Chapter 1950 — 1950: Glacial Traces

After being struck by the ice knight and being cursed with Glacial Trace, Yuan inspected his body.

'My body definitely feels colder now, but it's not enough.'

Since a single curse wasn't enough to see any difference, Yuan decided to let the ice knight strike him a few more times.

Although Yuan took no real damage or injuries from the ice knight's attacks, a glowing blue chain-like tattoo would appear across his body with each strike, each mark representing a single Glacial Trace.

After accumulating ten Glacial Traces, Yuan finally sensed a change. His cold resistance had weakened to the point where the fifth floor's environment now felt genuinely threatening. However, in exchange, his cold resistance was strengthening at a noticeably faster rate than before.

Naturally, Yuan wasn't the first individual to have considered this reckless action. However, he was definitely the first to weaken himself so much.

The middle-aged man standing guard outside the palace had been watching Yuan out of curiosity and was dumbfounded by Yuan's actions.

"Ten Glacial Trace! His Supreme Cold Resistance is now only as strong as Super Cold Resistance! What a reckless human!"

He'd seen impatient individuals purposefully receiving Glacial Traces to speed up their training before, but most of them only dared to receive one or two Glacial Traces. Even the most reckless individual to train at the Frozen Palace has only accepted seven Glacial Traces. Yet, Yuan went ahead and purposefully received ten Glacial Traces at once.

However, that was only the beginning of the guard's shock, as Yuan decided to receive even more Glacial Traces, racking up twenty Glacial Traces in total.

"This is more like it."

A smile tugged at Yuan's lips as he shattered the ice knight after accumulating twenty Glacial Traces.

By now, his cold resistance had dropped to the level of Powerful Cold Resistance—a full two stages lower than the recommended threshold for surviving on the fifth floor. Yet despite the overwhelming cold, his excitement only grew.

The other four individuals training on the fifth floor finally turned their attention to Yuan, their faces filled with shock and disbelief as they realized what he had done to himself.

Lowering his cold resistance to such a dangerous level in this environment was nothing short of madness—and yet he stood there, unyielding.

"Who is that? I've been training here for over a hundred years, and this is my first time seeing him," one of them questioned out loud.

"He's a human, too."

"Hmph. Whoever he is, he won't last long with that many Glacial Traces on him. I'll give him a few days at most before he is forced to leave or dies," one of them sneered.

After showing brief interest in Yuan, the four individuals quickly returned to their own training.

Hours turned into days.

A week had passed since Yuan arrived on the fifth floor and started training his Cold Resistance. The others believed that he would only last a few days, but he persisted for an entire week and didn't appear to be giving up anytime soon.

A month later, the middle-aged man who usually guarded the entrance unexpectedly appeared on the fifth floor, drawing puzzled looks from those training there. It was the first time any of them had seen him abandon his post.

The middle-aged man approached Yuan after finding him.

"I have a message from the Holy Dragon Clan's Dragon Emperor," he said.

"The Azure Dragon Clan has responded. They have agreed to meet you. It will happen in three months on a specific island. You can continue training here for another two and a half months since it'll take us two weeks to arrive at the meeting place."

"That's the end of his message. Do you have anything to say to him?"

Yuan then said, "Tell him that I'll see him in two months."

The middle-aged man silently nodded and left the next moment.

"He received a message from the Holy Dragon Clan's Dragon Emperor! What's his relationship with the Dragon Emperor?"

"His background must be quite extraordinary."

The four individuals itched to approach Yuan and strike up a conversation, curiosity burning in their eyes. However, bound by the strict rules of the training ground, they didn't dare disturb him, knowing that even a simple word could be seen as interfering with his training.

Even when they spoke aloud, it was little more than muttering to themselves, carefully avoiding direct conversation with one another to stay within the rules.

Once the middle-aged man left, Yuan returned to his training.

However, when the ice knight appeared half an hour later, Yuan allowed it to strike him, giving himself several more Glacial Traces.

"Heavens! He's at 30 traces now! Is he actually trying to kill himself?!"

The others were in disbelief at Yuan's recklessness.

Unbeknownst to them, Yuan would've died countless times already if it weren't for his regeneration ability and powerful physique.

'I need to achieve Cold Immunity before I meet the Azure Dragon Clan!'

With that determination, Yuan increased his Glacial Traces until he reached forty.

With forty Glacial Traces suppressing his cold resistance, Yuan was essentially left without any defense against the cold, enduring a temperature intended for those with Supreme Cold Resistance.

"Holy shit! How is he not dead?!"

"His cultivation is only at Divine Emperor, too!"

"Look closely! His body is recovering as it is being frozen and shattered! I cannot imagine the pain he must be experiencing right now!"

"What horrifying regenerative abilities. He must have some kind of god-like physique. Or maybe he consumed a miracle treasure before coming here."

The four individuals training on the fifth floor were so shocked—and unsettled—by Yuan's reckless training that they found themselves unable to concentrate on their own.

One by one, they abandoned their training, their full attention drawn irresistibly to Yuan instead.

They all wanted to see his limit.