Meanwhile, Damon finally reached the sixth break point and felt like he was on the verge of collapse. His entire body ached, his head was spinning, and his health was dropping like a stone. Each breath in that freezing water was killing him by almost half. Even with all his blood reserves and regeneration, he couldn’t go any further.
If he tried to push just a little more, he’d die instantly. He knew it.
Frustration and exhaustion hit him all at once. He prided himself on being strong, on always pushing the limits, but this place was on a whole different level. It was like the abyss itself was trying to crush his very soul.
He knew he might be able to push a bit more if he risked everything, but that would be suicide. He needed to be smarter than that. If he wanted to reach the bottom, he’d need a better plan.
His ice affinity had already reached Rank B, and it was not going to be easy to increase it further. He needed to step outside of this cold to come up with a plan.
Mulling over it, he swam back up to the surface when he noticed the big crowd gathered around. All Frozen Throne guild members. Coincidentally, a big system display screen now flashed on the side of the black pool with various names and rankings.
"Hmmm? Did this happen because the number of people taking this trial increased?" Damon pondered silently. He had never seen anything like this before, even in his last lifetime. These kinds of places would never be made open to the general public, so this was his first time experiencing this in person.
While Damon was calmly observing, a few tongues wagged about.
"Look who’s first on the rankings," Mendoza sneered. "I guess the frost pearls weren’t the only treasure you pocketed. At least tell us about it. What is this godly item that shot you to the top? What did you eat this time?"
Damon’s lips curled into a small, amused smirk as he scanned the ranking board. Sure enough, his name was glowing right at the top. His score was miles ahead of the second-placed player. It wasn’t that surprising, though. He’d been diving deeper than anyone else, collecting ice affinity points and pushing himself far beyond what most could handle.
He turned to face the guy, his crimson eyes glinting with that same casual arrogance that always seemed to drive Sylvara and her people mad. "Ah, so there’s a leaderboard now," he said lazily. "Didn’t even know that was a thing. Guess I’m just that good."
"But you could have at least shared what you found, Damon," another player from the Frozen Throne guild pressed. "We’re all in this together, aren’t we?"
Damon raised an eyebrow. "Are we? I thought this was every man or woman for themselves. Besides, I’m not stopping any of you from diving in and finding the same treasures. If you think you’ve got the guts to reach the sixth break point, go ahead. I’ll be cheering from the top." He shrugged and flashed that infuriating grin again.
Several glares immediately landed on him, but Damon did not care. He turned his attention back to the ranking board, studying the names that appeared beneath his. Sylvara was climbing fast, no surprise there, but she was still at least four levels behind him.
Others were even worse. Most were still stuck at level 1. Damon laughed lightly, returning Mendoza’s glare with a mocking smile. He then showed the guy a thumbs-up and prepared to leave the cavern.
"You fucking bastard! Do you dare to fight me one on one?!" Mendoza growled.
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