Crack!

When the Witch snapped the neck of the fourth White Velociraptor, she glanced back and saw that no living Knowledge Creatures remained in the quarry.

Persona Split, Mask Swap, Mode: Red Death Apostle off, Mode: White Queen activate!

Dia stared at the White Velociraptor's body dissolving into points of light and sinking into the mud. "Is that it?"

She still couldn't fully process it. Could combat in the Virtual World really be this effortless?

This Resource Point had been a stone quarry, guarded by eight White Velociraptors. In the past, Dia would have turned tail immediately. The last Resource Point she attacked had only four Dog-Headed Dragons. She had barely managed to kill two of them before sustaining injuries all over and depleting most of her mana. Without the Time Class spirit, Fast Forward, she might not have made it out at all.

But now, after defeating eight White Velociraptors in the quarry, Dia was completely unscathed. Sure, the three of them had seized the high ground right away, bottlenecking the monsters in the narrowest passage for a defensive engagement, but the outcome was still astonishing.

Their coordination was basic. The Watcher handled ranged attacks and support, using his Sword Barrier to block the Velociraptors' charges twice in a row to protect Dia. Meanwhile, the Swordwoman unleashed devastating close-range strikes and AOE-type Miracles derived from the Wave spirit, preventing the Velociraptors from charging recklessly.

Dia stayed just behind her, supplementing damage and waiting for openings. When a White Velociraptor exposed a weak point, Dia would unleash her Miracles, Aquatic Line, and Entangle, wrapping lethal threads around the monster's vital spots before twisting fiercely to finish the kill.

Dia had underestimated the destructive potential of a three-sorcerer team and overestimated the combat strength of the pack creatures. Compared to larger monsters, pack creatures were much weaker individually. The difference in combat capability was like that between a curvaceous, mature woman and a group of flat-chested young girls.

Still, pack creatures never relied on individual strength. Their true power lay in flawless coordination. When swarming a sorcerer, a pack always had a designated lure, ambusher, and restrainer. They could even adapt, swapping roles depending on the situation. If a sorcerer focused on one monster, it would retreat to lure them, while the others attacked. Even if the individual monster's damage was low, most sorcerers without Super Armor buffs would easily be knocked off balance. If they were thrown to the ground, the pack would tear them apart.

Dia's previous encounter had been exactly like that, leaving her completely overwhelmed by a few Dog-Headed Dragons. The intelligence of pack creatures often made it feel as if the Virtual World itself was using them to toy with sorcerers.

Strategies for fighting large creatures and pack creatures were completely different, and the risks varied drastically. Many sorcerers who dominated the Sea of Knowledge could easily be defeated multiple times by pack creatures on the Continent of Time. But with three sorcerers working together, the tide turned completely.

Since they were covering each other, Dia only had to face the monsters directly in front of her. With the Watcher's support, she could unleash attacks without hesitation, maximizing her damage output. Occupying the high ground, they even engaged single monsters together in tight spaces.

Under these conditions, the pack creatures' weaknesses—low defense, low health, weak attacks, and predictable patterns—became glaringly obvious. One by one, the monsters fell to the trio's carefully timed assaults.

The ease with which they handled the battle felt like something out of a fairy tale.

As Dia reflected on how brutal her past battles had been, the other two quietly evaluated their new team member's strength.

Powerful. Fierce. Cunning and unpredictable.

Once the Witch entered combat, it was like she became a completely different person. Her outfit shifted into a tight, blood-red battle dress. Her hair streaked red and white, and three transparent threads extended from her hands.

Ashe realized she had activated her innate ability, switching to a persona better suited for combat.

When she slashed at the White Velociraptor, the threads whipped across its body like steel, leaving deep, bloody marks. She had infused the threads with her Water Therapy spirit. Normally, Water Therapy was used for healing, and applying it to severe wounds required anesthesia or spirits specialized in hypnosis, as the regrowth of flesh was intensely itchy and painful.

In the Shattered Lake Prison, Ashe always woke up only after Healer No. 222 had finished her treatments, and now he understood why.

When applied in combat, the Water Therapy spirit amplified the sensory damage. The White Velociraptors screamed or leapt in response, drastically slowing their attacks and breaking their rhythm.

The Witch also had another Miracle, Entangle. She could bind a target with her threads and then twist them. Ashe could see her biceps bulging as she pulled. With a final howl, the White Velociraptor's neck was torn apart by the Witch's threads.

The Witch's Time Class spirit, Fast Forward, had proven its worth multiple times, disrupting the White Velociraptors' desperate counterattacks and even forcing one to crash straight into the Swordwoman's Killing Intent Wave Slash. She didn't slow the Swordwoman down at all; instead, she complemented her tactics perfectly. By the end of the battle, Ashe felt as if he were the one relying on their strength.

Ashe glanced around in disbelief. "Do pack creatures not drop spirits? This is such a rip-off for us!"

"Pack creatures mostly use their spirits to operate Resource Points," Sonya explained, casting a glance at the quarry. "Unless there's a dominant creature among them, spirits rarely stay with the individual beasts. When a creature dies, its spirit usually escapes, so we can't really gain anything from them directly."

"The only real reward from a Resource Point is whatever it has already produced," Dia added, her eyes lighting up with anticipation. "Hopefully, there's some Fist Stone in there."

Ashe still didn't fully grasp the value of a Resource Point, but as he picked up the deep blue stones glittering in the quarry, everything clicked. For a sorcerer, Resource Points were invaluable.

[Weakwater Stone: When consumed by a Water Class spirit, it can catalyze the spirit's autonomous evolution.]

[Fist Stone: When consumed by a Fist and Claw Class spirit, it can catalyze the spirit's autonomous evolution.]

Spirit evolution!

Ashe had never imagined that a spirit could evolve using external items. Back at Freya's apartment, he had researched methods to obtain high-tier spirits beyond just farming creatures and looting equipment. The answers had been simple, either summon a new one or upgrade an existing one.

Summoning a new spirit was like starting a new relationship, going through all the necessary steps like movie dates, meals, and holding hands to nurture the newfound bond. Upgrading an existing spirit, on the other hand, was like helping a wife dress in more sophisticated, stylish clothes. It's simpler, but the catch was that you had to already have a wife.

Every sorcerer generally had a lifebound spirit, the first spirit they ever summoned. When a sorcerer elevated their sorcery class to Gold, they typically did so by upgrading their lifebound spirit to obtain its second wing, allowing them to enter the Continent of Time.

Naturally, most spirits eligible for evolution were the sorcerer's lifebound spirit. In a way, a spirit was like a daughter married off to the real world. When her natal family saw she was thriving with the sorcerer, they sent a dowry, allowing her to evolve from a Level One girl to a Level Two adolescent.

Spirits not personally summoned by the sorcerer were like unrecognized mistresses. No matter how much training they received, they couldn't gain recognition from the spirit's origin.

However, if a spirit consumed higher-tier Virtual World resources from the Virtual World, like the ores in a Resource Point, even an "unofficial" spirit could continue evolving.

"So, as long as you fully master a spirit and feed it the ore corresponding to its sorcery class, there's a high chance it will evolve autonomously," Sonia explained. "You can feed it ores from other sorcery classes too, but the conversion efficiency is only about three percent compared to the matching class."

Ashe nodded. In other words, feeding a well-developed Spirit the right resources could allow it to fully evolve into a more remarkable form.

He eyed the pile of glittering ores in the vehicle's bed. "Then let's sort them by class. Time and Fist and Claw Class ores go to the Witch; Sword and Water Class ores go to the Swordwoman."

Sonya asked, "And what about you? Don't you also practice the Sword Class?"

"I'm not in a rush," Ashe replied. "I don't cling to spirits. If I get a better Two-Winged spirit later, I'll just swap it out. You both have primary sorcery classes that you each specialize in, so your spirits need to grow alongside you."

Sonya shook her head. "What about Swordheart? That's one of the Five Unmatched Secret Swords, a relic that the elf specifically left for you. I might get a tool to exchange spirits in the Virtual World later, but until then, you need to train Swordheart properly!"

Sonya stuffed several Swordheart Stones into Ashe's hands. He blinked, then smiled with relief. "Swordwoman, you've grown up..."

Sonya snapped, clearly flustered. "Don't talk like a proud parent seeing your daughter succeed!"