Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

Light + Metal + Metal = Corona Guard.

This wasn’t a summoning Rune; it was a Support Class Rune.

It materializes a humanoid Light-Cast Warrior, about two meters tall, around the Spellcaster. Any unmarked unit that approaches will be met with a divine slash and a blinding effect.

At Lv6, it also forms a ”Corona Aura” around the guard, increasing the Penetration and attack power of nearby friendly units while also granting them a divine shield.

Upon reaching Lv7, it unlocks the ”Damage Transfer” trait. If the Spellcaster takes damage, the guard will take it instead.

”Another decent Passive Survival Skill,” Su Chen remarked.

A Rune Mage’s fragility was a major weakness, but once they stacked enough survival skills, they wouldn’t be nearly as easy to kill as one might think.

Light + Wind + Wind = Light Wings;

Dark + Wind + Wind = Shadow Step.

The first is essentially a Light Element Flying Skill that receives a buff during the day.

The second is a movement skill. In addition to a short-range blink, it can create a disorienting afterimage, which has a special synergistic effect when paired with the Optical Camouflage Skill.

He gave the Light and Dark Runes a cursory glance, but they didn’t particularly pique his interest.

Immediately after, he also looked at the High-tier Effects of his older Runes.

The Lv7 effects of the few Runes that were most helpful in daily life were highlighted.

The Shaping Skill could now perform high-precision reconstruction on inorganic materials, such as reforging rubble and dirt into a reinforced, load-bearing wall.

The Water Creation Skill could tap into the earth’s ley lines to create a fresh spring out of thin air, even in an arid land.

The Growth Skill could now catalyze growth beyond normal limits, causing a single seed to rapidly sprout into a tree three times taller and more robust than normal. A small bag of seeds could become a spectacular forest.

The Rune Store sold many special seeds, which was a unique, alternative form of synergy in its own right.

’They’re all decent enough,’ Su Chen thought with a glance.

Of course, aside from these few frequently used Runes, the others only went up to Lv6.

”Level 7 is always a huge power spike.”

Everyone sighed in admiration after passing the information around.

Of course, every promotion threshold beyond Lv7 was a major turning point. The upgrade requirements changed completely; you couldn’t just brute-force it by stacking resources anymore.

This meant the power spikes from future upgrades would likely be absurd.

With the news about the fifth batch of Rune formulas concluded for the moment, Liao Dahai brought some good news: the Rune Store had a new item in stock, the Barbaric Strength Potion.

Its effect was a permanent increase in a person’s strength.

Su Chen listened to the description; it provided a boost of roughly +1 or +2 to Strength.

This boost was useless to him, of course, but on Earth, it could probably turn a third-rate boxer into an equal of Tyson in an instant.

The impact was still quite significant.

”I’ll go check out the key Rune structure site this afternoon,” Su Chen said. Now that he knew about the world quest, he naturally had to get involved.

He was already several hours behind.

The experts already at the Rune Core site had the home-field advantage and had probably made significant gains.

In reality, he had already fallen far behind the first wave of participants.

”A slow start means you’ll always be behind. Only the top ten thousand in contribution points will get a reward, and we don’t even know if everyone’s scores are tallied at the same time after the three-day limit. To get first prize, you’ll need to break into the top two hundred at the very least.”

”Instead of rushing over there, we’d be better off taking this opportunity to clear out the surrounding areas while everyone else heads for the key Rune structure site.”

Yan Ziqian, ever the rational and meticulous one, offered his analysis.

”Of course,” he added, ”you two are the exception.”

”He’s right. You two should go,” Pang Peng said, with Yu Ziyuan nodding in agreement. ”A lot of people will be heading back to the base camp soon. We’ll use this chance to clear out the Great Lake and the forest’s low-lying areas.”

The chaos from the parasitic swarm had ravaged many regions, but the Great Lake area, with its unique light-infused ecosystem, and the watery lowlands and river valleys of the forest showed no signs of being affected.

These places held rich and valuable resources for leveling up. Killing the area bosses would also be a huge score.

The herd of giant hippos in the lowlands and the Titanboa in the river valley were still out there, and Su Chen hadn’t even had the time to check out the area east of the base.

Besides, everyone had a tacit understanding. This team was ultimately built around one person, and the smart ones among them knew better than to just ride his coattails for everything.

”We’ll go try our luck in the surrounding forests and be back before the afternoon.”

Liao Dahai and his wife, who had just completed their class change, had no intention of participating in the major event. They were no longer young and full of passion; maintaining the status quo was best for them.

Besides, the Security Committee hadn’t issued a general summons yet, so the situation didn’t seem as dire as they’d imagined.

”If anything happens, just contact Ah Jun on the walkie-talkie. We’ll be in the surrounding area anyway,” Pang Peng reminded him. The new high-power walkie-talkies had a stable communication range of about twelve kilometers.

Above the unobstructed canopy of the forest, the range was even greater. With one person acting as a relay, they could basically achieve ultra-long-range communication.

After a few brief words, the groups went their separate ways.

...

「Less than fifteen minutes later.」

Su Chen and Yan Ruoruo had arrived at the border town of Qixia.

In the distance, East Gate 2 stood tall. The newly constructed city wall extended outward like a gray-white spine, with a single, unfinished gap about a kilometer away.

’The construction is moving fast.’

The craters inside the city, bored by the giant worms, had been completely backfilled and compacted. The surface was covered with a quick-setting concrete slurry. If not for the slightly newer color, it would be nearly impossible to tell there had once been a chasm hundreds of meters deep below.

But the most eye-catching sight was the azure Teleportation Gate standing directly in front of the Forward Base.