Arctic Snow Mountain...

“Whew, it’s really cold here.” Blue Maple surveyed the world of white around him before he glanced at the long robe that the old man had given him. He received two game notifications in a row.

Ding! Game Announcement: You are in an extremely cold region. Your overall attributes are lowered by five percent, while your movement speed is lowered by ten percent. These negative effects will increase over time.

Ding! Game Announcement: You are wearing a special item, a Winter Robe, and the negative effects from the cold have disappeared.

Waves of warmth coursed over Blue Maple’s body, and he no longer felt cold. The game’s environment was half-based in reality and well done, and save the fact that players could adjust their sensitivity to pain to a certain extent, the system had settled all other senses by default. However, these sensations could still be adjusted through special circumstances, such as with Blue Maple’s Winter Robe.

Blue Maple took out his electronic map and checked his location. He was almost at Arctic Snow Mountain’s summit, while the Snow Lotus Flower was on the other side of a peak at the same altitude. There was no question that the Icy Snow Wolf King was probably in the same area, and it appeared that Blue Maple had to make his way over by himself.

That’s fine. I’ll just kill some normal Snow Wolves to familiarize myself, Blue Maple thought to himself as he walked towards the mountain’s other side. He would just kill several normal Snow Wolves along the way, if there were any. The old man had to know that it was meaningless for Blue Maple to kill more Snow Wolves than he needed to for him to familiarize himself. Blue Maple’s journey to his destination required but ten minutes.

However, Blue Maple wanted to curse and swear at someone when he saw the first Snow Wolf, because…

[Snow Wolf] (Rank 50)

Attack: 451-577

Defence: 345-452

Magic Defence: 268-299

HP：3500

HP: 3500

Skills: Arctic Icicle, Ice Claws, Rend, Ice Crystal Armor.

Introduction: The Arctic Snow Wolves are the ruling species on Arctic Snow Mountain. Snow Wolves are adept with the element of ice, and they possess sharp attacks along with relatively strong defensive capabilities. They will attack everything that they consider prey.

The Arctic Snow Wolves’ ranks were much higher than Blue Maple’s Level, and even his Hidden Class wouldn’t be enough to balance that. Normal Snow Wolves were at Rank 50, which meant the Icy Snow Wolf King was probably a Boss, and at least Rank 55!

The key was that wolf-type monsters had to possess relatively quick movement speed, and he would probably have had an easier time if he had to deal with a bear-type monster. Blue Maple would have trouble evading their attacks, so he probably had no chance to evade every single attack.

This was important; Blue Maple typically evaded almost every single attack when he was killing monsters, so he brought a single stack of large health potions ceremonially, and he had a hundred of them. Every stack had one hundred, but if every stack had fifty then everything would have been a lot worse.

Fortunately, Blue Maple carried a full stack of medium mana potions. Blue Maple was a perfectionist, and in other words, he was a little obsessively compulsive. He had to carry complete stacks, and he had to have both health and mana potions.

Large health potions regenerated 500 HP within five seconds, and medium mana potions regenerated 200 mana within five seconds.

However, potions had a cooldown of ten seconds; repeated usage before the cooldown duration reduced effects by half. Using three potions of the same type consecutively and at the same time within ten seconds completely removed the potions’ effects!

Blue Maple speculated that the Icy Snow Wolf King would probably take more than 500 HP off him with every hit, so he couldn’t even take one hundred hits. There was no need to mention the Icy Snow Wolf King’s Skills with even higher damage, and Blue Maple would probably be lucky to survive one of the Wolf King’s Skills.

Why don’t I test my strength against some of these normal Arctic Snow Wolves?

Blue Maple hadn’t even made his move when a Snow Wolf attacked him first. Monsters with higher ranks had longer aggressive ranges.

However, the Snow Wolf didn’t lunge and slash with its claw. Instead, it launched an icy projectile at long range.

Arctic Icicle!

Fuck! Blue Maple could tell that something wasn’t right when he watched the wolf open its mouth from a distance. A flash of white light condensed in the wolf’s mouth, and Blue Maple knew he was in trouble.

Indeed, an icy spike blasted in his direction. Fortunately, Blue Maple’s reflexes were quick, and he was prepared as he sidestepped the icicle to close the distance between himself and the wolf.

The icicle almost grazed Blue Maple’s shoulder before it slammed against a rock somewhere behind him, and a thick layer of ice immediately appeared over the rock’s surface.

The Snow Wolf could tell that its attack had missed while Blue Maple was quickly closing on it, and it responded by charging forward angrily in preparation for close-combat.

Ice Claws!

The Snow Wolf’s attack was quicker than Blue Maple could deal with, and Blue Maple didn’t intend to attack first in the first place. He reacted in the instant the Snow Wolf lunged at him, stopping in his tracks and dodging sideways. It wasn’t easy to plant his feet firmly in the snow, but Blue Maple had analyzed his environment before he tried to stop. Of course, he had to do so after the Snow Wolf’s attack...

The Snow Wolf’s attack missed, while Blue Maple arrived on its flank. Wolves generally had tough skulls and bones, but their midsections were generally one of their weak points. Of course, their necks were their weakest points, but a wolf could turn its head quickly to defend against any strikes targeting its neck.

Blue Maple struck the Snow Wolf’s midsection with a simple vertical chop before he followed up with his Sweeping Sword Slash, and finally, he kicked the Snow Wolf away when it was already off-balance from his attacks.

-213, -224, -145, -89, -40, -105!

Blue Maple kicked the wolf away, and immediately charged towards it as he slashed at the wolf before it could regain its balance. The wolf was forced back another two steps as Blue Maple unleashed Instant Chain Strike!

He lunged to the wolf’s other side as he chopped up from below the wolf’s belly as it spun around from the momentum. He spun around before he used Cold Light Slash in the same fashion, and the wolf seemed like it was going to be launched into the air. Blue Maple didn’t have to spin around again as he pulled back his blade and slashed at the wolf from the bottom up again. He plunged his sword into the wolf hard to lift it into the air, using the momentum to cut through the wolf’s body. He waited for the wolf to be completely off the ground before he unleashed a roundhouse kick from the bottom up, sending the wolf flying into the sky.

-216, -245, -220, -22, -20, -18, -115!

The wolf was flying through the air, but Blue Maple didn’t have time to see how much damage he had dealt from all his attacks. The only thing he wanted to do was quickly strike the wolf a few more times before it landed and regained its balance.

Blue Maple jumped into the air and swung his sword down on the wolf.

Bam! -243!

The Snow Wolf slammed into the snowy ground. Even though it received additional damage because it was defenseless in mid-air, the snowy ground negated any damage from falling to the ground.

Blue Maple stabbed at the Snow Wolf on the ground. He couldn’t chop down anymore, but the wolf’s landing position meant he could still impale the wolf for more damage. Furthermore, more damage would be dealt if he attacked from the top!

-249! “Owoooo!”

The Snow Wolf cried out in pain from the heavy damage, but Blue Maple didn’t give the wolf any chances at all. He pulled his sword, still impaled in the wolf, up and out! A long gash appeared on the wolf.

“Owoooo!” -39, -35, 30!

Ding! Game Announcement: You have caused heavy bleeding to the Snow Wolf. It will lose 6 HP every second, but because of the environment, the bleeding duration is reduced from ten seconds to seven seconds.

The cold has reduced bleeding duration. Blue Maple diverted some attention to the mild bleeding effects, seeing its duration was reduced.

Blue Maple frowned a little as he chopped down on the wolf before kicking it away to put some distance between them.

The Snow Wolf had only several hundred HP remaining at this point, but a thick layer of icy armor covered the wolf’s body.

Ice Crystal Armor! The Snow Wolf managed to activate its Ice Crystal Armor after Blue Maple’s continuous rampage. The Snow Wolf’s Armor also seemed to stop the bleeding because there was no display of any damage taken from bleeding above the wolf’s head.

So what? There’s no time to waste. Equip!

Dual-wielding Stance, Activate!

A pristine green blade appeared in Blue Maple’s right hand. Furthermore, this blade was even better than the one he was holding in his left hand. Players who monitored the various Leaderboards often would probably recognize this sword as the weapon ranked number one on the Weapon Leaderboard: the Azure Wind Sword!

Blue Maple didn’t obtain any Skill tomes throughout his entire journey of killing monsters, completing quests, and leveling up. However, he had managed to obtain this sword.

What was even more frightening was that Blue Maple didn’t use this sword, even though he had it in his possession. His left hand wasn’t his dominant hand, and he was using a blade that was one rank lower. He still defeated Crippled Feather easily despite all that.

Blue Maple would probably have crushed Crippled Feather if he had flashed all his trump cards. Blue Maple wasn’t just stronger; his Class was also very powerful, and he had an overwhelming advantage against other normal Classes!

Blue Maple’s attack power was raised to a terrifying number: 859-1067!

Blue Maple’s highest attack damage was over a thousand damage! This meant Blue Maple could deal 859 damage if he struck a target with no armor lightly, but he could deal 1067 damage if he struck a target full force!

Blue Maple’s attributes were entirely unbalanced. His attack was eight times stronger than his defensive capabilities; he was at a point where he could kill himself if he slashed himself with just one hit. What kind of formidable Class was this? Furthermore, his Class would only become even stronger…

The Snow Wolf had already used three of its Skills during its short skirmish with Blue Maple, and there was no need to consider its last Skill, Rend. Blue Maple didn’t want to waste any more time because there was nothing else to pay attention to. He wanted to head over to his destination as quickly as possible so that he could fight the Icy Snow Wolf King in his best condition.

Blue Maple could keep his Dual-wielding Stance activated continuously because that was his Class’ Passive Ability. This was the first time that Blue Maple had used his Dual-wielding Stance; it could be considered a practice attempt. He wanted to avoid making any careless mistakes during his battle with the Icy Snow Wolf King, as he had never used this ability before, so he wanted to familiarize himself with it.

This Snow Wolf could be considered a sacrifice for Blue Maple’s activated Dual-wielding Stance. The reason why Blue Maple hadn’t used his Dual-wielding Stance earlier was because he didn’t find using two swords very special, so he wasn’t very interested in the idea…

The Snow Wolf’s aura became a little stronger because of its Ice Crystal Armor. However, the wolf could feel Blue Maple’s threat when he activated his Dual-wielding Stance, and it took a step back warily as it growled and watched Blue Maple carefully.

The system has given wild monsters an innate sixth sense, and this sixth sense appears quite strong. This effect seems to increase with the monsters’ rank. But that’s useless against me, Blue Maple thought to himself as he stepped slowly toward the Snow Wolf, almost like he didn’t have to be careful about evading the wolf’s attacks.

The Snow Wolf was the one who should be worrying, because Blue Maple’s massacre of these snow wolves was about to begin!