Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

The secondary frost rays and the scorching rays erupted almost simultaneously!

Two beams, one blue and one white, shot out in a crisscross pattern, blocking the lynx's evasive maneuver.

The lynx seemed to have been caught off guard by Ian's swift counterattack. With a sharp cry, it twisted its body strangely and shifted half a foot in mid-air, avoiding the main attack of the [Burning Ray], but its left leg was grazed by the Frost Ray.

The biting cold spread, and the lynx's movements immediately became sluggish.

Ian seized the fleeting opportunity, and the second [Burning Ray] followed immediately, the bright white beam aimed at the lynx's exposed chest.

"puff!"

This time, it didn't disappoint.

The highly concentrated, scorching rays easily pierced the lynx's chest and abdomen, leaving a charred, open hole. The surrounding flesh and blood emitted the smell of burnt meat.

The lynx let out a mournful howl, collapsed to the ground, convulsed a few times, and then fell silent.

Ian nodded to himself. As long as his shield wasn't broken at the beginning, the initiative would be back in Ian's hands.

After confirming the lynx's death, he quickly examined the top-tier demonized beast.

Its fur and claws are good materials, but they are inconvenient to carry now, so only a pair of eyes and gallbladder have been removed.

Finally, he used the "Bloodline Refining Technique," which created a blood net that extracted all the essence blood from the lynx.

A series of crystalline blood essences flew up and were collected into Ian's dimensional ring.

After entering the mountains, he often refined the blood of the demonized beasts he killed into blood essence, partly because it was small and easy to carry, and partly to practice the "Bloodline Refining Technique".

He sensed that the power of this witchcraft after its limit was broken would no longer be limited to auxiliary functions, but would become a powerful means of fighting enemies.

Ian quickly cleaned up the scene and left the area.

Similar incidents occurred several more times in the following days.

He encountered small groups of "steel-beaked poison bats," which flew extremely fast and had sharp beaks like iron nails.

He used instantaneous frost rays to create an area-wide ice explosion to disperse it.

I've encountered large "colloidal swamps" that are hidden underground in the swamp mud. As soon as you pass by, they can create waves of acidic slime with extremely strong dissolving power.

Ian narrowly escaped thanks to the early warning from [Vigilant Eye] and the probing with [Burning Ray].

Every day, he battles against unknown dangers, his mind constantly on edge.

Food in the ring began to run out, forcing him to risk gathering safe, non-toxic fungi to stave off hunger, while also searching for clean water, which led to other troubles along the way.

His medicine reserves began to run out, his robes became more tattered, and small wounds began to appear on his body.

But the vast mountains still stretch as far as the eye can see.

"This can't go on..."

On the morning of the twentieth day, Ian hid in the hollow of a huge dead tree, chewing on mushrooms he had picked, while constantly making plans in his mind.

He found that his condition began to slowly decline after entering this area, and he needed a very long period of recovery meditation to return to a good state.

It seems that an unseen entity is slowly draining everything from him in ways he cannot comprehend.

His strength, endurance, mental fortitude, and even his will were slightly affected.

The extraction wasn't fast, but it was unstoppable!

If he hadn't had the panel status to compare, he wouldn't have been able to notice this extremely slight difference.

"When did it start?" Ian's face was grim.

That even grander, ring-shaped mountain range, appearing and disappearing in the clouds, seemed to have no end.

As he ventured deeper into the area, the surrounding environment began to transform from merely dangerous into something indescribably eerie.

The magical turbulence in the air gradually took on a viscous and sluggish feel, as if one were traveling through an invisible gel.

The light also became strange, sometimes bright and dazzling, casting long, thin shadows of the jagged rocks, like menacing ghosts.

Then, without warning, it dimmed again, as if its light had been absorbed by some invisible force, leaving only a hazy gray.

What disturbed Ian even more was that, in addition to the whistling sound of the wind blowing through the twisted treetops, he began to hear other sounds.

Sometimes it was a faint murmur, whispering softly in his ear, the syllables indistinct, yet carrying a strange allure, trying to penetrate his mind.

Sometimes it's a sharp, short laugh or cry, the sound erratic, seemingly coming from the rock wall on the left one second, and then disappearing into the treetop the next.

Ian turned around sharply several times, but saw nothing. He activated his Vision of Warning with all his might, but his field of vision remained empty.

"A hallucination? Or... some kind of mental interference?"

Alarm bells rang in his mind, and he focused all his mental energy, using his nearly mist-like condensed mental energy to build a solid defense in his mind.

Even so, the noise couldn't be completely blocked out. He also noticed that there seemed to be countless peeping eyes around him, which sent chills down his spine.

One evening, as he attempted to cross a moss-covered, low-lying valley, danger quietly descended.

In the center of the valley, a small, silvery lake lies quietly, its waters calm and smooth as a mirror, reflecting the leaden-gray clouds in the sky.

However, when Ian stood at a distance and looked at the lake, he saw his own reflection.

In the lake, "he" stood in a magnificent hall, surrounded by a respectful crowd, wearing a wizard's robe adorned with stars, and toying with a staff that emitted terrifying energy.

He wore a smug smile, his eyes looking down on all living beings with disdain.

The scene was so real, so alluring, like a future within reach.

A strong desire and a sense of belonging instantly overwhelmed Ian's mind.

"This is what I should become in the future... a powerful wizard, admired by all..." A thought involuntarily arose.

But the next second, a very slight coolness came from the panel, almost imperceptible, like a drop of water falling into a pot of boiling oil, which instantly startled him!

"No!" Ian bit his tongue hard, the sharp pain and the taste of blood bringing him back to his senses.

He was horrified to discover that his feet had somehow entered the lake, and the icy water was up to his ankles!

In the lake's reflection, the smile on "Ian's" face became eerie and greedy, his eyes fixed on him in reality, his lips moving silently:

"Come...become me..."

Cold sweat instantly soaked Ian's back. Without hesitation, he turned around and fled the valley floor without looking back.

It wasn't until they had run for several miles that the eerie attraction and sense of being watched gradually subsided.

"What the hell is that thing?"

Ian leaned against a rock, breathing heavily, still shaken by the experience.

Just now, if the panel hadn't issued a timely warning, he might have unknowingly walked into the lake step by step.

The danger in this area goes beyond the realm of ordinary demonic creatures, involving even more bizarre and unknown territories.

After this incident, he no longer dared to approach any terrain that appeared "calm" or "special".

However, the eeriness did not go away.