“What heavy snow!”
Emerging from the dungeon, Li Xiuman couldn't help but exclaim.
Snow this heavy was unimaginable to a southern skeleton who had grown up in the south in his past life.
Before he had walked very far from the Landmark Tower, a layer of snow already covered his body.
The thick snow beneath his feet reached past his ankles.
It seemed that even White Crystal City was forced to lock down in the face of such a massive snowstorm.
No pedestrians were visible on the streets, only adventurers in twos and threes.
“The snow is really something this year.”
“You know, I've been exploring White Crystal City's dungeon for over a decade, and this is the first time I've ever seen snow this heavy.”
“I heard it's a once-in-a-century snow disaster.”
The conversation between two passing adventurers gave Li Xiuman a clear idea of how severe the blizzard was.
But immediately after, the two adventurers changed the subject.
“With this sudden snowstorm, a lot of merchant associations in White Crystal City took a huge loss.”
“Only a small merchant association that popped out of nowhere called the White Feather Merchant Association made a killing.”
“...”
“I hear nothing, I hear nothing!”
Having just emerged from the dungeon with a bountiful harvest, Li Xiuman didn't want his cheerful mood ruined.
This dungeon run lasted for over a month, boosting his level to Lv. 35.
He had hardly slept or rested, spending almost all his time grinding monsters for experience.
Consequently, he had accumulated a massive haul of magic stones and monster materials.
Grinding monsters in a dungeon wasn't like a video game where endless waves of monsters rushed at you.
On the contrary, monsters were relatively sparse in such a vast dungeon.
It wasn't as simple as killing endlessly in one spot.
You had to track down signs of monsters and hunt them down.
After hunting in one area for a while, the monster density would drop, requiring you to move to a new area after a period of time.
Besides earning a vast amount of experience, Li Xiuman had also formed an undead contract with a deep-sea water monster.
Relying on his zombie army, golem army, deep-sea water monster zombie, and deep-sea water monster undead, he eventually fought his way down to the 39th floor.
More than half of his golems were destroyed, only a few members of his water monster zombie squad remained, and the deep-sea water monster zombie was heavily damaged.
Thus, for safety's sake, he had no choice but to give up further exploration and leave the dungeon.
Level: Lv. 35
Strength: 62/80
Constitution: 73/100
Spirit: 93/100
A massive Spirit stat of 93 significantly boosted Li Xiuman's mana pool and stamina.
In the dungeon, he had even gone a whole week without sleeping, and he still hadn't slept up to now.
He was still full of energy.
His mana pool could sustain casting dozens of Tier 3 spells.
To put that into perspective, back when he first advanced to a Tier 3 Elementalist, he would be drained after casting less than ten Tier 3 spells.
He estimated that average Tier 3 Mages still relied mostly on Tier 2 magic in combat.
Tier 3 spells were kept as trump cards.
Using just a few would leave them completely spent.
Shaking the accumulated snow off his body, Li Xiuman didn't plan on exploring the dungeon any further for now.
He intended to return to White Bear City first, then head out to dig up the Crystal Hero's grave.
His right arm—the arm bone of the Glacial Seal Sword's previous owner—still contained plenty of energy.
But his left arm had already been replaced twice in the dungeon, both drained dry as he leveled up.
Ordinary bones could no longer provide him with stat point modifiers for evolution.
Therefore, he planned to seek out the remains of the Crystal Hero.
High-grade bones like those might even grant him some rare skills.
Still, the Crystal Hero was a legendary figure celebrated in epics, so the energy in his bones was bound to be immense.
Last time, when he attached the arm bone of the Glacial Seal Sword's previous owner, he had huddled in Ilu's embrace, relying on her to bear most of the power to survive it.
This time, attaching the Crystal Hero's bone would be entirely up to himself.
Hence, he saved 6 Free Stat Points for emergencies.
Combined with his current Constitution stat of 73, he figured he should be able to endure it.
“Before leaving, I should say goodbye to Rorona.”
Saying goodbye to Rorona.
To Li Xiuman, it was just a simple farewell, but Rorona's frantic brainstorming produced a hundred-thousand-word masterplan in her mind.
It encompassed encouragement, guidance, future strategic layouts, a commercial blueprint, and organizational directions.
Before leaving White Crystal City, Li Xiuman bought a horse.
Why buy a horse?
Was it to replace walking?
Li Xiuman's true body had already reached a monstrous level; whether flying or walking, he was far faster than a horse.
But! But!
Riding a horse through heavy snow with a blade on his back, wandering the ends of the earth—wasn't that pure romance?
Wasn't it? Wasn't it?
Just thinking about it got him excited.
“Customer, this horse carries the noble bloodline of the royal horses from the Imperial Capital!”
“Its coat, temperament, and stamina are top-notch!”
“As the saying goes, a fine steed for a hero! This horse goes for 200 gold coins, but I'll let you have it for 190!”
“...”
To be honest, he was mature now.
How could he harbor such childish thoughts?
Horses were completely useless; he'd be better off running on his own.
Besides, in snow this heavy, could a horse even run?
In the end, he might even have to use magic to keep it from sinking into the snow.
Not worth it, definitely not worth it.
In the afternoon, Li Xiuman rode out of White Crystal City on a brown horse.
He bought it for eighteen gold coins.
Before he got very far past the city gates, as expected, the horse's hooves sank right into the snow.
Leaving Li Xiuman with no choice but to cast a snow-walking spell on it.
Yet it still couldn't run fast.
Master, without the bloodline of an Imperial Capital royal horse, can I really not run fast?
Li Xiuman seemed to hear the voice in the mixed-breed horse's heart.
The corners of his non-existent mouth curled up slightly.
Are kings, generals, and ministers born noble?
Who said a mixed-breed horse was destined to be inferior to a royal bloodline horse?!
“Tier 3 Magic, Wind Spirit's Blessing!”
A cyan magic circle enveloped the horse's body. The horse instantly felt light, as if it were a willow leaf about to float into the air at any moment.
A massive snow slope appeared ahead.
“Snort!”
The mixed-breed horse let out a thrill-seeking snort, its hooves galloping as its body extended.
“My good horse, do you feel it?!”
“Snort!”
“We truly are of one mind!”
The wind rushed past, blowing the horse's mane and fluttering Li Xiuman's cloak.
Whoosh!
Carrying Li Xiuman, the horse leaped into the air off the snow slope.
In an instant, it felt as though wings had sprouted on the horse's back.
Li Xiuman's horse was flying in the sky.
“Snort!”
Experiencing the feeling of flight for the first time, the brown horse's mane whipped in the wind.
This was the feeling of freedom.
Then, it began... to plummet.
“SNORT!!!”
“Neighing so loud, you're excited too, right?!”
“SNORT!!!!”
It crashed heavily onto the ground, splashing huge clouds of snow.
The brown horse twitched uncontrollably on the ground, both of its front legs snapped clean in two.
Li Xiuman, completely fine, climbed up from the ground, dusted off the snow, and jogged over to the miserable horse.
Such was the value of a 73-point Constitution.
“A slip of the horse's hoof!”
“Don't worry, Brownie, I'll heal you right away!”
“When it comes to bone setting, I'm a professional!”
Li Xiuman snapped off a piece of his own bone, ground it into powder, and stuffed it into the horse's mouth and onto its wounds.
Then, he controlled Brownie's broken leg bones to realign and reattach.
Soon, Brownie was standing on its feet again.
Except all four of its legs were still trembling uncontrollably.
Rate on N.U.
