Chapter 195: Element Heart!

Elemental potions, lightning silver fish, and now elemental spirits—Mi Gen and the others' paths to breakthrough have been fully paved.

Seeing the joy on their faces, Gervas simply told them to go and experience it immediately.

With these elemental spirits, his subordinates no longer need to travel to the island's mana spring to train.

Although the mana spring releases mana and elements several times more concentrated than the elemental spirits.

But the problem is, the mana spring releases only a limited amount of mana and elements each day.

Over fifty people can only train for just over an hour.

Add to that the one and a half hours for the round trip, and it becomes extremely inefficient.

So from now on, Gervas and his subordinates need only train within one li of the castle.

As for whether the mana spring will go to waste?

Of course not—it can be used for cultivating and growing magical herbs.

For example, planting sugarcane, wheat, and other crops near the spring has a certain probability of mutating them into magical sugarcane and magical wheat.

If truly lucky enough to obtain them, they could clearly become a pillar industry of Stormhold.

……

"Zhuiyue, it's just ahead!!"

In the Death Mountains, Gervas and Zhuiyue appeared above the endless forest, one man and one horse.

The purpose of this journey was precisely to obtain the precious Element Heart.

The Element Heart can only benefit one individual.

But for Gervas, its value is certainly no less than that of the elemental spirits.

Because legend says that those who attain the Elemental Body have one foot already stepped into the Earth Knight realm.

The rest merely requires diligent cultivation—eventually, the other foot will step in as well.

Because the Elemental Body is no different from the novels of his past life, where one cultivates even while breathing.

Though faint.

When others sleep, you cultivate.

When others eat, you cultivate.

This is no longer simply a matter of achieving twice the result with half the effort.

It's practically enough to outpace every titled knight.

After dodging several groups of aerial beasts and enduring dozens of instances of surveillance and roars within the forest, Gervas finally spotted the eagle-shaped corroded rock peak described in the intelligence after more than ten minutes.

After circling once and confirming there was no danger atop the peak, Gervas ordered Zhuiyue to descend rapidly to the ground.

Although the mountaintop was large, mature magical herbs all emitted powerful mana fluctuations.

This was an evolutionary defense to attract beasts to consume their fruit, so the beasts would carry the seeds elsewhere to perpetuate the species.

Thus, with a slight sensing, Gervas immediately detected a faint mana fluctuation coming from a certain direction.

Advancing while sensing, Gervas soon discovered a thorn-like plant, five meters in diameter, at the edge of a cliff—the Element Heart.

As for the Element Heart itself, it lay buried at the center of the thorn cluster, still wrapped in thorn leaves and invisible to the naked eye.

And at this moment, one must not approach lightly.

Because the thorn cluster of the Element Heart is highly toxic—even a Bronze Knight would die if pierced.

This was an evolutionary defense against ordinary beasts eating its fruit.

Of course, this posed no challenge to Gervas.

Gervas slowly released his battle aura, and in the next instant, a miraculous sight appeared.

The thorn cluster began to tremble slightly, the thorns automatically retreating to either side.

And the Element Heart, long concealed at the cluster's core and tightly wrapped, was finally lifted fully into the air by a thick vine.

It felt as if the thorn cluster was voluntarily offering its treasure.

Gervas carefully stepped forward several paces, arriving before the Element Heart.

The Element Heart fruit was no larger than a fist, yet entirely red, truly resembling a heart.

And as it fully detached from the thorn branches and leaves, its intoxicating fragrance immediately drifted on the wind.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Not long after, beast roars echoed from below the mountain.

Seeing this, Gervas dared not delay—he seized the Element Heart in his hand.

"Finally in hand!"

At this moment, Gervas finally relaxed.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Boom—! Boom—!

But now, the commotion below the mountain intensified further!

The beasts had now smelled the fragrance of the Element Heart.

Gervas immediately stored the Element Heart in his space ring.

"Zhuiyue!"

At his call, Zhuiyue, on guard in midair, descended swiftly.

Without landing, as Zhuiyue hovered one meter above the ground, Gervas grabbed the saddle and executed a flawless leap onto the horse's back.

Zhuiyue flapped its wings twice, swiftly carrying Gervas up dozens of meters into the air.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Looking down, he saw beasts racing through the forest at the mountain's base and mid-slope.

Sensing Gervas and Zhuīyuè, some beasts halted their steps and roared toward the sky.

"No wonder it's the Death Mountains—there must be at least one or two fifth- or sixth-tier beasts here?"

Every time Gervas came to the Death Mountains, he was startled anew.

Deep within the Death Mountains, death threatened from every corner.

If not for Zhuīyuè, even with intelligence, he could never have penetrated this deep.

……

"Come on—let me feel what the Elemental Body truly feels!"

The return journey was tense but without incident.

After safely returning, Gervas immediately locked himself in the parlor and ordered his servants not to disturb him.

Then he pulled out the crimson Elemental Heart from his spatial ring.

A refreshing, invigorating fragrance instantly spread through the parlor.

Gervas studied it carefully for a moment, then directly shoved it into his mouth.

As usual for a magic potion fruit, it dissolved instantly—soon, a torrent of warmth surged through his limbs and organs.

When the warmth filled his entire body, a strange sensation arose.

Gervas felt every pore of his body opening, as if countless elements were rushing toward him in a flood.

These elements sought to merge with him, yet were barred by his skin, unable to enter properly.

Only a small portion of fire-affinity aura elements, as if granted approval by his body, were permitted inside.

This wondrous sensation lasted for dozens of seconds before Gervas finally came to his senses.

When he opened his eyes again, his first words were: "Such dense elements!"

Those same words had been spoken by Lei Meng in the morning garden.

At that time, only Lei Meng, the Silver Knight, had keenly sensed the dense elements brought by the Elementals.

Unlike Gervas and the others, they could not perceive them directly unless they deliberately activated their perception.

Yet now, Gervas realized he no longer needed to activate perception—he possessed Lei Meng's acute sensitivity to elements.

It wasn't that his strength had increased; he had achieved the初階 Elemental Body.

He was now more attuned to elements, and more perceptive of them.

At this moment, even without cultivation, fine threads of aura elements automatically gathered toward his Aura Seed, strengthening his power.

"What a wonderful thing!"

Naturally, Gervas was delighted.

But suddenly, he frowned.

He sniffed around. "What's going on? Why do I smell something strange?"

Quickly, Gervas discovered the source of the stench.

"Damn—it turns out becoming an Elemental Body requires detoxifying the tendons and marrow?"

Indeed, Gervas's body was now covered in filth, just like the legendary detoxification of tendons and marrow.