Chapter 178 Newly Upgraded Skill

Rishi was confused when a window appeared before him: [Survive as long as possible; the longer you survive, the more affinity you will awaken.]

He looked around to see his opponent and soon discovered a colossal shadow covered in mist approaching him; the snow around it cracked each time he took a step. Rishi had to close his eyes to protect them from any damage he could get from small ice particles moving in the air.

When he opened his eyes again, an enormous figure became visible to him. It was entirely made up of ice. It had a giant cyst on its chest with a bright bluish-white glow; he could feel an icy presence coming from it.

The surrounding area's temperature started to decrease as this giant approached him. He started to run around a little more to warm his body. While friction also worked, he had to fight a battle, and it was not an excellent decision to fight empty-handed.

At first, he decided to survive as long as possible. While dodging its attack, he discovered that this creature had very high physical strength, physical defense, magical attack, and magical defense.

The most troublesome thing was that it was getting stronger every minute, so this was the only chance Rishi had to finish it. "What if I fail? Is it worth the risk?"

He thought for a while before laughing as if mocking himself for asking such a stupid question: "I can focus on surviving then; it is worth a try."

He activated his 'enhanced focus skill, and his eyes shone in a unique light blue glow. He planned to defeat it like he had defeated the Lava Demon. The only difference was that with his talent as Master of All, he now knew how to use chains most effectively.

He first attacked the creature in front of him, which looked like a monkey made up of ice. The opponent was not even stunned by his attack, but he took it as an insult and started attacking Rishi with physical and magical attacks. Rishi dodged everything using his momentary skill 'Phantom Steps,' his sensory skill 'Beast Sense,' and his 'extreme focus.'

The angry creature ran after him to chase him; his lips curled up into a grin as he summoned a chain using 'Chains of Reaper' and made his opponent kiss the ground. He didn't stop there and used two more chains to tie him up, making him unable to move for a while.

He summoned his sword aura before using mana to increase its volume and concentrate it again. He jumped at his opponent and used the second form of the Triangle Slash Sword Technique, "Sword Triangle." A small explosion took place again. He saw that the creature's body had stopped moving when the mist became less. "Isn't it too easy? Is there any trap?" He cautiously investigated the surrounding area for some time, but couldn't find anything. He approached the corpse and looked at the giant stone at the center of its chest.

He could still sense a very chill and cold presence from it. He looked at it briefly before taking it out of the creature's chest. He looked at it carefully. It was not as big as it looked; it was just the size of a fist. Its cover was what made it look big.

He could feel something entering his body from the crystal in his hand. He used his inspection skill, and a window appeared before him.

[NAME: Ice Elemental Crystal]

[USE: Can be used to increase the affinity of ice element]

[ORIGIN: Is found in the bodies of ice elementals]

After learning about it, he realized that this was the reason the affinity increased the more everyone survived. He laughed as he tossed and caught the crystal in his hand. The rate at which he absorbed the ice was very slow, so he decided to eat the crystal, only to realize later that it was probably not the best decision.

He felt a bone-chilling cold inside his body that was freezing his bones, blood, flesh, and skin. To not die by it, he ran again at full speed; this did keep his body warm, but his stamina was depleted very quickly.

Thanks to his passives, which gave him very high stamina, regeneration, and life force, he was somehow able to survive this crisis and was teleported out safely. "That was risky," he sighed when he realized he was back.

He was looking around when he heard a 'ding' sound and a status window appeared before him.

[Skill Upgradation Completed]

[New skill successfully created according to the user's wish]

Chains of Shadows (Growth): Use 5 MP to summon a chain from anywhere near a twenty-meter area. Everyone caught by the skill will be unable to move for some time. In this period, the opponent's defense will be lowered.

The chain is made up of shadow elements. It is highly flexible and strong. The user will have very high control over the chain if he has high control over the shadow element. The chains are also changed to increase their agility; they will now run five times faster than the user while being two times stronger in physical strength.

Unique Property 1: Death from Shadows

A more powerful version of the chain could be summoned from the opponent's shadow; this chain will appear very quickly and will not be noticed by most, making it a very lethal move.

Unique Property 2: Conductor of Magic

The chains summoned by this skill will be very compatible with using magic attacks; any buff or enhancement will have a higher effect.

Unique Property 3: Endless

The user will be able to call as many chains as his mana, control of the shadow element, and dexterity.

"This one looks way cooler than before; that item called a skill upgrade shard is a very useful one. I should try to attend some more in the future."

"What's next now? I have already cleared the first and second rounds." He was just wondering what to do when he was teleported into the middle of a forest, and he could only feel darkness all around him. He had not even gotten used to the environment when he heard a familiar voice.

[Welcome to round 3 of Challenger. The task for this round is to kill as many opponents as possible. The more you kill, the better the reward will be; also, try to use everything you know so we can judge the perfect reward for you.]

[Round 3 will start in three seconds.]

[Three]

[Two]

"Wait, I have a question?" He interrupted her to get the answer, but the only reply he got was, [One.]

He heard hundreds of cries and roars around him and realized that it was not the time to argue; it was time for action.

He took out his naked sword and wielded it in his right hand while his left hand was wearing a strange black glove and had three small daggers. He cried, "Come on, beasts," and started fighting. At first, he was able to take care of everyone on his own, but as the number increased and things started going out of hand, he decided to use his newly upgraded skill, 'Chains of Shadows.'

To his surprise, the newly summoned chains differed from those in the past; they were made of small triangle-shaped metal links. All of them had sharp edges, and instead of daggers at the start, they had a three-clipped handle that could be used to connect any weapon or used as a hand.

The chains cut every enemy around them into pieces as soon as they were summoned. The newly upgraded chains were the perfect counter for horde strategy. Rishi smiled, summoned four more chains, and made the area around him full of corpses.

He had turned a complete blind eye to counting and started fighting to his heart's content. With time, as the number of opponents kept increasing, he even received some injuries, but he had stopped caring about such a small wound ages ago.

He kept swinging his sword and kept controlling his chains to use as a saw to cut his enemies into pieces. His clothes, which were already in a hopeless state, were fully torn, especially his shirt. His muscular body became visible as he fought against all his opponents.

Even when he was very young, his body was well developed, and on his back was a strange, big circular symbol carved into his skin with golden ink. Some strange small runes surrounded the circle, while inside the circle, the shadows of weapons that Rishi wielded appeared.

When he wielded daggers, the shadows of daggers appeared there; when he wielded a sword, the shadow of a sword appeared; and when he used a chain, the shadow of a chain appeared. The symbol looked very mysterious and strange. It was constantly shining and dimming.

If one notices carefully, one may discover that the symbol shone brightly any time Rishi switched weapons.