, of course, includes you."