The main reason Daniel chose to learn [Divine Cleanse] was because of what had just happened in the battle against the [Stoneback Colossus]. That one skill—[Roar of the Moon]—had completely thrown his rhythm off and nearly made him lose his cool.
Faced with such control-type abilities, Daniel had no prior countermeasures.
That was why, even though he still had the strength to fight back, he found himself completely incapacitated under the corrupted Colossus's control, unable to retaliate.
It was at that moment that he truly realized how vital purification skills could be.
After all, it was impossible to stay in Super Armor state forever. He needed something that could help him recover quickly even when he was controlled.
Even if he was caught in a crowd-control effect, he had to have a way to cleanse it off.
But that wasn't the only reason. Daniel had been thinking further ahead.
In the Whitewild Expanse, aside from locations like this one, there were also dangerous swamp regions.
And those swamps came with all kinds of poisons and paralysis effects.
Super Armor might be able to ignore paralysis, but when it came to poison—especially percentage-based poisons—it was completely ineffective.
Those kinds of poisons were terrifying, and could easily sap away his health no matter how tanky he became.
In that sense, having Divine Cleanse was absolutely necessary.
As for the remaining skill books, Daniel had no intention of selling them for gold coins. Most of them, he decided to stash away for the time being.
Though many of the skills weren't particularly powerful, there was still strategic value in holding onto them. Who knows? Maybe one day he'd come across some unusual monster, and then he could learn a skill on the spot to adapt.
By this point, Daniel's strength had already undergone a complete transformation.
His current skill list alone was already eye-catching enough.
But what no one else knew was that tucked away in his inventory were still over a dozen skill books, set aside precisely to deal with unexpected situations that might arise.
Having finished checking the skill books, Daniel turned his gaze toward the next category.
And what he saw next made him freeze in place.
Because in that category… he actually found a Tome of Mastery!
And not just any Tome of Mastery—it was a specialized one just for The Infinite One!
[Infinite Shift] – Exclusive Talent Specialization for The Infinite One.
Currently, Daniel already possessed five Talent Specializations.
And each of them had brought about a fundamental transformation to his abilities.
From a certain perspective, the importance of Talent Specializations was even higher than God Rank Skills.
Suppressing his rising excitement, Daniel opened the detail panel:
[Specialization: Infinite Shift]
[Talent Requirement: The Infinite One]
[Level Requirement: 30+]
[Effect: Gain access to three different stances. Switching stances has a fixed cooldown of 1 second (Note: this cooldown is fixed and cannot be reduced by any means.)]
Daniel paused for a moment after reading that last line.
But on second thought, it made sense. After all, [Infinite Shift] was a Talent Specialization, not a skill. It wasn't meant to be spammed recklessly.
He continued reading:
[Swift Stance]: Movement speed increased by 100%. Immune to all slow and deceleration effects.
[Offensive Stance]: Damage increased by 30%. Ignore 50% of the target's resistances.
[Defensive Stance]: Gain 20% damage reduction and a shield equal to 10% of max HP every second (can stack up to 5 times).
"…Hmm."
Daniel furrowed his brows slightly. To be honest, [Infinite Shift] didn't seem as mind-blowing as he had hoped.
Sure, the three stances looked decent on paper.
But after a closer look, they didn't seem that special.
Each stance's effect was roughly on par with an SSS-rank skill, but didn't go far beyond that.
The truth was, Daniel hadn't even realized it himself—his standards had risen dramatically.
To the average adventurer, SSS-rank skills were legendary-tier abilities.
But to Daniel, they were now just… meh.
If other adventurers could hear his thoughts, they'd probably want to drown him in spit.
"Excuse me? What did you just say?"
"Do you even realize that only the top 5% of adventurers ever get their hands on an SSS-rank skill?"
"To the rest of us, even an S-rank skill book is a family heirloom—something that could sell for millions, maybe even tens of millions of gold coins."
"And this specialization, [Infinite Shift], gives you three different stances."
"That's equivalent to having three SSS-rank skills in one!"
"And you're still not satisfied?!"
"What do you want next, to sprout wings and fly to heaven?!"
…
After organizing his entire haul from this adventure, Daniel turned his attention to the [Shadow Leopard] beside him.
Now that his Agility had surpassed 6,000, the Shadow Leopard couldn't even see his taillights anymore.
"Forget it," Daniel sighed. "Time to return this money sink."
…
Thus, a rather bizarre sight unfolded in the Whitewild Expanse—one that left many adventurers absolutely stunned.
A man in mage robes—carrying a Shadow Leopard on his back like a sack of potatoes—was blazing across the plains like a hurricane, headed for the Expanse's entrance.
His speed was so ridiculous that most people could only catch a blurred afterimage.
"What the heck did I just see?!"
"Wait… was that… a person?!"
"Nah, you must've been seeing things. I didn't see anything at all!"
"I saw it! That guy moved like a shooting star—whoosh, and he vanished!"
"I swear on my archer's sight, he was carrying a Shadow Leopard on his back!"
"Holy crap, is that what adventurers are doing these days?!"
"Like, for real—who's the mount here? You or the leopard?!"
…
From the moment he returned the Shadow Leopard to the stables to the time he arrived at the next Primordial Land, Daniel only took a few minutes.
With [Godspeed Step], [Bloodfury], and [Infinite Shift] stacked together, his speed had reached an unbelievable level.
In just three minutes, he had scouted a 2,000-kilometer radius.
And the results?
Absolutely massive.
He effortlessly located eight World Rank bosses.
Though they were scattered in different directions, that didn't matter to Daniel.
With his current speed, two minutes was enough to reach any of them.
That Star Upgrade Quest—the one looming in his objective list?
It now felt within arm's reach.
"I'm finishing it today!" Daniel declared, clenching his fists.
Then—flash—his figure disappeared on the spot.
Switch to Offensive Stance!
Cast: [Great Fireball]!
— 13,000,000 (CRITICAL!)
— 152,038
— 304,077 (CRITICAL!)
Three Great Fireballs landed in succession.
Total damage: 13.45 million.
And that was without triggering any special effects!
The World Rank boss's HP?
Nearly one-quarter, evaporated in an instant.