Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

Under the glow of the healing light, color finally returned to her face, and her period of weakness ended ahead of schedule.

"Thanks. I'm going to finish dissecting the corpse." Yan Ruoruo resumed her unfinished work.

Faint noises still came from the throat-like passage, but whatever was in there seemed wary. After suffering some losses, the cave dwellers didn't show their heads again.

As Su Chen kept a close watch, the others finished resting one by one and began to help carry the bodies.

There were seven cave dweller bodies in total.

As sacrificial materials, they were a valuable prize.

After a brief discussion, four of them were allotted to Su Chen.

Two went to the Capital City team.

By rights, the body of the one that had put up the biggest fight was offered to the team leader from the university of technology. He seemed hesitant, but ultimately accepted the gesture.

The question was, should they retreat to the altar to make their sacrifices now?

"Considering the rewards are related to the number of simultaneous sacrifices, let's stay. Going back and forth is a waste of time," said Yan Ziqian.

This time, the three from the university of technology had no objections. On the contrary, after witnessing Su Chen's formidable power, they all felt a sense of security.

"Sir, I have a Water Element energy recovery skill."

One of them even jogged over. Under the effect of this Rainfall Rune, the Rune Energy Bar deep in Su Chen's consciousness immediately jumped up a segment and began to recover rapidly.

The effect was even more immediate than pure Plant Energy.

"Water + Water + Light = Rainfall."

Perhaps to show his sincerity or to foster a better relationship, the man even shared the relevant formula on the spot. He was currently demonstrating the Lv3 effect, and in just a short while, Su Chen, who hadn't used much energy to begin with, had all his Energy Bars completely refilled.

"That's actually pretty useful."

Pang Peng rubbed his sore shoulders, a hint of excitement showing on his face. Their team was definitely in need of a dedicated Mana Regeneration Rune.

"The only problem is it monopolizes the Light Element."

This was clearly a concern not just for Su Chen; everyone felt similarly.

After the small talk, everyone thoroughly searched the area before venturing deeper into the cave. The pitch-black environment was indeed hiding quite a few good things.

"This must be the Ashen Bud Flower."

Using his Telekinesis to scan, Su Chen quickly found two clusters of flowers in a crevice on the rock wall. Their stems were like bone, grayish-green in color, and fine filaments in the center of the flowers trembled gently.

To be safe, he had his Netherworld War Dog clone approach and test it, confirming it wasn't harmful in any way.

It was hard to say what use they had, but according to the mission rewards, just these two flowers could be sacrificed in exchange for any Lv1 Spirit Element Rune.

"There's ore here!"

Interestingly, there was another new discovery in the cave.

Pang Peng found some minerals next to a pile of beast bones. Just as he bent down and pushed aside a huge rib cage, a seemingly unremarkable piece of ore was revealed.

It was called unremarkable because despite being the size of a basketball, the ore appeared dull and lifeless.

Its surface was as rough as a weathered rock, with absolutely no metallic luster. If Pang Peng hadn't randomly decided to tap it with his dagger, they never would have noticed anything strange about it.

"Damn, kid, your luck is maxed out."

Cao Yutang couldn't help but sigh in admiration. During their exploration of the garden resort, Pang Peng had also been the one to find the potassium nitrate fertilizer and sulfur powder in the garden house.

His curiosity piqued, Su Chen left Xiaoye to guard the critical passage and hurried over.

"This isn't an elemental mineral, but it can channel any elemental fluctuation." Yan Ziqian demonstrated by simply infusing it with different types of Elemental Power, causing the otherwise dark ore to shimmer with a rainbow of colors.

"Sounds like a mineral with properties related to Spiritual Power," Su Chen said curiously.

The Jade Pendant on his body was in a transitional phase and currently showed no reaction, but he guessed there was a high probability this strange mineral could enhance his intelligence or even his Perception Attribute.

"It's hard, has impressive material strength, and can be perfectly infused with Elemental Power. It's just what we need to forge a true elemental weapon. That kid Gong Jun is probably going to be ecstatic," Cao Yutang laughed.

"Do you need it?" Yan Ziqian looked at Su Chen, having noticed his keen curiosity.

He didn't think much else of it; after all, with the Shaping Skill, forging weapons would become increasingly simple and convenient.

"You guys can use it."

Su Chen wasn't in a hurry. They had only just entered the cave; it was unlikely this was the only piece of ore.

Le Yuxuan, who was exploring another area, also made a new discovery. While searching carefully with a flashlight, he found two more clusters of Ashen Bud Flowers growing together, which he excitedly gave to Yan Ziqian and the others.

With that, this section of the cave had been thoroughly explored.

Just then, Yan Ruoruo finished her dissection. She methodically used a dry leaf to wipe the bloodstains from her sharp little knife.

Seeing everyone gather around, she immediately gave her conclusion.

"Both the prefrontal cortex and the gyri and sulci structures of the brain are close to those of humans."

"I also found a dedicated language center, but it's clearly and severely degenerated. This proves that these cave dwellers did indeed lose their ability to speak, and their intelligence has regressed significantly."

This was not good news.

Perhaps it was the sorrow of seeing their own kind in such a state, but the atmosphere grew a little somber.

"Judging by their behavior, they've completely regressed to the primitive stage of eating raw flesh and drinking blood. It's even worse than that, actually. Homo sapiens had burial cultures, but these cave dwellers completely disregard their dead."