Chen Tian looked at the snow-capped mountain before him, hundreds of meters high, its peaks covered in white. Both the forest and the ground were blanketed in snow.
He reached the base of the mountain, gazing up. Reaching the summit meant passing the trial, but could it truly be that simple?
Chen Tian took a tentative step forward, alert to his surroundings. He was immediately puzzled; nothing happened. It was too strange. This trial couldn't be this easy!
Without letting down his guard, Chen Tian continued to tread cautiously. A faint firelight emanated from his hands, ready to strike at the first sign of trouble.
Walking along the snowy mountain path, Chen Tian observed the trees. The ground was entirely covered by snow, yet it seemed to be continuously falling, which was peculiar.
Suddenly, the snowflakes above the forest appeared to come alive. They fused together, forming various weapons that shot towards Chen Tian.
From the mountaintop, figures charged down at him. Chen Tian, however, showed no panic. Flames flared from both his hands, which he molded into fireballs and hurled forward.
An enormous explosion erupted, followed by a surge of steam. Before Chen Tian could react, several weapons forged from snow merged and appeared directly in front of his eyes.
His right hand took on a claw-like shape. He extended it to block, and instantly, a massive shield made of fire materialized in his hand. The incoming weapons struck the fiery shield and instantly melted into water droplets.
Chen Tian then opened his right hand, and the fire shield dissipated. He nodded with satisfaction. "With the mastery of the General rank, I can achieve illusory materialization. Though only halfway, once I reach the Monarch rank, fire transformed into weapons will have substance. No wonder the Elemental Spirits are so powerful."
Chen Tian looked at his hands. With a thought, two circular fire shields appeared on his arms. He moved both arms in unison, deflecting numerous weapons with the fiery round shields.
With his mastery of all professions, Chen Tian could naturally equip dual shields. Moreover, these were fire elementally transformed, boasting a high degree of synergy with him, making them effortless to wield.
As Chen Tian dealt with all the surrounding weapons, countless ice birds descended from the sky, swooping towards him.
A slight smile played on Chen Tian's lips. "Excellent, this will be a good opportunity to adapt to the General rank's elemental mastery."
Instantly, the fiery round shields on his arms shrank significantly and became embedded in his wrists. Upon closer inspection, one could see a round shield on each wrist, each engraved with a flame symbol.
The General rank's elemental mastery allowed the normally intangible flames to gain half-tangibility, akin to a player equipping gear.
With a sweep of his hands, a longbow appeared in Chen Tian's left hand. He observed the crimson longbow and nodded.
Then, he drew the bowstring. A fiery arrow shot forth. As a member of the Archer profession, Chen Tian could naturally use longbows.
Countless fiery arrows were loosed from his hands, clashing with the ice birds in a spectacle of ice and fire.
He reacted swiftly, and neither Chen Tian nor the multitude of ice birds ceased their actions. Chen Tian didn't know how many ice birds there were, but he knew his attack couldn't stop.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh."
He rapidly drew the bowstring, his movements like those of a numb robot, his hands relentlessly pulling. His mind seemed to enter a special state.
Suddenly, Chen Tian pulled the bowstring with all five fingers of his right hand. Terrifying fiery power flowed from the entire longbow and his body into it.
Slowly, Chen Tian released the string. A beam, or rather a wave of light, shot out. A crimson wave of flame, as thick as a massive pillar, surged into the flock of ice birds.
The fiery light pillar was vast and boundless; the wave of light was eternal.
The massive fiery light pillar plunged into the flock of ice birds. An immense explosion occurred, engulfing numerous ice birds in flames. The sky was filled with a scene of a fiery giant cloud.
"Ding! Congratulations to the player for comprehending the unknown skill: Elemental Wave!"
When Chen Tian came to his senses, he was stunned by the electronic voice in his mind. What just happened? And what was this unknown skill?
He then flicked his right hand, and a panel slowly appeared, displaying information about Elemental Wave.
Elemental Wave: Unknown skill level. Unleashes a powerful shot by channeling elemental energy, capable of forming pillars, waves, and other attack patterns. Can be charged continuously or interrupted.
Chen Tian examined the skill description. There was no cooldown time.
What a heaven-defying skill this was!
Chen Tian checked his elemental mastery. It had been reduced to zero, completely depleted and requiring time to recover.
"It seems this move consumes a lot of elemental mastery."
Chen Tian realized the drawback of this move. Both charging and interrupting the shot required elemental mastery for control. His current General rank elemental mastery could only produce one pillar before reaching its limit.
However, the power was immense. It annihilated the flock of ice birds in one move, even igniting the surrounding forest.
Terrifying! Truly terrifying!
The crimson fire longbow in Chen Tian's left hand slowly dissipated. His elemental mastery was exhausted, preventing him from maintaining the state.
Suddenly, Chen Tian thought of something and immediately opened his attribute panel.
Flame Materialization: Allows the user to transform flames into any desired shape through elemental mastery, imprinting fire elemental marks onto the body. When used, these marks can activate to shape the flames.
Chen Tian looked at this information. His panel was somewhat disorganized; he would need to sort it out properly later.
Chen Tian murmured, if not for his General rank fire elemental mastery, he would have almost forgotten this ability.
After resting for about half an hour, during which Chen Tian used his elemental mastery and flame materialization ability to carve flame imprints onto himself.
When Chen Tian recovered, fiery red imprints appeared on his arms, shaped like round shields, and on his forearms, like red flame blade tips.
Instantly, two round shields appeared on Chen Tian's arms, and a fiery light sword materialized on the back of his hands.
With a thought, the flames vanished. Chen Tian nodded with great satisfaction.
The Flame Materialization ability allowed Chen Tian to equip fire-attributed weapons and armor at any time. Furthermore, due to his mastery of all professions, Chen Tian could use these with other professions, but only as an Elf race.
Chen Tian stepped forward again. This time, he easily reached the mountainside quickly. The mountainside was different from the base. Here, Chen Tian saw countless snow creatures, their bodies composed entirely of pure white snow.
They had physical forms and moved about the mountainside. Chen Tian was not interested, as his Divine Eyes indicated these were virtual beings with no combat capability.
Chen Tian was not one to kill indiscriminately, so he continued towards the summit without bothering them. Strangely, with every step Chen Tian took, one or two snow-like creatures would follow behind him.
Chen Tian grew puzzled. These virtual beings, lacking combat ability, somehow possessed thought processes.
Chen Tian paid them no mind and continued onward.