Dual Elements Means Burning Money
A Fire Element Spirit Seed???
Mo Fan's mind erupted with question marks.
That was a concept that had never once come up at school.
Almost without meaning to, his gaze drifted toward Tang Yue, who had pressed herself against him at uncomfortably close range.
She had an exquisitely sculpted face — bright, vivid eyes that seemed to carry an electric charge, a high and sensual nose, lips a luminous and captivating red, and skin so pale and radiant it seemed to glow. At this distance, he could not find a single flaw.
Tang Yue caught the look he was giving her and shot him a fierce glare. "Disrespecting your teacher used to be punishable by beating to death!"
"Hey — Tang Yue — might I point out that *you're* the one pinning me down? Back in the day, seducing a student was punishable by drowning in a pig cage!"
Once the group below had moved off, Tang Yue released him.
The instant she let go, their figures reappeared from behind the trees — the shadow concealment dissolving in a way that looked deeply uncanny.
Tang Yue didn't bother trading barbs any further. Knowing Mo Fan certainly wouldn't have any idea what a Spirit Seed was, she slipped into the role of teacher: "Heaven and earth nurture the elements, and those elements develop grades based on the environments in which they grow. In places where a particular element is especially active, a sentient seed of that element will eventually form. If a Fire Element Mage refines and absorbs such a seed, the power of all that mage's Fire Element skills will multiply several times over."
Multiply several times over?
Mo Fan practically vibrated with excitement.
He'd noticed this frustration early on — no matter how advanced your cultivation, the raw power of your spells stayed more or less the same. He was an Intermediate-Level Mage now, and while he could cast Basic-Level magic far faster than someone at the Basic Level, the actual damage output was identical.
Xu Dahuang's Fire Burst: Blast and his own Fire Burst: Blast hit equally hard. That had been gnawing at him for a while. In every xuanhuan novel he used to read, everyone's skill power scaled up alongside their cultivation level — what the hell!
He'd assumed spell power was simply fixed forever. He never imagined the upgrade path ran through something like *this*.
Fire Element Spirit Seeds!
Mages had to refine and absorb these special elemental seeds nurtured by heaven and earth to increase their skill power. And if the multiplier was "several times over"… *did that mean a single Fire Burst: Blast could one-shot Three-Eyed Demon Wolves and Giant-Eyed Ape-Rats?*
Right now, Mo Fan's internal reserve was Star Nebula, not mere Stardust. He could Release dozens of Basic-Level spells without running dry. Intermediate-Level magic hit harder, sure — but he couldn't blow a full-power spell on every small fry he came across. That would waste reserves needlessly, and the collateral destruction would be excessive.
Besides, Basic-Level magic had its own irreplaceable advantages. Lightning Element's muscle-paralysis effect, for instance, was practical in almost any fight regardless of the target.
"The cheapest Fire Element Spirit Seeds on the open market start at twenty million yuan — and they usually have to be won at auction." Tang Yue's eyes flickered with quiet understanding, a faint smile curving her lips. "I was wondering why that fugitive would dare come crawling around out in the open. Turns out the Spirit Seed drew him out."
"Tw— twenty million. Good lord. You could buy an entire villa in downtown Shanghai for that." Mo Fan sucked in a sharp breath. This thing had to be worth more than diamonds.
"Afraid you can't afford it," Tang Yue said, giving him a withering look.
Fair enough. Shanghai real estate was still more outrageous.
Still — even the cheapest Fire Element Spirit Seed commanded that kind of price, and the thing directly amplified Fire Element skill power. Not just Basic-Level magic, but Intermediate-Level magic too, both multiplied several times over…
*Just think about Blazing Fist's already-unreasonable power — if that colossal fist doubled in strength, forget Servant-class Demon-Beasts getting one-shotted, even Battle-General-class ones might not be able to withstand it.*
"By the way — I seem to remember Mu Ningxue was born with some kind of innate seed?" Mo Fan suddenly recalled and asked quickly.
He was still new to all this, and there were plenty of gaps to fill.
"Mm. Beyond the special elemental seeds nurtured by heaven and earth, certain noble houses and clans produce people who are born with a Spirit Seed already inside them. People like that tend to awaken years earlier than average, and their skills in that element are naturally stronger than other people's from birth — at least double, sometimes more. Mu Ningxue was born with a Liuli Ice Seed, the most powerful variety within the Spirit-Grade Ice Seeds. Its power output is 2.5 times that of a common seed. Someone like her casting Ice Vine: Cover can freeze everyone in a target area in just two seconds. Against swarms of Demon-Beasts she's even more devastating — pair her with an Earth Wave to slow the herd's advance, and she can lock down several Demon-Beasts simultaneously." Tang Yue explained it all with patient thoroughness.
Mo Fan's mouth opened, then slowly closed.
No wonder Mu Zhuoyun, that old schemer, had guarded Mu Ningxue like she was made of gold. No wonder all of Bo City had called her the city's foremost female genius. A natural 2.5-times power advantage truly did sweep away her entire generation, and on top of that she had awakened years ahead of schedule. The advantages compounded relentlessly. No wonder Imperial Capital Magic Academy had personally recruited her.
"Grassroots really do have no future," Mo Fan muttered.
Tang Yue's expression softened into amusement. "Your talent is just as outrageous, you know. Born with an extra element — if I had to compare, a natural Dual Elements is even more coveted than what Mu Ningxue has. Elemental seed grade can be raised by absorbing seeds nurtured by the world. Spontaneously possessing an extra element is something you can only come across — you can't manufacture it."
"Hearing Teacher Tang Yue say that makes me feel a lot better."
"The downside is that at any given cultivation level you'll need significantly more time and resources than everyone else. If your cultivation stalls and your resources are too thin to feed both elements — you're barely any better than dead weight. In short: you burn money. You burn resources."
Mo Fan's mouth twitched.
*Teacher Tang, our teacher-student relationship would be a lot more pleasant if you'd stop twisting the knife.*
He'd already felt the burn in his wallet. Other people bought a Star Trace, spent fifty thousand yuan at most, and were done. He had to buy two — one for Fire Element, one for Lightning Element — and just like that, a hundred thousand yuan was gone.
And now with Spirit Seeds in the picture, he didn't just need to track down a Fire Element Spirit Seed — it seemed he'd also need a Lightning Element one. If one Fire Element Spirit Seed already cost twenty million, what would a Lightning Element one run him?
*Oh god. He was going to be suburban for the rest of his life.*