Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

“How many Five-Star Professionals does the other side have?” he asked curiously.

‘Based on my own senses and the fragmented intelligence reports… there are very few.’

However, as a high-ranking military officer in the Defense Department and the commander of the Ghost Assault Team, Captain Zhang naturally had more access to intelligence regarding Oran City.

“From what we currently know, there are only seven, which is extremely rare,” Captain Zhang replied truthfully.

This figure included both public and hidden individuals.

Their strength, as measured by their data panels, also varied in level.

“That really is rare.”

Su Chen had expended a great deal of energy earlier, so after downing a Recovery Potion, he immediately absorbed the two Soul Cores he had just acquired.

The two Runes in his Sea of Consciousness shed their abstruse structures, undergoing an extreme simplification as they returned to their purest forms.

He had no choice for the Wood Element Soul Core; it could only be applied to his Healing Skill.

Once it reached Lv8, it unlocked a full range of new traits.

The casting range increased dramatically to a maximum of 200 meters. Furthermore, it could now target up to five individuals at once, achieving a group healing effect.

At lower levels, the skill’s mechanics had been rigid—it even required him to physically touch the target. At Lv5, the casting range was still only ten meters. Now, it felt completely transformed.

The healing speed was also astounding…

Time to recover from critical injuries: 3 seconds → 1.2 seconds.

Furthermore, the life shield formed by overflowing Life Energy would now return its residual life force to the recipient when shattered.

The ‘Seed of Life’ trait was also greatly enhanced: its duration was extended to 5 minutes, and it would automatically activate its healing effect whenever the target took damage.

Additionally, the seed could be actively shattered to create a targeted life pulse, providing an emergency burst of healing to a single ally or a small group of them.

“Very strong,” Su Chen remarked.

As for the Dark Element Rune Essence, he naturally applied it to his Destruction Rune.

All of its traits—such as Deep Corrosion, Life Steal, Attribute Decay, and Perception Confusion—received a major upgrade.

The Damage Rune, now officially at Lv8, also proved useful. Thanks to his Third Core Authority, Elemental Transmutation, his other runes—like the Gold Element ‘Sharpness’ and the Earth Element ‘Rockslide’—were enhanced as well.

Additionally, the Desert Beast Master had also dropped a Lv8 Summon Earth Bear Rune. The summoned Mountain Tyrant Bear itself stood nearly seven meters tall.

The only regrettable thing was that the Symbiosis had been severed, taking with it the unique breed Wyatt had so carefully nurtured. This was a common drawback of Summoning Element Runes: it was impossible to acquire an opponent’s originally contracted Summoned Pet.

Either the Summoned Pet is killed, or once the summoning contract is broken, it’s returned to its home plane.

Since Su Chen’s Silver Grimoire couldn’t absorb Summoning Element Runes of Lv8 or higher, he naturally wasn’t interested in the bear rune when they divided the spoils. He passed it to the Ghost Assault Team, taking only one Soul Core and numerous Lv7 Summoning Element Runes for himself.

He also took the Dark Element Soul Core from the other Death Knight, which he had baited into taking a significant amount of damage.

Thanks to each Rune having its own independent Energy Bar, Su Chen, who already had Radiant Curtain at Lv7, converted it into the Earth Wall Skill. He joined a group of Earth Element specialists—the “construction crew”—and took advantage of the lull in the enemy’s assault to quickly rebuild the city walls.

“This is the strength of a Five-Star Profession?” a Four-Star, pure Earth Element Professional grumbled.

Thanks to the bonus from his unconditional 100% Elemental Mastery, the earth walls Su Chen created were even slightly stronger than his own.

Of course, his Amplification Bracelet had something to do with it too. Taking that into account, they were probably on par.

“That guy is definitely in the top three on the contribution leaderboard. I even heard he might be number one. When did Dongfu City produce such a god-like figure?” While resting, the members of the Ghost Assault Team couldn’t help but turn their gazes toward him.

Honestly, none of them had any idea where this tall, stern stranger had come from.

According to last night’s rankings, Dongfu City only had five people in the top ten.

Three of those spots were held by legionnaires: two were Ghost Agents, meticulously cultivated to be single-operative weapons, and the third was an elite from the Investigation Legion. The other two were well-known independent Professionals.

As for the young man before them, he was a terrifying existence completely beyond their comprehension.

Judging by the effects his Runes produced, his Holy Sword would casually erupt with the light of four different Elements. He was most likely a Five-Star Professional who held authority over All Elements.

“There’s no mistaking it. He’s on a much higher level than me,” a Three-Star Five-Element Warlock on the team sighed.

“He definitely doesn’t live in the main Rune Core area, and he isn’t part of the southern front’s forces. He’s never participated in this region’s defensive wars or expeditions against the main nests before. It’s a mystery how he amassed so much power.”

This was what many people found so baffling.

The man had practically materialized out of thin air.

Of course, there had been some sightings.

“He was the one who took action at Qingxi Stream last night. He probably only started being active in the southern front area yesterday.”

Captain Zhang himself knew more than his subordinates. The Ghost Assault Team was composed of two battalions and six squads, with an additional ten Ghost Agents assigned to them.

Yesterday, another battalion reported that a mysterious expert had appeared at Qingxi Stream and destroyed a Teleportation Gate.

Before that, there had been reports of destroyed Teleportation Gates in Eagle’s Beak Valley and Dragon’s Fang Valley, but it was unclear who was responsible.

One of those reports had come from Ji Xiaoyue, but even that Ghost Agent hadn’t been able to learn his name or background, let alone gauge his true strength.

It wasn’t until the Dark Undead Calamity began that this low-profile, #1-ranked powerhouse finally revealed himself in this central core area.

“We have the Teleportation Hub to thank for that,” Captain Zhang remarked with a sigh.

Without these Teleportation Gates connecting the various border nodes, it would have been difficult for top-tier talent from the other three fronts to make their way here.

“Now, six of the top ten spots on the contribution leaderboard are ours, right? No, wait, that Desert Beast Master is dead. The enemy lost a top-three member, so his contribution is completely zeroed out. I wonder if the person who takes his place will be one of ours.”

Captain Liu was ecstatic.

“Dawn is coming!”

And at this moment, what excited everyone even more was that on the distant horizon, the first light of dawn appeared. A faint golden light broke through the night sky, slowly spreading across the scorched earth and ruined walls.

Someone muttered in a low voice, “Will it affect the undead army?”

Even after being beaten back, the undead army was still regrouping across the scorched earth, clearly not ready to give up.

Worse still, the Gate of Bones the enemy had constructed in the distance was still churning out Dark Demons.

Basic intuition would suggest that Dark Attribute monsters would be weakened in the light.

But the reality was not so simple.

Lower-level Spirit Bodies like specters and Shadow Crows did indeed grow restless in the morning light.

But skeleton soldiers and Ghouls were completely unaffected by ordinary light that lacked any purifying power. To say nothing of the High Tier and regional overlords—the Soul Fires in the eyes of the Corpse Witches and Death Paladins didn’t dim in the slightest.

Most people who had Dark Element Summoned Pets were well aware of this.

“There’s hope.”

The real hope lay not in the light itself, but in the daily settlement Rule triggered by the break of dawn.

Whenever the first rays of dawn touched the main Rune Core area, it was entirely possible for a brand new rune building to be created. At the very least, new items would be added to the shop.

“It’s guaranteed to happen. The fighting yesterday was so intense. Killing so many enemies must be enough to unlock a new building during the settlement.”

Based on the patterns they’d discovered, this phenomenon was effectively a city-wide daily settlement, granting rewards based on the monsters and external enemies killed by everyone in the city.

During the ‘Parasite Tide,’ for example, rune buildings were unlocked more frequently, and a greater variety of items were stocked.

By that logic, since the Olan People had launched a full-scale invasion yesterday, the amount of Rune Essence changing hands alone had been staggering.

No matter how they looked at it, yesterday’s city-wide settlement was bound to unlock a new rune building.

「A moment later.」

Everyone held their breath and watched.

BOOM!

A deep tremor emanated from underground. The defenders initially suspected an enemy tunneling attack, but on second thought, the heavily reinforced ground shouldn’t have given way so easily.

“That’s not it!”

The next instant, a massive, surging torrent of pure Rune Magic Power erupted from deep within the earth. A brilliant, swirling current of light spiraled into the air.

The ground slowly sank, not cracking apart, but folding inward like the petals of a blossoming flower, revealing a bubbling, jade-green spring at its center.

“A Pool of Life?”

The crowd was overjoyed. This runic marvel was documented in the records of Oran City, and they had long yearned to see it.

The pool’s walls had yet to fully form, but a ripple had already spread from its center. A tranquil yet vigorous wave of life force instantly radiated outward, and the wounds of every injured person within a hundred meters began to heal at a visible rate.

Furthermore, those suffering from mental exhaustion felt a wave of calm wash over them. Their bodies relaxed as if their fatigue was being drawn out of them, thread by thread.

“Holy shit, this healing wave is even more effective than a Life Potion.”

“We have it! We really have it now! With this spring at our backs, how could we possibly lose?”