Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

A Bear’s eyesight was not to be trusted—that’s how it earned its name, after all.

In the dead of night, it was nearly impossible for it to spot two hidden figures that had blended seamlessly with their surroundings.

But the Bear’s sense of smell was truly impressive. Its Perception had already detected an invisible wolfhound hiding on the other side of the bridge, and the air behind the Night Tiger’s corpse was filled with the scent of a creature it had never encountered before.

Despite this, it was fearless.

It continued its slow, swaggering advance, its head swaying as if completely oblivious to the ambush that lay ahead.

’Trying to play mind games with me...’

Su Chen chuckled inwardly but didn’t let his guard down for a second.

Grizzly bears on Earth often feigned indifference while hunting, only to launch a sudden, violent charge once they were close to their prey.

He’d seen plenty of clips of it in short videos.

Besides, he could feel the familiar power of the Fire Element emanating from it.

So...

The moment the Bear stepped into range, the Crimson Flame swirling in Su Chen’s hand instantly surged into his Small Straight Knife. This elemental disturbance shattered his invisibility.

At that instant, the Fire Bear sensed the familiar, surging power of a Flame Burst. Its pupils contracted, its fiery red mane stood on end, and its facade of ignorance vanished. Like a flaming war chariot, it charged furiously toward the bridge.

’Too late...’

With a single stride, Su Chen twisted at the waist, channeled the force through his shoulder, and fluently flung the blade from his hand.

The Flying Knife streaked through the air like a fiery meteor, carving a crimson trail. With an instinctive roar, the Fire Bear suddenly raised its left paw, which also ignited with a Crimson Flame, as it tried to bat the knife away.

BOOM!

Upon impact, the two forces didn’t cancel each other out. Instead, they triggered a violent, fiery explosion.

The Fire Bear’s entire left paw, along with nearly half its forearm, was instantly blasted into a cloud of blood mist.

"AOOO!"

The Bear’s wretched howl echoed through the night. Its charge came to a sudden halt, revealing a gruesome stub of bone where its left arm used to be. Despite the excruciating pain, it glared with scarlet eyes and resumed its frenzied charge.

Su Chen’s gaze hardened. Without a moment’s hesitation, he hurled the second Small Straight Knife, already poised in his hand.

Another Flying Knife.

But his throwing technique had changed. This time, it was a swift, sharp flick of the wrist.

This was, of course, a trade-off for distance.

At short range, speed was everything!

The technique might have changed, but there was no hint of hesitation in his movements.

He was so confident that he didn’t even need to use Startle for support.

BOOM!!

Another explosive blast of flame erupted ahead.

The Flying Knife struck the Fire Bear squarely in the head. The violent impact blew the top half of its skull clean off.

The giant Bear collapsed, but its body continued to twitch violently. It even looked like it was about to get up again. Su Chen’s pupils constricted, and he drew a sharp, golden knife from his waist pouch.

Xiaoye crept closer, circling the still-smoldering giant Bear, looking as if it would leap for the nape of its neck at any moment.

Finally, the giant Bear took its last breath and went still. On its shattered head, only a single, intact eye remained, glaring furiously. The ferocious, scarlet light within it slowly faded.

’This Bear’s Life Force is incredibly tenacious,’ Su Chen thought. ’I almost had to use a third Flame Burst.’

’If that second Flying Knife hadn’t hit its head, the outcome might have been very different.’

"A head-on clash of Flame Bursts... good thing this Bear didn’t know how to use tools."

That was a major reason for its defeat.

Flame Burst was a Damage Attachment Stream Rune; using it purely for melee output was something of a waste.

This giant Bear’s swipes must have packed at least three tons of Power. If it had been able to swing a large rock, its destructive capability would have been unimaginable. A Flame Burst-infused rock falling on you would be like a meteorite strike.

"Camping this bridge netted me some good loot."

Su Chen’s gaze fell upon the giant Bear’s corpse. Two crimson Runes were rising sequentially from the wound in its head.

And that wasn’t all. It also dropped two earth-brown essences and wisps of starlight motes that drifted into the air—the key upgrade material, Spiritual Dust Sand.

"This loot drop is insane."

Even more satisfying than instantly killing that Night Tiger.

Su Chen took an empty bottle from his canvas backpack and carefully collected the Spiritual Dust Sand. He had to save this rare material for his next Rune upgrade.

Then...

He identified one of the Runes as a Flame Burst Rune, grabbed it, and instantly devoured it.

Judging by the details of its outline, it was probably only Lv2, but that was enough.

VMMMM!!

At that moment, a blazing light erupted in the depths of his consciousness. The Flame Burst Rune vibrated violently, its mystical patterns frantically extending and rearranging themselves. For a moment, the very air around him seemed to heat up from the fire within his mind.

[Flame Burst] successfully advanced from Lv3 → Lv4!

Trait Enhancements: Damage Amplification, Blast Radius, Casting Efficiency

New Trait: Disintegration

(Disintegration: When Flame Burst hits a target, its core energy generates a high-frequency shockwave that can, to a certain extent, break down the structure of matter and Elemental Particles.)

...

[Flame Burst] (Lv4): Imbues all of the Spellcaster’s attacks with 180% flame bombardment damage, causing splash and disintegration effects in an area.

Upgrade Requirements: Flame Burst Rune 0/8, Spiritual Dust Sand 0/3

Mastered Runes: Water Mirror Refraction Lv1, Flame Burst Lv4, Startle Lv2, Shadow Leap Lv2, Shadow Summon Lv2

’A complete, all-around enhancement.’

Su Chen glanced at the new ’Disintegration’ trait. It was pure, efficient destruction—not limited to physical matter, but even capable of breaking down the elemental shields he would face in the future.

The description clearly took his own understanding into account; the system had differentiated between the "matter" he knew and the Elemental Particles unique to this fantasy world.

Beyond its power, the Rune’s future upgrade requirements gave Su Chen a headache. It would take 24 Fire Element essences in total.

Spiritual Dust Sand was even rarer, and so far, had only dropped from high-risk monsters.

And he still needed three more to max it out at Lv5.

’This thing is really expensive to level up.’

Su Chen took stock of the five Runes he had mastered. If he wanted to level them all up, it might not be a huge problem, considering his kill speed.

But he couldn’t afford to casually add any more new Runes.

The resource cost for upgrades was a huge sink.

Compatibility was another major issue. If his affinity with a Rune was poor, he wouldn’t be able to utilize its full potential. Pouring resources into upgrading it then would be a complete waste of effort.

He would also have to start thinking about a proper build. This was a lesson learned from past games. While he wasn’t sure if it applied to this world, he was convinced that there were probably synergistic effects between Runes.

’At least it used up one Fire Element essence,’ Su Chen mused. He did a quick mental calculation and realized that after the upgrade, the excess value from the Rune he’d used wasn’t returned; it had all simply dissipated into embers.

’I wonder if there’ll be an efficient way to break down Runes in the future.’

He didn’t dwell on it, instead taking another empty bottle from his backpack and placing the two Earth Element essences inside.

As for the other Fire Rune that had dropped, judging by its structure, it was also Lv2. The giant Bear hadn’t had a chance to use it in the heat of battle, so he had no idea what its effect was.

Su Chen had no intention of absorbing this one. Instead, he took out a golf club and attached the Rune to it.

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