Hilda, who was outside the deep pit, looked inside with a hint of worry.
Through the air distorted by the high temperature, and with the help of the light from her hooded lantern, she could vaguely make out the scene below.
She could see Lynn fighting a monster that had suddenly emerged from the magma, but she couldn't see exactly what kind of monster it was.
Fortunately, in less than half a minute, this monster was driven back by Lynn.
At this moment, the three inside the pit were surprisingly quiet.
There was only the bubbling sound of the lava squeezing and fracturing.
Tomo and Toby watched the Bone Snake get blasted into two halves and sink into the magma, both of them in disbelief.
A Tier 2 monster had died just like that?
In less than half a minute, a mage apprentice had directly blasted a Tier 2 monster to death. This dealt a massive blow to their worldview.
Exchanging a glance, Tomo and Toby both saw the shock in each other's eyes.
Fortunately, they hadn't fought Lynn to the bitter end...
Otherwise, they would probably be lying in that abandoned mine shaft forever.
As for Lynn, he could only marvel at how the Psionic Corpse bloodline had truly elevated his strength to a new level.
A Tier 2 monster, which previously could have injured him or even threatened his life, was now utterly defenseless against him.
However, to some extent, the Bone Snake and the Psionic Corpse were not monsters on the same level.
This could also be seen from the number of “Feast” stacks given by the monster encyclopedia.
The Psionic Corpse had given 15 stacks of “Feast,” while the Bone Snake had only given 12.
It could only be said that the Psionic Corpse was simply too difficult to kill.
Its Magic Resistance trait was far too overpowered among low-level monsters.
If it were an ordinary Tier 2 Mage, once they let Lynn close the distance, a combo of Backstab and Kidney Strike would probably send them to enjoy their afterlife in the Underworld in less than a second.
Yet, even though Lynn had the 【Mage Slayer】 Feat to seal its psionic energy, the Psionic Corpse had still suppressed him in close-quarters combat.
If the Psionic Corpse hadn't been blinded by rage and misjudged the combat situation, Lynn might not have even had the chance to kill it.
Shaking his head to clear his mind, Lynn immersed his consciousness into the monster encyclopedia to check the bloodline tree of the “Skeleton” race.
The Bone Snake's trait of not fearing magma actually gave Lynn some inspiration.
If he wanted to harvest the Obsidian Rose, perhaps he would have to start with the skeleton bloodline.
On the skeleton bloodline tree, the avatars of four or five monsters were glowing.
They were the previously unactivated Tier 1 monster bloodlines—【Beast-Armored Skeleton】 and 【Giant Skeleton】. After activating 【Dungeon Skeleton】, both of these bloodlines required eighty Bloodline Points to activate.
As well as the subsequent evolutionary forms of the 【Dungeon Skeleton】—【Spore Skeleton】, 【Armored Skeleton】, and 【Skeleton Mage】.
It was a bit of a pity. Lynn had not encountered the corresponding monsters to unlock their entries in the encyclopedia for any of these five bloodlines, so he could not know their specific attributes. He could only make guesses based on the monsters' avatars.
This left Lynn in a bit of a dilemma.
Out of these five bloodlines, Lynn could only rule out two: 【Giant Skeleton】 and 【Spore Skeleton】.
The Bloodline Points required to activate 【Giant Skeleton】 were doubled, which was not worth the cost.
As for 【Spore Skeleton】...
Lynn discovered that this bloodline actually required two types of Bloodline Points!
In addition to skeleton Bloodline Points, it also required a whopping 20 Bloodline Points of the mushroom race.
For the latter, Lynn only had a measly two points, which he had harvested from that Walking Mushroom.
This was the first time Lynn had encountered a monster that required multiple types of Bloodline Points to activate.
Was this 【Spore Skeleton】 some kind of hybrid?
Lynn looked at the remaining three evolutionary branches.
【Beast-Armored Skeleton】 was a lower-tier form of the 【Bone Snake】. Perhaps it would have the same lava-resistant ability as the 【Bone Snake】.
Should he take a gamble? Or should he play it safe and choose 【Armored Skeleton】 or 【Skeleton Mage】?
After thinking for a moment, Lynn felt there was no need to gamble.
The probability of obtaining lava immunity through a bloodline was simply too low.
The bloodline abilities granted by the monster encyclopedia all conformed to physical structures.
After all, a human's bodily structure was not like the Bone Snake's, which was entirely made of high-temperature-resistant bones, so it was highly unlikely he would obtain such an ability. It was better to choose what he actually needed.
As for how to obtain the Obsidian Rose, that was actually simple.
Obsidian Roses were not uncommon in this kind of environment, so matching harvesting tools did exist.
The reason he hadn't brought the tools this time was because that set of stone tools was simply too heavy. Moreover, Lynn hadn't planned to harvest any Obsidian Roses during this commission, so he hadn't brought them along.
It was only a two-day round trip from here back to town.
They could just stay here for two days and have a teammate go back to fetch the tools.
Having made up his mind, Lynn began to choose between 【Armored Skeleton】 and 【Skeleton Mage】.
The former required 225 Bloodline Points, while the latter required 230.
After some thought, Lynn chose 【Skeleton Mage】.
He was currently planning to push for the “Mage” class. If he could push his Intelligence attribute to a higher level, it would undoubtedly greatly reduce the time spent practicing spells.
【Do you wish to activate the “Skeleton Mage” bloodline? Consuming Bloodline Points (Skeleton) * 230. Current Bloodline Points held: 251.】
Over two hundred Bloodline Points were rapidly invested, and the bloodline tree lit up.
Because it was a spellcasting bloodline, Lynn's body did not undergo any drastic changes. Even Tomo, who was standing right next to him, didn't notice anything unusual.
In the scorching environment, a cool sensation swept through his entire body, carrying away the excess heat.
His mana pool also expanded from 2.1 units to just over 2.8 units.
Lynn looked at his harvest this time—
【Skeleton Mage: Intelligence +2, Perception +2, Skeleton Construct Lv.2】
Activating a Tier 2 monster bloodline for the second time, the attribute points obtained seemed slightly fewer than last time. However, Lynn's base attributes were already much higher than before, so the effect was still quite good.
Furthermore, his Intelligence attribute also became his first attribute to break fifteen, reaching 16 points.
It was higher than that of an ordinary Tier 1 Mage.
The latter skill had already been activated when Lynn activated the 【Dungeon Skeleton】 bloodline.
However, Lynn had tried using it afterward but hadn't found the correct way to use it.
He only knew that it required a monster skeleton as a material to cast this skill.
And this time, with its upgrade to Lv.2, he wondered if it would bring any additional effects.
Lynn closed the 《Monster Identification Manual》.
Tomo and Toby were both looking at him, seemingly waiting for Lynn's decision.
Just as Lynn was about to speak and have someone fetch the harvesting tools, he noticed a slight change on the field—
Beneath the lava layer, a white humanoid skeleton was staring back at him from afar.
The skill “Skeleton Construct” also reacted.
It seemed like... he could control this skeleton?
Once this thought arose, Lynn's psionic energy extended out of his body, forming a tentacle-like structure that connected to the skeleton's brain.
“Come down... let's swim together...”
Under the lava layer, the little skeleton extended a sincere invitation to Lynn.
Rate on N.U.
