Chapter 69: Ice Armor
Ten hours later, Su Xiao finished aligning the muscle tissue on Amu's back. With Amu's regenerative ability, injuries of this degree would heal quickly.
The energy channels had already been constructed; only activation remained. Su Xiao closed his eyes to perceive the situation inside Amu, confirmed there were no issues, and activated the energy channels.
Blue light surged from the ice-blue warhammer, and cold air spread outward. Amu's eyes suddenly snapped open, the alchemical array pattern within them radiating a blue glow.
"Burp~"
Amu let out a loud, satisfying belch, then stopped moving. Bubu Wang looked at Amu, its expression conveying: "Master, I feel like Amu has crashed."
"No, it's booting up."
Su Xiao's mention of "booting up" was just a metaphor. The initial energy transmission required guidance, and as for how to guide it, Su Xiao still needed to help.
Su Xiao took control of Amu's body. He began to regulate the flow of energy within Amu, first passing through the "main artery," then into branch vessels, and so on, before entering the "veins" and finally returning to the ice-blue warhammer.
After several cycles, the energy flow began to stabilize. The energy within the core array pattern hovered between 100 and 150, no longer overloading.
"Amu... hungry."
Amu spoke. From this sentence alone, it was clear that Amu hadn't changed. The only difference was the noticeable drop in temperature around it—it was practically a biological air conditioner.
"Three plus eight equals?"
Su Xiao asked while sizing up Amu.
Amu stared at its ten thick fingers. Anything beyond ten in addition or subtraction was an unsolvable mystery of the world to Amu. As for multiplication and division, Su Xiao wasn't a devil; he wouldn't make Amu calculate those.
"Ten."
After a full two minutes of calculation, Amu arrived at the result. In Amu's view, any addition or subtraction exceeding ten was simply counted as ten.
"Looks like there's no problem."
Amu's consciousness hadn't changed, which was good news. However, its abilities had undergone a certain degree of transformation.
Name: Amu
Type: Alchemical Creature · Fierce Winter Minotaur
Existence Time: 3756 Natural Days
Health: 100%
Mana: 600 Points
Ice Energy: 2000 Points (Recovers 5 Points per second when holding the exclusive warhammer)
Strength: 80 (Increased by 5 Points)
Agility: 73 (Increased by 4 Points)
Stamina: 88 (Increased by 3 Points)
Intelligence: 30
Charm: 15 (Increased by 6 Points)
Skill 1, Frostbite (Passive): On attack, can inflict a Frostbite effect on enemies, reducing their movement speed by 15% (Increased by 5%), effect lasts 3 seconds.
Note: This skill can stack, up to a maximum of 10 stacks. After stacking, the duration increases, but the slow effect remains at 15%.
Note: Each time the Frostbite effect is stacked, its duration doubles, up to a maximum of 25 minutes and 36 seconds.
New Effect: When inflicting the Frostbite effect, there is a 7% chance to immediately freeze the enemy for 0.2 to 3 seconds (determined by the enemy's Strength attribute). If the enemy is successfully frozen, the Frostbite effect will immediately stack to 10 layers.
Skill 2: Fearless Charge (Active) – No changes.
Skill 3: Wild Stomp (Active) – Level increased to Lv.9.
Skill 4: Fierce Winter War Cry (Active) – No changes.
Skill 5: Fierce Winter Bloodline (Passive) – No changes.
Skill 6: Fierce Winter's Wrath (Ultimate Skill Lv.5) – No changes.
Skill 7: Ice Armor (Ultimate Ability, Passive): Due to the pseudo-biological circulatory system formed by the ice energy within the Fierce Winter Minotaur's body, when taking any damage, 40% of the lost Health will be replaced by Ice Energy (e.g., if Amu takes 10 damage, it deducts 6 Health + 4 Ice Energy).
Amu's overall attributes had improved. Moreover, its core passive ability had gained a new branching effect. Simply put, each time Amu attacked, there was a 7% chance to instantly freeze the enemy and raise the Frostbite effect to 10 stacks.
This meant that if an unlucky enemy was frozen by Amu's normal attack, they could then be subjected to the freezing effect of "Fierce Winter's Wrath (Ultimate Skill)" immediately. Two consecutive freezes would definitely freeze them to death.
Furthermore, with ice energy inside its body, Amu was even tougher. If Amu's previous toughness coefficient was 5, it had now increased to around 20. This guy was already tough, and with the damage reduction from ice energy, it was now so tanky that enemies wouldn't want to attack Amu at all.
Compared to its survivability and control abilities, Amu's offensive power had made a qualitative leap. Before, it could only punch with clumsy, flailing strikes. Now, with the ice-blue warhammer in hand, a minotaur with a hammer was a minotaur with dreams.
As for the attributes of the ice-blue warhammer, Su Xiao couldn't check them for now. Its ownership was somewhat ambiguous. Although it belonged to Amu, it hadn't been certified by Reincarnation Paradise. The attributes of the ice warhammer would only be unlocked after returning to Reincarnation Paradise for certification. For now, this hammer was just a warhammer with an ice-elemental attack.
Compared to other improvements, one specific enhancement was extremely important to Amu itself: the increase in existence time. Originally, Amu could only exist for a little over two hundred days, but after forming the energy circuit with the ice warhammer, its existence time jumped to 3756 natural days.
This didn't fundamentally increase Amu's existence time or lifespan—no alchemist could do that. Rather than an increase, it was more accurately described as a reduction in wear and tear. It was like a bearing with a one-year lifespan; with regular maintenance, it could last ten years. Amu's current situation was similar—the ice energy was indirectly protecting its core array pattern.
Once Amu regained consciousness, the group naturally had to leave the Shia Holy Temple immediately. As for how to leave, they would just return the way they came.
...
Royal Palace, Council Chamber.
The throne had been repaired, and the Third Prince was seated upon it. Knowing that beneath the throne lay a bottomless vertical shaft made him feel uneasy, but tradition was tradition. With the kingdom's finances strained—the treasury was beyond a mess—building a new council chamber was simply impossible.
"Is the frontline situation really this bad?"
The Third Prince was reviewing a battle report. The kingdom's finances were an empty shell, and the frontlines were in constant crisis. The Necromancer Clan was attacking the Divine Wall like madmen.
The Lord Executor, Joe Valentine, remained silent. Although he was skilled at flattery, this was clearly not the time.
"Hesterlet's side is fine for now, but the other front..."
The Third Prince looked up and scanned the kneeling officials below. Noticing his gaze, they all lowered their heads. The Third Prince might not be a tyrant, but he was certainly iron-fisted.
"No matter what, the frontline must..."
Boom!
A loud crash interrupted the Third Prince. He stood up from the throne, sensing that the sound came from directly beneath it.
"Protect the King!!"
Joe Valentine roared, stepping in front of the Third Prince first. Although he had virtually no combat ability, it was a matter of attitude.
"How can this be..."
The Third Prince stared at the throne, already having a vague idea of what was about to happen.
Bang!
Metal clashed, and the throne at the high end of the council chamber flew into the air.
With a deafening clang, the throne crashed to the ground. A warhammer radiating chilling cold was the first thing to catch everyone's eyes.