There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

"can."

"Okay." Upon hearing Wayne's words, Lu Qing aligned her gaze with Wayne's and immediately saw several huge mountains and rocks floating in the distant sky.

From Wayne's perspective, beneath those mountains and rocks suspended in mid-air, there is an unimaginable abundance of wind elements.

Just as Maevelyn said, the wind elements did not disappear, but rather accumulated. This accumulated wind element caused a large number of mountains and rocks to be suspended in mid-air.

If we release these wind elements...

Lu Qing only vaguely imagined what it would be like when the accumulated wind elements were released, and the large number of suspended mountains were torn apart by the gale and scattered in all directions. She couldn't help but shudder.

That level of force is incomparable to tornadoes and typhoons. The unpredictable wind elements will tear everything apart. Even if people in the middle are not torn apart, they will be beaten to death by the flying debris.

P.S.: My computer monitor is broken, and I want to buy a new one, but I can only do so after I receive my payment on March 12th.

Yes, after buying it, I still have to wait for it to be delivered.

For the time being, I can only make do with my old, broken laptop.

Ugh...it hurts so much, my shoulders feel like they're going to give out after typing this...

------------

I touched it today.

I feel so tired. My shoulders ache from typing on my laptop for so long.

However, I can only buy a monitor after I receive my royalties on the 12th, and I don't know when it will arrive.

I'll just do a quick update today, and I'll continue with double updates as usual from tomorrow onwards.

Taking one day off a month isn't too much to ask, right? *sobs*

(￣︶￣)/

------------

Chapter 553: Elf Blade and Charged Strike

"This is truly spectacular," Lu Qing said, looking at the rock walls floating in mid-air in the distance through Wayne's gaze.

The wind element is located above those rock walls. If she and Ling want to get closer to the wind element, they can use these suspended rock walls for help.

Withdrawing her gaze, Lu Qing roughly determined the direction and then led Ling deeper into Storm Valley.

The roads here are not easy to walk on; they are rugged mountain paths and rocks everywhere. If an ordinary person were to walk here, they would probably have to stop and rest within two hours.

Fortunately, Lu Qing wasn't exactly an ordinary person. For her, walking here was no different from walking in the forest. As for spirits... she didn't need to walk; she flew.

As long as Lu Qing takes a step forward, Ling will automatically follow and take a step forward as well, no matter how fast Lu Qing goes.

This is certainly not controlled by the spirit itself. In fact, the spirit's movement speed is very slow when it is in its elemental state, a point that the Pope had already mentioned to Lu Qing.

To solve this problem, the elves usually travel in pairs, one remaining in animal form while the other transforms into an elemental form, floating beside their animal companion.

When they act together, their elemental forces are intertwined, allowing the elemental spirits to move alongside the animal spirits. Even when facing enemies far stronger than themselves, they can defeat them with their superior magic and skill.

These are the Pope's original words. Due to some special reasons, Lu Qing can now be considered half an elf, so linking with spirits through elements is not too difficult.

In fact, she was able to wake up from her sleep thanks to this skill.

[Wilderness Hiking LV2-LV3]

The diary suddenly trembled, recording the information about Lu Qing's skill upgrade.

Lu Qing glanced at it, but wasn't particularly surprised. Traveling through places like Storm Valley, which is full of rugged rocks, could indeed improve one's proficiency in the [Wilderness Walking] skill.

More than that, Lu Qing was concerned about some creatures that appeared in her field of vision not far away.

No, those things can't even be considered living beings, Lu Qing thought, looking at the illusory figures in the distance.

There were dozens of enormous, dark blue ants, gathered together doing something unknown. Ling seemed to recognize them and explained to Lu Qing:

“Those creatures are soul-eating ants, which, as their name suggests, are creatures that feed exclusively on souls.”

"They are a new species that emerged after the sacred tree withered, catalyzed by the power of the void. Perhaps because there was so little food, they actually evolved the power to devour souls."

Ling paused slightly at this point, then said, "However, later on, because fewer creatures died, or rather, fewer creatures were able to die, their food became scarce again."

"This led to the death of a large number of Soul-Eating Ants, and the remaining Soul-Eating Ants transformed into a terrifying species that would actively attack and kill any living creature they encountered before devouring its soul..."

As Ling spoke, her voice held a complex mix of emotions, a mixture of pity and fear. Her light flickered a few times as she said, "In short, show them no pity. End these deformed lives!"

"A deformed life form..." After hearing Ling's words, Lu Qing looked at the Soul-Devouring Ants in the distance and said.

It is indeed a deformed life form, surviving by devouring souls, but it can only obtain souls by killing other life forms.

This may sound no different from eating meat, but the soul is something that gradually dissipates and cannot be preserved for a long time. If these ants want to survive, they either have to kill other creatures or kill each other. There is no third way.

Shaking her head, Lu Qing drew Altaïr's sword and slowly walked towards the Soul-Eating Ants.

As expected of a purple-quality item, the Sword of Altaïr did not suffer much damage even after being roughly used by the vengeful spirit of Knight Myron for fifty years.

However, it's impossible to say that it was completely unaffected, but it's more than enough to deal with these Soul-Eating Ants.

"Heh heh..."

The Soul-Eating Ants, who had been standing still, noticed Lu Qing's approach and immediately became excited, their antennae colliding with each other to transmit information.

"Ok?"

Lu Qing sensed a mental fluctuation emanating from the bodies of these Soul-Devouring Ants; it was a special attack similar to a mental shock!

Without hesitation, Lu Qing bent her legs slightly, opened her rosy lips, and let out a deafening roar.

"Roar!!"

Almost the instant Lu Qing unleashed [Dragon's Roar], the combined power of the Soul-Eating Ants erupted.

However, almost instantly, the mental impact released by the Soul Devouring Ants was destroyed by Lu Qing's [Dragon's Roar]. After destroying the mental impact released by the Soul Devouring Ants, the remaining power of [Dragon's Roar] still struck the Soul Devouring Ants.

"Chichi!"

The Soul-Eating Ants let out a scream, their bodies emitting a pale blue light.

Lu Qing wouldn't let such a good opportunity pass by. She picked up the Altaïr sword, which was infused with spiritual power, and charged into the formation of the Soul-Eating Ants, wreaking havoc on all sides.

Before long, the corpses of these spirit-devouring ants collapsed to the ground, leaving behind a trail of dark blue blood. After they died, their seemingly illusory bodies slowly became real, and their originally light blue skin turned dark gray.

[Magic Element +410]

[Soul +800]

"Can these Soul-Eating Ants still provide souls?" Lu Qing asked, feeling a pleasant surprise.

“Of course, after all, their food is souls.” The spirit swayed lightly, its body flashing with pale blue light as it spoke.

"After they die, the soul stored in their bodies will also dissipate, and with the dissipation of void power, they will change from semi-spirits back into ordinary bodies."

"I see." Lu Qing looked at the pale gray corpses of the Soul-Eating Ants, and then at the blood flowing out of them, which had indeed turned dark red.

"So much magic energy and soul, I need to upgrade my skills!" Lu Qing said, looking at her magic energy and soul.

"Okay, okay," Ling nodded.

The next moment, time stopped, and a familiar skill panel appeared in front of Lu Qing.

Super Jump (Blue)

After a brief period of charging, the body launches forward like a cannonball, allowing for a jump to higher and farther positions. Be careful, as you may damage objects beneath your feet.

[Unlocked with 250 Magic Essence]

With only this skill remaining on her skill panel, Lu Qing chose to learn Super Jump without hesitation. After learning this skill, two new skills appeared on her skill panel.

【Elf Blade (Purple)】

[Charged Strike (Purple)]

------------

Chapter 554: The Gift

【Elf Blade (Purple)】

[Gather spiritual energy in your palm to form an incomparably sharp elven blade. This skill can be attached to weapons, enhancing their sharpness and durability, and automatically adding spiritual attribute attacks.]

[Unlocked with 500 Magic Essence.]

[Charged Strike (Purple)]

All your skills that utilize spiritual power can be charged. Different skills will have different results after charging. The longer the charge time, the better the skill's effect. However, there is a limit to how much you can charge, so please be very careful.

[Unlocked with 800 Magic Essence.]

"Wow, what powerful skills!" Lu Qing exclaimed, seeing the effects of the two new skills, feeling she had made a small contribution to global cooling.

This is a purple-quality skill! It can be learned directly by accumulating enough magic essence. It has to be said that if the level of the dream world had not been improved, Lu Qing probably would not have been able to learn a skill of this level.

So, upgrading the level of the dream world can be considered a good thing?

"It just takes so much magic energy..." Lu Qing pouted, looking a little annoyed, her cute eyebrows furrowed together.

She only has 190 points of magic left, and she can't learn either of these two skills, so she should leave them for now.

Turning off the skill panel, Lu Qing had Ling slowly infuse her soul into the Guardian Mask, while she focused all her attention on the mask's development progress.

36%......38%.....44%......49%......50%！

"Okay, stop!"

Seeing that the Guardian Mask's development level had reached fifty, Lu Qing hurriedly called for a halt, glancing quickly at how much of her soul remained.

[Soul: 234]

As her consciousness began to fade, Lu Qing was lost in the memories of Knight Myron.

.......

“My dear Myron, can you explain this…” In the dimly lit room, Velena looked at Myron with an unfriendly tone and said, “I sent you to assassinate the master of the enemy castle, how did you end up drawing out all the guards?”

"No, that was just an accident. Anyway, I completed the mission in the end and my identity wasn't recognized by anyone, so isn't that good?" Myron tried to defend himself.

"Ah..." Verena rubbed her forehead in annoyance, saying, "You did complete the mission, but you caused too much of a commotion, I..."