Chapter 2117: Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals

[The First Stage is called Elemental Baptism.]

[During this stage, the participants must collect 100 Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals within ten days.]

[As you already know, Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals can only be obtained by killing the Elemental Beasts within their respective regions.]

[Participants who fail to gather all one hundred crystals within the time limit will be eliminated.]

[As for the collected Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals, they belong to the participants.]

The moment the participants heard that, many immediately became excited.

"Haha! Isn’t this too easy?"

"With my Fire Elemental Spirits, killing Fire Elemental Beasts will be effortless."

"I can probably complete it within three days."

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Hearing that the first stage only required them to kill Elemental Beasts, some participants even revealed relaxed expressions as they were fully confident in their Elemental Spirits and their own battle prowess.

Of course, deep down, they also considered the dangers from fellow participants who might steal the Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals they collected.

’So, the Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals are obtained by killing the Elemental Beasts.’

Ajax learned something new once again.

Even though he had no idea about the Elemental Beasts before entering this place, Ajax had previously found some Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals in the Old Universe.

However, those crystals were useless to him because not only had all his Elemental Spirits fully awakened their [Elemental Ascendance], but they had also evolved into Divine Elemental Spirits and gotten themselves sealed inside his Divine Spirit Consciousness.

’The rewards from this first stage are useless to me.’

Ajax shook his head in disappointment.

"I was a bit hesitant about entering this Elemental Source Land; however, just these 100 Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals are already worth risking my life for."

"True...with 100 Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals, all my Elemental Spirits can speed up their awakening of [Elemental Ascendance]."

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However, Ajax noticed many participants becoming greatly excited about the Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals.

’They might not be useful to me, but for these young geniuses, they are extremely valuable.’

Ajax naturally knew the reason behind their excitement.

’Other than the fact that the Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals are extremely rare and can only be found in the depths of the Dark Region, these geniuses themselves have a huge need for them.’

For Summoners planning to ascend to the Heavenly Realm, they naturally wanted to bring their Elemental Spirits along with them.

However, for that to happen, the Elemental Spirits had to fully awaken their [Elemental Ascendance] before ascending together with their Summoner to the Heavenly Realm.

Even though every participant who entered this Elemental Source Land was a monstrous genius, the same couldn’t necessarily be applied to their Elemental Spirits.

Moreover, not everyone possessed a Special Title like Ajax’s Elemental Spirit Master that connected all their Elemental Spirits together.

’Also, it becomes extremely difficult to progress once the Elemental Ascendance reaches ninety percent.’

Ajax knew this better than anyone.

Even with the combined efforts of more than 1600 Elemental Spirits, along with special resources from the system, it still took many months for all his Elemental Spirits to fully awaken their [Elemental Ascendance].

Thus, most participants’ Elemental Spirits were still far from fully awakening their Elemental Ascendance and naturally needed these Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals badly.

Because of that, the moment the rewards were announced, all the participants became excited.

’Looks like no one is thinking about the strange requirements anymore.’

After entering the Elemental Source Land, some intelligent participants had quietly discussed the odd entry requirements and suspected something was wrong with this place.

However, with the appearance of such high-level cultivation resources, everyone’s attention had completely shifted toward clearing the First Stage.

"Also, the Ancient Voice mentioned that the best performers in each stage would receive special rewards."

"I wonder what kind of rewards they will be?"

Not only Ajax, but all the participants were curious about the special rewards.

Unlike Ajax, however, they were filled with excitement and anticipation.

The reason was naturally the Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals once again.

Since the normal rewards for clearing the first stage were already so valuable, the special rewards would definitely be even more precious.

Thus, everyone became even more eager to clear the stage quickly.

[Everyone might be thinking that you can simply stay within the elemental terrain most suitable for you and continuously farm Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals.]

[But sorry to destroy your dreams.]

However, before the participants could celebrate for too long regarding the seemingly easy first stage, the ancient voice continued speaking.

[Participants must collect 20 Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals each from the five different elemental terrains: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and Dark.]

[Even if you collect more, only 20 Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals per element will be counted toward clearing the stage.]

"..."

Instantly, many participants’ expressions stiffened.

"I thought I could simply use my Fire Elemental Spirits to farm Fire Spirit Ascension Crystals within the Fire Terrain."

"Same here. My plan was to farm in the Wind Terrain using my Wind Elemental Spirits."

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The atmosphere immediately became much heavier.

Because this requirement was far harsher than they originally imagined.

The thing was, most Summoners only possessed affinity with one or two elements, whereas only a few rare geniuses had affinity with three or more elements.

And naturally, they could only form contracts with Elemental Spirits belonging to those elements.

Thus, even though collecting one hundred Elemental Spirit Ascension Crystals wasn’t easy, they originally thought they could simply remain within terrains matching their elemental affinities and slowly hunt the Elemental Beasts there.

However, according to the Ancient Voice, not only did they need to collect one hundred crystals, but they were also forced to travel through all five elemental regions.

Clearly, peacefully farming crystals in one safe terrain was impossible.

"Haha...what did you expect? Do you think this Elemental Source Land is your father’s inheritance to freely hand out high-level cultivation resources?"

"As cultivators and Summoners, you can’t expect your enemies to always fight on your favourite terrain."

"We should be prepared to battle in all kinds of environments."

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Meanwhile, those with an affinity toward two or more elements naturally looked down on the other participants’ mindset.

’Wait a second...even if we struggle in certain terrains, can’t we just steal from others?’

Very quickly, everyone realized another dangerous fact.

The Ancient Voice never mentioned any rule prohibiting participants from fighting or robbing one another.

Thus, those powerful participants lacking affinity with multiple elements immediately began selecting possible targets in their minds.

After all, the crystals could definitely be stolen from other participants.

Meaning, the deeper the stage progressed, the fiercer the battles between cultivators would become.

"I have affinity with the Dark Element. Are you interested in forming a team with me?"

"Dark Element? Sure. I have affinity with Fire and Wind Elements."

"How about adding someone with Water and Earth affinity as well?"

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Soon, many participants immediately started forming temporary teams capable of covering all five elements.

By forming such teams, not only would their chances of collecting the required twenty crystals from each elemental terrain greatly increase, but their overall fighting strength would also become much stronger against those planning to rob them.

’...’

Looking at everyone revealing their elemental affinities by summoning their Elemental Spirits while forming teams, Ajax became speechless.

’I have affinity with all elements; however, I can’t prove it because all my Elemental Spirits are sealed.’