Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 359 Elemental Storm
The mountains are right in front of us, and the clouds are all around us.

The spectacular scenery, which theoretically should only be seen after climbing very high, was clearly encountered shortly after entering the Crook Canyon area.

When Rean saw the dense lightning on the dark clouds not far away, he felt a chill run down his spine. He was afraid that if he stepped into such clouds, he would also die instantly.

"I understand now why the dark elves aren't coming here anymore."

Ten minutes ago, the sky was clear and blue, but the next moment dark clouds and lightning were already within sight.

"What's this?!"

The sudden chill made Rean shiver.

The next moment, the falling ice crystals and blizzard showed the team what environmental diversity truly meant.

"What kind of place is this?"

When we first entered, it was still a slightly warm autumn day, but the chill came suddenly in the next instant.

Despite traveling only a few kilometers, Rean and his companions felt as if they had stumbled into an icy world, amidst shattered ice crystals, heavy snowfall, hail, and icy storms.

Even more bizarrely, when Rean turned around, he saw that the direction he came from was still the autumn sky, as if nothing had changed.

"Let's put on our winter clothes in advance."

Rean took a deep breath, and flames surged around him. Inside the black dragon's armor, the magic of his bloodline gradually brought warmth.

But the others couldn't; the warriors from Radiant City were shivering with cold.

To facilitate movement, they often wore only a tight-fitting garment or a thin sweater under their armor.

In such an environment, metal armor not only fails to retain heat, but it can even become a block of ice that sticks to the body.

In actual combat, both high and low temperatures can turn cheap metal armor into metal coffins.

Having already learned about the local conditions, the group quickly changed into their spare winter clothes, but inevitably, their movements would be severely hampered.

"How do the locals survive in this awful place?" Alexie sighed, rubbing her frozen hands.

Dark elves are not a cold-resistant race. Their proud racial talents are a certain degree of magic resistance and spellcasting talent. Living in a relatively mild underground climate year-round makes them very poor at resisting extreme weather.

“I’ll do it.” Valkyrie Alexie glanced at her sister and took her hand again. The two became one.

Transformed into a paladin apprentice imbued with divine fire, he naturally ignored the natural chill before him.

"Ha, locals? No way, there aren't any locals here."

In fact, if the Druids hadn't been so adept at regulating the climate and creating a "natural place" in all kinds of extreme weather and environments, the cult wouldn't have been able to live here.

Rean glanced at his "apprentice," and to be honest, her performance far exceeded his expectations.

Dark elves have never been a class known for their physical strength or stamina, and Rean has never seen a paladin whose primary attribute is not physical strength.

She persevered and significantly improved her physical strength and resilience, far exceeding expectations.

"It's true! The rumors are true!"

The most excited person, however, was Archmage Marton, who had joined as a mercenary.

“I’ve detected two elemental sources, which should be the origin of this strange environment. Let’s go over there and investigate. These parameters are incredible, at least 200% of the current elemental concentration. No wonder those people from the Mage Kingdom came.”

Marton, holding the compass in his hand, said to Rean with a face full of excitement.

As a mage, especially an energy econist, how could one resist the opportunity to get closer to the mysteries of the elements?

"Two elemental sources? Which two?"

"Uh, one is definitely an ice and snow elemental plane, and the other seems to be...fire...ice and fire? Why didn't it explode?"

Rean paused for a moment, looked up at the falling snow, then turned to look at the slowly boiling volcano in the distance. He suddenly felt incredibly lucky that this place hadn't been blown into the sky.

"Go, go take a look whenever you have time, but we don't have enough people. Go as far as you can, don't go looking for trouble."

Evokers often also practice spellcasting because many evoking spells are not simply about controlling and transforming elements; their initial part is the spellcasting system of "elemental summoning."

As mentioned repeatedly before, it is "magic" used as currency to summon "elements" through spatial magic.

The origin of the elements is what is known as the Elemental Plane. It is the world of elemental beings, a special world where many mages borrow "elements," and one of the core layers of many archmage towers.

An elemental pool is a pool of elements that leads to a specific elemental plane. This thing is ridiculously expensive, and only high-end mage towers can be equipped with it. It also consumes a lot of resources to activate, but the benefits it provides to mages are also extremely powerful.

Many mages who possess it can even summon ninth-ring elemental spells with low or no mana consumption, allowing the elemental pool to pay for the elemental consumption of higher-ring spells.

Basically, traditional mages specializing in energy manipulation will build their own elemental pools, but these are different from "natural elemental pools".

The Natural Element Pool is the natural gateway between the elemental planes and the prime plane. A large number of elements and elemental creatures can even enter this world directly through that interface.

In this way, the natural element pool (entrance/exit) does not require mages to pay with magic power or resources to maintain the flow of elements, and its elemental concentration and quality are several times that of ordinary element pools. This is an irresistible temptation for the cultivation and research of the corresponding elemental sculptors.

It's not just about acquiring the elements themselves; it also increases the affinity between the Enchantress and the corresponding element, allows for contracts with elemental lords, simulates the natural elemental structure of elemental planes, and enables the invention of new elemental magic. The benefits are numerous, and many top elemental Enchantresses are still lost in a certain elemental plane.

"Let's go together."

I heard there's a fire element interface here. Rean, who also plays with fire, naturally couldn't refuse, but getting too close was probably impossible. If he got too close, even he, a young red dragon, would be burned alive.

Looking at this strange weather and environment, Rean understood a little. When a region has the maximum number of "furnaces" and "ice cellars" at the same time, its climate will naturally be quite crazy.

It is only natural that the constant collision of temperatures creates extreme weather such as cyclones, typhoons, and circulations. Furthermore, there are also grudges between the elements. Fire element creatures and ice element creatures are mortal enemies who have been fighting each other for countless years.

The two intertwined sources of hot and cold energy naturally formed an invisible elemental storm that surrounded each other, constantly stirring the surrounding area and eventually creating this so-called Great Demon Realm.

"Everyone, please stop casting spells. If possible, please use weapons. Paladins should also refrain from using the Evil Slash."

At this time, Marton's sincere advice caused some people (mainly paladins) to express their dissatisfaction and complaints.

Marton then glanced at Rean's right hand, where he was wearing red dragon skin.

"Hey."

Rean understood what he meant. He waved his hand and tried to summon a small incendiary bomb to test its effectiveness.
"Boom!"

While they were still gathering, the little red bomb exploded.

The continuous barrage of fireball explosions was reminiscent of the classic third-circle magic Fireball spell; Rean took a "mortar-level" close-range explosion right to the face.

"Cough cough."

Rean, feeling uncomfortable from the smoke, waved his hand again to dispel it, while Marton on the other side looked at him as if he were a monster. On one hand, there was the absurd fire element enhancement, and on the other hand, there was the even more absurd fire pit.

A fireball of that caliber, if it hits someone directly in the face, would kill even a normal archmage.

"The concentration of elemental tides is too high. Other spells are okay, but let's temporarily ban ice and fire spells unless you're not afraid of explosions. Oh, and you can try radiant spells, but only with minimal output."

The reason for such a high concentration of elements here is probably due to these two elemental plane entrances and exits. With the "high tide," a large amount of elements are poured in, naturally increasing the concentration of the elemental tide.

This allowed it to reach the elemental concentration of the mid-stage of the magic tide ahead of schedule. However, doubling the elemental concentration does not mean that the magic damage is directly doubled. Originally, 4 grams of gunpowder was enough to detonate a bomb, but now 2 grams is enough. If you habitually insert 4 grams, it may explode before it can be detonated properly.

Moreover, the surrounding area of ​​the elemental plane will naturally greatly enhance the effect of elemental magic.

With this double blessing, the corresponding elemental magic not only becomes extremely powerful but also extremely unstable. This instability is all-encompassing; the range, effect area, and even passive characteristics may change, making careless use suicidal.

This is not just about doubling the output; it's about adding an extra booster (elemental dimension enhancement). Only God knows the final effect.

"The power has increased at least fivefold. Don't be reckless."

Rean was a little numb. He had just entered this secret realm and one of his most proficient weapons had been sealed off. The road ahead would probably be difficult.

"There's also good news. As long as the damage from the Evil-Slaying Slash is stabilized, its power will increase significantly."

In such an environment, the complex spell models of mages are more likely to fail, while the simplest and most powerful energy manipulation spells like the Paladin's Evil Slash are more likely to be strengthened through adjustments.

"Boom!"

Then, Rean walked along while swinging his sword.

"Boom!"

Then, he happily blew himself away again.

But with his extremely high fire resistance, he was probably the first combatant to complete the adjustment.

(End of this chapter)