I bade farewell to Lin Yixin and hurriedly went to Sky City's teleportation formation and opened the selection window. As expected, there was an option to travel to Rinser’s place. The cost was 100 gold. Whatever, it’ll save me the travel. Also, the Dragonbone Mountain Range would be full of high-level monsters again, too dangerous.

100 gold disappeared and with a whoosh I appeared in the snowy domain. Nearby, the holy magus Rinser was smiling benevolently at me.

I went forward and handed in the quest. The 100 Silver-grade items from my bag disappeared, turning into a silver stream of light that was absorbed by Rinser!

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Gather Magic Power]. You have gained 100000 EXP, 5000 gold, 3000 Reputation. You also received Bone Soul Rinser's inheritance and a title—Purgatory Thunder!

……

Purgatory Thunder? While this name seemed powerful... I was a swordsman. What did I have to do with thunder?

I was puzzled, but Rinser's identity had changed. When I looked at him, the system showed that he was my class trainer!

Okay, never mind that. Let's see what skills I could learn!

I chatted with Rinser and opened the skill learning interface. Two learnable skills appeared—

Lightning Spell: Summon a bolt of angry lightning, and deal massive damage to a single target. Level Requirement 90. Learning Cost: 5000 gold, 3000 Reputation.

Lightning Spring: Absorbs the power of lightning in the world, quickly recovers MP. Will recover 0.1% MP per second. Level Requirement 90. Learning Cost: 5000 gold, 3000 Reputation.

……

Tsk tsk, no wonder my new nickname was “Purgatory Thunder”. So Rinser was focused on thunder and lightning magic. This was easy to explain!

There were two skills, both needing 5000 gold and 3000 Reputation. This tuition was costly. Fortunately, I had enough of both and could afford this cost.

I chose the Lightning Spell. Which skill would I fuse it with? This was a major question...

I thought about it and then chose Charge. Alright, Charge. I will see what kind of skill would come from adding the Lightning Spell's effects onto the Charge!

Excited, I chose Charge and started the merging. A few seconds later, the system bell rang—

"Ding!"

System Notice: Congratulations, your skill Charge has successfully fused with Lightning Spell and produced a new skill—Thunderous Charge!

……

Wow, success!

I hurriedly opened the skill menu and looked at the skill's effects!

Thunderous Charge I: Will activate a charge against targets within 5–45 yards, and trigger lightning. There is a 50% chance to paralyze the target with lightning, hindering their movement. Effects correspond to skill rank. Cooldown: 25 seconds. MP cost: 50.

Powerful! Peerlessly powerful!

I was shocked. This Thunderous Charge's effect would be a lightning stun that could last 5 seconds, at least 50% of the time. This chance would increase with skill rank. Also, the skill range had changed. From 5–40 yards to 5–45. The increase of 5 yards was enough to create a huge advantage of first strike!

There was no doubt that this skill was a super helper for PvP and killing bosses. Once the 5-second lightning stun procced and synergized with my Paralysis Ring, my win rate would skyrocket!

I was very excited. Charge had been strengthened and my individual power had reached a new level!

Onto the next skill. There was also Lightning Spring to learn. Mn, this was a skill to recover MP. Suitable for mages. For me? Slightly useless. My MP wasn’t high, so I could just keep it full with Rank 6 Magic Consumables. What use would I even have for this skill?

However, I did have a regeneration skill. Regeneration of the Undead. Since they were both regeneration skills, why shouldn't I fuse them?

Let's risk it. High risks, high reward!

I gritted my teeth and chose Regeneration of the Undead IX. Come, give me a super strong regeneration skill!

I confirmed the fusion. Rinser quickly released a magic formation to cover me. Soon, the bell sound came—

Ding!

System Notice: Congratulations, your skill Regeneration of the Undead has successfully fused with Lightning Spring and produced a new skill—Regeneration of the Undead (Lightning Enhanced)!

My eyes widened. The skill name hadn't changed but it had been enhanced?

My heart beat wildly. I opened the skill menu. The green Regeneration of the Undead skill had changed into a beautiful purple. I clicked it and my heart nearly stopped—

Regeneration of the Undead (Lightning Enhanced, Passive) I: Regenerates 0.3% HP and MP every second. Recovery speed increases with skill level. No cooldown, no MP cost.

……

So strong! Really too strong!

The enhanced Rank 1 version would regenerate 0.3% HP every second, 200% more compared to before. Based on the common rank scaling, it would become 3% per second at Rank 10, or 30% in 10 seconds. In about half a minute I could go from red HP back to full. Who could even kill me then?

Heehee, other than people with enough damage to one-shot me, it would be too difficult to kill me with my equipment and mechanics!

Also, there was the same MP regeneration. This was good. In the future, I didn't have to carry a lot of consumables when grinding. The time of thrifty leveling has finally arrived!

I was overjoyed. These three skill fusion were too strong. After obtaining the Dragon Slaying Slash, Thunderous Charge, and enhanced Regeneration of the Undead, my strength had tangibly changed. If I could level up these three skills quickly, challenging and winning against Candlelight Shadow wouldn't be a dream!

I talked to Rinser again. The magus didn’t have any more skills to give!

Helplessly, I asked, "Old Rin, my class needs an upgrade. What do I do? What does the future have in store for me?"

Rinser sniggered and said, "You have a future alright. I am a famed holy magus of this continent. While it’s true that I have been dead for many years, the eternal glory of my name still illuminates the continent. You are but a little Silver Swordsman right now. When you are strong enough, come to me, and I will make you stronger!”

I looked suspiciously at him. This trainer looked very unreliable and boastful. Eternal glory of my ass. No one knew who you were before. Sigh, why were my trainers all so unreliable? Never mind, I will stay with him for a while. If he pisses me off I can always just take Beauty Lin and kill him!

I turned to leave and suddenly felt surprised. When had I changed from an honest youth to someone who killed my teachers? Mn, it must have been due to staying too long with Lin Yixin, and getting infected with her hoodlum habits. One was influenced by those they were close to!

I wondered if a certain someone in Sky City sneezed and couldn’t help but wonder if someone said bad things behind her back.

……

I should plan my next move. He Yi had left the country and hadn't gotten online yet. She probably hadn't gotten her residence settled. She was also a busy person too. She would have multi-day conferences when she arrived. It wasn't plausible to wait for her to level up together.

My present plan was to quickly increase my and Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf's levels. I would try to be the first to reach Level 100. Then I would find Rinser for the fourth class promotion. Also, I had to quickly level up the three skills I had gotten, especially the Dragon Slaying Slash. This long-range attack could become my strongest boss-killing weapon. Because of my close-combat class, my options against bosses were limited. Getting close meant getting hit. But now, with the long-range Dragon Slaying Slash, I could keep at range to easily dodge skills, use choke points the bosses couldn’t get into or natural barriers to hide behind while chipping away their health. In a way, my strength had tangibly risen. I couldn’t beat a Purple Gold Rank boss before. Now, I should be able to!

……

I opened the large map and searched for a new grinding zone. With the protection of the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, I was almost invincible when leveling up alone. I could grind anywhere, as long as the mobs weren’t too freakish!

In the end, I chose the middle of Dragonbone Mountain Range. I used Earth Escape to go down the mountain and find Level 110 elite monsters to kill. I was Level 97 now. It wouldn't be too difficult to kill monsters 13 levels above, and it should be fairly fast to kill them too!

With my mind made up, I put away the little wolf. I entered the Earth Escape state and slowly moved down the mountain. Rinser looked at my back with wide eyes and murmured, "The boy has the power of a warrior, the patience of an assassin, the determination of a mage, and unlimited potential. I have to talk to Queen Sophia when I have a chance, and recruit him into the Violet Empire as a general. We can’t let that little girl Karinshan from Floating Ice City steal him from us…”

……

"Achoo!"

I sneezed and rubbed my nose. I avoided a pack of Level 150 wolves and continued my way down. After nearly half an hour, an open meadow finally appeared ahead. There were black rhinoceroses chewing on the tender grass shoots.

Whoosh!

I rose out of the ground, and drew the Purgatory Sword. I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. I looked around and read the rhinoceroses’ stats—

Armored Rhino (Elite)

Level: 112

Attack: 1175~1270

Defense: 1200

HP: 25000

Skill: Thrust, Wild Charge, War Stampede

Introduction: These rhinoceroses live in the alpine forests. They frequently move through the bushes, and have a thick layer of resin as their armor against weapons. Wild and hard to tame, they have become terrifying existences no man could hope to defeat. There’s a saying in Sky City that goes like this: “Don’t provoke Armored Rhinos of Dragonbone Mountain if you don’t want to be torn apart.”

……

I licked my lips. Such strong Attack and Defense. 1270 Attack was amazing, and so were 1200 Defense and 25000 HP. This Level 112 Armored Rhino truly lived up to its name. Too strong!

I raised the Purgatory Sword and locked onto the nearest rhinoceros. I activated my new Charge—Thunderous Charge!