Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

The highland wind was cool and refreshing. During their break, Su Chen began to take stock of his personal gains.

During his killing spree at Qingxi Stream, he had rarely stopped to collect dropped loot. Accumulating contribution points was the primary objective of this trip.

Meanwhile, Yan Ruoruo, positioned at the rear, relied on the stealth of her Moonlight Concealing Clothing to help collect as much as she could. If she ever drew focused fire, she could calmly phase out of reality, escaping to the dark side of the moon.

”Lots of small fry.”

If Su Chen had to give his impression, it was that the Lorentz Group’s Mineral Protection Team was undoubtedly a mixed bag.

That was understandable.

The Teleportation Gate at Qingxi Stream was established for mining and excavation, so naturally, it wasn’t staffed with powerful personnel.

Of course.

The ”small fry” he mentioned were all Rune Professionals, each guaranteed to have at least three Lv4 Runes and drop a portion of Spiritual Dust Sand.

”Healing Skill and Flying Skill Runes are pretty rare, but I have enough to upgrade them now.”

In Dongfu City, while these general-purpose, high-efficiency Runes weren’t a must-have for every single person, they were still quite common. In any group of three, at least one person would have mastered one of them.

One for life-saving healing to recover from injuries.

Even when not in a fight, it was more than enough to cure a common cold.

The other fulfilled everyone’s dream of flight, and in the forest, it was also effective for aerial reconnaissance and surprise attacks over obstacles.

But Oran City was completely different.

Their Rune system had never truly been open-source.

”Their system is a total mess. The various Runes are completely mismatched, and a lot of them are just Rune Walkers.”

As the one collecting the loot, Ruoruo realized just how severe the suppression of Magic knowledge was in Oran City.

In fact.

After Dongfu City had made everything transparent and open-source early on, the general public had come to look down on the only One-Star Profession, Rune Walker. Everyone instead rushed to pursue Two-Star, single-element Professions.

Moreover, their builds were very logical.

Solo players would naturally invest evenly in attack, defense, and Support Class Runes to achieve a balance.

As for team members, each would specialize in their own role, forming a logical configuration like the classic ”warrior-mage-priest” trinity.

”Then it seems Oran City doesn’t stand a chance,” Su Chen said with certainty.

In terms of the individual quality and tactical coordination of their lowest-tier members alone, Dongfu City was already leagues ahead.

The stark reality was that Oran City’s upper echelons likely had an internal list of Rune Formulas. At least their systems would be complementary, so the Runes of their core members and followers wouldn’t be so nonsensically chaotic.

But the quality of their grassroots combatants was a serious concern.

If one had to name an advantage, it would probably be that everyone had a gun. The prevalence of firearms at the bottom of Oran City’s social pyramid was incredibly high.

”We’ve probably got this in the bag. The only variable might be the Demon Warlocks.” Yan Ruoruo also felt their victory was all but certain.

”True. Their army isn’t worth worrying about,” Su Chen nodded.

Oran City’s military was purely an army reserve force. The fact that they were forced to let the major corporations have a seat at the table just a few days after seizing power said a lot.

And according to the Priest’s intelligence, their conventional weapons only consisted of tanks, heavy armored vehicles, attack helicopters, heavy machine guns, man-portable air-defense systems, anti-tank missiles, and the like.

The power of a conventional missile couldn’t compare at all to Su Chen’s three-in-one Core Collapse Fusion Technique.

The ”glass cannon” moniker wasn’t for nothing.

In terms of range, however, Rune Techniques were indeed far inferior.

’It’ll all depend on how the Enchantment effects manifest,’ Su Chen thought, realizing that missile strikes could also adopt the Damage Attachment Stream playstyle.

As for things like attack helicopters... they were just flying targets, completely incomparable to large summoned flying creatures.

After briefly discussing the developing situation, the two of them finished absorbing all the useful Runes they had selected.

[Healing Skill] Lv6 → Lv7! Advancement Successful!

Traits Enhanced: Vitality, Casting Range

New Trait: Life Seed

(Life Seed: While healing a target, a Life Seed that lasts for 1 minute is implanted in their body. If the target suffers another fatal injury, the seed will automatically burst, providing an instantaneous, life-saving heal.)

...

[Healing Skill] (Lv7): Within a 50-meter range, rapidly recovers a target from critical injuries within 3 seconds. Excess Life Energy will form a life shield and generate one Life Seed.

Advancement Requirement: Wood Element Soul Core 0/1

’Not bad. This new trait means a dedicated healer won’t have to keep their eyes glued to one person,’ Su Chen thought to himself.

Also.

The Flying Skill was also upgraded.

The Low Wind Resistance Barrier evolved into a full-coverage wind shield, reducing the user’s chances of crashing.

It also unlocked a new trait: ’Vector Maneuvering’.

The Spellcaster gains the ’Zero Inertia’ ability, allowing them to stop instantly during a high-speed dive or make a 90-degree turn, completely ignoring physical g-forces.

’Better than nothing. Both my three-in-one Technique, Void Wanderer, and my current Aurora Flash can do this better,’ Su Chen mused.

As one of the three core components, the improvement to Flying Skill naturally enhanced the synthesized effect of Aurora Flash.

Yan Ruoruo’s improvement was also significant. As a Heart Sword Warlock, she already had several Spirit Element Lv6 Runes. With the ones Su Chen gave her, she managed to raise three Spirit Element Runes—Mind Transmission, Spiritual Shelter, and Mind Blast—to Lv7 in one go.

She also successfully unlocked the second Core Authority of the Spirit String Artisan.

’Double Arrow’!

Any Arrows Ruoruo fired, including physical arrows and Spiritual Energy Arrows, would now automatically split into two identical projectiles the moment they left the bowstring, fully retaining all Enchantment effects and the original arrow type.