Chapter 506: Advance, Advance!

“What the hell?!”

The sudden, glaring appearance and movement of the Wild Soul instantly drew the attention of other mages on the ship.

“It’s my phantom spirit.” Gao De, having already decided to use the Wild Soul to absorb wind elemental energy, had anticipated this scenario and prepared an explanation in advance.

Otherwise, such a blatantly visible ghost wandering freely on the ship would almost certainly be treated as an enemy and obliterated by the other mages, whose nerves were already taut.

A phantom spirit is a semi-corporeal spiritual entity summoned and customized through a magical contract.

It shares life energy with its mage, can be customized in form, possesses growth potential, and if destroyed, inflicts a certain amount of damage and weakness upon its summoner.

Overall, the concept of a phantom spirit bears some resemblance to a familiar.

But one key difference is that familiars can be obtained simply through the spell [Summon Familiar].

Thus, as long as one masters the spell, everyone can have a familiar.

Phantom spirits, however, originate from specific cultivation methods and are not something everyone can possess.

Therefore, compared to familiars, phantom spirits are far less common.

With the battle raging fiercely, and Gao De having provided an explanation, the others had no time to dwell on it—they focused entirely on the fight.

With his legitimate identity confirmed, the Wild Soul moved more freely than ever, continuously absorbing wind elemental energy to strengthen itself.

Yet Gao De dared not let it stray too far, for only the mages on this ship currently recognized its identity.

If the Wild Soul slipped out of his sight and was mistaken for an enemy by mages on another ship and casually obliterated, it would be all for nothing.

Gao De divided a sliver of his attention to monitor the Wild Soul while scanning left and right, observing intently.

Compared to the other noble mages on the ship, his kill efficiency—without using North Wind—was decent, but still far inferior to theirs.

Because most of these noble mages were at least second-circle mages.

Gao De had only managed to board this ship by wearing the uniform of a Sea Sentinel mage.

But that didn’t mean Gao De was merely along for the ride.

Because he possessed a third-circle Mandora Magic Eye, which exerted powerful suppression over hidden phantoms.

And the hidden phantom’s ability to conceal itself made them difficult for even second-circle mages to detect, especially amid chaotic combat, when no one had the attention to spare.

Thus, after a brief thought, Gao De understood his optimal role in this battle: fully leverage the Mandora Magic Eye’s perception to scout and relay targets to the others.

Standing on the deck, his gaze swept everywhere—observing where high-grade wind elemental creatures had been slain by the ship’s mages, so the Wild Soul could swiftly absorb those high-tier sources, and also scanning for hidden phantoms stealthily approaching through the air currents.

In fact, there were not just a few—there were many.

A single glance revealed dozens of subtle energy fluctuations.

They were advancing toward this warship at an extremely slow, steady pace.

“Hidden phantom detected! Bearing 45 degrees port, distance 80 zhang!”

“Bearing 35 degrees starboard, distance 91 zhang!”

“.”

He rattled off a rapid stream of information like a machine gun.

The Mandora Magic Eye’s perception allowed Gao De to detect minute energy flows and granted him extraordinarily precise judgment.

Thus, the coordinates and distances he reported were not estimates—they were as accurate as measurements taken by precision instruments.

Previous instances of Gao De detecting hidden phantoms had earned him a degree of trust in his “observation” abilities among the ship’s mages.

After his reports, they hesitated not at all—they immediately cast spells at the seemingly empty locations he indicated.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Under the spell impacts, the empty air erupted into clusters of white mist formed from wind elemental energy.

The ship’s commanding mage, witnessing this, reacted swiftly and issued orders: “Everyone, pay attention to Gao De’s reports.”

“Gao De, you are assigned to locate hidden phantoms and relay their positions to the other mages immediately!”

“Understood!” *N.

Gao De and the noble mages on the ship responded simultaneously.

Boom!

Amid the fierce battle, a branching bolt of lightning suddenly appeared—like a silver serpent spitting its tongue—ripping through the rain and striking directly at Gao De’s ship.

A massive hurricane spirit, over ten meters tall, had silently emerged from the churning clouds and now hovered directly above the ship’s keel.

In its hollow eye sockets flickered twin clusters of storm clouds; lightning crackled around its entire body.

The hurricane spirit merely swung its arms, etched with wind-eroded patterns, and bolts of lightning rained down continuously—no cooldown, no casting time.

For mages, shaping lightning is a skill.

But for the hurricane spirit, shaping lightning is a natural talent—like fish inherently knowing how to swim.

These branching bolts fell like a sky-covering net, striking indiscriminately.

“Hurricane Spirit Lord!” The ship’s commanding mage drew a sharp breath upon seeing this.

Even among third-circle entities, there are differences.

Among third-circle hurricane spirits, some are exceptionally powerful “elite variants,” known as Hurricane Spirit Lords.

This one before them was a Hurricane Spirit Lord.

Seeing the torrent of branching lightning descending like a celestial net, the commanding mage’s expression turned grim—he immediately activated the ship’s protective array.

Otherwise, with most of the mages on board being second-circle, the casualties from this storm of lightning would be catastrophic.

On the central silver-plated disc of the helm, a perfectly shaped octahedral crystal was placed.

Each facet of this crystal was flawless, as if meticulously polished.

Its surface glowed with a semi-translucent silver-blue sheen, threaded with intricate golden patterns resembling spiderwebs, occasionally flickering with faint mist-like trails—the traces of high-pressure magical energy flowing within.

This was an Aorek Crystal from the Ai family of Linhai City.

The Aorek Crystal is the Ai family’s core technology: compressing tons of magical crystals into a tiny crystal while maintaining stability.

The technique required is extraordinarily advanced and esoteric—there is no other source in the world.

As a magical crystal possessing high energy density, safety, longevity, and reliability, the Aorek Crystal is extremely expensive.

Even this one, the lowest grade, carried a terrifying price tag.

At this moment, the Aorek Crystal flared brightly, releasing a surging, powerful flow of magical energy like a tidal wave.

The silver-plated disc, infused with magic, began spinning instantly.

With the sound of interlocking gears, a strange transformation occurred upon the warship.

Countless runes of light emerged from the oak planks, intertwining and entwining, forming within moments a flowing light shield.

As the lightning struck, the surface of the flowing shield rippled like water—absorbing all the electrical energy, then redirecting it toward the ship’s port and starboard sides.

There, each side mounted a cannon shaped like a griffin’s head, which immediately fired deep blue energy beams to collide with the lightning, exploding into brilliant fireworks.

Compared to the classic “shield versus spear” defense Gao De had seen in Qianshi novels and films, the Jin Quehua Dynasty warship’s method of deflecting and redirecting force was clearly more advanced, energy-efficient, and had a higher ceiling.

Yet the energy required to protect the entire ship was immense—even with the high-density Aorek Crystal, its endurance was limited.

Thus, the Hurricane Spirit Lord must be eliminated swiftly.

The main cannon at the ship’s bow emitted a deep, rumbling roar.

It rapidly drew magical energy from the Aorek Crystal to charge.

Golden runes along the barrel ignited, rapidly filling with magical energy from the Aorek Crystal.

Boom!

Amid the violent roar, Gao De felt a terrifying surge of magical force emanating from the barrel—enough to crush him into dust.

The next instant, a beam as thick as a water barrel shot skyward, striking the Hurricane Spirit Lord’s chest.

The brilliant, luminous beam resembled not a projectile but a laser, extending continuously from the cannon’s mouth all the way to the Hurricane Spirit Lord’s chest.

Instantly, the swirling green vortexes across the Hurricane Spirit Lord’s body collapsed inward.

Screech!

The Hurricane Spirit Lord let out a piercing, furious shriek—its eye sockets flared purple, swelling to three or four times their original size.

Thick, purple-black branching lightning erupted with a thunderous roar, writhing rapidly like growing vines toward the energy beam.

For a moment, the beam and lightning clashed violently in midair, blazing with dazzling light.

Yet the beam’s power was extraordinary—despite the lightning’s entanglement, it only wavered momentarily before regaining stability.

But the cost was a faster drain of magical energy from the Aorek Crystal.

The commanding mage looked up at the scene.

Though the situation was clearly improving, his expression remained grim.

Because this expedition, though perilous, had not been short on supplies—but Aorek Crystals, as strategic resources, were not abundant even in the stockpiles of Aoklan City.

Thus, each warship was allocated only three Aorek Crystals.

Once all three crystals’ stored magical energy was depleted, both the protective array and the alchemical cannon would cease functioning due to lack of power.

The alchemical cannon was expendable—but if the protective array failed, the risk of catastrophe would skyrocket.

Therefore, at least one Aorek Crystal must be preserved to sustain the protective array.

That was the minimum.

In other words, no more than two Aorek Crystals could be used.

With the warship’s equipment, eliminating a third-circle wind elemental creature—even an “elite variant”—was not difficult.

The key was to conserve the Aorek Crystal’s stored energy as much as possible.

After all, this war had only just begun; no one knew what lay ahead or what they might encounter.

Considering this, the commanding mage acted decisively.

His internal magical energy surged uncontrollably; his gaze sharpened, palm facing upward as he gripped the void—a faint deep blue magical fluctuation shot from his palm.

Above the massive form of the Storm Spirit Lord, icy elemental forces began to flow.

In an instant, the falling rain dropped in temperature, freezing into tiny ice crystals and pouring down as biting, freezing rain.

Additionally, ice pellets the size of infant fists formed and fell from the clouds, each carrying piercing cold.

Within the area covered by freezing rain and hail, the temperature plummeted.

The moment the freezing rain struck the Storm Spirit, it froze instantly, obstructing the flow and transformation of its bodily air currents.

Hail posed no real damage to the Storm Spirit, for it was not flesh and blood, but composed of flowing air elements—physical harm could be fully resisted.

Yet the cold embedded in the hail proved highly effective.

Third-circle spell school technique: [Snowstorm].

The Storm Spirit Lord hovered midair, its sunken eye sockets containing only a single energy beam from its chest, desperately attempting to counter it by releasing more lightning.

But suddenly, the world turned icy and frozen, stiffening its body.

The flow of air currents was hindered—its bodily energy flow had stalled.

Already at a disadvantage in its standoff with the energy beam, this further weakening caused it to collapse entirely.

The energy beam pressed forward relentlessly, aiming to pierce straight through its chest.

As its chest was pierced, the integrity of its entire body shattered, weakening its resistance to freezing further.

These two effects compounded.

The Storm Spirit Lord let out a terrified screech.

Cracks appeared across its body, forged from howling winds.

Boom!

The familiar sound of gaseous explosion finally rang out.

The Storm Spirit Lord perished.

After death, its ten-meter-tall form dissolved into a vast, massive mass of air elemental energy, its surface swirling with cyan currents.

Gao De’s eyes instantly turned red.

More “red” than his eyes was the Wild Soul, which, before Gao De could react, had already floated upward and swiftly approached the energy mass.

Having absorbed much air elemental energy, it had undergone slight transformation—Gao De could clearly sense the Wild Soul’s speed had increased greatly since its initial summoning.

When the distance between them reached fifty zhang, the Wild Soul spun like a vortex, drawing in all the cyan-swirling air elemental energy.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Each strand of cyan-tinged air elemental energy surged like swimming fish, converging from all angles and postures into the Wild Soul’s body, as rivers return to the sea.

The air elemental energy from the Storm Spirit Lord, compared to other air elements Gao De had absorbed before, was like a century-old ginseng versus Western ginseng—the effect was not even in the same league.

After absorbing all the air elemental energy left by the Storm Spirit Lord, the Wild Soul’s semi-transparent body began to be coated with a faint cyan hue.

[Wild Agility +]: The Wild Soul summoned has three stages.

The first stage is the transformation of the ethereal soul-body into a solid form.

The appearance of this cyan layer marks the formation of a solid body.

This brought a smile to Gao De’s face.

This battle had clearly only just begun, and had not even entered its heated phase.

At this rate, it was nearly certain the Wild Soul would cross the first stage and enter the second.

Perhaps even complete the second stage and condense an energy core?

The thought sent a surge of heat through Gao De’s heart, however untimely it might be.

(End of Chapter)