71: Chapter 70 is only level 1000, how is it difficult?
The Alliance Leader wasn't angry; he just stood before Lin Mo and smiled casually.
"The thing sealed underground is an arm of the Demon King."
When the Alliance Leader said this, his tone was as flat as if he were saying a potato was buried underground.
But the expressions of everyone around them changed.
"Three hundred years ago, a great war broke out between the Dragon King and the Demon King."
The Alliance Leader crouched down and casually drew a circle on the ground with his finger.
"The Dragon King placed a curse on the Demon King."
"The Demon King forced the entire curse into one of his arms and then cut it off."
"In the end, he personally sealed it here."
He tapped the ground with his finger.
"The two curses share the same origin and structure; that Dragon Blood Soul-Devouring Curse on your chest is a creation of the Dragon King."
"It sensed the curse left by the Dragon King on the Demon King's remains underground."
"That's why it's resonating."
Lin Mo felt a headache coming on.
What a mess; he would just kill them all later!
"Then you said earlier that there was no rush to break the curse."
Lin Mo narrowed his eyes.
"Did you never intend to help me break it at all?"
The Alliance Leader shook his head.
"You're overthinking it. Even the Demon King couldn't break the Dragon King's curse; how could I possibly break it?"
"Besides, this curse is a clue for tracking the Dragon King's residual power."
He stood up and brushed non-existent dust off his knees.
"The people of the Dragon Temple are collecting fragments of the Dragon King's power in an attempt to resurrect him."
"The curse on you can sense the location of those fragments."
"For the Alliance, this is currently the only way to locate the Dragon Temple's movements."
Lin Mo understood.
To put it bluntly, they were using him as a radar.
"Well, you should have said so earlier." Lin Mo rolled his eyes. "I thought you actually cared about me."
The Alliance Leader didn't respond to that.
He looked at Lin Mo for a few seconds and suddenly asked, "Are you level 90 now?"
"Yeah."
Lin Mo nodded nonchalantly.
The Alliance Leader's lips twitched slightly.
This kid just completed his class advancement yesterday, right...
From 30 to 90.
"I want my Second Class Advancement," Lin Mo said, striking while the iron was hot.
The Alliance Leader's lips twitched.
He just finished his First Class Advancement yesterday, and today he wants the second?
He looked at Qin Lan.
Qin Lan's expression was subtle.
The kind of subtlety that said, "I've already given up on understanding this person."
"As long as you agree."
Qin Lan's voice was calm.
"I can't stop him, and neither can you."
The Alliance Leader was silent for a few seconds.
"What difficulty do you want to take on?"
"hell-grade."
Lin Mo's answer was faster than the Alliance Leader's question.
The square fell silent again.
Qin Lan looked at the sky expressionlessly.
Shen Yuntang covered her forehead.
Pei Jun opened his mouth to say something, but then remembered his previous experience at the headquarters and swallowed his words.
Not a single person spoke up to stop him.
The result of stopping him last time was that he solo-killed over three hundred geniuses, outlasted a Dragon Temple Dragon Attendant, and walked out alive and kicking.
This time?
Whatever happens, happens.
The Alliance Leader looked into Lin Mo's eyes.
Those eyes held no fear, no hesitation, not even excitement.
Only a sense of matter-of-factness.
It was as if choosing a hell-grade dungeon was as casual as choosing what to eat for lunch.
"Alright."
The Alliance Leader nodded.
"I'll have someone deliver the class advancement items to your place tonight."
"You can enter the class advancement dungeon tomorrow."
"Thanks."
Lin Mo turned to leave.
"Wait a moment."
The Alliance Leader's voice came from behind him.
Lin Mo stopped in his tracks.
"There's a high probability that people from the Dragon Temple will be waiting for you inside the fragmented space of the hell-grade Second Class Advancement dungeon."
The Alliance Leader's tone was a notch lower than before.
"Be careful."
Lin Mo gave a small smile, his words remaining arrogant.
"The Dragon Temple? They're nothing but a bunch of nobodies!"
The Alliance Leader nodded, his tone becoming serious.
"Since you level up so quickly, don't waste any time."
"Go through the second, third, and Fourth Class Advancements as fast as you can."
"The difference between the first and Third-Ranks is, to put it bluntly, just a difference in stats."
"A bit more strength, a bit more HP, slightly stronger skills."
"But the Fourth Class Advancement is different."
The Alliance Leader held up a finger.
"After the Fourth Class Advancement, a professional can comprehend a 'Domain'."
As soon as that word was mentioned, the expressions of Qin Lan, Shen Yuntang, and Pei Jun changed.
It wasn't surprise.
It was the kind of solemnity that only appeared when mentioning a forbidden zone.
"What is a Domain?" Lin Mo asked.
"The embryonic form of Law."
The Alliance Leader's tone remained calm.
"Every Fourth Class Advancement expert, at the moment of breakthrough, condenses their understanding of combat into an independent spatial rule."
"Within a Domain, the rules are set by the Domain's owner."
"Speed, strength, elements, and even causality—all can be distorted by a Domain."
The Alliance Leader raised his right hand, palm up.
A fist-sized transparent orb of light floated above his palm.
The inside of the orb was like a miniature world, with wind flowing and light refracting.
"For example, my Domain is called 'Myriad Phenomena Silence'."
"In this Domain, all mana fluctuations are weakened to one-tenth of their original strength."
The light orb dissipated.
"This is why the Fourth Class Advancement is a watershed moment."
The Alliance Leader withdrew his hand and looked at Lin Mo.
"Below the Fourth Class Advancement, no matter how high your stats are, you are like an ant when faced with the suppression of a Domain."
"An ant."
This word silenced everyone in the square who was still conscious.
"Qin Lan was in the Fifth Class Advancement."
"Shen Yuntang was in the Fifth Class Advancement."
"Pei Jun was in the Fifth Class Advancement."
"They all had their own Domains."
"But Lin Mo had only completed the First Class Advancement."
"According to the Alliance Leader, he was no different from an ant in the face of a Domain."
"Without a Domain, there would always be a qualitative gap."
Lin Mo interrupted him.
The Alliance Leader stopped.
"You said a Domain is something only available after the Fourth Class Advancement?"
"Correct."
"There have never been any exceptions," Pei Jun added.
Lin Mo looked at the Alliance Leader, then at Pei Jun.
"I see—"
He responded.
Then he picked up the Platinum Longsword.
No one had reacted to what he was about to do yet.
Lin Mo slowly raised the sword, its tip pointing toward the sky.
Then he gently flicked his wrist.
"Buzz—"
A low resonance emanated from the blade.
Space itself was trembling.
Centered on Lin Mo, an invisible ripple spread in all directions.
Everywhere the ripple passed, the air became sharp.
The tender grass just sprouting from the ruins was cut off at the roots.
Smooth, impossibly clean cut surfaces appeared on the rubble.
The smile on Pei Jun's face froze.
Shen Yuntang's pupils dilated suddenly.
Qin Lan—the entire person froze in place.
Within three seconds, the ripple expanded to a diameter of one hundred meters.
Within a hundred meters, all dust and debris floating in the air, and even light itself, became distorted.
Countless silver blades as thin as spider silk spun silently in the air.
They were invisible, but they could be felt.
In every inch of air, a blade was hidden.
This wasn't a skill.
This was—
"A... A Domain..."
Everyone was dumbfounded at this moment!
Even the usually composed Alliance Leader was dazed!
Blade Domain.
This was the advanced effect of Whirlwind Slash at level 1000.
As long as he wished, all living beings within the domain would be instantly sliced by sharp blades.
Indiscriminately.
Continuously.
An absolute cutting domain.
"You..."
The Alliance Leader spoke, his voice a tone lower than before.
"You have a domain at the First Class Advancement?"
Lin Mo shouldered his sword.
"It seems so."
"Does this count as a domain? I'm not entirely sure."
When he said this, his tone was as sincere as if he were asking for advice.
But the silk-like silver blades floating within that hundred-meter range clearly told everyone—
This is a fucking domain.
A genuine domain.
"No, that's not right."
The Alliance Leader came to his senses.
He raised his hand, and a wisp of golden light drifted from his fingertip, entering Lin Mo's Blade Domain.
The light was severed the moment it touched the silver blades.
The Alliance Leader withdrew his finger and looked down at his fingertip.
"This isn't a Law Domain," the Alliance Leader concluded.
Qin Lan breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's a Quasi-domain formed by a pure skill advancement, without a Seed of Law as its core."
The Alliance Leader looked at Lin Mo, his gaze changing.
It was no longer that casual, elder-looking-at-a-junior gaze.
But rather looking at... something he couldn't define with common sense.
"What level did your skill reach to advance into a Quasi-domain?" the Alliance Leader asked.
In all the records found in human civilization, there has never been a professional who comprehended a domain before the Fourth Class Advancement.
Nor has there ever been a skill that could advance into the embryonic form of a domain.
Because for a normal person's skill level, breaking 100 is considered a genius.
Breaking 500 is a once-in-a-century occurrence.
Breaking 1000?
Never.
Not a single one in history.
"It only reached level 1000 to advance; it wasn't that hard."
Lin Mo chuckled softly, as if casually chatting with the Alliance Leader...
Everyone: "..."
"Level 1000?"
"Are you even human?"