Chapter 266: Affective Hypothermia Syndrome, Warmth-Seeking Instinct

Chapter 266: Chapter 266: Affective Hypothermia Syndrome, Warmth-Seeking Instinct

"Nieve, press forward."

Lance roared, and the Ethereal Melting Furnace within him thundered to life. He was now fully unleashing the Core Professional Specialization he’d gained upon reaching Level 2.

His Pale Domain unfurled.

An ashen-white Aura instantly enveloped the area in a fifty-meter radius, with Lance at its center.

A bizarre change immediately came over the Demons within the domain.

With every breath they took and every claw they swiped, their stamina was drained at a multiplied rate.

This was the new Professional Specialty Lance had acquired upon reaching Level 2.

It caused enemies affected by Lance’s domain to consume stamina, Magic Power, and Energy at a multiplied rate, while halving any recovery Effects. As these resources dwindled, it also applied a suffocation Effect. If a target didn’t need to breathe, it would be afflicted with a random debuff instead.

This ability was absolutely nauseating for his enemies, like hitting them with three debuffs at once.

Combined with the Constitution buff from his Pale Guard Profession, he could single-handedly hold off a huge crowd of enemies.

At this moment, combined with the Frost Domain Nieve had laid down, the extreme cold and lack of oxygen were taking their toll. Swathes of Non-Professional Level Demons began to roll their eyes back mid-stride, their heavy bodies collapsing to the ground one after another.

Their stamina completely depleted, they ultimately fell into a forced stun.

Lance weaved among them, his Chain Blade a life-reaping scythe that easily lopped off the Demons’ heads.

The entire battlefield had turned into a one-sided slaughter.

Just as the slaughter reached its peak, the illusory Mad Slaughter Silver Crown above Lance’s head suddenly erupted in a blinding light.

The original silver hue gradually faded as a dazzling golden light began to gather and solidify in mid-air.

"Nieve!"

Watching the golden light take form, Lance immediately turned and yelled.

From a distance, Nieve understood instantly. She slammed the pommel of her Longsword heavily onto the ground.

Just as Lance rushed to her side, a sturdy Frost Shield shot up from the ground, enveloping them both at its center.

No longer suppressed, the Demon Tide immediately swarmed them like zombies, piling one on top of another, madly tearing at and pounding on the hard ice.

"You know what the new buff is?"

Safely behind the barrier, Nieve tilted her delicate face up and asked softly.

Lance smiled and nodded.

Nieve tilted her head, as if trying to figure out how to express happiness for her companion.

She slowly raised two slender, pale fingers, placed them on the corners of her mouth, and pushed up.

She strained to produce a very artificial smile.

Her dorky attempt to mimic his emotions was so adorable that Lance couldn’t help but reach out and tousle her soft, ice-blue hair.

Lance glanced down at the golden crown insignia that had appeared on the back of his right hand.

This was the highest-tier buff: the Crown of the King.

Unlike the previous, passively triggered Auras, the Crown of the King was a persistent Effect.

While it had to be maintained for at least thirty seconds after activation and couldn’t be deactivated prematurely, it perfectly stacked all the Crown Buffs from the preceding stages.

It also came with a few other Effects.

For example, one Effect was called Seizing Proof.

Lance closed his eyes. He could now clearly perceive the exact coordinates of the final boss in the Rusted Stone Echo Underground City.

This was an incredible perk that saved him a lot of exploration time.

Moreover, he could even use it to initiate a special "Clash of Kings" challenge.

In this state, he could forcibly control all mechanisms in the boss’s room and block any outside interference, creating a true one-on-one duel.

This sounded like a massive advantage.

But common sense dictated that all Underground City Lord bosses were terrifying beings that required large teams to hunt, and even then, only by sacrificing countless lives.

’One person challenging a Lord solo? That’s no different from suicide.’

’But for me, this might be a golden opportunity.’

’I might not be strong enough right now, but things will be different once I’m Level 5.’

The thirty-second test of the Crown of the King’s power ended quickly.

Nieve immediately retracted the shield and used ice walls to precisely partition the piled-up Monster Group into several smaller clusters.

Lance charged into the clusters, maintaining a steady killing pace. Before long, he had wiped out the remaining Demons.

Lance’s spirits soared as he looked at all the materials scattered on the ground.

His haul this week had been enormous. He had earned over thirty Gold Coins just from selling the material drops on the Black Market.

He had wanted to give Nieve a share of the money, but she had stubbornly refused.

As Lance cleaned up the battlefield, he recalled the events of his day off yesterday.

He had taken the day off yesterday and made a trip back to Gray Rock Town.

He’d intended to compensate the elderly landlady for the repairs to the house that had been accidentally blown up, but she told him someone from White River City had already paid for the damages.

Lance didn’t have to guess to know it must have been his aunt, Cecilia. She must have felt guilty about it later and taken the initiative to make amends.

That saved him a considerable expense.

Afterward, he brought some gifts and went to Uncle Rein’s to let him know he was safe.

The Wolf Lady, Ella, just huffed at the sight of him, clearly still holding a grudge over the time he’d left her for dead.

Uncle Rein, however, pulled him aside and peppered him with questions, concerned about whether he was confident he could secure the title this time.

Lance thumped his chest and told him to rest easy, assuring him it was in the bag.

After taking care of his errands, he stopped by to visit Nia.

Ever since her bold confession and forced kiss in the living room that one morning, Nia would turn bright red at the very sight of him. Lately, she’d even been using "I’m working hard toward my goal of becoming a Professional" as an excuse to avoid him.

He’d finally managed to corner her this time. And although Nia seemed to be doing well, she still shyly lowered her head at the sight of him, lacking even the courage to give him a clear answer.

Furthermore, she’d mumbled with a red face that she must have been out of her mind last time and told Lance to forget everything she’d said.

This earned her a round of merciless teasing from Lance, and an exasperated Nia threw him out, threatening that once she became a full-fledged Professional, she would pin him to the ground and give him a sound thrashing.

Pulling his thoughts back to the present, Lance sorted the cleaned materials by category. With a subtle pulse of Telekinesis, he used the Imaginary Number Dark Grid to store everything away.

He had previously explained to Nieve that it was a special ability granted by an achievement related to the Summer Crown, one that could be used to store loot drops from the Underground City.

Nieve had believed him without a shadow of a doubt.

After all, the Grand Guilds did know ways to complete hidden achievements, but most of them granted group combat buffs. Logistical abilities that improved resource-gathering efficiency were rare.

By saving time on transporting materials and stacking the Crown Buffs, their monster-grinding efficiency this week had been astonishingly high.

Lance took a moment to glance at the latest leaderboard.

On the team leaderboard, Silver Hand had already surged into second place. Unlike the individual leaderboard, which was anonymous, the team rankings clearly displayed each team’s unique name—a choice that had to be made upon first entering the Underground City.

If you chose to join a team, you couldn’t participate in the individual rankings.

"Let’s go. Back to the safe zone."

Lance called out.

Nieve immediately came over and wrapped both arms tightly around Lance’s, naturally hanging most of her body weight on him.

Ever since Lance had sternly rejected her strange request to "bite" him a few days ago, she had started clinging to him like this, whether intentionally or not.

Lance had looked up some information in town yesterday and finally figured out what was happening.

Modern scholars had conducted in-depth research on the rare Sub-human Species known as Snow Ladies.

Their Magic Power stability has a strong negative correlation with their emotional state, making them highly susceptible to a unique condition called "Emotional Hypothermia Syndrome."

When a Snow Lady falls into a state of depression, grief, or anxiety, her body begins to lose heat and radiate cold. Mentally, she feels as if she’s plunging into a bottomless abyss.

Although Snow Ladies themselves are immune to cold, this loss of control triggers an instinctive panic.

Because Snow Ladies are born with low Perception, they rarely experience intense emotional fluctuations.

Lance speculated that his Sensory Overload Trait must have forcibly activated her Perception, causing Nieve to experience significant emotional swings whenever she was around him.

In such situations, they instinctively seek out the body heat of the person causing their emotional fluctuations to regain a comforting sense of stability.

Scholars refer to this phenomenon as the "Thermotropic Instinct."

This also explained why this normally aloof Frost Knight now clung to him like a koala at every opportunity, and even occasionally tried to take a bite out of him.