After managing to master one of the [Blood Art]'s perks, Alex finally felt like it was the time to head deeper inside the [Mystical Forest].
Thanks to Alera's intel, and his memories of his past life, he knew for sure there would be some kind of [Hidden Temple] at the end.
But before doing that, he made sure to use his [Skill Evolution] perk.
Ding!
[You have evolved "Fire Tornado" (High-Tier) to "Rain of Fire" (Max-Tier)]
[Rain of Fire; Deals 500% of your spirit to enemies in a large area and has a chance to deal the "Burn" effect; consumes 250,000 mana; one-minute cooldown.]
"Hm..." Alex, for the first time, even though he had gotten such a powerful skill, was perplexed.
His [Spirit] attribute was at 8313, meaning that he only had 83,130 MP, and so even with the 50% reduction for mana cost, the cost was still too much for him to cast it.
And to make it even better, or worse, who knows.
Ding!
[You can synthesize "Rain of Fire" with one of your other skills.]
It didn't take him long to figure out which one it was.
[Rain of Fire (Max-Tier) + Fire Meteor (Max-Tier) = ???]
A skill that merged these two would indeed be immensely powerful, but the mana cost would be too much for him to handle.
He decided not to do it.
And so without wasting time, he immediately took everything he needed, and left the comfort of the [Fox Tribe Village] with Alice.
"See you later," Alera waved at him, confident that not only him, but Alice too would need her help with Alex's curse.
"Cya," Alex nodded before disappearing behind a tree.
...
[You have entered the "Mystical Forest"]
He had only sent his undead scavenging for "Magic Crystals" before, meaning that he had never truly entered this area.
Going through the forest was fairly easy for him, as any monster that he met was instantly killed using his spells or [Bleeding Strike].
It had only 5% of chance to cause [Bleed] to an enemy, but every time it did, Alex would focus on his [Art] and try to control it.
[Blood Arts (Low Mastery): Able to control your blood, as well as those of allies and monsters, to create weapons, skills, and summons to aid you.]
As the description says, it is possible to control the blood of monsters to create the [Blood Blades].
Though, whenever he tried, their blood wouldn't even move.
Slash!
He would sometimes slash his own palm to make sure his powers were good to go.
And as expected, he was able to summon a certain amount of [Blood Blades] based on how much blood poured out from his wound.
Orcs don't work under Demons, don't get it twisted, in fact, they are enemies that will, as the game goes on, have many wars between one another.
But right now, both their clans were neutral, meaning that they had no hostilities against one another.
After the orcs left, Alex let out a sigh of relief.
"Those bastards," he gazed at their backs with pure hatred in his eyes, "Didn't expect the demons to try something else, even though their leader said he wouldn't attack anymore if they survived."
The latter that the fox tribe had been sent clearly stated this:
[Our great demon king "Asmodeus" has decided that an attack will occur on your village a month from now on.]
[Asmodeus is a fair demon, and he informed us that if you survive this attack, he wouldn't attack anymore for a while.]
[Though I'm sure you already know that winning isn't possible, and neither is escaping.]
The second line clearly stated that the demons wouldn't attack for a while if they survived this encounter.
Yet here they were, sending other clans to do the job.
Though thankfully, they sent the worst clan to do it.
Orcs were powerful in battle, but when it came to everything else, they were extremely lazy.
They hadn't even reached the center of the forest that they already gave up!
"Let's keep going," Alex nodded after making sure the orcs were gone.
There was a risk of meeting orcs since these three were probably not the only group sent, but it was fine.
Ding!
[You have reached level 121!]
He had gained 7 levels during the expedition, and it was the same for Alice, who held her ground fairly well thanks to her new [Blood Arrows].
Eventually, Alex reached the end of the [Mystical Forest], and as expected, he noticed a massive wall of fog close to it.
"That must be it," he smiled, approaching it.
Ding!
[Do you want to enter the area: "Mystical Temple"?]
[Infernal Difficulty - Level 300]
[Yes] [No]
"Yes!"
Alex stepped cautiously through the dense mist surrounding the [Mystical Temple], Alice close behind.
The atmosphere was thick with unease, the fog pressing in around them like unseen hands.
It didn't take long for the air to clear, revealing the structure ahead.
"Here we go," Alex smiled, ready to see what all of this was about.