The wand smoothly slid into the Firewing Beast's body.
Mana surged.
“Water Burst!”
Water erupted violently inside the Firewing Beast, blowing open horrific cracks across its body.
Blood mingled with water and sprayed out of the ruptures.
“Roar!!”
Letting out a pathetic shriek, the Firewing Beast whipped its neck around and spewed a torrent of fire toward Li Xiuman.
At that moment, Li Xiuman wanted to test just how high his stacked fire resistance had become.
Watching the incoming flames, he actually spread his palm, facing the spewing fire empty-handed.
“Flame Devouring!”
Searing fire washed over Li Xiuman like molten lava.
A burning, scorching sensation of pain instantly rippled through his entire body.
At the same time, centering on his open palm, the flames swirled into a vortex, being absorbed by Li Xiuman.
Weakened by his magic breastplate, the remaining flames were shrugged off by Li Xiuman's [Elemental Resistance].
“It’s a bit warm.”
Sensing the steadily recovering mana inside him, Li Xiuman kicked the Firewing Beast right under its flame-spewing jaw.
High in the air, the Firewing Beast's body wobbled violently.
Taking advantage of the opening, Li Xiuman drove his skeleton sword deep into the Firewing Beast's chest, twisting the blade to shred its internal organs into a messy pulp.
Completely spent, the Firewing Beast plunged helplessly toward the ground.
It crashed onto the ground with a thunderous thud, finally drawing its last breath.
[Ding! Slain Firewing Beast Lv.21, Experience +750]
Ignoring the experience notification, Li Xiuman gripped his skeleton sword and severed the Firewing Beast's wings.
Holding the pair of wings, flames surged from his hands, enveloping and burning them.
Once the flames subsided, the flesh of the wings had been reduced to ashes, leaving the bones perfectly undamaged.
This was what one might call peak proficiency.
Even a barbecue master of ten years would likely struggle to match this level of craftsmanship.
This was all thanks to the fire crocodiles' contributions.
“Bone Wings.”
Bone Wings activated, and a pair of terrifying, pristine white skeletal wings burst from his back.
Staring at his Bone Wings, Li Xiuman didn't hesitate. Grabbing hold of them, he activated [Great Strength] and ripped both wings off his body.
Perhaps because they were directly connected to his spine, tearing them off felt significantly more painful than ripping off his limbs.
He then inserted the Firewing Beast's wing bones into the sockets on his back and activated Bone Manipulation.
The moment they connected, a surge of burning energy rushed through the interface on his back.
The shape of the bone wings gradually shifted, becoming sleeker and more elongated, their edges sharpening into microscopic serrations.
[Ding! Acquired skill: Wing Slash Lv.2.]
An instinctive urge to slash with the bone wings was immediately engraved deep within his bones.
The bone wings gained several more joints, becoming much more flexible and allowing him to deliver much cleaner slashes.
Li Xiuman tested a few swings and was highly satisfied with the results.
Imagine mid-fight, he suddenly extended his bone wings to land a slash. Who could possibly react to that?
He absolutely loved underhanded tactics like this.
He wondered if he could coat his bones in a layer of poison.
No, no, no, if he did that, wouldn't he poison himself too?
Then again, as a skeleton without flesh, he naturally possessed a racial resistance to poisons.
He would have to see if he could acquire a poison-related skill in the future.
Retracting the bone wings into his back, Li Xiuman kicked the Firewing Beast into the lava.
Consider it a treat for the adorable fire crocodiles.
After all, those fire crocodiles were basically his personal dungeon skill bank. Each one was like an angel with six legs, born solely to provide him with skills.
Feeding these angels a nice meal was surely the least a gentle skeleton like himself could do.
He continued downward.
The twenty-fourth floor.
By now, Li Xiuman was no longer going out of his way to collect fire crystals.
After all, his storage skill was only Lv.1, meaning its capacity was limited. He had to consider his restricted carrying space.
However, intentionally slowing his pace to explore the floor thoroughly still led to an unexpected, pleasant surprise.
A molten fine iron ore vein.
The molten fine iron ore vein could yield common molten iron, as well as molten fine iron formed under the compression of volcanic power.
The former was an ore used for crafting magic gear, while molten fine iron was a common auxiliary material used in forging magic items.
Its rarity far exceeded that of fire crystal veins.
The deposit was situated within a lava lake.
Judging by the state of the lake, this deposit was likely submerged deep beneath the lava originally, which was why it had never been discovered before.
But for some unknown reason, the lava had receded this time, exposing the mineral deposit.
Li Xiuman pulled out his map and marked this spot prominently.
Since he had found it, he naturally had to go inside and explore.
There would certainly be danger, but weren't adventurers who dived into dungeons supposed to risk danger to uncover the dungeon's secrets?
Risking danger was a resolve every adventurer had to steel themselves for.
Still, an outstanding adventurer had to conduct risk assessments and prepare proper countermeasures.
Otherwise, it would just be irresponsible.
Li Xiuman gathered several high-quality stones from his surroundings, then gripped his wand.
“Create Heavy Armored Golem!”
An earthy-yellow magic circle rose, and the stones in front of him began to slowly warp and grow.
Since he had the time, Li Xiuman naturally chose to craft high-quality Golems rather than rushed, shoddy creations.
Only after turning several other rocks into Golems did Li Xiuman lower his wand.
Before him stood one Heavy Armored Golem, one Swordsman Golem, and two Mage Golems.
After a moment of thought, Li Xiuman fished out five Octagonal Fire Crystals from his pocket.
“Create Golem!”
Raising his wand once more, he watched as the five Octagonal Fire Crystals sank into the chests of the five Golems, linking with their internal mana circuits.
It was, however, a bit of a waste to expend precious Octagonal Fire Crystals on temporary Golems.
An irregular red mark appeared on the chests of the Golems that had absorbed the Octagonal Fire Crystals.
Resembling a beating heart, it constantly surged with energy. Even through their rocky bodies, a glowing, fiery-red entity was faintly visible.
The duration of the Golems was extended by an additional two hours.
At the same time, they gained the skills [Fire Magic Lv.2], [Fire Resistance Lv.2], and [Fire Infusion Lv.2].
“A bit extravagant, but the results are quite nice.”
Li Xiuman nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the row of Golems before him.
Although Octagonal Fire Crystals were rare, currently deep in the dungeon, he had no fear of running out.
Wasting a few was of no concern.
“Hide, and stay on alert.”
Li Xiuman handed down the order.
The light in the eyes of all the Golems flared in unison. Following his command, they submerged themselves one by one into the depths of the lava.
Originally crafted from the local lava stones and fire crystals, these Golems had absolutely no issue hiding beneath the molten lava.
Rate on N.U.
