Genetic Ascension

Chapter 423: Frostbane Treasures

[Frostbane Armor (Bronze) (Treasure)]

[Level: 1]

[+100 Constitution]

[Ability: Frostbane Zone]

[Absorb Frostbane Aether to repair armor]

[Exude Area of Effect in meter radius that deals Ice-Poison Damage per second when activated at the cost of 1 Durability per minute]

[Durability: 10/10]

—

Despite being a step below the Basilisk Skin Armor in grade, Sylas might even argue that this armor was better. To have both a self-repair function and an AOE attack built in was simply huge.

Sylas had already lost several weapons due to Durability, and would only lose more in the future.

He couldn’t use his kunai anymore because one more attempt would probably break them, he had just lost Azrael’s sword not long ago, and even the Stabilizing Bracelet, after so many uses, was beginning to take some nicks. He would have to be really cautious with how he used it in the future.

The obvious tradeoff was that its innate Defense fell off a cliff and likely didn’t scale very high either. But even so, unless he leveled up the Basilisk Skin Armor to ridiculous levels, he would probably prefer this armor due to its versatility.

Plus, when you took into account the fact that the Basilisk Skin Armor was Silver Grade, and would certainly require Silver Grade Genes to continue to level up in the future, you would have an obvious position tradeoff that couldn’t be denied.

Unfortunately, all of that was worthless since he couldn’t use it.

The silver lining was that maybe Nosphaleen could use it in the future, but he wasn’t yet certain if that would be possible. If things went well, then Nosphaleen would probably lose her humanoid form and thus the ability to use this armor in the first place.

‘I’ll make use of it somehow. I’ll also have to find a method of getting my equipment repaired…’

Unfortunately, his Dual Class Constitution didn’t seem to extend to Dual Profession. But even if it did, he wouldn’t even know how to go about getting the needed Profession in the first place. Obviously, he had stumbled onto his Vipermancer Profession completely by accident, and he wasn’t even sure if he’d have the necessary time to give to another.

Shaking his head, Sylas moved on to the second reward.

It was a fruit that looked almost like a white-blue peach. Its surface was fuzzy like the fruit, but because of its odd color it looked more like an ornament to be placed in the middle of a dinner table rather than actually being part of the dinner.

That said, the description more than made up for its slightly inedible appearance.

—

[Frostbane Fruit (Silver) (Consumable)]

[Advance Ice-Poison affinity by one Grade up to Silver Grade]

—

Sylas’ gaze flashed. This fruit was perfect for him.

Right now, his Ice-Poison affinity was only Common. It was only thanks to Rune Soul that he could control his Slow and Freeze Ice-Poison Runes at all.

However, because his affinity was too low and his body couldn’t handle it, he hadn’t been able to swap his Aether out with this more powerful version. Due to this, casting his mutant Skills cost more Aether and sapped up a great deal of his Wisdom as well.

If he had had a higher Ice-Poison affinity, he wouldn’t have suffered nearly so much after his Dungeon had been tampered with.

Sylas didn’t hesitate to take a bite into the fruit. Nothing happened, so he continued to eat until he had swallowed the entire thing, even the seed in the middle.

It was surprisingly good. Though the fruit looked beautiful, he hadn’t expected to enjoy the taste so much. It was almost a bit spritzy like a carbonated drink, but it had a natural sweetness to it that refined sugars couldn’t match.

After the seed hit his stomach, Sylas finally began to feel the changes. A cool energy pooled through his Aether Pathways and his body felt like it was floating on air.

That was when something surprising happened.

According to the description of the fruit, he should have only been able to progress his affinity from Common to Bronze. But to his surprise, his Dual Class Constitution seemed to have acted again, progressing it to the peak the fruit would allow and granting him a Silver Grade affinity.

It was yet another pleasant surprise. It seemed that even the medicinal properties of fruits and maybe even Elixirs would go further thanks to his new Constitution.

Sylas looked at his hand and was surprised to find it almost sparkling. He had always taken care of himself in the past, but it was hard to do so when something was trying to kill you every other hour.

Because of that, his skin care had lagged behind, and it certainly didn’t help that he was covered from head to toe in his own impurities right now.

But to his surprise, the fruit came with a sort of cleansing effect that froze over those impurities and shattered them into a sparkling rain. That exposed his skin underneath, which now looked even more soft and almost supple compared to what it had been before the Summoning.

‘Fascinating…’

Sylas raised a hand to his head to check something and was thankful that all his hair was still there. Though, it was getting a little long now.

‘I’ll also need to do something about my clothes…’

The rags he was wearing had also shattered into shards of ice, leaving him entirely naked. His main problem was that unlike everyone else, he could only wear the most ordinary of clothing, leaving them vulnerable to things like this.

Sylas took a breath and swapped out his Aether, feeling a thrumming sensation run through his body as he felt even more powerful. Now, his Aether skin also came with double the Defense. This would be a huge advantage in battle.

Finally, he turned his attention to the second-to-last item.

It was a scroll, and when he popped the bubble, he realized that it was actually a Skill.

In fact, it was a Skill type he had been meaning to get for the longest time.

A movement type Skill.

Unfortunately…

‘I can’t use this…’

—

[Frostbane Escape (FFF-) (Race Skill)]

[Deconstruct the body into Frostbane Runes and reappear in any location with meters with sufficient Frostbane Aether concentration]

[Note: Limited to Elemental Races]