Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

”Weaving” and ”Resonance” had both mutated.

Weaving II (Attached Damage): Allows for the perfect attachment of up to four types of elemental Attached Damage onto other Runes and individual attacks.

Resonance II (Global Perception): Within a 200-meter radius, the user can actively establish instantaneous Resonance with any Element in the environment to perceive all forms of movement.

For example, it could perceive external changes through disturbances in the airflow from breathing, shifts in stress within rock strata, free-floating electrical charges, the whispers of the forest, and more.

Upgrading the old class traits required spending two Spirit Marrow Crystals each.

”Not bad.”

Su Chen didn’t hesitate. With a single thought, four Spirit Marrow Crystals instantly floated out of his backpack, transforming into streams of light that vanished into his Sea of Consciousness.

In an instant, the small Spiritual Energy tree rooted deep in his consciousness trembled violently. Two fruit-bearing branches suddenly swelled, and the two large fruits at their tips began to emanate new halos of light.

Su Chen closed his eyes for a moment, and his Perception washed outward like a tide.

The surrounding Elements immediately and humbly welcomed the arrival of his will. Flowing Wind Fluff gently lifted the corner of his clothing, the ley lines beneath his feet trembled slightly, and even the sunbeams slanting down from the skylight automatically softened as they landed on him.

It was as if all of creation was whispering, and he was there to listen.

This was completely different from Strong Thought Perception.

One was an active probe, seeking information from the outside world;

the other was being actively accepted, drawn close to, and even confided in by the various Elements.

From a sensory perspective, the latter was obviously more comprehensive.

After confirming that the maximum range of his Resonance had indeed doubled, Su Chen didn’t test it any further.

Essentially, the trait’s core effect remained unchanged.

Just like the ’Weaving’ trait, his ability to weave three elements into a new Rune hadn’t changed. However, it opened up brand-new possibilities for the Attached Damage system, stacking another layer of damage on top.

To put it plainly, with a single punch, he could inflict up to four separate elemental Attached Damage Effects. The damage from each would be calculated sequentially, without conflict or interference.

”Not bad.”

The most popular build for One-Star Rune Walkers at the moment was the Damage Attachment Stream, but they could only inflict two Attached Damage Effects.

Their weapons of choice were naturally firearms like rifles, shotguns, and sniper rifles. Paired with an Acceleration Rune Array in the chamber, the bullets’ killing power was pushed to an absurd extreme.

Now that he could stack four layers of Attached Damage onto any single attack, one could only imagine how high the damage would be.

’It takes a lot of Spiritual Materials to upgrade these class traits. They’re not easy to collect,’ Su Chen sighed to himself.

After he upgraded the two class traits, the small Spiritual Energy tree in his Sea of Consciousness didn’t immediately sprout new branches. Instead, it fell into a deep silence, as if gathering its Power.

Its sparse roots, buried deep in the Spiritual Energy soil, seemed to be extending and growing outward. The small tree, having reached a growth saturation point, still needed some time to develop further.

’I’ll just have to wait.’

For now, Su Chen was free from this bottomless money pit.

...

Pang Peng’s assumption was correct.

Not long after they finished their meal, Liao Dahai and his wife contacted them via walkie-talkie.

About ten minutes later, their figures appeared on the surveillance feed just outside the camp.

”These Teleportation Gates are so convenient.”

The man remarked with great feeling the moment he entered the camp.

”Right now, the teleportation hub has only unlocked a quota of ten Teleportation Gates. If a slot is available, any individual can deploy their own Teleport Anchor Point by donating a certain amount of ore and wood, and paying a fee of 48 units of any Elemental Essence.”

Of course, these can’t be monopolized for private use. The donor only gets to decide on the deployment location.

There’s also a cooldown period.

For example, after a Teleportation Gate is destroyed, you have to wait 24 hours before a new one can be deployed.

Liao Dahai added, ”Dongfu City’s southern border was attacked by personnel from other cities. To rapidly mobilize combat personnel from the various Forward Bases, they just went ahead and deployed all the major Teleport Anchor Points along the border.”

This approach was undoubtedly very safe and conservative, with nothing aggressive about it.

While it meant Dongfu City’s personnel couldn’t use the teleporters as springboards to instantly appear deep in some distant forest, it also meant they had clearly established an interlocking, iron-shelled defensive formation.

Once the three-day time limit was up, this world quest would be considered a success.

”What’s the situation now?” Yan Ziqian asked, concerned about the front lines.

”It’s touch and go, hard to say. The Rune fortress at South Gate 1 is holding firm, not letting anything through, but the Teleportation Gate at South Gate 3 has already been destroyed. The fighting is spreading elsewhere, and infiltrators have even been spotted deep within our territory.”

Liao Dahai said, his voice laced with anxiety.

”Sigh, it’s just one thing after another,” Yu Ziyuan lamented.

Dongfu City had no security system capable of protecting the entire city. Even if the walls were completely sealed, they had no way to stop infiltrators who could fly through the air or tunnel underground.

What’s more, they had no means of identifying friend from foe; their only recourse was to focus on Western-looking faces.

”It’s a huge joke, really. According to a captive we interrogated, Rune Formulas in Oran City can be sold for a fortune. Knowledge comes at a price there.

If an ordinary person wants to obtain a comprehensive set of Rune Formulas to build a complete Rune system, they either have to rely on guesswork or throw in their lot with a major gang or corporation. So you can imagine how much our five batches of freely published Rune Formulas, 430 in all, would sell for.”

Liao Dahai clicked his tongue in wonder as he spoke.

”Capitalism will always find a way to suck the marrow from your bones,” Pang Peng said with visceral disgust.

The people of Oran City really have it rough. They get extorted with an extra service fee just for using Rune-powered buildings.

And now, they can’t even get access to a complete set of Rune synthesis formulas.

”And no one fights back?” Gong Jun was speechless.

”Any free, public channels are specifically targeted and shut down by a joint effort of Oran City’s top factions. On this point, they have a perfect unspoken agreement. They’d never let anyone cut off their cash flow,” Liao Dahai responded.

That was just absurd.

”On what grounds?” Pang Peng figured there had to be some high-and-mighty justification.

”That, I really don’t know.” Liao Dahai paused, admitting he wasn’t clear on the specific details.

But the reason was probably something predictable. The simplest excuse would be to prevent the malicious release of fake Rune information that could mess up other people’s builds.

”Well, it sounds like that line of business is about to go under,” Su Chen couldn’t help but smile.

Speaking of Rune Formulas, Ms. Cheng handed over a stack of pamphlets from her bag. It was the official draft of the fifth batch of Rune synthesis formulas.

”There are 80 in total.”

Su Chen glanced over it.

The header highlighted a key Rune.

Fire + Earth + Wood = Geothermal Skill.

Light + Water + Wood = Light Synthesis Skill.

The former’s effect was just as its name implied: it formed a geothermal circulation system underground. When paired with the Constant Temperature Skill, it was exceptionally effective in extremely cold weather.

It was considered a type of Environmental Shaping Skill. At Lv6, it could transform a patch of ground into a Flame Purgatory, making it very useful in both daily life and combat.

’They’ve also added a lot of High-tier Effects for previously released Runes,’ Su Chen noted, glancing at the table of contents.

When some of the earlier Runes were released, only their effects up to Lv3 had been listed, leaving everyone completely in the dark about the traits that unlocked at later levels.

As time passed, the Security Committee had begun to focus on filling in these knowledge gaps.

One Rune in particular was specially marked.

Light + Water + Dark = Optical Camouflage.

This was a Light Element-based concealment method, an alternative to the Invisibility Skill.

The absurd part was that at Lv5, it unlocked the Facial Mimicry trait, which could capture and reproduce the facial contours, skin tone, and even the micro-expression habits of any creature within the user’s line of sight.

Lv6 unlocked the Holographic Mimicry function, which could perfectly replicate a target’s physique, gait, and even the signature of their elemental fluctuations.

It was a god-tier skill seemingly tailor-made for spies.

The Security Committee specifically emphasized that an enemy faction known as the Skull Gang was highly proficient with this concealment technique. That morning, they had infiltrated a Forward Base and destroyed a Teleportation Gate.

”Well, that explains it.”

A harsh lesson learned.

As for the other skill, Light Synthesis, it had an effect similar to photosynthesis and was beneficial for plant growth.

This fifth batch of formulas also seemed to be a showcase for the Light and Dark Elements, focusing on revealing Runes for these two more difficult-to-obtain Element types.

Light + Dark + Dark = Mirror Substitute;

At Lv7, this formed an extremely rare Passive Skill: when struck by a fatal attack, the user’s real body would be instantly teleported to a reflective surface within 10 meters, allowing the substitute to take the damage instead.