Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the valley, at the shore of the Spirit Lake.
The silver-white light of the moon reflected upon the surface of the lake, and various creatures within the lake occasionally poked their heads and bodies out through the water surface, staring at the moon and absorbing the inexplicable substance carried in the air into themselves.
The animals that surrounded Lin Ming were different from them.
After the recent encounter with humans entering the mountain, Lin Ming realized that it was not enough for him alone to become stronger.
The correct way was for his subordinates to also become stronger alongside him.
That’s right, subordinates. Lin Ming called the animals and birds surrounding him his ‘subordinates’.
A snake, seven wolves, a panda, a bear cub, three monkeys, two jackals, a lynx, two little egrets, and two red-crowned cranes.
These were Lin Ming’s current subordinates.
At the moment, they were all drinking Lin Ming’s essence that was rich with spiritual aura — Spiritual Fluid. The rate at which their levels advanced was much faster than the creatures in the lake, and even when compared to the creatures in other parts of the valley.
It seemed that this Spiritual Fluid could also cause them to undergo some mutations.
Among them, the most obvious change was that of the seven little wolf pups.
Before, the fur on the legs of three wolf pups had turned a light green color. Now, the change was even more intense as they consumed more Spiritual Fluid.
The long fur all over their bodies stood up, and their physiques had grown. Before, they were the size of a small calf, but after going through a few cycles of growth, they were now comparable to a big strong bull!
Meanwhile, the light-green color of their leg fur had permeated to the rest of the fur on their bodies, gradually darkened, and was now a dark blue!
Lil One, Lil Two, and Lil Three, who could now be called ‘giant wolves’, seemed completely different from how they originally were.
[Lineage: Wind Elemental Wolf]
[Stage: Rank-1 Grade-1]
[Abilities: Windblade Fangs Level-1: Wind attributes twine around the fangs, allowing their teeth to easily break thinner steel bars into two with just a bite!
Howl Level-6: Can call for companions several kilometers away. Its sound can rupture eardrums and destroy the perception of enemies.]
[Special Ability: Wolves of Septenary Level-8. When operating jointly with companions, combat effectiveness is increased by 80%.]
[Talent: Wind Elemental Control Level-1. Initial mastery of the Wind Element, certain increase in speed, fangs and claws become sharper and stronger.]
Just as he thought.
Their elemental power had been awakened.
Previously, Captain Zheng had awakened the ability to control flames.
Back then, when Lin Ming looked at the three wolf pups, he had wondered if they would also awaken the power of an element.
After all, at that time, the three of them had shown some signs.
The fur on their legs had turned green, and in terms of speed, they were definitely faster than the other four pups.
At that time, Lin Ming had wondered if they were really developing ‘wind attributes’. Looking at it now, that really was the case.
Elemental attributes.
A word with mysterious and magical implications.
Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, etc.
These were the constitutions of all aspects of the entire world.
Lin Ming had never witnessed Captain Xu’s ability to manipulate flames with his own eyes, nor could he guess what it would look like when utilized. (TN: We believe that it should be ‘Captain Zheng’ instead of ‘Captain Xu’ and that it was a typo on the author’s part, but we have opted to translate it as is.)
Maybe something like a flash of fire? Or perhaps fireballs would appear around the person?
His guesses were not reliable, but if any of his subordinates were to possess fire elemental attributes in the future, he would be able to get a glimpse of it then.
As for Captain Xu, Lin Ming felt that he would probably not come by anytime soon.
If that person really did come, then Lin Ming would have something to say about that.
He would never let such a human who possessed elemental attributes freely enter and leave the area that he ruled over.
Such an enemy, once he got rid of one, another one would just appear again.
The saying ‘nip it at the bud’ also applied to human beings.
Once the threat arrived, Lin Ming did not want it to grow into a pressing danger. Completely eradicating it before it could take root was the best way to go about it.
Thinking about it, in addition to thermal weapons, if there were a large number of these so-called transcendents on the human’s side coming to attack him…
With Lin Ming’s current strength, could he defeat all the incoming enemies?
The answer was certainly not.
Therefore, both he and these mutant animals who had been loyal to him had to now constantly focus on becoming stronger.
Lin Ming ended that train of thought and looked back at the three wolf pups.
On the personalized dashboard, the name of their Lineage, which had previously been ‘Wild Forest Wolf’, had changed to ‘Wind Elemental Wolf’.
Elemental attributes had been added to their Lineage.
In terms of their Stage, they had officially entered “Rank-1”.
Compared to the three of them, the remaining four wolf pups were still at Unranked Grade-9. Besides that, there were no changes in the color of their fur, and their body sizes had remained the same.
Lin Ming wondered, could this be related to their individual differences?
On the other hand, did it require a certain amount of time, or maybe even some sort of turning point?
Looking at the personalized dashboard once again, the three wolves’ previous ability, ‘Diamond Fangs’, had now become ‘Windblade Fangs’, and they could even bite through steel bars.
This was completely new. With the help of the power of wind, their fangs and claws had become sharper, and their running speed had increased.
They were now Wind Elemental Wolves, and had become much stronger than before!
If Lil One and the others had attacked those five people from this morning in their current state, he believed that they would not be injured at all, and they definitely would not have let the fellow who had injured Lil Six and Lil Seven off the hook.
“Lil One, Lil Two, and Lil Three, the three of you, display your strengths before me!”
Lin Ming’s bamboo branches stroked their backs, and the three Wind Elemental Wolves raised their heads and howled!
They bowed their heads for Lin Ming, then each transformed into a bluish-green ball of light. Under the glow of the moonlight, they completed a lap around the Spirit Lake in the blink of an eye!
Then, they each rammed into a huge boulder, causing a loud crash!
The three huge boulders instantaneously shattered into tiny fragments, and the three bluish-green balls of light turned back into three giant wolves, bowing their heads in front of Lin Ming once again.
Lin Ming was very pleased.
The three of them, who had mastered wind attributes, would only continue to grow from now on. He looked forward to their future.
However, if Lil One and the other two had mastered wind elemental attributes, why was it that up till now, he had not mastered any of these elements himself?
As a ‘demon bamboo’, although Lin Ming was also at Rank-1, his control and strength were definitely no match compared to those of Rank-1 Wind Elemental Wolves such as Lil One and the other two.
However, after careful deliberation, he realized that he was indeed lacking in some lethal moves.
If some powerful elemental attributes could be infused into his body, then he would become much stronger.
Quantitative changes would cause qualitative changes.
After examining himself, Lin Ming felt that maybe he had not accumulated enough for a “qualitative change” to occur.
The inexplicable element in the air — the spiritual aura — now seemed to have become denser and denser, and every creature was absorbing the aura frenziedly, producing extremely terrifying changes.
Absorbing a large amount of spiritual aura from the sky, Spirit Lake, and the underground Spirit River, Lin Ming raised nearly a hundred powerful branches and spread them into the sky.
The bamboo branches sparkled like jade, and the crimson-red rhombus in the center of the culm emitted a blinding light.
For a moment, countless creatures within the valley and the valley itself was shrouded in this light.