Mike returned home loaded with goods. Back at the Mysterious Mine, he dropped off tons of supplies for the miners’ leader to distribute.
Even the lizard got a set of beach skins, lounging in the sand pits looking totally chill, like it were on vacation.
“Free stuff might not always be the best, but it sure is the most enjoyable.”
Mike could relate to that saying.
After distributing the supplies, Mike cautioned, “No drinking while mining, and no mining while drinking, got it?”
“Got it!”
The miners’ leader and the dwarf Bromli assured Mike that no one would drink during work hours.
In front of everyone, Mike warned the lizard.
“If you smell anyone reeking of booze in the mine, consider it an extra meal.”
Lizard: “Gizz-gazz, fizz-fuzz, whizz-whazz! (But I don’t wanna eat people, human meat tastes awful)”
“I’ll get you a barbecue grill later, eat something cooked.”
With the lizard supervising, it added an extra layer of insurance that no one would dare drink and work.
As Mike left, the dwarf craftsmen felt both happy and a bit down.
The clock struck midnight.
Mike re-entered the Core City of Truth, heading straight for the ninth floor of the Tower of Truth.
“May you conquer the Tower of Truth soon!”
In front of Mike stood three elemental gates, silently awaiting his choice.
He had already conquered the wind element change class realm.
Mike looked at the remaining two elemental gates:
One gate was made of fire elements, radiating intense heat even from a distance.
The other gate flickered with lightning, with arcs jumping continuously and thunderous sounds emanating from it.
“In terms of output, there’s [Charge Up] and [Thunderclap Strike], [Wind’s Reach] combines output and movement.”
Mike analyzed his current strengths,
“What I’m lacking right now includes: endurance, sustained damage, area damage, survival…”
With two SSS-tier skills and two chances, Mike had a rough idea of his direction.
“Let’s go to the Lightning gate first.”
Mike approached the gate of lightning elements, and as lightning struck his skin, it caused no harm but instead gave a tingling sensation.
[Ding, it has been detected that you possess an exceptional affinity for lightning. You are the undisputed king of lightning, and all lightning element monsters submit to your rule.]
Five minutes later, Mike walked out of the gate of lightning elements, even feeling a bit disappointed.
“How was the lightning change class so easy?” Mike wondered. He hadn’t even done anything significant inside, yet he achieved the highest score and acquired the skills he needed.
[Lightning Phantom Form]: Learning requirement: Lightning affinity greater than 210%.
[Lightning Phantom Form]: Transforms the target into a Lightning Phantom state for 15 seconds.
In the Lightning Phantom state, physical attacks cannot be made or received, immune to physical damage, and magic damage taken is increased by 30%.
If cast on oneself, it grants immunity to lightning damage and the Lightning Phantom state can be ended at will.
If cast on an enemy, the lightning damage they receive is increased by an additional 5000%.
Mana cost: 1500
Cooldown: 60 seconds
The greatest advantage of [Lightning Phantom Form] is its immunity to physical damage!
Combined with [Inhibition Orb], Mike, in his Lightning Phantom state, is immune to physical damage and enjoys significant magic damage reduction, making him a mobile firepower platform!
Of course, Mike can also cast [Lightning Phantom Form] on enemies to trap them!
In the Lightning Phantom state, one cannot initiate physical attacks and must also endure high amounts of lightning magic damage.
Naturally, the duration of the Lightning Phantom state is also affected by resistance.
As a supplement to Mike’s trump cards, it is at least qualified.
Unlike [Wind’s Reach], skill like [Lightning Phantom Form] is difficult to produce as skill books. Even if turned into a skill book, few possess a lightning affinity over 210%.
Thus, [Lighting Phantom Form] can be considered one of Mike’s exclusive and trump card skills. Turning it into skill books would mean exposing his trump card.
Once the effects of this skill are known, it becomes very easy to counter.
For this reason, Mike needs to ensure that anyone who has seen [Lightning Phantom Form] cannot live to share this information, thus securing his trump card.
The learning and usage scenarios for [Lightning Phantom Form] are quite demanding, making it a skill tailored specifically for Mike.
[Lightning Specialization] increases the effects of lightning skills by 100% and reduces cooldown times by 50%.
In other words, Mike can maintain [Lightning Phantom Form] for 30 seconds with a cooldown of only 30 seconds.
Unlimited refills!
Having the [Lightning Phantom Form] skill means Mike don’t have to worry about any physical damage.
Mike tucked away the skill description and headed towards the final elemental gate—the Gate of Fire Elements.
As he approached, blue flames surged up, dancing joyously on his shoulders. When he opened his eyes again, Mike found himself amidst countless active volcanoes.
Each volcano belched black smoke, intermittently spewing molten lava from which fire element monsters struggled to emerge.
“This realm only allows the use of fire element skills!”
With the experience from conquering the previous wind realm, Mike quickly got into the groove. However, compared to the Lightning, the progress in the Fire Element Change Class Realm wasn’t as smooth.
Mike had some ideas for the fire element’s SSS skills.
“Let lightning handle the burst damage; the skills I create here should focus on sustained and area damage.” That was also why he had chosen the fire element initially.
One by one, the fire element monsters wailed as they fell, their bodies shattering into magma, leaving behind elemental cores.
“Generate skill [Fire Joy], S-rank!”
“Reset!”
“Generate skill [Volcanic Eruption], SS-rank!”
“Reset!”
“…”
After battling for three to four hours, Mike finally reset the skills to SSS-rank.
“Generate skill [Blazing Sacrifice], SSS-rank!”
Mike glanced at the skill—it didn’t quite meet his needs. Blazing Sacrifice was a risky tactic, burning a portion of HP to boost all stats and gain various powerful buffs. The more HP burned, the stronger the combat power!
“Powerful, but not for me.”
While hunting fire element monsters, Mike continued to reset the SSS-rank skills.
The Eye of Truth had hinted: [Keep some time free; after passing all three change class realms, there’s a surprise waiting.]
Glancing at the time, Mike saw he had 90 minutes left.
After three more resets, a promising option appeared.
“Generate skill [Blazing Storm], SSS-rank!”
Blazing Storm was a typical area damage skill, dealing high fire damage over an area with sustained burning effects. It had high mana consumption, a reasonable cooldown, and a short casting time.
It perfectly matched Mike’s initial concept and was a good addition at this stage. However, while Blazing Storm was balanced in all aspects, it also meant it had no particularly outstanding features—a very standard SSS-rank skill.
It would probably only be useful up to the Battle Lord tier, and not much beyond that.
“I’ll make do.”
Mike steadied his mindset, comforting himself.
Just as Mike was about to learn [Blazing Storm], a notification popped up from the Skill Melter:
[Next skill reset: Meteor Fire Rain…]
Mike glanced at the description for [Meteor Fire Rain] and was immediately captivated.
[Blazing Storm]? Sorry, I’m not familiar with you. Let’s not keep in touch; I’m afraid [Meteor Fire Rain] might get the wrong idea!
Mike dove back into battle, collecting elemental cores, ready to reset his skills!