Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

From the five clusters of rewards that erupted from the Rune Array on the platform, there was a Rune weapon—a deep azure Recurved Longbow engraved with countless intricate, mysterious patterns—a Jade Bracelet, a Lv. 4 Spirit Element Rune orb, a Spirit Marrow Crystal, and a Potion of unknown effect.

”Holy cow, did it just drop a dedicated Archer weapon?” Cao Yutang was stunned.

Must be a coincidence...

Pang Peng smiled wryly, questioning his very existence. Back in college, his dorm mates had always sought him out whenever they were opening loot boxes or doing gacha pulls in mobile games. It wasn’t like his luck worked every single time, though.

’It’s probably not a coincidence,’ Su Chen mused. ’It’s more likely the altar is automatically tailoring the rewards to the one making the offering.’

Yan Ruoruo didn’t waste any time. After absorbing the Rune and collecting the equipment, she immediately stepped aside.

Next, Le Yuxuan from the polytechnic university eagerly stepped up. His offering of three ordinary cave dweller corpses earned him a warhammer, a Lv. 3 Spirit Element Rune, and a portion of Spiritual Dust Sand.

’Hold it in. Don’t laugh...’

The band leader took a deep breath, pursing his lips tightly. He forced himself to endure the complicated looks from the onlookers as he stepped down from the altar.

In fact, they still had a basket of Ashen Bud Flowers they hadn’t submitted. They were planning to save up a larger quantity before offering it all to the altar at once.

”Hey, big shot, how about sharing the stats on that gear?”

”Yeah! Don’t hog all the good stuff. You’re making us all drool.”

Someone on the periphery couldn’t help but shout.

Just then, the team that had been tackling the right-hand fork of the tunnel emerged. They were also carrying cave dweller corpses, which drew some of the attention away.

They were a large group, sprawling and numerous with about thirty people. Some were injured, their clothes torn, and their spirits broken. Clearly, they had suffered greatly down in the caves.

’They’re not from the campsite.’ It was impossible for a group this large to be unrecognized.

And they didn’t have the telltale signs of a certified Archer.

That left only one possibility: they were from Dongfu, people from outside the base.

The moment everyone reached this conclusion, the crowd grew agitated.

”Hey, you guys! Where are you from? Are supplies tight in the city?”

”By the way, is your team looking for more people?”

Especially considering the base’s cold storage had been blown up, some of the weaker individuals had already been planning to fall back to the city.

”Make way!!”

Seeing so many people crowding the altar, two men holding long-barreled rifles stepped forward, aiming their muzzles directly at the crowd and signaling for them to disperse.

Although the long guns were clearly homemade, the inscribed Demon Patterns made them extremely intimidating.

The previously boisterous crowd instantly fell silent, subconsciously backing away.

...

Taking advantage of the distraction, Su Chen and his group headed back into the cave.

This time, their main goal was to sweep the hunting hall for resources, gathering more Ore Crystals and Ashen Bud Flowers.

He returned to a previously marked spot. The bright beam of his flashlight caught a glimmer of light reflecting off a Gray Ore Crystal embedded in the rock wall.

Immediately, as he focused his gaze, the internal structure of the rock formation became visible in perfect detail. With a mere thought, a surge of invisible Telekinesis rapidly condensed, forming an intangible pickaxe.

KLANG!

The hard rock formation shattered on impact.

The pickaxe formed by Telekinesis Construction began to chisel away at the base of the ore deposit.

It was even stronger than an Engineer Shovel.

Once it was chiseled completely free, Su Chen raised an eyebrow. The form of his Telekinesis shifted again, becoming like an invisible hand that gripped the ore. With a sudden upward pull, he extracted it. After brushing off the clinging dust, he placed it neatly into his heavy-duty mountaineering backpack.

He hadn’t lifted a single finger throughout the entire process.

After his Telekinesis Rune reached Lv. 5, it could do more than just manipulate objects. It could now construct and weave intangible things, giving them a perfectly stable structure.

Before, he could only crudely fire Telekinesis Shells for ranged bombardment. Now, he could precisely construct things like Flying Swords and spears to unleash ranged attacks with Strong Will.

In addition, his Perception Range had increased to 20 meters. By permeating the ground with his Telekinesis, he could even perform rudimentary geological scans.

And when his Telekinesis swept over the ore vein, there was no rejection at all. In fact, they merged perfectly, as if made for each other.

’The conversion is almost complete.’

Su Chen felt a squirming sensation from his Jade Pendant.

The Gold Element energy it had absorbed that morning was finally finishing its conversion.

Just as he expected, in less than three minutes, he felt a subtle tremor originating from deep within his bones. A stray stream of energy seeped from his meridians into his very marrow, silently restructuring the compact bone throughout his joints.

’Bone cells are transforming. Bone strength is increasing.’

’Power +1!’

Attributes: Power 16, Physique 17, agility 16, Intelligence 12, Perception 11.

’So it really does correspond to the Power attribute, just as I thought.’

After the brief moment of discomfort passed, Su Chen discovered that the Jade Pendant, which should have been on cooldown, was now reacting to the gray ore.

”Excellent.”

’This might really be related to the Spirit Attribute.’

’An ore that can perfectly channel any type of Elemental Energy is no ordinary substance.’

Su Chen eagerly proceeded deeper into the cave. He found another marked mining spot and, after using his Perception to confirm no one was nearby, pressed the Jade Pendant against a layer of ore exposed on the ground’s surface.

As his Telekinesis penetrated the ground to scan it, the ore vein beneath visibly and rapidly dimmed, as if being drained dry.

Once the energy was siphoned away, the rock became brittle and crumbly, eventually turning to fine dust.

After half a minute, the energy from the shallow ore vein was completely drained. While the quality was inferior to the exposed crystal clusters, it made up for it in sheer quantity.

Su Chen applied a bit of pressure with his Telekinesis. CRACK! The ground gave way and collapsed, revealing a crater beneath.

With the task complete, the mutton-fat white jade had turned completely gray, though its texture remained exquisitely fine.