...

Ding!

[MOD: Frost Monarch (Epic)]

[Rank: 1/5]

[Status Effects:]

[+50 Permanent Combat Score]

[+10 Frost Shield (Regenerates slowly outside of combat)]

...

[MOD EFFECT:

[Frost Shield: 10/10]

[Monarch’s Domain: Instead of building combo speed with hits, your sheer presence dictates the battlefield. You emit a passive 10-meter aura of extreme cold. Enemies inside the domain gradually accumulate ’Rime’, losing 5% movement and attack speed every second they remain near you (Max 30% reduction).]

[Glacial Threshold: Striking an enemy afflicted by maximum Rime shatters their frost buildup, dealing massive burst damage and harvesting a ’Frost Core’. You can hold a maximum of 3 Frost Cores.]

[Sovereign’s Call: Upon collecting 3 Frost Cores, the threshold is met and the Cores are instantly consumed. The ambient temperature plummets to zero, tearing the spatial veil to summon a Frost Giant to the battlefield for 2 minutes.]

[The Frost Giant violently draws the aggro of enemies and possesses a fixed power level equal to (Your Combat Score + 10). Its heavy attacks automatically inflict maximum Rime in a wide AoE, allowing you to dominate battlefield control. (Cooldown: 60 seconds after the Giant falls or despawns).]

[Frost Shield: Absorbs 70% of an incoming attack’s damage, converts it into a jagged icicle, and violently shoots it back at the attacker. Can absorb up to 10 attacks.]

[Combat Score: 1.19 (Silver II) -> 51.19 (Silver II)]

"Permanent Combat Score from the MOD?" Caelus was baffled.

This completely exceeded his expectations. Does that mean from the Epic grade onward, the combat score buffs from MODs were permanent? Caelus tilted his head and turned to Sylvia, who was currently reading her own system screens.

"What MOD did you get, Sylvia?"

"I got Frost Monarch," she replied, showing him the glowing description.

"Same as me then," Caelus nodded. "I guess this implies that the raid’s specific MOD is meant to summon the Frost Giant."

"I think this is the perfect time to use our MOD fragments to level this up to Rank 5."

"Yeah."

They had received 10 MOD fragments from the raid chest. Aside from that, Caelus still had the fragments he got from the multi-expanse raid and his Bronze ascension quest rewards.

Ding!

[MOD Upgrade: Rank 1 -> Rank 5]

He only needed 2 fragments to level up a rank. Since he had 13, using 10 was more than sufficient to max it out.

Ding!

[Frost Giant Spawn Time: 2 Minutes -> 5 Minutes]

[Required Frost Cores to summon Frost Giant: 3 -> 1]

[Frost Shield Charges: 10/10 -> 50/50]

"Not bad," Caelus smiled in satisfaction. "This can definitely last us a while."

For Sylvia, the RNG stats rolled entirely into her shield and spawn time. Her Frost Giant spawn duration increased to a massive 10 minutes, and her Frost Shield charges jumped to 70.

"Now that is out of the way, let’s go mining. We need to find Tier 8 ores to upgrade our weapons to Silver II. Or should we go hunting down monsters using the Legendary EXP Card? It gives 60% more EXP on top of the base amount. We could easily reach Silver rank."

"We should try to reach Silver, right?" Sylvia suggested. "That way, we will securely hold our spots in the domain hierarchy."

"We should absolutely try to reach Silver before the domain closes today," Caelus agreed. "Then, before heading out to mine, let’s hit the Silver rank or at least the peak of Bronze III."

"Let me see if I can duplicate the Ascension Token first."

He pulled out the Ascension Token he had received as a reward from the Mysterious Figure. He activated his talent.

DIVINE DUPLICATION!

Ding! 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

[Duplication Successful!]

[1x Multiplier Achieved.]

[You have obtained an additional Ascension Token (3-Star)]

"Perfect. Let’s go, Sylvia. We will hunt down the most powerful monsters we can find."

Now that they had the map of the Land of Snow, they could easily pinpoint the exact locations of high-level monster dens.

Guided by the map and protected by the warm glow of their new Frostbite Lantern, they soon arrived at a massive, frozen cavern.

Ding!

[You have encountered: Common Ice Rabbit]

A burly rabbit with a terrifyingly muscular body stood at the cave entrance.

[Combat Score: 27 (Silver II)]

It was likely using a monster-exclusive MOD to artificially enhance its combat score. And behind it, the dark cave was swarming with hundreds of glowing red eyes.

Sylvia and Caelus grinned. They rushed right in to eliminate the horde.

The serene snowy forest was instantly transformed into a chaotic warzone.

"Monarch’s Domain!" Caelus shouted.

A freezing 10-meter aura erupted from his body. The charging Ice Rabbits immediately slowed to a crawl as thick layers of Rime violently accumulated on their fur.

Caelus swung his Frostbite Longsword. The blade shattered the frozen Rime on the vanguard rabbit, instantly harvesting a Frost Core.

"Sovereign’s Call!"

The ambient temperature plummeted to absolute zero. The spatial veil tore open, and a massive Frost Giant stomped onto the battlefield, letting out a deafening roar. The giant slammed its massive icy fists into the ground, instantly applying maximum Rime to a dozen rabbits at once.

Sylvia followed up flawlessly.

"Sub-Zero!"

She froze the very air inside the cave, perfectly synchronizing with Caelus’s Jirasad and Refla spells to trigger a massive chain of Overload and Melt reactions. The deafening crunch of shattering ice, the roar of elemental magic, and the heavy thuds of the giant’s fists echoed endlessly.

The initial explosive clash quickly spiraled into a relentless, grueling grind as wave after wave of muscular beasts poured from the frozen depths.

A few hours later, the chaos finally settled. The cavern was completely silent, littered with blood and shattered ice.

Ding!

[Rank: Bronze III]

[Level: 21 (Capped)]

[Combat Score: 51.19 -> 112.23 (Silver II)]

"That was a very good run," Caelus panted, wiping nonexistent sweat from his forehead.

Thanks to the Frostbite Lantern keeping the deadly region debuff at bay, they were able to freely slaughter the entire den without retreating.

His body was absolutely brimming with raw strength. If everything went well, starting today, his combat score would soon cross the threshold of Silver III.

’It is almost time to deal with the Black Lightning Guild,’ Caelus thought, his eyes flashing with cold intent.

Soon, they ventured deeper and found themselves in a brightly lit sub-cavern. The walls were glittering with abundant magical ores.

"But right now, we need a Tier 9 ore. Will my Golden Miner skill be enough?" Caelus tilted his head in thought.

He honestly did not know. The only way to find out was to test it.

He utilized his talent. A gleaming Golden Pickaxe materialized in his hands.

He stepped up to the glowing rock wall and struck a dense mana ore fiercely.

CLANG!

A sharp metallic sound echoed. His hands vibrated violently from the recoil.

Ding!

[You got nothing.]

[Your Golden Miner skill is not powerful enough to perform this operation.]

Caelus sighed in defeat, watching the pickaxe dissolve into golden light.

"Oh well. It is what it is."

It seemed like he needed to go out into the open world back on Earth and acquire a proper Miner profession. On that note, he decided he should probably pick up a few other utility professions as well and also create more spells.

On that note, it made him wonder. Could he extract Profession EXP? he wanted to try it out next time.

Just then, a loud global notification rang out across the sky.

Ding!

[Six hours have passed.]

[The Origin Domain will now close.]