Chapter 505: Soul of the Storm

【Wild Agility+】!

Gao De thought of this.

This is a first-circle spell from Baruk.

Through this spell, one can summon a Wild Spirit to assist in wilderness operations.

The original 【Wild Agility】 was a purely supportive spell, equivalent to summoning a personal servant.

But after the Wind Spirit Shadow’s point allocation, Gao De’s Wild Spirit gained the ability to absorb energy and ascend in rank.

Initially, Gao De planned that after the forest domain opened by Yujiaxila matured, he would have the Wild Spirit absorb wood elements and evolve into a Forest Spirit.

Otherwise, in the Northern Frontier, he’d be left with only the Frost Spirit as an option.

But the Frost Spirit’s abilities overlapped too much, and Gao De’s Mandora Magic Eye and Icebound Blade both required ice-element treasures.

Adding a Frost Spirit would be like having three kids at home, all starving.

Considering this, Gao De never deliberately upgraded his Wild Spirit.

Until now, the wind element energy, drifting like small fish, jolted him awake.

He could let the Wild Spirit absorb this wind element energy and transform into a Storm Spirit.

A secondary realm saturated with wind element energy would provide absolutely abundant wind energy—enough to form a Storm Spirit capable of autonomously absorbing elemental energy.

If he collected elemental treasure himself to nurture the Wild Spirit, the financial cost would be astronomical.

But now, every wind element creature in the secondary realm was a free “power bank”—he wasn’t afraid the Wild Spirit would absorb too little; he was afraid it couldn’t absorb fast enough!

He’d thought it was just plain bad luck—getting stuck with a high-risk, low-reward mandatory mission.

Now it seemed… this was a “personal material dungeon”?

Thinking this, Gao De’s previously dull mood instantly brightened.

“Well done. No wonder you’re an elite mage of the Sea Sentinels—I didn’t even notice the hidden ghosts, but you spotted them first.” After reporting the situation, the ship’s chief mage walked over, patted Gao De on the shoulder, and praised him.

Gao De smiled shyly.

“If you spot anything else later, report it immediately.” He added a warning.

“Understood.” Gao De nodded in agreement.

But after that, no hidden ghosts appeared again.

Perhaps there were some—but the lead ship, Thorn Crown, had already spotted and eliminated them first.

With the mages aboard Thorn Crown, once alerted to hidden ghosts, finding them wouldn’t be difficult if they tried.

The wind grew stronger, roaring like a beast, slicing like ten thousand blades against the warship’s deck and hull.

All warships had already retracted their sails, relying solely on alchemical machinery for magical propulsion.

Even so, the empty ropes on the masts whipped wildly in the wind, cracking with sharp, rhythmic snaps.

Giant waves churned across the sea, their crests shredded by the gales into fine mist, forming a hazy white curtain in the air.

The warships rocked violently in the waves.

It was certain—the fleet was very close to the Wind Network.

Finally, after another half-minute, everyone saw the Wind Network that Master Theodore had described.

At the horizon, the gray clouds above seemed torn open by an invisible giant hand—a rift appeared in the sky, without warning or reason.

A spatial rift.

The edges of the rift twisted and warped like molten glass, shimmering with eerie purple light.

Torrents of wind continuously poured from the rift.

“We can’t go any further,” the ship’s chief mage declared.

The closer to the Wind Network, the fiercer the wind.

At this distance, the fleet had reached its limit.

Even now, the warships were being pulled off course by the unceasing gales, carving crooked arcs across the sea.

Under the wind’s interference, the fleet’s formation had become unstable; the ships were forced apart, scattering.

This was only possible because the warships were massive—any ordinary small boat would have been blown away long ago.

Ooooooo!

The lead ship, Thorn Crown, fired five rapid blasts from its horn.

This signaled the discovery of a large enemy force—warning the fleet to prepare for full combat.

But there was no need to warn them.

Everyone had already seen it: endless wind element creatures were pouring out of the Wind Network.

The most numerous were first-circle Air Spirits—tiny, translucent vortices no bigger than a child’s palm, surrounded by a faint cyan aura.

Each Air Spirit resembled a miniature tornado hovering in the air.

These little creatures swarmed together, leaving sharp whistling sounds in their wake.

There were also second-circle Wind Giants and elusive Hidden Ghosts.

Second-circle Wind Giants, as their name suggested, were like moving mountains, over ten meters tall.

Their bodies were formed from churning gray-black gales, with faint, blurred facial features emerging on their fronts.

Their arms bristled with wind blades; each swing unleashed a vortex.

Hidden Ghosts remained nearly impossible to track, but occasional distorted ripples in the rain revealed their presence.

But what truly unsettled everyone was the appearance of third-circle Hurricane Spirits.

Hurricane Spirits resembled Wind Giants in overall appearance.

The difference was that they were wrapped in chain-like lightning storms; when they moved, thunder cracked in their wake.

It wasn’t that the mages of Aoklan City feared third-circle enemies—they’d sent far too many.

But the appearance of third-circle Hurricane Spirits meant the Wind Network was already more than halfway to stabilization.

These wind element creatures seemed to sense the fleet’s hostility, gathering like a tide and surging toward them.

The sight—endless wind element creatures filling the horizon—was so awe-inspiring that Gao De involuntarily gasped.

It wasn’t just a simple surge.

These wind element creatures moved in a pattern that looked chaotic but was, in fact, highly organized.

Air Spirits formed the outer ring, Wind Giants the inner layer, and Hurricane Spirits stood like anchors at the center.

The greatest shared trait of wind element creatures was their extreme mobility.

First, flight; second, speed.

When gathered in numbers, boosted by a wind-breaking effect, their speed increased further.

Though still a considerable distance away, in the blink of an eye, the tidal wave of wind element creatures had formed a rapid encirclement around the fleet in their strange formation.

The next instant.

Air Spirits began spinning rapidly; Wind Giants swung their wind-bladed arms; Hurricane Spirits whirled their lightning-chain wrappings.

Under their distinct movements, the air pressure in the region collapsed abruptly.

The vortices from Air Spirits, the gales from Wind Giants, and the lightning storms from Hurricane Spirits merged violently.

They converged at incredible speed, forcing damp air into compression—producing sharp, explosive cracks.

This was one of the wind element’s innate abilities: control over airflow.

Once gathered in numbers, they could manually create disaster-level tornadoes.

Dozens of tornadoes, as thick as water barrels, shot skyward, their cores humming with faint thunder, roaring toward the fleet—immense in scale.

The wind element creatures then dove into the eyes of these tornadoes, using them as cover to rapidly close in on the fleet.

But on Gao De’s side, there were many mages above third-circle.

Even if the wind element creatures were countless, they weren’t about to let the enemy seize the initiative.

At this moment.

The heavens and earth were dark.

But atop the lead ship, Thorn Crown, a pillar of flame erupted skyward.

Immediately after, a dragon of flame spiraled up from the pillar, charging toward the dozens of tornadoes.

As many tornadoes as there were, so many flame dragons rose.

In this stormy weather, fire element spells were reduced to near uselessness.

Yet this flame spell seemed utterly unaffected by the weather, cutting through the rain.

All rain touching the flame instantly vaporized, creating brief zones of vacuum.

In an instant, amid the gale and downpour, flame and tornadoes collided.

At the moment of impact, the flame dragons shattered into a sky-covering inferno, engulfing every tornado.

The next moment—smoke vanished, clouds cleared, wind calmed.

The ferocious tornadoes vanished entirely.

And the flame dragons’ power didn’t stop there.

The wind element creatures trapped inside screamed in agony.

Many outer-layer Air Spirits were instantly incinerated by the searing heat—their forms grew translucent in the flames, then collapsed into wisps of scattered wind energy.

But Air Spirits were far too numerous.

Even with many annihilated by the flame, their total numbers suffered only negligible losses.

Moreover, these wind element creatures formed an ant-balling formation—beyond the outer Air Spirits, the inner Wind Giants and Hurricane Spirits remained unharmed.

Without the tornadoes as cover, their charge didn’t slow—they rushed toward the warships like suicidal beasts.

As for whether these actions stemmed from their own will or something else, Gao De was unsure for now.

At least in his view, these wind elements had no need to fight so desperately.

They were merely energy beings—what benefit could the stabilization of the spatial rift offer them?

Earth pulse beings, at least, sought better living spaces, tastier food, and a brighter future.

But what were these wind element beings fighting for?

“Launch the attack!” At that moment, Theodore’s voice rang out from the Thorn Crown, reaching every mage aboard each warship in a manner utterly contrary to reason.

One advantage of this battle was that, though the battlefield was harsh for human mages, the enemy and allies were clearly divided, somewhat resembling a siege defense.

So there was no need to overthink—just cast spells at the nearest wind element beings.

Friendly fire was virtually nonexistent.

The warship Gao De was on carried only noble mages, who immediately unleashed all their techniques, fully demonstrating the power of magic augmented by wealth.

One mage’s eyes glowed purple; he pointed forward, summoning bolts of lightning that struck one after another at the air spirits and even the wind titans.

These wind element beings had low intelligence, advancing blindly forward without any ability to dodge.

Thus, nearly every bolt of lightning landed true.

One after another, clouds of white mist—composed of wind element energy—exploded like fireworks in midair.

Yet most mages cast ice-element spells.

Ice-element spells countered wind-element beings—this was one of the most basic common knowledge.

In Luo Jun, a coastal prefecture, ice-element spells were not as ubiquitous as water-element spells, nor did everyone possess them, but they were still among the dominant types, mastered by countless individuals.

Mages who wielded ice-element spells all pulled out their best techniques.

Vast expanses of ice crystals formed; bone-chilling cold instantly spread, causing the temperature around the fleet to plummet several degrees.

Puddles on the deck instantly froze into thin ice; raindrops in midair solidified into tiny ice pellets that clattered onto the deck.

Gao De also acted, joining the battle.

His choice matched most others: he focused primarily on ice-element spells.

Gao De extended his right finger, summoning a faint blue glow at its tip, and pointed at the nearest first-rank air spirit.

Instantly, a thin layer of ice coated the air spirit, freezing the swirling green currents across its surface.

【Frostbite】.

Though merely a cantrip, under the dual boosts of Ring-Upgrade casting and Intermediate Ice-Protected Body, plus the inherent strong counter to wind element beings, its effect on a first-rank air spirit was exceptional.

Then, Gao De followed up with a simple 【Freezing Ray+】 on the affected air spirits.

A blue freezing ray shot forth, striking the recently frozen air spirits with pinpoint accuracy.

With a faint crack of ice, the air spirit’s form began to flicker.

Immediately, the thin ice layer rapidly thickened into a solid shell, completely encasing the air spirit.

The upgraded Freezing Ray could instantly freeze enemies already suffering from cold damage.

For wind element beings, once frozen, their internal energy currents could no longer flow.

Visible to the naked eye, the air spirit’s shape within the ice began to twist and warp.

Just two cantrips, yet their combined effect far exceeded the sum of their parts—Gao De’s monster-killing efficiency was now astonishing.

The next instant, the frozen first-rank air spirit burst with a soft pop, dissolving into lifeless white mist.

For others, this was the end—they immediately shifted targets to attack other wind element beings within spell range.

But for Gao De, it was not so.

He did not press his advantage; instead, he activated another spell model long unused.

【Wild Agility+】.

Gao De cast with extreme speed; in an instant, a humanoid spectral entity materialized before him.

Wild Spirit.

Upon appearing, the Wild Spirit drifted forward several steps on its own.

The faint, fishlike wind element energy from the air spirit Gao De had just slain no longer scattered randomly—it was drawn like a vortex, streaming in thin threads toward the Wild Spirit.

And it did not stop there.

The wind element energy released by other wind element beings, crushed by other mages nearby, also began flowing toward the Wild Spirit.

Of course, there was a distance limit.

The Wild Spirit could not absorb wind element energy too far away.

After absorbing these wind element energies, the once-transparent, ghostlike Wild Spirit gradually acquired other hues on its surface.

But it was still early—the changes were not yet obvious.

Without Gao De’s command, the Wild Spirit intelligently drifted around the warship, continuously absorbing wind element energy to strengthen itself, evolving toward the Storm Spirit.

(End of Chapter)