Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

'Not bad.'

Su Chen was genuinely satisfied. A unique feature of this woven Technique was the absolute control it granted over his flight's kinetic energy.

In less than a breath, with no wind-up or preparation, he shot from a standstill into a full-speed dash. He barely generated any Wind Fluff or disturbed the air, and not a single trace of his aura escaped. Only when he came to an instant stop did the hem of his clothes flutter.

After accelerating to top speed in an instant, he could execute a near-right-angle turn in mid-air, completely defying inertia.

This level of hyper-maneuverability was in a different league from the Flying Cooperative Skills he had used before.

After testing out the Rune's properties, a satisfied Su Chen glanced toward a distant patch of forest where the light of a fire flickered.

Through his Resonance Perception, information from the lingering flames flooded his Sea of Consciousness. Amidst the hot embers, a thick carpet of fungus on the ground had been scorched and devastated over a wide area.

Yet, from the scorched earth, a hulking figure rose. It was like the legendary Frankenstein's monster, a mass of flesh crudely stitched together to give it the physique of a biological tyrant. Black-red ooze seeped from its seams.

The creature had clearly been heavily wounded in a recent battle; a bloody, bowl-sized hole was punched through its skull.

Wisps of mutated, dark-purple fungal hyphae emerged from its brain tissue, extending outward. They ensnared the flesh and blood of human corpses on the ground—and even their Rune Essence—and frantically pulled it all into the wound.

Clearly, a group had fought here but were ultimately defeated and forced to retreat, leaving two bodies behind.

'I'll go take a look.'

Su Chen's gaze turned cold. After leaving a signal for his teammates, his body phase-shifted and instantly warped forward.

He appeared silently, ten meters diagonally above the monster. Uncharacteristically, he threw a Flame Burst Flying Knife. The precise, close-range toss instantly disintegrated half the creature's skull, and the hyphae attempting to patch the wound were vaporized on the spot.

The stitched-together monstrosity was clearly not on the level of an elite cave dweller.

His Strong Will pierced its cranial cavity, forcibly stripping five Runes from within. A moment later, after pulling them toward him, he retraced his path and returned to his perch in the distant treetop.

He casually snapped off a branch, let it get contaminated with the scent of the Rune Spores, and immediately threw it in the opposite direction, deep into the forest.

Then, a Pure White Short Staff released a wave of pure, radiant light that finally cleansed the area of any residual Rune Spores.

A moment later, Su Chen the Void Wanderer vanished once more, nonchalantly rejoining his team.

In that short trip, he had acquired five more Runes: a Lv4 Thunder Bomb, a Lv4 Critical Strike, and three Lv3 Runes. Judging by the build, it looked like an Archer who specialized in Attached Damage had been killed.

A short while later, a tremor ran through the distant forest. The branch had served as the perfect decoy.

Upon realizing the deception, that entire section of the forest began to tremble violently, as if a great beast had been awoken. It was almost as if nature itself were enraged.

Even more terrifying, the sound of grinding mouthparts, suddenly amplified, echoed from that direction. After a hoarse, grating screech, a twisted, short phrase emerged.

"...I'll kill you!"

"Huh?"

The group was startled.

Su Chen frowned slightly. He suddenly realized that the threat most likely came from the fungal consciousness behind everything.

An animal's anger was easy enough to understand, but for a fungus to display such raw, violent rage was something to be taken very seriously.

The hive mind behind this was clearly learning and evolving.

Judging from their encounter in the broadcast room, it clearly had the ability to read human thoughts and memories, using its hyphae to manipulate vocal cords as a lure.

Fortunately, the formless, abstract fungal consciousness hadn't discovered their group's location. Only after everyone had returned safely to the campsite did they begin to speak.

"Screaming Skill."

Yan Ziqian offered his assessment. "I don't know the specific components needed to create it, but we've encountered Vampire Bats that use this kind of Dark Element sonic ability. It must have generated a mimicked set of mouthparts and vocal cords, then used the Screaming Skill to express its emotion."

The deduction sounded plausible, but on second thought, it was still a bit far-fetched.

Fungi have no nervous system or brain; they shouldn't be capable of emotion. The thought of one becoming so enraged was enough to send a chill down one's spine in retrospect.

'We can't stay in this forest...' Cao Yutang felt a wave of residual fear.

According to the team's biologist, Yu Ziyuan, most fungi exist in Symbiosis with the ancient trees of the forest. Their underground mycelial networks are fundamentally intertwined with the forest's root systems—they are inseparable.

If they wanted to eliminate the fungus, they would have to destroy the entire forest. Otherwise, they might as well just give up.

However, there are countless species of fungi. This mutated variant was clearly different from the others. If they could find a way to target it specifically, there was still a slim chance of victory.

"This is going to be tough. If it can hold a grudge like that, our only option might be to run," Cao Yutang said, exasperated.

An animal would be one thing, but this was a hive mind with a living neural network spread beneath the entire forest floor. It had no single core, no fatal weakness.

Just figuring out how to fight it was a problem.

Seeing this, Su Chen shared his own understanding of the fungal consciousness, and the faces of the others grew grim.

The joy from their fruitful journey was considerably dampened.

Aside from the fungus, no one steered the conversation toward Su Chen's hidden class. It involved his privacy and the very foundation of his power, so prying would have been impolite.

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