Chapter 13

Xia Qingyue stood in place, staring at Lin Mo, unable to resist speaking:

“Young Master Lin… that skill just now—was it the beginner fire mage skill ‘Multiple Exploding Fireballs,’ right?”

Lin Mo tossed the last pine nut into his mouth, brushed off the crumbs from his hands, and nodded:

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“This skill involves elemental splitting and secondary detonation techniques.”

Xia Qingyue’s gaze was complex; after a long pause, she took a deep breath and ventured tentatively:

“Young Master Lin… may I ask boldly, how many skill books did you consume to learn this move?”

In Xia Qingyue’s view, a blank-element mage had no elemental affinity—learning advanced elemental skills was nearly impossible.

Not even a fire-specialized mage could learn new skills without consuming a certain number of skill books to aid comprehension.

So this Young Master Lin must have devoured dozens, perhaps even hundreds?

Is this the depth of a noble family’s resources?

Skill books were extremely expensive—even beginner-level ones cost at least six-digit Dragon Nation credits.

Before Lin Mo could answer, Xia Qingyue added: “Young Master Lin, if you’d rather not answer, pretend I never asked—I…”

“Skill books?”

Lin Mo scratched his head, looking utterly confused. “That thing… I’ve never seen it.”

“?”

Xia Qingyue froze.

Never… seen it?

“You mean… you didn’t use any skill books at all?”

“Exactly.”

Lin Mo shrugged as if it were obvious. “It’s just splitting, then exploding again. Is that hard?”

The moment he spoke, his skill bar began violently trembling.

【‘Fireball’ couldn’t take it anymore: Hard? Only hard for you! I spent last night struggling on the grassland to master this! What were you doing? Sleeping!】

【‘Fireball’ sneered: Show-offs always get struck by lightning! Shameless! Stealing my hard work—doesn’t your conscience hurt?】

Lin Mo’s expression didn’t change; he silently replied in his mind:

“Shut up. Still want to eat tonight’s stir-fried Crimson Flame Dragon?”

【‘Fireball’ fell instantly silent.】

【Status updated: Enduring Humiliation (Damage +100%)】

Seeing the little fireball quiet down, Lin Mo felt a quiet satisfaction.

Honestly, occasionally showing off felt pretty good.

Xia Qingyue opened her mouth to speak, but found she had nothing to say.

Self-taught mastery—even for magic users with S-rank elemental affinity—was an extraordinarily difficult feat.

Yet this Young Master Lin, a blank-element mage, had mastered it on his second day of transmutation—no, judging by his release fluency, likely on his very first day.

Such talent—terrifying indeed!

“Absolutely talent! Undeniable top-tier talent!”

Zhang Kai suddenly jumped up.

His face flushed, voice booming as he analyzed:

“Captain, think about it—if this were learned by brute-forcing skill books, even an S-rank fire mage would barely split three to five fireballs at first!”

Zhang Kai pointed at the dense, charred marks on the ground. “But Young Master Lin just split fifteen! Fifteen!”

“What does this prove? It proves Young Master Lin has reached perfect mastery of this skill! No amount of skill books could produce this effect!”

“He’s a legendary, unprecedented, supreme magic prodigy! Compared to him, all those so-called S-rank affinities should go home and raise pigs!”

Hearing Zhang Kai’s words, Xia Qingyue felt utterly humiliated.

S-rank affinity should raise pigs—what should she, an A-rank affinity, do? Play with mud?

After hearing this analysis, Wang Meng and Liu Weiwei were stunned, staring at Lin Mo as if he were a walking deity.

“… ”

Lin Mo felt his scalp prickle from all the over-the-top flattery.

Honestly, Zhang Kai was a decent lackey.

“Cough… enough, enough.”

Lin Mo waved his hand awkwardly, cutting off Zhang Kai’s speech:

“Keep it low-key. Keep it low-key.”

“It’s not that impressive—just lucky. Let’s move. Finish faster, get back to sleep.”

Xia Qingyue snapped out of her shock, glancing at Lin Mo—her respect for him deepened further.

Not only extraordinary talent, but also humble, low-key, just wanting to sleep…

This was true master demeanor.

“Everyone, follow Young Master Lin—keep advancing!”

Xia Qingyue swiftly ordered, “Maintain formation! Since Young Master Lin is going all out, we push full speed!”

…

On the other side, on the rocky beach outside the dungeon.

Ye Hongyu leaned against the car hood, half a dozen cigarette butts scattered at her feet.

Those tiny crimson embers flickered uncertainly in the dark.

“Half an hour…”

Ye Hongyu glanced at her wristwatch, frowning slightly.

Though she had full confidence in Lin Mo’s masterful micro-management, this was a difficult-level dungeon—even an elite squad would barely clear the outer zones in half an hour.

She inhaled deeply from her cigarette, preparing to exhale a smoke ring.

Suddenly—

Whirr—!

A vibration surged up from beneath the ground.

Instantly, an oppressive, malevolent aura engulfed the entire rocky beach.

“Huh?!”

Ye Hongyu’s face changed drastically; she snapped her head up toward the spatial rift.

The dungeon entrance, once glowing with mysterious purple light, now churned with thick, impenetrable blackness.

Like a demon’s eye from hell slowly opening.

“This… this is…”

Ye Hongyu’s pupils shrank sharply.

For the first time, her usually calm, cold expression twisted with fear.

“Abyssal Corruption?!”

“How is this possible…”

As an experienced soldier, Ye Hongyu knew exactly what this meant.

In this world, dungeons were divided into two types.

One type was fixed, stable, and safe.

The other was temporary dungeon space opened by “Random Dungeon Scrolls.”

These temporary dungeons had an extremely low probability—vanishingly low—of being corrupted by extradimensional abyssal energy and mutating.

How low was this probability?

One in a hundred thousand—or even lower!

Jianghai City hadn’t seen a single case of “Dungeon Abyssal Corruption” in eight full years!

“Damn it, the Young Master’s in trouble…”

Ye Hongyu’s fingers trembled; she crushed the cigarette out, spun around, pulled out her phone, and dialed Lin Tianhao’s number.

If the dungeon merely spawned stronger monsters, there might still be a chance.

But the most terrifying part: in normal dungeons, one could shatter a carried “Return Scroll” to forcibly exit and save one’s life.

That was why she dared let Lin Mo enter—he had multiple 【Return Scrolls】 in his possession.

But…

Once a dungeon underwent Abyssal Corruption, the Return Scrolls became useless.

The only way to survive was to slay the final boss and complete the dungeon.

“Dial—dial—”

Only two rings—then the call connected.

“Hello? Hongyu, did Mo’er clear it? That was fast…”

Lin Tianhao’s cheerful laugh came through the speaker.

“Commander! Something’s happened!”

Ye Hongyu spoke rapidly:

“The dungeon where the Young Master is… has undergone Abyssal Corruption!”

“What did you say?!”

From the other end of the phone came the sharp crack of a teacup shattering, followed by Lin Tianhao’s roar, “Wait there—I’m coming right now!”