Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

’Neural conduction efficiency drastically improved. Dynamic Vision enhanced. Muscle contraction response time shortened.’

’Agility +3!’

At that moment, he felt countless bio-electric currents surging through his neural network, stimulating every synapse into a state of transformation.

It was as if the bio-electric signals governing his body were being constantly optimized, boosting his neural response speed.

And the effects were tangible.

The improvement to his Dynamic Vision remained to be seen.

But after his routine card-throwing practice early in the morning, Su Chen could clearly feel the perfect coordination between his fingertips and the muscles of his entire body. His limbs moved before the thought to act had even fully formed.

With such solid muscle memory, he threw an entire deck of cards into the bucket without a single one going astray.

”Perfect.”

He could now confirm that the strange purple flower had contained a massive amount of lightning energy; its conversion time alone far surpassed that of the Plant and Mineral Crystals. Getting three agility points out of it was decent enough. He wondered when he might stumble upon such a rare flower again.

He wished he could just find a bunch and gorge himself on them.

”My Intelligence and Perception Attributes are starting to lag behind.”

Su Chen glanced at his stats.

Attributes: Power 15 / Physique 17 / Agility 16 / Intelligence 12 / Perception 11.

’I shouldn’t use Spiritual Dust Sand as material to feed the pendant,’ he thought. ’Since Spirit Element Runes exist, it would be best to feed it any that aren’t suitable for my own use.’

As for the next item for his family’s Jade Pendant to absorb, he decided against using the two Plant and Mineral Crystals. Instead, he fed the pendant a Lv2 Gold Element Rune from the fish bucket, along with three Gold Element essences from his inventory.

Just like that, the white jade amulet transformed into a Gold Medal covered in intricate patterns.

He speculated that the transformation would likely be related to his skeleton, perhaps tempering his bone density with metallic properties.

He would likely find out the answer by the afternoon.

Dongfu City Radio FM 98.5 was still broadcasting Rune Formulas, now moving on to control-type Runes.

Earth + Earth + Gold = Petrifying Gaze

This was a single-target control skill that petrified the target, rendering it immobile. However, the effect would end prematurely if the target sustained a certain amount of damage.

The next two were area-of-effect soft crowd control skills.

Earth + Water + Water = Mire

Lightning + Wind + Gold = Static Field

The first changed the terrain of an area into a swamp, drastically slowing movement speed. The second created a static field that dealt continuous damage while briefly paralyzing targets within it.

And that wasn’t all.

There were also control skills like Shadow Binding and Water Prison Skill.

There was a wide variety of options. Su Chen could only feel grateful that his Jingzhe ability had unlocked a crowd-control-breaking feature at Lv4. Otherwise, facing monsters with these skills or getting into a conflict with another team would have become much trickier.

Finally, there were Summoning Skills.

They also came in many new varieties.

Rock Puppets, skeleton soldiers, Demon Wolves, Bright Butterflies, Poison Bee Swarms, and more.

Beyond pure offense and defense, some summons were focused on support and buffs. A High Level Bright Butterfly, for example, had no attack abilities but could heal, purify, and break crowd control—offering incredible value.

Last night, Su Chen had even seen a voluptuous Flower Demon in the villa that could bind and restrain targets. Its formula was not on the publicly announced list.

Many people at the time were intensely interested and tried to trade for its Rune Formula, but the owner flatly refused them all. Eventually, though, they managed to sell two of the summons, each for the staggering price of a single essence crystal.

It couldn’t be helped; the Flower Demon’s anime-like qualities hit all the right ’moe’ points. One of the buyers, an engineering student, even declared he was going to raise it as his ’waifu.’

By 9:35 AM, the broadcast of the second batch of Rune Formulas had officially concluded.

Instead of writing everything down, Su Chen simply used his phone’s voice recorder to capture the entire broadcast, only manually noting a few of the most important Rune Formulas.

The real-time transcription feature, however, relied on cloud servers and was therefore useless without an internet connection.

During the broadcast, Su Chen completed a half-hour workout in his RV and cooked a simple breakfast with the ingredients on hand.

The induction stove hummed to life, and an egg sizzled softly in the pan.

Nearby, the washer-dryer combo was running smoothly, cleaning yesterday’s mud- and blood-stained clothes.

He wasn’t concerned about water usage.

Fresh water wasn’t an issue for him.

And thanks to the machine’s drying function, he didn’t have to worry about finding a place to hang his clothes outside in this dreadful weather.

The rain had long since stopped, and the sky was bright and clear.

After last night’s sudden cold front retreated, a warm, humid air mass swiftly took its place, prompting him to turn on the RV’s dehumidifier.

In this apocalyptic crisis, with the authorities still struggling to solve the power problem, owning an RV with enough electricity to run three high-consumption appliances simultaneously was an enviable luxury.

Su Chen took a comfortable sip of hot water just as a voice crackled from the walkie-talkie on the table.

’...Su Chen, this is Yan Ziqian from the Jingcheng University archery team. Do you copy? Over.’

’I copy. Go ahead.’

Su Chen replied. After he’d expressed interest last night in exploring the fissure, Yan Ziqian had given him a walkie-talkie pre-tuned to their channel.

Since their wireless communication could be intercepted, it wasn’t wise to discuss important matters over the walkie-talkie.

After a brief exchange, they agreed to meet at a pork cutlet shop in the food court.

A short while ago.

A drone launched by one of the team members to scout the surrounding area had discovered a brand-new Rune-inscribed building in the western rift valley.

...

「Just as the morning sun began to rise.」

At the same time the radio was broadcasting the Rune Formulas, the Holiday Shopping Plaza on the southern edge of Dongfu City’s Wanghai District had already become a flooded marsh.

The heavily guarded Rune Store was now an island in the floodwaters, with the water level rising past its ground floor and submerging nearly a third of the structure.

However, it wasn’t long before matter and Elemental Energy began to converge in this deathly-still water. A fantastical palace, shimmering with the light of Runes, abruptly rose from the depths.

Its silhouette was as solemn as an ancient sacrificial altar, with massive pillars supporting a grand dome. The structure had no doors or windows, only the inscribed Techniques that pulsed and flowed across its surface, giving it an aura of profound mystery.

Despite the flooding, there was a significant number of personnel stationed in the area. Several assault boats carrying soldiers had already converged on its position.

”Just like yesterday. A new building appears at sunrise.”

”Damn, don’t tell me we’re getting daily rewards for yesterday’s fight.”

Yesterday’s beast tide had hit the entire city hard. The losses were undoubtedly significant, and half the urban area was still flooded, but the number of monsters they had slain was immense.

’Inheritance Sanctuary’!

More than one person approached to touch it.

When their consciousness achieved Resonance with the Techniques inscribed on the palace, a massive stream of information flooded into their minds.

If interacting with the Rune Store was like an AR experience overlaid on reality,

then connecting with this Inheritance Sanctuary was like putting on a VR headset. Their vision suddenly shifted, their bodies felt as if they were pulled from reality, and they instantly found themselves in a boundless Pure White Space.

’Based on your current Runes, please select a class option: Rune Walker (★), Storm Priest (★★).’

A voice like a divine oracle echoed through the space.

The elite female member of the assault team looked around warily, her grip instinctively tightening on her sniper rifle.

To her astonishment, the three Lv4 Wind Element Runes that should have existed only in her consciousness materialized beside her. Three azure beams of light shot out from them, converging in the distance to form two spheres of light.

The sphere on the left was soft and subdued, while the one on the right was far more brilliant.

The surfaces of both were interwoven with profound and complex mystical patterns.

’I get it,’ she realized. ’As long as I have three Lv4 Runes, I can obtain the Basic Class Authority, ’Rune Walker.’ But since my three are all pure Lv4 Wind Element Runes, the better Class Authority, ’Storm Priest,’ also appeared.’

After her sudden realization, the female soldier, Ah Qing, would of course not choose the One-Star Authority. That would be deliberately hamstringing herself.

Soon.

The moment she chose the more brilliant, mystical sphere of light, the chaotic Spiritual Space within her Sea of Consciousness was suddenly forced open. A small tree sprouted from the core of her consciousness, its many branches extending outward. As if bearing ripe fruit, they were hung with the glowing light of countless Runes.