The Sealed Ice Crystal had almost completely melted, with only the patch less than half a square meter under the Illusion-tailed Fox’s paws still intact.

The chill in Zhong Yi’s room had dissipated significantly. Soon, the Illusion-tailed Fox absorbed the Ice Element from the last remnants of the Sealed Ice Crystal.

The Illusion-tailed Fox had long, thick, snow-white fur. Only the tips of its two fluffy, three-meter-long tails and the outlines of its ears held a faint, silver-blue tint, a perfect match for its newly opened eyes.

The Illusion-tailed Fox that Zhong Yi could once hold in his hands had transformed into a giant fox, measuring over four meters from head to tail.

Excluding its tails, however, its actual body was only a meter long.

It was about the same length as the Maine Cat Zhong Yi had raised in his previous life, and it wasn’t heavy to hold.

The first thing the Illusion-tailed Fox did after recovering was to leap into Zhong Yi’s arms.

It wrapped its two long tails around Zhong Yi’s waist and began to sob, whimpering on his shoulder.

When it came to seeking affection, few Guardian Beasts could compare to foxes.

The Illusion-tailed Fox was a very peculiar type of Guardian Beast. Unlike other fox-type Guardian Beasts, its gender couldn’t be determined at birth.

An Illusion-tailed Fox would decide its own gender when it advanced to the Mythical Tier.

Back when Zhong Yi was creating the game’s data, he had designed the Illusion-tailed Fox’s gender this way.

It was meant as a perk for players who discovered the Illusion-tailed Fox easter egg.

But in the end, no one had discovered the Illusion-tailed Fox easter egg by the time the game’s servers were shut down.

Watching the Illusion-tailed Fox act so cute, Zhong Yi thought, ’When it advances to the Mythical Tier and chooses its gender, it’ll probably become a vixen.’

Zhong Yi soothed the Illusion-tailed Fox, feeding it the small, dried fish that Lan Po had baked with Big Bell. At the same time, he used All Things Exploration to inspect the fox after its Bloodline transformation.

[Guardian Beast Name]: Ice Glaze Jade Fox (Two-tailed)

[Guardian Beast Species]: Fox Family/Jade Fox Species

[Guardian Beast Level]: Mortal Beast Level (1/10)

[Guardian Beast Type]: Ice Element

[Guardian Beast Quality]: Silver Quality

Skills:

[Ice Jade Fox Sculpture]: Condenses Ice Element imbued with its own traits into an Ice Sculpture. Injuring a target before the frost within the Ice Sculpture dissipates allows it to plunder the target’s Elemental Energy, replenishing the sculpture’s consumed Ice Element.

Exclusive Traits:

[Extreme Ice Force Field]: Releases its mastered Ice Element into the environment, forming a special force field within a certain range that repels other Elements. Within this field, ambient Ice Element will spontaneously converge on the field’s core.

[Frosty Cold Qi]: Condenses Ice Element to its absolute limit, then sublimates the condensed Ice Element into a gaseous ice. This icy gas infiltrates the target’s body, freezing it from the inside out.

’So the Illusion-tailed Fox evolved into an Ice Glaze Jade Fox! It evolved all the way into a Guardian Beast of the Jade Fox Species! That nearly two hundred milliliters of Flowing Soul Soil and one Soul Taming Seed were totally worth it!’

The Tail Fox Species could be considered the supreme Bloodline among fox-type Guardian Beasts. Within the Fox Race, those with more tails have always been the most revered.

And within the Tail Fox Species, the Bloodlines are further subdivided into many types.

Among them, the Jade Fox Bloodline was already considered to be at the apex of the pyramid for the Tail Fox Species.

In the Guardian Beast World, just as Guardian Beast Masters have different tiers of talent, Guardian Beast Bloodlines also have distinct gaps in power.

Although a Guardian Beast with a lower-end Bloodline would see that Bloodline continuously improve as its Quality increased through Evolution, it is an incredibly difficult feat for that Bloodline to advance step-by-step as its Quality improves.

This requires a massive consumption of Creator resources and other high-end materials like Blood Enchanting Bee Honey.

If Zhong Yi were to take this Two-tailed Ice Glaze Jade Fox—still only at First Level of the Mortal Beast Level, yet already at Silver Quality—out in public, just the sight of it would immediately make others feel it was completely out of their league!

Jade Fox Species Guardian Beasts, a branch of the Tail Fox Species, have one very distinct feature.

Upon closer inspection, the fur on the rims of their ears would glisten under the light with a luster like fine jade.

Such an obvious feature effortlessly showcased the nobility of a Jade Fox Species Guardian Beast.

The Ice Glaze Jade Fox’s power was a perfect match for its stunning appearance and noble Bloodline.

Its Basic Skill, Ice Jade Fox Sculpture, allows the Ice Glaze Jade Fox to condense the Ice Element it has mastered into Ice Sculptures that fight on its behalf.

This combat style is very similar to how Undead Element Guardian Beasts control corpses.

However, for an Undead Element Guardian Beast to fight by controlling corpses, it first needs corpses to exist.

This is a far cry from the Ice Glaze Jade Fox, which can freely create Ice Sculptures from the Ice Elemental Energy it has mastered.

Moreover, as long as these Ice Sculptures injure a target, they can plunder the Elemental Energy from its body, converting it into Ice Element to replenish their own energy.

Among all types of Guardian Beasts, the vast majority contain Elemental Energy within their bodies.

This method of fighting by injuring a target to plunder its Elemental Energy is a very sophisticated way of fueling the battle with the battle itself.

Perhaps while the Ice Glaze Jade Fox is still relatively weak, the skill Ice Jade Fox Sculpture might not be very effective in combat.

But once the Ice Glaze Jade Fox becomes powerful enough to injure targets with ease, this method of fueling the battle with the battle itself will provide immense returns.

It would allow the Ice Glaze Jade Fox to become a perpetual motion machine, capable of fighting for extended periods even in environments with very little Ice Element.

The Exclusive Trait, Extreme Ice Force Field, was one the Ice Glaze Jade Fox gained when it advanced from Unranked to Bronze Quality, and its acquisition was clearly induced by the Sealed Ice Crystal.

A special force field forms with the Ice Glaze Jade Fox at its center, and its size depends on how far the fox can spread the Ice Element it releases.

Within this force field, the Ice Element in the environment will converge on the Ice Glaze Jade Fox.

Because the Ice Glaze Jade Fox’s own Ice Element has the property of repelling other Elements, the Extreme Ice Force Field it creates becomes a domain of pure Ice Element.

This can greatly increase the speed at which the Ice Glaze Jade Fox uses its Ice Jade Fox Sculpture skill to create Ice Sculptures.

It can also use the Extreme Ice Force Field to suppress other elemental Guardian Beasts in combat.

This prevents those elemental Guardian Beasts from replenishing their consumed Elemental Energy from the natural environment while fighting the Ice Glaze Jade Fox.

In Zhong Yi’s opinion, the Ice Glaze Jade Fox’s most remarkable ability at the moment was the Exclusive Trait it gained upon reaching Silver Quality: Frosty Cold Qi.

Condensing Ice Element into solid ice for combat allows for a balanced development of offense, defense, and control.

However, solid ice can typically only inflict effective damage upon direct contact with a target.

But the Exclusive Trait, Frosty Cold Qi, allows the Ice Glaze Jade Fox to sublimate this ultra-condensed solid ice into a gaseous form.

This gaseous ice can spread silently and without a trace throughout the force field it generates.

With the exception of a few very specific types, almost all living Guardian Beasts need to breathe in combat.

The Frosty Cold Qi can drift unnoticed to an enemy Guardian Beast’s nostrils, entering its lungs with every breath.

In an instant, this gaseous ice freezes the lungs, and the chill spreads outward from them as the epicenter.

Because the Ice Glaze Jade Fox’s Ice Element repels other Elements, once the Frosty Cold Qi invades a target’s body, the Elements it mobilizes for defense will be repelled. The only exception is if the target’s own Element can suppress the Ice Glaze Jade Fox’s Ice Element.

This forces the target to endure the extremely cold, gaseous ice with nothing but its physical body.

If the target’s body isn’t tough enough, the gaseous ice will freeze it solid from the inside out.

The slightest external force would cause its body to shatter into pieces.

Even if the target’s body is exceptionally tough, the gaseous ice will still destroy its lungs and other internal organs.

In some ways, the damage caused by freezing is even more severe than being burned by a raging fire.

This imperceptible and indefensible killing blow can often produce unexpected results in a fight.