Chapter 7: Ice Dance

The passive effect of the Ice Dance Garden allows Luke to increase his movement speed on ice by fifty percent.

The combination of rain and freezing creates the perfect battle environment for her. Sliding on the ice, she moves as if she's wearing ice skates.

However, her power at level 60 is still not enough to fully unleash the Ice Dance Garden's potential. Otherwise, she could freeze these people into ice sculptures directly.

Luke's figure on the ice is incredibly swift, while the warehouse security guards are constantly restricted by the freezing, unable to make any offensive or defensive moves.

They can only watch helplessly as the elf gracefully darts past them, like a dancer on ice. Each time her curved blade shines, it brings forth a large cloud of blood mist, which then solidifies into blood-colored ice crystals.

Like blooming red petals.

The rain continues to fall, and the frost flowers keep blooming.

The guards, frozen, are unaware of their injuries. They desperately try to move but can't break free from the icy restraints.

The freezing freezes their blood along the wounds, penetrating into their bodies. Their limbs, devoid of sensation, lose their functionality, rendering their bodies motionless. The frozen blood spreads through their veins toward their hearts.

Until their hearts freeze.

Ron follows Luke's slow movements, struggling to pull his legs out of the ice with every step. In turning around, he witnesses the death of his subordinates, watching as they turn into sculptures wrapped in ice, their blood frozen in a perpetual spray.

White, red, and the ever-expanding frost flowers.

Ron turns around, and the elf stops as well. She stands there, while the sky continues to shower ice crystals.

Amidst the mist and ice sculptures, she turns her back, inserting her twin blades back into the scabbards at her waist, as if something is impacting her heart.

The voice of the elf reaches his ears.

"I didn't intend to kill you, but I couldn't control myself. I'm sorry!

Goodbye! You don't have what I want."

Ron tries to shout after the disappearing figure of the elf in the darkness, but realizes he can't produce any sound.

His limbs have lost all sensation.

He lowers his head and sees over ten blood-red ice shards blooming outward from his body, like crimson petals...

Soon, darkness engulfs his vision.

The thickening layer of ice wraps his body, standing alongside a dozen other human-shaped ice sculptures at the warehouse entrance.

Yet, there is no ice or water within thirty meters around them.

An alarm blares inside the warehouse.

A large group of warehouse security rush out, armed with weapons, only to be stunned by the bloody yet incredibly beautiful scene before them.

Luke leaves the Windblock Alley and parkours through a segment of eaves and walls to return to the virtual anchor point where he started.

Sitting on the edge of the building, he gazes at the slumbering city.

What should he do next?

The contents of the warehouse are definitely gone, or they didn't come to this world with the characters.

So, there's no need to look for the money in the bank.

Now, apart from what he's wearing, including the items in his backpack, he has nothing.

How should he acquire the ritual items and sacrifices needed for his original body's secret technique?

Luke flips through the walkthrough in his mind, checking if there are any suitable items in the Cape District at the beginning of the "Era."

Hmm?

This is...

The heart of the Red Dragon Niercolne.

Its name is the Heart of the Red Dragon Niercolne, but it's not a real dragon heart. It's a summoning prop created by the Alchemist Association of the City of Storms that can summon the Red Dragon Niercolne of the Dragon Kingdom to fight for oneself for ten minutes.

In the "Era," NPCs with superhuman powers are called heroes.

The evaluation of a hero's power is different from that of players.

Players look at levels.

Heroes look at stars.

One to six stars represent the six power levels of heroes, with each star corresponding to twenty player levels.

For example, Ron and his subordinates in the Windblock Alley warehouse area have a maximum power of three stars, and the lowest might not even reach one star.

Level 60 Clear Sky is equivalent to a three-star hero. With the buffs from bloodline, modifications, constellations, and exclusive combat techniques, facing Ron's gang would naturally result in a massacre.

The Red Dragon Niercolne belongs to the category of five-and-a-half-star supermodel heroes, commonly known as five and a half stars.

Releasing a five-and-a-half-star hero, even if only for ten minutes, would cause considerable destruction.

However, the heart of the Red Dragon Niercolne was stolen from the Alchemist Association of the City of Storms, and it happened yesterday.

Now, it is in the Cape District.

The walkthrough provides a detailed process for obtaining the heart of the Red Dragon Niercolne.

If players choose not to take the "heart" and follow the plot, they can trigger the Three-Leaf Clover Armed Airship Grand Heist. Beyond that, depending on the player's choices, the plot can branch into more than ten different results.

Of course, chasing the plot is not what Luke wants to do.

He just wants the heart of the Red Dragon Niercolne.

By summoning and killing the Red Dragon Niercolne, he can obtain the genuine heart of the Red Dragon Niercolne. Not only can he obtain the heart, but the entire body of a dragon, a top-tier transcendent creature, is also a treasure.

Many materials required for top-tier secret techniques are related to dragons.

So... the next target.

The heart of the Red Dragon Niercolne.

Luke finds the location where the heart of the Red Dragon Niercolne should be according to the walkthrough.

It's in the hands of the Big Boss of the Crazy Axe Gang, the Minotaur Demon Offspring Ju Mu. The day after tomorrow, this heart will be sold to pirates.

The walkthrough provides several methods to obtain the heart of the Red Dragon Niercolne.

It can be stolen, deceived... or seized directly.

As long as his strength is sufficient, he can charge straight into the headquarters of the Crazy Axe Gang.

The walkthrough also suggests that players can go to the Assassin's Tavern in Cape City to accept the bounty mission related to Ju Mu.

Killing two birds with one stone.

5000 coupons would undoubtedly be a huge windfall.

However, the Crazy Axe Gang is a powerful faction in the Cape District, and their headquarters surely houses various powerful heroes.

Moreover, Ju Mu is a Minotaur Demon Offspring with a personal power level of four stars.

He hides within the headquarters of the Crazy Axe Gang, protected by layers of gang members.

Killing him won't be an easy task.

But for Clear Sky... it's worth a try.

The allure of a lone five-and-a-half-star Red Dragon is too great for Luke.

Decision made.

First, go to the Assassin's Tavern and take the mission. The 5000 coupons can buy many ordinary materials needed for secret techniques.

He activates the virtual teleport anchor point beside him. All the teleport anchor points within the Cape District appear as usable.

He searches for a teleport anchor point near the Assassin's Tavern.

Botu Square!

The unfortunate thief who was killed by Shelay has hidden fifteen gold coins in a bird's nest on top of a statue in the eastern part of the square.

Fifteen gold coins can be exchanged for three coupons at the Imperial Bank.

Even mosquito legs are meat, and this isn't even a mosquito leg. One gold coin can exchange for ten silver coins.

One silver coin can exchange for 100 Imperial Marks.

Arriving at Botu Square, Luke effortlessly retrieves the fifteen gold coins hidden by the thief.

After he leaves, Pisco, who has finished handling the interrogation room's bodies, leisurely arrives at Botu Square.

He finds the statue on the eastern side of the square, climbs up, and even searches the bird's nest for a long time but finds nothing except a handful of bird droppings.

"That damned thief, tricking me like this. You deserved to be beaten to death by the boss."

(Coupons and silver coins are the world's currency; Imperial Marks are the currency of the Golden Shield Empire.

During the paper currency reform of the Golden Shield Empire, metal coins still belong to the domestic currency circulation but are not allowed to flow out of the country.)