Chapter 226

Just as Gao De had thought before, the further along he got in climbing the snow mountain, the more it became a time for him to exert his strength.

As the altitude continued to rise, the rate at which the temperature on Mount Dandong dropped gradually began to lag behind the rate of his body's adaptation.

Therefore, the summit journey that should have become increasingly difficult was, for Gao De, a case of "the beginning is the hardest part," becoming easier the further he went.

It wasn't until this day, when Gao De caught up early to Du Wei, who had just set up his tent, and discovered that this guy got up even earlier the next day, that Gao De consciously slowed his pace a little.

Otherwise, if things continued like this, this stubborn and proud guy might start departing before dawn.

The improvement in cold resistance brought to his body by 【Self-Adaptation】 had been continuously ongoing.

This constant positive feedback from his body made Gao De's enthusiasm for mountain climbing rise to an unprecedented high.

He even felt that, in order to "compete" with Du Wei, taking the extra distance to climb to the summit seemed to have become the right choice.

After all, the higher the altitude, the lower the temperature, and the more obvious the promotion brought by 【Self-Adaptation】 became.

【Self-Adaptation】: Cold resistance increased by 94%, oxygen intake increased by 61%, resistance to strong light increased by 23%.

Watching the value of his cold resistance approach 100%, Gao De began to feel an inexplicable energy gestating within his body, filling him with a sense of lightness and comfort.

Although no one told him, Gao De could vaguely feel that this inexplicable energy would begin to erupt once his cold resistance reached 100%.

And then, it would bring some miraculous changes to his body.

This made Gao De increasingly excited.

It was just that the adaptation speed of 【Self-Adaptation】 depended on the environment, not Gao De's mood.

Therefore, even if he was eager, the improvement in cold resistance would not speed up because of it.

In fact, it even began to slow down.

Because with his cold resistance improved to this point, Mount Dandong was gradually no longer considered a harsh environment for Gao De.

In other words, he had almost adapted to the environment here.

This wouldn't do. Seeing the "treasure mountain" right before his eyes but unable to excavate it, Gao De decided to exert his subjective initiative and actively stimulate the improvement of his body's cold resistance.

Fu Luo La was as usual, flapping her small wings and floating at a low altitude, flying in front to scout the path for Gao De.

She seemed never to get tired; after flying in front for a while, she would flutter her wings and run back to report the situation to Gao De.

"There's a small slope ahead."

"There's a rock."

"There's a worthless blade of grass."

"There's a pit."

"There is..."

Fu Luo La's reports were always this detailed; regardless of whether it was useful or not, she dumped everything onto Gao De.

Gao De also patiently gave responses one by one.

"If it's just a small slope, there's no need to take a detour."

"A rock, what kind of rock?"

"Let's ignore the worthless grass."

"If it's a pit, be careful, don't fall in."

"Lady Fu Luo La can fly, I won't fall in."

"Master Mage, you are the one who needs to be careful, don't fall in."

"Master Mage, why did you fall in?"

"Master Mage, are you planting yourself?"

While listening to Fu Luo La's chattering in her clear, thin tone, Gao De manipulated his Mage Hand, raking through the snowflakes to cover himself after taking off his outer garment.

Even with his cold resistance improved to this point, after shedding his warm clothing and having his skin come into direct contact with the ice and snow, Gao De still couldn't help but shiver.

But correspondingly, the adaptation improvement that had already slowed down suddenly accelerated significantly at this moment.

Cold resistance increased 94.1%... 94.2%... 94.5%.

Feeling the cold resistance constantly approaching 100%, Gao De's mood also became excited along with the improvement.

The second day, cold resistance increased to 97.3%.

The third day, compared to yesterday, the improvement speed slowed slightly, but it still reached 98.6%.

The fourth day, the improvement of 【Self-Adaptation】, after cold resistance reached 99%, once again approached stagnation.

The fifth day, the cold resistance improvement still stopped at 99%.

Gao De understood that he must have reached the so-called "bottleneck period"; to break through again, he needed "stronger medicine."

He needed more extreme weather, such as the previous high-wind weather or heavy snow weather.

And Gao De's luck was quite good.

On the third day after being stuck by the bottleneck and the thought of "stronger medicine" emerged, the "weather forecast" of 【Druid Trick】 no longer showed the golden ball of a sunny sky, but a tornado.

This meant that tomorrow's weather would be the high-wind weather that climbers least wanted to see.

The higher the altitude, the greater the impact of high-wind weather.

Because the higher the altitude, the greater the wind speed usually is, and the cold sensation brought by it becomes increasingly significant.

Facing the high-wind weather, Du Wei also wisely chose to rest temporarily, waiting for the bad weather to pass.

Then, amidst Du Wei's astonishment and his gaze gradually turning into "looking at a madman," Gao De actively left the sheltered temporary camp and rushed into the sky-filling snow dust raised by the violent cold wind.

His back soon disappeared into the wind and snow.

"Madman." Du Wei watched, stunned, and finally spat out this two-word evaluation.

The biting cold brought by the high-wind weather caused Gao De's cold resistance, which had been stagnant for three days, to once again begin to change and improve.

99.1%... 99.2%... Gao De could be certain that with the help of the high-wind weather, he would be able to break through the 100% boundary today.

And after this, what would happen, Gao De was also full of anticipation.

From the moment he entered the wind and snow until now, he began to feel that the energy gestating within his body, just like spring water in a spring, was constantly gushing out from inside his body, then surging to every inch of his parts, bringing a warm feeling.

Outside his body was the continuous biting cold, inside his body was the endless warmth.

Under the alternation of cold and heat, that feeling could be described as exhilarating.

In this strange state, the value of cold resistance improvement silently reached 99.9%, and after a period of stuttering, it once again silently leaped over this number: Your cold resistance increased to 100.1%.

A strange experience, difficult to put into words, appeared in Gao De's perception.

"In ice layers that are cold enough and pure and flawless, there is a small probability of ice essence appearing, and within the ice essence, there is a small probability of 'Mandora's Tears' being nurtured and growing."

Within his body, that warm heat flow gushed out wave after wave at this moment like a volcanic eruption, violently scouring his flesh and blood.

After this feeling lasted for a full ten seconds or so, some inexplicable information emerged in Gao De's consciousness:

【Your body's cold resistance has reached the maximum upper limit under normal environments, adaptation evolved into Primary Ice-Blessed Body】.

【After evolving into Primary Ice-Blessed Body, your ability to withstand ice-element type damage is increased by 11%】.

【No longer affected by negative effects caused by third-circle and below ice-element spells】.

Natural selection, survival of the fittest.

What is the next stage of adaptation? It is evolution.

And now, under the rapid adaptation of 【Self-Adaptation】, Gao De had completed his first physical evolution.

The Primary Ice-Blessed Body obtained from this evolution had a total of two abilities, both of which were evolutionary abilities related to cold resistance.

The former could be equivalent to an increase in ice-element resistance, while the latter could greatly improve his combat ability.

At least at the third circle and below, the power of ice-element spells actually mostly cannot compare to the power of other types of spells; they mainly win on the many negative effects they carry.

For example, the freezing damage caused by 【Ray of Frost】 can further lead to the target's slowed movement.

And after evolving the Primary Ice-Blessed Body, the already not-high power of 【Ray of Frost】 would first be reduced by a portion, and the "slowed movement" effect would also become invalid.

More importantly, the two words "Primary" before Ice-Blessed Body.

Obviously, after Primary, there must be Intermediate and Advanced.

This meant that this was not the limit of cold resistance evolution.

Once he thought of the subsequent Intermediate Ice-Blessed Body and Advanced Ice-Blessed Body, Gao De became even more full of motivation.

Perhaps after truly possessing the Advanced Ice-Blessed Body, low-circle ice-element spells landing on him would be no different from a mosquito bite, right? Amidst the violent wind and snow, Gao De let out a satisfying long whistle. When Gao De walked out of the wind and snow and returned to the resting spot with snow all over his body, it was already noon.

Outside the resting spot, he acted as if he were in his own living room, casually and naturally taking off his outer garment, shaking off the accumulated snow, and then sitting down by the campfire with a normal expression.

The current low temperature, for Gao De's physical sensation, was already not much different from room temperature.

If it weren't to avoid being too unconventional and bringing too much stimulation to someone, Gao De would even have wanted to throw away the obstructive outer garment directly.

Du Wei watched as Gao De completed this whole set of actions, not knowing how to describe the feeling in his heart.

Actually, at the beginning, he hadn't thought that he would have so many bonds with Gao De.

Even because of the sensitivity of his own status and position, when Gao De knocked on his door, Du Wei's first reaction was whether Gao De had ulterior motives and was coming for him.

Even after confirming that Gao De was really just a passerby—after all, no one would send such a weak mage to approach him—he hadn't thought that he would have any other intersection with Gao De.

After all, Gao De's level compared to his was really too low.

If it weren't for the family tradition, a small character at Gao De's level, let alone talking to him, wouldn't even have the chance to see him once in a lifetime, even viewing him from afar was unlikely.

I don't know if it was because the environment of the snow peak was too harsh and monotonous, or because he really hadn't put down his burdens and contacted peers for a long time, or perhaps because... in short, in a situation Du Wei couldn't understand, he inexplicably had various contacts with Gao De.

At first, it was just his own competitive spirit, and later it became somewhat uncontrollable.

Even though the other party "saved" his life, with his status, to be honest, there were many ways to repay, but what he finally did was take the initiative to propose a summit competition with the other party.

This guy is obviously a rookie, but I can't shake him off, and competing is nothing... Du Wei convinced himself this way.

Afterwards, it became: since we've run into each other, it's nothing to let the other party mooch off the resting spot and food... after all, the other party saved me.

We've eaten and slept together, so it seems there's nothing wrong with this guy saying we are friends... Just like that, two people who would never have had an intersection became the other's only "friend" at the moment, under the circumstance of one being unaware and the other self-deceivingly acquiescing.

And now, Du Wei discovered once again that this new friend he had made didn't seem as simple as he looked.

Although when he saw Fu Luo La, he had already discovered that Gao De wasn't that simple.

"You really are a madman." Du Wei said, looking at Gao De.

Gao De smiled shyly, "Actually, it's very exhilarating, if you don't believe me, try it."

"My brain hasn't broken yet." Du Wei glanced at Gao De and said lightly.

"In about three more days of travel, we will be able to reach the summit." After a while, he said again.

Reaching the summit meant the end of this journey.

At that time, one of them would continue north, heading toward the northern realm, while the other would return along the same path to the south.

"It's fortunate that I ran into you." Gao De thanked him.

In the days that followed, whether it was food or fuel, there was almost nowhere to be found; if it weren't for Du Wei to "mooch" off of, this climbing journey would have been much more difficult.

More importantly, Du Wei set off early every time, which was equivalent to helping him scout the path ahead and removing many possible dangers.

Otherwise, in such terrain that was inconvenient for movement, encountering earth-vein creatures would still be a very dangerous thing.

Du Wei didn't speak.

This time, the high-wind weather lasted for a full two days before gradually stopping.

As soon as the weather returned to normal, Gao De and Du Wei set off again.

The subsequent journey didn't have any other accidents or twists and turns.

Winter Solstice Month, 21st day.

The sky was just beginning to turn a fish-belly white.

The cold air at high altitude made it almost impossible to breathe.

On the rugged, almost vertical ice wall, two figures, one in front and one behind, climbed upward like spiders, their speed not fast but very steady.

"Master Mage, come on!" Fu Luo La carefully poked a small head out from the pocket of Gao De's chest.

Although she could fly, near the mountain top, the cold wind was steep, and a gust of wind could blow her away, as she was only the size of a finger joint, so Fu Luo La stayed honestly in Gao De's clothing pocket.

Gao De pulled his fingers, which had been transformed by 【Cat's Claw Spell】, out of the ice wall, gasped slightly, and then steadily inserted them into another crevice again.

Du Wei was two body lengths above him, maintaining a safe distance.

At this altitude, every breath of the two was accompanied by thick white mist that was almost about to freeze into ice, circling around them.

Looking down, one could only see vast clouds obscuring everything below, as if it were an endless ocean.

Looking up, it was vast mist.

The mountain top was right before their eyes.

The two made a concerted effort, climbed over this last section of ice wall, and finally reached the mountain top.

The long journey was finally coming to a temporary end here.

At this moment, the sun was just rising from the horizon.

Golden light spilled over the entire snow mountain, dyeing the peak and the surrounding scenery into a brilliance.

Looking into the distance, the mountains of the Eryinlaya Range were looming in the morning light, and the sea of clouds was surging under their feet, making one feel as if they were above the clouds in the sky.

"Master Mage~~"

"Hmm?"

"So beautiful~~~"

"When I reach the summit, I will see all the mountains as small."

"I don't understand."

"Then you are not smart."

"?"

Two big and one small, three people, looked into the distance from the mountain top for a long time, until they had their fill of the scenery.

As far as the eye could see, there were no more mountains higher than the position they were currently in.

It was as if they were on the roof of the world.

With a broad horizon, the heart naturally opened up as well.

The hardships of wind, frost, rain, and snow along the way became the seasoning for enjoying the scenery.

"It's time to go down the mountain." After a long time, Du Wei suddenly spoke.

"Yeah," Gao De nodded and said casually: "In the future, if we meet, don't pretend not to recognize me."

"Naturally, we are friends." Du Wei looked at Gao De quietly and promised solemnly.

What he said was sincere, but he was thinking that after leaving this mountain, they would probably never run into each other again in this lifetime.

"Then let's part ways here." Gao De cupped his hands.

"Part ways here." Fu Luo La learned from Gao De and cupped her hands.

"These are for you." Du Wei thought for a moment and stuffed all the remaining food he had on him to Gao De.

"What about you?"

Du Wei said lightly: "I have my own ways."

"See you if fate allows."

After saying the last sentence, Du Wei gently rubbed the ring he was wearing on the index finger of his right hand.

That was a ring outlined with circles of interwoven silver lines, which looked extraordinary at first glance.

At this moment, that ring suddenly shone brightly.

A powerful force condensed in the air.

Those silver lines detached from the ring in an instant, turning into streaks of silver light, quickly outlining and combining in the air.

After an instant, these silver lines turned into a complex magic array, wrapping Du Wei's body within it.

The next moment, the space around Du Wei began to distort, forming a rotating vortex.

After an instant, Du Wei's figure became blurry, until after the last distortion, he completely disappeared.

With the disappearance of Du Wei's figure, the light of the magic array also quickly dissipated.

The peak of the snow mountain returned to calm once again.

(End of chapter)