Chapter 2793: Elemental Promotion Ritual

Those countless Primary Elements, after "eating" their share of Gemstone fragments, quickly scattered in a flurry, chasing and wandering freely within the nearby airspace.

At this moment, Talafu also explained: "Actually, the vast majority of these elements have not yet reached the standard of Primary Elements. Once they reach the standard, they are either harvested immediately or transferred to the next stage of cultivation."

"What is the next stage like?" Xia Duo asked.

"You have already seen it; it is letting them move freely. Generally speaking, Primary Elements only need to be fed Gemstone fragments to be raised, it is merely a matter of time. But Intermediate Elements require the elements to have sufficient activity. As for Advanced Elements, besides Gemstones and activity, they also require a specialized Promotion Ritual, or one must gamble on luck for them to promote."

"What happens if Primary Elements do not have enough activity?" Xia Duo asked again.

"Without enough activity, Primary Elements will stagnate once they reach a certain limit. In such a case, unless one feeds them a large amount of Gemstones at once, it is unlikely for them to promote, but this is obviously not suitable for large-scale cultivation."

"I see!"

Next, Xia Duo continued to visit the next stop, which was the cultivation area for Intermediate Elements. The cultivation area is actually not restricted, as they are free-range, but the feeding areas for different grades of elements are different, and the timing is also different.

Considering he had already seen the scene of feeding Primary Elements, Xia Duo did not wait to watch the feeding of Intermediate Elements; it was nothing more than different subjects for feeding and different specifications of Gemstone fragments, everything else was the same.

Subsequently, he mainly visited the Promotion Ritual for Intermediate Elements. This was actually already the configuration of an Advanced Element Ranch and was not within the scope of the agreement between him and the Mairide Family, but Talafu still provided an opportunity to observe it.

The location of the Promotion Ritual was in a sea of clouds, presided over by an Element Elder. It also required the consumption of Gemstone fragments, but the Gemstone fragments at this time were actually quite large; in Netheril, they could almost be used as energy buffering cores for Magic Items.

Similar to the previous feeding scene, the difference was that the promotion took place within the Domain of the Element Elder. When the ritual ended, only about thirty to forty percent of the Intermediate Elements promoted to Advanced Elements.

All successfully promoted Elemental Creatures would be immediately harvested. Right within the Element Elder's Domain, after a burst of intense Element Release, only shimmering Elemental Essences were left at the scene.

Elements in this state are not truly dead; as long as a suitable environment is provided, the Elemental Essence will recover into a normal Elemental Creature.

But just at this moment, the Element Elder pushed those Essences into the Wind Channel above the sea of clouds, and then those Advanced Elemental Essences disappeared rapidly into the distance under Xia Duo's gaze.

At this time, Talafu also explained in a timely manner: "Those Advanced Elemental Essences will be sent to the Floating Island for temporary storage, including Essences of other grades which are also temporarily stored there, and then specialized personnel will take them away regularly."

"Why must those Advanced Elements be harvested as soon as they promote? Can they not continue to be cultivated into Element Elders?"

Although Talafu had mentioned many times before that Element Elders could not be cultivated through the Element Ranch, Xia Duo was still very curious whether it was impossible to cultivate them by any means, or if they simply could not be cultivated in this ranch.

After all, they are Advanced Elements; harvesting them directly seems too wasteful. Even if they were just left there without further feeding, it wouldn't be too late to harvest them when needed!

In any case, Elemental Creatures do not live by feeding; perhaps an Element Elder might be cultivated in the process!

Regarding Xia Duo's doubts, Talafu smiled politely, "Since the family's first Element Ranch was built, there has never been a precedent of an Advanced Element born in the ranch promoting to an Elder!"

"Currently, all the Element Elders of the family are either captured directly from the Elemental Plane, or they are captured as Advanced Elements and then promoted through special means. It is basically impossible for Advanced Elements raised in the ranch to promote to Elders."

"However, this is not absolute. After all, this is only the past experience of our Mairide Family. Perhaps the Tower of Time could cultivate an Element Elder, who knows? Lord Xia Duo can try."

Talafu did not continue on this topic but stopped at the right point. After all, the agreement reached between the Mairide Family and Xia Duo only transferred technology related to the Intermediate Ranch; they couldn't even cultivate Advanced Elements, let alone what followed.

"By the way, Lord Xia Duo, during the process of element cultivation, if you discover a type of special element that can naturally command other elements, remember not to harvest it. That kind of element is very likely an Element Lord. If it is said that Element Elders have special means for promotion, then the emergence of an Element Lord is completely impossible to intervene in artificially."

"Will Element Lords also be born among the cultivated elements?"

"Yes. Although we haven't encountered one in the Mairide Family's ranches, other families in Calimshan have had such precedents, and more than one. Please, Lord Xia Duo, must keep this in mind. If you discover a newborn Element Lord, the Mairide Family is willing to buy it at a high price or engage in relevant cooperation."

"Okay, I will keep an eye out once the Tower of Time's Element Ranch is built."

Xia Duo did not expect that cultivating elements would have surprises similar to opening blind boxes. If he could really discover a newborn Element Lord, he would rather raise it himself than sell it.

After all, there is a high probability of being able to tame one raised by oneself, while wild ones are likely impossible to tame. Even if controlled by force, given the nature of Wind Elements that value freedom, it is almost impossible to control them; they would rather die than submit.

The Mairide Family only possesses one Element Lord, which is Luohaxi, whom Xia Duo had seen before, but the Mairide Family likely possesses more than one Lord-level Elemental Essence.

The Kuangfeng Baolei core previously gifted to Xia Duo was a Lord-level Elemental Essence. Clearly, a living, moving Element Lord is of much higher value than a near-lifeless Elemental Essence.

But the Mairide Family did not resurrect the Elemental Essence to tame or forcibly control it. Is it that they don't want to? It is not difficult for an Elemental Essence to resurrect an Elemental Creature, so it is clearly that they cannot control it, so it is better to use the Essence directly.

Both Element Elders and Element Lords possess Wisdom comparable to humans. Forcible control is only a low-level approach because one is never sure when they will break free from control; they are like ticking time bombs that could detonate at any moment.

The Mairide Family's approach is mostly a combination of control and taming, maintaining a cooperative and win-win relationship as much as possible under the premise of signing a Magic Contract.

From what Xia Duo observed, the Mairide Family treats Element Elders more like long-term employees rather than Slaves. For Element Elders or Element Lords in key positions, Talafu does not stint on his respect.

This is the way to long-term success.