Chapter 56: Element Enhancement

When Lei En and Luo Jie got back to the inn, the bloodstains on them had dried and stuck, which felt uncomfortable.

After washing in the room, they finally felt refreshed.

It was already the latter half of the night; even the people who had been playing cards all night at the inn were mostly asleep, yet Lei En was wide awake, with no hint of sleepiness.

He lay on the bed, repeatedly thinking about the battle that had just occurred.

The biggest gain tonight was still the increase in soul power; the energy surged to more than double!

After meditating continuously for several days, his soul power improved, roughly increasing by one unit of energy.

That already counts as a high meditation efficiency, but compared with directly absorbing souls, it's like a turtle crawling—extremely slow.

Seeing the 31% energy, Lei En smiled with satisfaction; boosting his strength was easier than expected, and if he could do it a few more times, the energy would soon fill up, reaching Level Two and merging a new magic soul again.

He rolled over, stood in front of the mirror, and examined his soul.

The World Tree within his soul was clearly taller than before, its trunk much thicker, brimming with vitality.

Lei En's attention fell on the three pale‑gold leaves, each bearing an element rune representing "Power", "Iron Body", and "Metal Touch".

The three elements also changed slightly; the leaves widened, and the rune designs became clearer.

However, they seemed far from being able to strengthen again.

At the same time, Lei En opened the phone's virtual interface and found three icons corresponding to the elements. Since the Soul Transformation succeeded, the new abilities and elements he obtained are displayed on the phone.

This includes the element for the merged magic soul as well.

It was his first time closely examining the three element icons side by side; the abstract icons were almost identical to the element runes on the leaves.

Because the three elements are in a permanent state, they are always active.

"Hmm? What is this?"

Lei En suddenly noticed that under the icons for Power and Iron Body there was a horizontal line; it was so tiny that he had previously overlooked it.

The line's length matched the icon's width, overall gray, with a small green segment at the left end, resembling a scale.

Lei En recognized it at a glance.

"Progress bar?"

He immediately focused his mind on the Power element; the icon enlarged slightly before his eyes, making the line clearly visible—it was the progress bar.

Moreover, a tiny number "2" floated on the progress bar.

The Iron Body element had only a progress bar, no number.

From this contrast, Lei En understood that the "2" meant the Power element had been strengthened once, while Iron Body had not been strengthened.

He recalled the contents of the Thousand Souls Book: physical-type elements are usually strengthened by personal training or by merging identical elements; each successful strengthening raises the level by one.

Mystic-type elements can be infused with soul power to boost potency, called rings, ranging from one ring to nine rings.

Anomalous-type elements are the most special; both stamina and soul power can activate them, yet they cannot be actively strengthened—only have a chance to improve during each Soul Transformation ceremony, with no levels or rings.

When Lei En obtained the Power element, it had already been strengthened once; now it is Level 2 "Power", still a normal element.

Iron Body remains at Level 1, but it is a supreme element.

Metal Touch is a rare‑grade element, but because it is an anomalous type, it has no progress bar at all.

He examined the two progress bars carefully and found that both Power and Iron Body had very low progress, perhaps less than one‑twentieth, far from upgrading.

"Is element upgrading really this hard?"

Lei En scratched his head, focused on the icon for a few seconds, and suddenly a transparent upward arrow appeared beside the icon,

looking like a button.

He subconsciously chose the arrow for Iron Body, and his intention descended.

A change instantly occurred in his soul; the entire World Tree trembled, and from the roots, multicolored streams of energy coursed along the trunk toward the sole branch, finally entering the leaf bearing the Iron Body element.

The leaf emitted a golden glow, and the element rune on it became increasingly clear.

On the phone interface, beneath the icon representing Iron Body, the progress bar moved forward laboriously.

"So it can be strengthened like this!"

Lei En was overjoyed, but then noticed the phone's energy dropping rapidly, almost consuming one unit of energy per second.

In just a few seconds, the energy fell to 25%, yet the Iron Body progress bar barely increased.

"Whoa!"

"Strengthening elements consumes way too much!"

Lei En sensed something was wrong and quickly stopped.

He could feel a slight change in his body; when activating Iron Body, he seemed a bit harder. His physique grew stronger and his power increased, evident from the Power element's progress bar—both complement each other.

"The improvement is nice, but the cost is too high…"

Lei En stared at the 25% energy and felt a headache; clearly this energy differed from normal consumption and wouldn't automatically replenish with rest.

Of course, the energy drop didn't mean his soul weakened; it was soul power being transferred and merged into his body, so the overall soul strength remained unchanged, and the World Tree representing soul power did not wither.

Six units of energy made a negligible improvement to Iron Body.

After a careful comparison, he found Iron Body's progress had only risen about 3%, meaning that even if all one hundred units of energy were used to strengthen Iron Body, the progress bar would only reach halfway!

Full energy would allow him to reach Level Two Wizard.

Lei En was speechless, finally understanding how difficult it is to strengthen a supreme element.

He thought for a moment, decided to try strengthening the Power element, pressed the arrow next to the Power icon, and the energy plummeted wildly; the leaf bearing the Power element began to glow.

The progress bar beneath the icon advanced at a visibly rapid pace, rising much faster than that of Iron Body.

After five seconds, the energy dropped to 20%, and Lei En stopped again.

He estimated that those five units of energy raised the progress bar by about a tenth, meaning that with just 50% energy, Power could be raised to Level 3.

Compared to Iron Body, strengthening Power was much easier.

Lei En felt his power had grown a bit; he got up to grab his war hammer, and it felt lighter in his hand than before, the weight just right.

"Not bad, not bad."

Lei En satisfiedly set down the war hammer, and whenever there is a chance he will first increase the strength Element.

As for the iron body, he'll consider it when he has surplus soul power; for now he still needs to raise the Wizard's level and fuse more demon souls.

He expended a large amount of soul power, his body grew stronger, but his mind felt a bit fatigued, so Lei En stopped his exertions and went to sleep.

He hadn't slept for many hours before dawn broke.

Lei En got up as usual to meditate, then went to the courtyard behind to train.

The increase in strength was immediate; the two one‑thousand‑pound iron blocks felt somewhat lighter, yet he quickly adapted to his reinforced body, sweating profusely.

Just halfway through his training, Lei En heard footsteps entering.

"You?"

The newcomer was Bo Luo Ke, whose face was extremely surprised; no wonder he felt the transcendent who wielded the war hammer last night looked familiar—he had actually seen him before.

Lei En set down the iron block in his hand and called out, "Captain Bo Luo Ke."

"I recall, you're called Lei En, right?" Bo Luo Ke couldn't help but scan Lei En from head to toe.

In just a few short weeks, Lei En's transformation was huge; not only had he grown half a head taller, his body became solid and strong, and his demeanor changed dramatically.

If his memory weren't so good, he would have almost thought he had mistaken someone.

"Lei En, you've become a transcendent?"

Bo Luo Ke, seeing the two‑thousand‑pound iron blocks at Lei En's feet, actually wanted to ask what transcendent profession Lei En had, since his strength was so terrifying.

As a fourth‑rank ranger, he couldn't lift even a single thousand‑pound iron block.

"Yes." Lei En nodded slightly and asked, "Captain Bo Luo Ke, are you here to find Luo Jie Title: Master?"

"Exactly, this is Luo Jie Title: Master's bounty." Bo Luo Ke had just inquired at the inn, learned that the legendary demon hunter lived in the courtyard behind; he lifted a bag in his hand, the clink of gold coins ringing, and asked, "Is Title: Master here?"

Lei En turned to look at Luo Jie's room; two voices came from inside, De Lai Er Sha was also there, evidently it was not convenient to come out now.

He then said, "Luo Jie Title: Master hasn't woken up yet; you may have to wait a while."

"No problem."

Bo Luo Ke showed no sign of impatience, looked at Lei En, and proactively invited, "Lei En, are you free now? I'll buy you two drinks."

"Sure." Lei En also had some matters to ask, "You go to the lobby first; I'll freshen up and be right there."

Soon after, the two sat at a table in the corner of the inn's lobby.

Bo Luo Ke lit a cigar, took a deep drag and exhaled the smoke, then said seriously, "Lei En, we cleared that vampire nest overnight; we've almost finished the investigation."

"That high‑rank vampire was the owner of the clothing shop, usually well disguised, and had been lurking in Longshande for many years—at least three hundred civilians were killed, many disappearances were its doing. We chased it for a long time, but its actions were covert, targeting only the slums, so it didn't attract attention."

"If it weren't for you, we wouldn't know how many were being poisoned by demons; you saved many lives."

Bo Luo Ke's eyes were filled with respect.

Lei En shook his head and said, "All credit goes to Luo Jie Title: Master; I just went with him and didn't exert much effort."

"You needn't be modest," Bo Luo Ke laughed, "Those blood thralls and the two ordinary vampires were all killed by you; I still have that keen eye."

Lei En offered no defense; the war hammer's killing marks were too obvious.

Bo Luo Ke didn't bring up the vampire again, but curiously asked, "Lei En, how did you meet Luo Jie Title: Master?"

Lei En replied half‑truthfully, "We just happened to both stay at the Basil Inn; Master Luo Jie needed help last night, so he called me in."

"Is that so? Then your luck is incredible," Bo Luo Ke clearly didn't believe Lei En's story.

He had been in Longshande for so many years, still the captain of the Demon‑Exorcising Bureau, and had met only a few legends; Lei En had just become a transcendent and already got linked with a legendary strongman—claiming no envy would be self‑deception.

Any legend qualifies to enter the Empire Council, situated at the pinnacle of Empire power.

He had never heard of Luo Jie Title: Master's reputation before, but he dared not look down on it; legends who act so low‑key are not uncommon—he was simply uninformed.

Lei En lifted his beer, took two sips, and casually asked, "Captain Bo Luo Ke, are your Demon‑Exorcising Squad's regular missions heavy?"