Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

"Finally, a Rune dropped," Su Chen remarked.

Apparently, during the day, someone had actually managed to get a three-in-one Elemental Rune to drop from a monster in one go.

This was the first time it had happened for him, personally.

Unlike the tiny essences, once the Rune manifested from the Night Bird’s corpse, it was as if held aloft by an invisible hand. It hovered in mid-air, spinning slightly like a Divine Talisman surrounded by a flowing halo of light.

It was about the size of his palm and was a cyan-green color.

Countless intricate and arcane patterns covered it. They weren’t flatly engraved, but rather had a three-dimensional, embossed quality, creating the impression of something that was both script and totem.

This was the first time Su Chen had seen the physical appearance of a Rune with his own eyes, rather than through his spiritual senses.

’A rather beautiful Wood Element Rune.’

If he carefully examined the Rune’s structure beneath its green glow, Su Chen boldly guessed its composition was Wood, Gold, and Wood.

He temporarily identified the fine golden veins sandwiched between two layers of cyan-green patterns as the Gold Element.

Moreover, the Jade Pendant he wore over his heart began to give off a sense of Resonance, vibrating constantly as if magnetized.

It hadn’t responded when he picked up the Thunder Element essence earlier.

’I’ll feed it to the pendant.’

He wasn’t interested in the Rune’s effect, *Wood Plume Wild Dance*. Besides, the ability was highly suited to the Night Birds themselves; a human’s anatomy probably couldn’t produce the same effect.

And even among humans, the effects of the same Rune could vary greatly between individuals.

Since his compatibility was low to begin with, it was perfect fodder for the Jade Pendant.

Su Chen undid the top two buttons of his shirt. Holding the Wood Element Rune in one hand, he pressed it directly against his chest, a motion that also shielded it from any potential onlookers.

An instant later, the cyan-green Rune was devoured by a powerful suction. It tore free from his palm and was completely absorbed by the Jade Pendant.

For a moment, the Jade Pendant once again turned a deep, rich imperial green, and strange, crude markings slowly began to appear on its surface.

If the structure of the Elemental Rune itself was orderly and precise, then these transformed characters were wild and primitive.

Based on his first experience, in about two hours, these newly transformed, savage characters would feed back into his body, granting a permanent boost to his Physique attribute.

This positive feedback loop gave him more energy to keep going.

The night wind was bitingly cold, and gusts of pressure from above occasionally made it hard to stay on one’s feet.

The first wave of tonight’s invasion came entirely from various types of Night Birds.

Looking over at Cyan Dragon Ridge now, he could barely see any moving figures.

It wasn’t that they had all been slaughtered.

Someone had given them a tip beforehand: the large birds lost interest in stationary targets, so playing dead might be very effective.

So, there were indeed some people on the ridge playing dead, not moving a muscle.

The sad part was, it proved an old saying: when you encounter a bear in the wild, you don’t have to run faster than the bear, you just have to run faster than the person next to you.

In this situation, those who were grimly playing dead were also praying that other people would be enough to sate the Night Birds, leaving a path of escape for themselves.

The situation inside the base camp was relatively optimistic. They had only fallen into a brief moment of chaos at the beginning of the Night Birds’ assault.

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

A volley of Arrows cutting sharply through the air quickly inflicted effective casualties.

Even the small group of Archers in the distance, who had set a simple trap using a small pig, had scored a kill.

During the battle, several Arrows wreathed in flames, Wind, and lightning drew frequent attention as they flew through the air.

It couldn’t be helped; they were just too conspicuous in the night sky.

"Is that the Damage Attachment Stream? I heard it can be applied to all of the user’s attacks. You can infuse power into your Arrows just by drawing the bowstring, which massively increases their killing efficiency." Many Archers were deeply envious. It was safe to say this was the type of Rune Ability they coveted most.

’If they could get one, it would be like giving wings to a tiger, making the strong even stronger.’

"I heard the formula for a Flame Burst Rune is three Fire. But some people say it’s two Fire and one Wood. I don’t know who’s trying to scam people."

That was the frustrating part. Once a Rune was synthesized, there was no way to disassemble it and try again. If you really got scammed, you’d feel like killing someone.

"Let me put it this way: even with two Fire and one Wood, you have to get the sequence right. Fire-Wood-Fire, Fire-Fire-Wood, and Wood-Fire-Fire all produce different results. This is a lesson someone paid for with blood and tears. Telling you this much is generous enough, right?"

During a lull in the fighting, after a brief exchange, two archery clubs from friendly universities unexpectedly learned a concrete piece of information.

’No more birds to fight.’

At this point, Su Chen was wandering across the open field.

He was so leisurely and relaxed, it almost looked like he was taking a casual stroll through a courtyard.

After he quickly dispatched two Night Birds, their kin naturally grew fearful. They stopped diving, instead circling high in the sky, hesitant to attack.

And these Night Birds were indeed very different from the large birds seen during the day.

They had round, blunt heads, resembling owls, but their bodies were unusually tall and thin. And, like the Exotic Tiger and Leopard, they possessed different Elemental attributes, resulting in various forms and appearances.

The Night Bird that had been lured by the small pig was a water-attribute type, its entire body covered in a conspicuous, oily sheen.

Right now, the small pig was still chained in the middle of the clearing. Completely unaware that it had just had a brush with death, it was oinking and snorting as it buried its head in some small cabbages.

Similarly, many small groups had set up simple traps. A classic tactic was to use a drone as a decoy; large birds that mistook it for prey would often take the bait and be shot down.

This method was tried and true.

All in all, with humans prepared and the monsters not, the response was far more effective than during the day. There was some chaos and a few casualties, but the good far outweighed the bad.

After their initial assault failed, the Night Birds only dared to circle high above.

But this was merely the prelude to the night.

In fact, the personnel on the western fortifications were already growing vigilant.

At the edge of the forest, they could already see indistinct dark shapes.

In front of them was a pile of monster carcasses left over from the day.

In a way, they were artificially creating a corpse mound to deter other monsters.

Originally, they had intended to collect and dispose of the monster bodies to prevent disease. However, without gasoline to douse them, it was nearly impossible to burn them successfully. As for digging a pit for burial, that was out of the question—who had the energy to waste on digging?

The best disposal method was probably to wait for the river to dry up completely and use a channel as a burial pit.

That would save a lot of trouble and effort.

But the problem was, the river hadn’t completely dried up yet.

After much compromise, they were left with the current scene.

A pile of corpses from many unfamiliar species might at least make some monsters think twice and retreat.

At worst, it could serve as bait to lure in some large omnivores to feed. After these scavengers had done their job, it would be easy for the humans to dispose of them.

But when something actually came, some people weren’t so happy.

"Hey, isn’t that bear a little too big?"

At that moment, a massive, stout bear, 2.3 meters tall at the shoulder, was pawing through the pile of corpses. Its sheer size completely dwarfed Earth’s heaviest extant polar bears. What was even more terrifying was that three half-grown cubs followed behind it.

"It’s a mother bear with cubs. This is getting dangerous."

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