Chapter 195

Elemental potions, lightning silver fish, and now elemental spirits—the path to breakthrough for Mi Gen and the others has 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 magic spring to train.

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

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

More than 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 only need to train within a mile of the castle.

As for whether the magic spring will go to waste?

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

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

If they truly succeed, this could 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 the precious Element Heart.

The Element Heart can only benefit a single individual.

But for Gervas, its value is certainly no less than that of an elemental spirit.

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

The rest merely requires diligent training—eventually, the other foot will follow.

Because the Elemental Body is no different from the novels of his past life, where even breathing was cultivation.

Though subtle.

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 enough to outpace every titled knight.

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

After circling once and confirming no danger on the summit, Gervas ordered Zhuiyue to descend swiftly.

Though the peak was large, mature magical herbs emitted extremely strong magical fluctuations.

This was an evolutionary defense to attract beasts to eat their fruit, so the seeds could be carried elsewhere to sustain the species.

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

Moving forward while sensing, he soon discovered, at the edge of a cliff, a thorn bush five meters in diameter—the plant form of the Element Heart.

The Element Heart itself lay buried at the center of the thorn bush, still wrapped in thorn leaves, invisible to the naked eye.

And at this moment, he could not approach lightly.

Because the thorn bush carried deadly poison—even a Bronze Knight would die if pierced.

This was an evolutionary defense against ordinary beasts consuming 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 bush began to tremble slightly, the thorns automatically retreating to either side.

And the Element Heart, tightly wrapped at the center, was finally lifted fully into the air by a thick vine.

It felt as if the thorn bush was willingly offering its treasure.

Gervas stepped forward cautiously, arriving before the Element Heart.

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

As it fully detached from the thorn leaves, its intoxicating fragrance immediately drifted through the air.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Soon, numerous beast roars echoed from below the mountain.

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

"Finally in my grasp!"

At that moment, Gervas finally relaxed.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Boom! Boom!

But now, the commotion below grew even more intense!

The beasts had also caught the scent 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 ground, Gervas grabbed the saddle and executed a flawless leap onto the horse's back.

Zhuiyue flapped its wings twice, lifting Gervas 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.

Some, sensing Gervas and Zhuiyue, halted and roared skyward.

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

Each time Gervas entered the Death Mountains, he was startled anew.

Deep within the Death Mountains, death lurked everywhere.

Without Zhuiyue, even with intelligence, he could never have penetrated this far.

…

"Come on, let me feel what the Elemental Body is truly like!"

The return journey was tense but uneventful.

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

Then, he took out the crimson Element Heart from his space ring.

Its intoxicating fragrance instantly filled the parlor.

After studying it carefully, Gervas promptly swallowed it whole.

As was typical of magical herb fruits, it dissolved instantly—then a torrent of warmth surged through his limbs and organs.

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

Gervas felt every pore of his body open, as if countless elements were rushing toward him.

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

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

This wondrous sensation lasted for dozens of seconds before Gervas finally regained awareness.

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

The 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 concentrated elements brought by the elemental spirits.

Unlike Gervas and the others, who could not perceive them unless deliberately activating their senses.

But now, Gervas found he no longer needed to activate his senses—he possessed Lei Meng's acute perception of elements.

It wasn't that his strength had increased; he had attained the low-grade Elemental Body.

He was now more attuned to elements, and far more sensitive to them.

Even without training, fine streams of battle aura elements now naturally gathered toward his battle aura seed, strengthening him.

"Truly a marvelous thing!"

Naturally, Gervas was delighted.

But suddenly, he frowned.

He sniffed around, "What's this? Why do I smell something strange?"

Soon, Gervas identified the source of the odor.

"Damn, does becoming an Elemental Body require detoxifying the tendons and marrow?"

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