Chapter 78 The Ruins of the Snow Corpse

Upon hearing Queen Susan's words, the nobles in the grand hall all had a slight change in their expressions.

Clearly, they were all aware of the game instance "Footsteps of the Snow Corpse."

Alan was equally surprised.

Previously, after collecting corpse energy, he had received the task of conquering this instance.

However, even with the memories from his past life, Alan had never encountered this game instance before.

Now, he finally understood. The game instance "Footsteps of the Snow Corpse" could only be activated by King Rex, which explains why he didn't know about it in his previous life.

He also noticed the subtle changes in the expressions of the surrounding nobles. Their reactions made it clear that "Footsteps of the Snow Corpse" was no simple matter.

"Ice King, since the Queen has pleaded on your behalf, you can choose for yourself," said the King. "Imprisonment for half a month, or go and clear the ruins of the Snow Corpse."

Hearing this, Alan's expression became somewhat serious.

He had no choice now. He had been set up by Queen Susan.

There were definitely underlying issues with "Footsteps of the Snow Corpse".

It might even be one of those legendary instances where you either revive on the spot or at a fixed point within the game instance.

In his previous life, some secret realms were extremely bizarre. Upon death, players wouldn't revive in Central City; instead, they  either revive on the spot within the game instance or return to the first level of the instance. In other words, one could only leave the instance alive by clearing it.

There was once a team of players who encountered such an instance and were stuck inside, unable to get out.

They eventually studied the instance thoroughly and used a relay strategy to clear it successfully.

Game instances usually had a characteristic: if not cleared, the monsters within wouldn't continuously respawn.

For example, once Alan cleared the first level and reached the second, no matter how much time he spent on the second level, the first level wouldn't refresh.

So, this team of players adopted a relay strategy, ensuring they never wiped out completely. If a player died, they would immediately rush back from the first level to continue the fight.

Such game instances were a nightmare for other players, but for Alan, it was a blessing.

Exactly! That's what he thought. Because he could infinitely stack his health points, the harder the instance, the better—it was a paradise for him to stack his health points.

Moreover, he had a task that required him to enter the "Footsteps of the Snow Corpse" instance. For him, it was a win-win situation.

"Alright, Your Majesty, I choose to enter the 'Footsteps of the Snow Corpse' game instance," Alan replied.

Hearing this, Queen Susan breathed a sigh of relief.

King Rex also nodded with a smile. "Good, Ice King, I anticipate your success in clearing the 'Footsteps of the Snow Corpse' game instance."

Alan's gaze fell on Barbara. Barbara understood Alan's intention.

[You have completed Barbara's task. Task reward: Free attribute points +300, skill Space Blink +1.]

[Space Blink: 1 star.]

[Effect: Blink 50 feet in any direction, can pass through obstacles.]

[Cost: None.]

[Cooldown: 5 minutes.]

[Proficiency: 0/1,000.]

Alan was slightly surprised; this was unexpected. This skill not only allowed him to bypass obstacles but also consume no mana. If the star level increased, the benefits would be top-notch.

"Ice King, I am about to open the game instance 'Footsteps of the Snow Corpse' for you. Are you ready?" King Rex asked.

Alan nodded. "I am ready."

King Rex waved his hands and chanted complex runes.

Immediately, a portal of light appeared in front of Alan.

Indeed, this game instance could only be activated by King Rex. Alan stepped forward and entered it.

This game instance had no level indication, but the difficulty options were all the same.

"Hell Mode."

Alan, as usual, chose the Hell Mode directly.

[Friendly reminder: This is a special game instance. If you cannot clear it, you will not be able to leave.]

Alan was a bit surprised; he hadn't expected such a warning for this game instance.

"Enter."

Since he was already here, there was no turning back.

He wanted to see what made this game instance special.

In the next moment, Alan appeared in front of a dilapidated village.

It was a snowy landscape, with white snow everywhere as far as the eye could see.

In the later stages of the game in his previous life, Alan also entered some small-world game instances similar to this one.

From the outside, it looked no different from the real world. But in reality, it was an independent small world.

[You are affected by the snow and ice, reducing your movement speed by 5% and attack speed by 5%.]

Alan raised an eyebrow but didn't dwell on it. He walked into the snow-covered village ahead.

Here, Alan saw desolation; the monsters he expected did not appear.

Suddenly, a window of a house was blown open by the wind and snow. A woman hurriedly closed the window with a panicked expression.

At that moment, a monster emerged from the snow and charged towards the center of the village.

Alan immediately drew his bow and shot an arrow.

In his previous life, he had encountered tasks to protect NPCs.

If the NPCs were killed by monsters, it would result in mission failure or lower the mission rating.

Therefore, the moment the monster appeared, he attacked.

Twisting String Arrow Technique!

The powerful impact instantly hit the monster in mid-air.

The monster was knocked down, and Alan finally saw its attributes.

[Ice Snow Werewolf (Black Iron): Level 50.]

[Health: 9,000,000/9,000,000.]

[Attack: 3,999.]

[Skills: ???]

Alan raised an eyebrow. 'This game instance is indeed interesting.'

His arrow had clearly taken over 20,000 damageon the Ice Snow Werewolf.

But as soon as the werewolf landed on the snow, its health instantly regenerated.

'Could it be that as long as it's on the snow, it can infinitely regenerate health?'

At this moment, Alan realized the difficulty of this game instance.

It wasn't just about defeating the monsters, but also overcoming this special effect.

However, this was exactly what Alan wanted!

He had always found monsters too easy to kill, and he couldn't stack much health.

But now, it seemed this game instance was tailor-made for him.

Infinite health regeneration meant Alan couldn't kill the monsters, allowing him to continuously stack his health.

Alan's arrows kept flying.

As expected, the Ice Snow Werewolf could infinitely regenerate health on the snow, which made him happy.

He kept attacking, each time using the Twisting String Arrow Technique with a knockback effect.

The Ice Snow Werewolf roared in anger but could never get close to Alan.

[Health +3.]

[Health +3.]

Chapter 79 Reset

Alan was stacking up with great enthusiasm.

But just then, a second Ice Wolfman appeared and charged towards Alan.

Alan's expression changed. One-on-one was still enjoyable, but the appearance of a second Ice Wolfman made the battle situation subtly different.

Alan continued to use the Twisting String Arrow Technique, constantly attacking while assessing if his lifesteal could withstand the damage from another Ice Wolfman.

The second Ice Wolfman rushed up and gave Alan two claws.

[-3,999.]

[-3,999.]

True damage!

Alan's eyes narrowed slightly.

[-599.]

[-599.]

Bleeding effect!

Alan's pupils suddenly contracted. The Ice Wolfman's normal attacks even caused a bleeding effect, a rarity under normal circumstances.

However, his lifesteal ability held steady, so he wasn't afraid.

His arrows were still flying out crazily, and his health was gradually stacking up.

But it didn't take long for a third Ice Wolfman to appear.

Alan knew he probably couldn't hold on any longer. The Ice Wolfman's attack was true damage and came with a bleeding effect.

He could handle the attack of one Ice Wolfman, but more than that was impossible.

Sure enough, Alan's health bar started to drop continuously.

Relying solely on lifesteal, he couldn't hold on anymore. His attack speed was fast, but the Ice Wolfman's attack speed was not slow either.

Coupled with the bleeding and occasional skill attacks, Alan couldn't sustain his evasion.

But Alan didn't care because his health was steadily increasing.

Being only level one,dying had little impact on him.

After stacking up more than five thousand health points, Alan finally couldn't hold on and died under the claws of the Ice Wolfman.

Just as he died, Alan's pupils suddenly changed because he discovered something very outrageous.

His attributes had reset!

They returned to the state they were in when he first entered this game instance. The health he had painstakingly stacked up was gone!

This was terrifying!

Alan took a sharp breath. His talent was super-god level, though not fully awakened, it was probably equivalent to a strong god-level talent, it shouldn't be easily reset by a game instance.

'Time reversal?'

Alan shook his head.

The chances were slim. Time reversal was too heaven-defying; even gods might not be able to do it.

If not that, then there was only one answer: this game instance was of demigod level, or pseudo-god level, or even left by a god!

A god-level game instance resetting his attributes wouldn't be surprising.

Don't think his talent was invincible; no matter how invincible the talent, it was still just a talent.

According to the saying from his previous life, god-level talent only meant having the potential to become a god, but compared to a real god, it was still worlds apart.

He had underestimated this game instance.

Moreover,he realized that his death hadn't triggered even once.

Alan knew the reason was most likely the suppression of the god-level game instance and level suppression!

In Ragnarok, level suppression wasn't clearly reflected in attribute values, but Alan knew that level suppression would be reflected in probability issues.

For example, Alan's death cycle had a value of one percent, but if he was fighting a level 50 boss while being level 1, the actual trigger probability might be less than 0.01%.

Plus, his luck attribute was a bit low, making the probability even lower.

In addition, the difference in rank would also form a suppression, further lowering the probability.

"If that's the case, then there's no choice but to kill the Ice Wolfman."

Or, there might be other strategies for this game instance, such as leveraging the power of the local inhabitants.

Regardless of the approach, Alan felt a twinge of concern.

With this in mind, Alan resurrected, put his equipment in the guild warehouse, and sent a message to James.

Ice King: [James, take some equipment from the warehouse and sell it for money. We need to upgrade our nutrient pods.]

Nutrient pods are more expensive than regular game control pods, costing over ten thousand dollars each.

They also require regular injections of nutrient fluid, allowing players to stay online for about two weeks without logging off.

The nutrient fluid wasn't cheap either, costing about a thousand dollars for half a month's supply, which was unaffordable for ordinary families.

But Alan didn't care.

Without upgrading to nutrient pods, playing these small-world game instances in the later stages of the game, which can last half a day or even a whole day, would be unbearable on an empty stomach.

As for whether James would sell the weapons Alan himself needs, that wouldn't happen. Only the guild leader can grant permission to access the items in the guild warehouse; otherwise, they can only look at them.

After assigning the task to James, Alan logged off to eat.

He needed to be well-fed before tackling this game instance. If he got too hungry midway and had to log off and start over, it would be a huge waste of time.

After eating and drinking his fill, Alan re-entered to the game.

He knew the upcoming battle would be quite tricky. He had to be fully focused to maximize his gains.

Upon re-entering the game, he found himself still in the game instance.

Just like before, he entered the village, and nothing in the storyline had changed.

The window of that household was still blown open, and the woman hurriedly came over to close it.

The Ice Wolfman appeared and charged at the woman with lightning speed.

Alan acted as soon as the Ice Wolfman leaped into the air.

His arrow pierced through the air, using the Twisting String Arrow Technique!

Interrupting the Ice Wolfman, Alan switched to the Floating Arrow Technique.

'Just as I thought!' As long as it's a game instance, there must be a way to crack it.

It couldn't be an absolutely unsolvable game instance.

While floating, the Ice Wolfman didn't regenerate health. It only regenerated when it landed on the snow.

With this realization,, it was much easier to handle.

With Alan's current attack speed, keeping the Ice Wolfman in the air was simpler than before.

In the air, the Ice Wolfman lost over five million health points to Alan's attacks.

With a roar, the Ice Wolfman activated Super Armor, nullifying the floating effect and landing on the snow.

At this point, Alan noticed that the Ice Wolfman didn't instantly regenerate to full health; it was regenerating at a rate of 100,000 per second.

In other words, Alan's damage could suppress its regeneration.

Alan now just needed to endure until its Super Armor ended and then knock it back into the air.

After landing, the Ice Wolfman turned into a blur and charged at Alan.

Alan rolled sideways to dodge the attack while continuing his full-speed assault.

Previously, Alan could withstand the damage from one Ice Wolfman, and now was no different.

When the Super Armor ended, Alan unhesitatingly used the Floating Arrow Technique to knock the Ice Wolfman back into the air.

This time, without the Super Armor skill to break free, the Ice Wolfman could only roar helplessly and was eventually killed by Alan.

[You have killed the Ice Wolfman. Experience points: +0.]

Alan's pupils contracted again.

What the heck!

This was the most outrageous game instance he had ever encountered.

Killing monsters didn't grant experience points.

In other words, ordinary players couldn't rely on leveling up to enhance their combat power and leave this place.

Alan now understood why those nobles in Stellaria had changed their attitude and why Queen Susan had recommended him to come here.

If he got trapped here, no one would know about Queen Susan's collusion with the Netherworld clan.

However, she seemed to have overlooked a very serious issue: adventurers have ways to contact each other.

But that was no longer important.

He was now more interested in this "Footprints of the Snow Corpse" game instance.

With no experience points as a reward and such high difficulty, what could he possibly gain after clearing it?

However, Alan didn't have much time to ponder.

The second Ice Wolfman appeared.

As usual, Alan used the same method: knock it into the air and unleash an infinite combo.

Even when the Super Armor landed, it still had to face Alan's relentless attacks to suppress its health.

When the Super Armor ended, the Ice Wolfman was knocked back into the air.

With Alan's current true damage of over 20,000 per arrow and the Ice Wolfman's nine million health points, he needed over 400 arrows to kill it.

Factoring in the time for Super Armor, Alan needed about 600 arrows to kill one Ice Wolfman, contributing approximately 2,000 health points to his total.