Elementalism, as the name suggested, was the ability to manipulate elements that drifted in the air. Players who were skilled in this ability were called Elementalists.
Elementalists were divided into seven elements, which were Light, Dark, Wind, Thunder, Water, Fire, and Earth. Water Elementalism was the most common.
Coincidentally, Qin Ruo was an ordinary Level 35 Aquamancer.
At the same time, since Qin Ruo stopped cooperating with his first party, he became a relatively anti-social loner; an adventurer muddling about the infamous Kane Jungle, whose main purpose was to make money.
Kane Jungle was a dangerous land, but Qin Ruo was unperturbed. He started hanging around Kane Jungle after he reached Level 30. For a month, he never encountered any situation that was truly dangerous, except that one time when he was besieged by a pack of Galewind Wolves. It was all because he bumped into a party of idiots with IQs lower than 60. As a result, he fled into the place by accident. Otherwise, with his experience, he would not have run into a pack of Galewind Wolves. It made him the sacrificial victim of the riot.
Qin Ruo was bemused every time he thought of it. Why did such a large group of people run in the same direction when they were up against closely packed green-eyed beasts in the dark? He just did not get it. Did they think they were capable of outrunning the Galewind Wolves that were widely-known for their speed and dexterity in Kane Jungle?
Without a doubt, his strict self-discipline played a huge role in helping him flourish in the jungle. The Galewind Wolf was, after all, a monster with weaknesses. The green-eyed beast was really conspicuous in the dark, making it extremely easy to detect. Besides, its waist was a major flaw, because its resistance against magic was especially low there. Lastly, it was a simple-minded monster that used magic when facing a warrior, and close range combat when facing a Magician. This eventually allowed him to devise a reliable winning strategy.
While contemplating, Qin Ruo suddenly came to a halt as a sense of uneasiness crept in.
He scanned his surroundings while he quickly and carefully covered himself with a layer of transparent enchantment—Aquabarrier.
Aquabarrier was a type of Tier 2 defense magic that, in the face of an attack, was able to withstand a Tier 3 skill or magic attack. It was the most commonly used means of defense among Aquamancers.
In fact, Kane Jungle should have been known as a rainforest, which was a much more suitable name. In a jungle with such high levels of humidity, the element of water accumulated exceedingly rapidly and was easier to control. His true potential could be further unleashed in there… This was the reason why he was reluctant to leave Kane Jungle during that entire month.
With the barrier active, Qin Ruo listened to the sounds in his surroundings with caution. Gradually, a frown formed on his face.
It was too quiet!
There were supposed to be quite a number of adventurers and parties within Kane Jungle!
Before this, the road Qin Ruo picked was a path that deviated from the usual route used by other adventurers. That was why he never bumped into other players. However, after he obtained the Galewind Wolf's Core, he returned to the main road. Logically, it should not have been so quiet after that.
In fact, the number of Galewind Wolves were getting decreasing, and not a single team was anywhere to be seen. The whole jungle was filled with an air of excessive stillness, and Qin Ruo who was extremely familiar with the place could not help but feel a hint of tension as well as anxiety.
He glanced around, and after confirming that there were no breathing sounds of monsters or any other unusual noises, Qin Ruo quickly uttered two words, "Water, condense!" The water vapor in the air rapidly condensed together, and the surrounding visibility improved significantly; the condensed Aquaballs centered around Qin Ruo spread and formed a water strip that was nearly ten meters in diameter. It moved slowly and rhythmically.
Examining the heap of dry leaves beneath him, Qin Ruo frowned. His guess was right.
Huge traces of Galewind Wolves could be seen, and it looked like a wolf pack had formed in Kane Jungle. The size was... unknown. However, there was one vital point that he grasped. The direction the wolf pack headed in infuriated him, because they were heading towards the respawning point of the Galewind Wolf King.
Once he grasped the problem, the surreptitious atmosphere in the jungle was justified…
It appeared that the Galewind Wolf King was being eyed by some large parties. Otherwise, the pack of Galewind Wolves would not have emerged at this point and be intentionally lured by others to the respawn point.
Qin Ruo shook his head, feeling depressed. The Galewind Wolf King would drop a dual attribute Mana Core and raw materials worth more than a thousand gold coins. But even though all those things were very tempting, it was obviously irrational to fight an entire party on his own. Moreover, it was likely that several parties of players with the same intention had been annihilated by the wolf pack along the way. To continue his journey to the respawn point was definitely looking for trouble, hence he decided to give up on his target. He backtracked, and tried to leave the place as soon as possible, staying as far away as possible from the danger zone ahead!
At that very moment, a pair of green pupils flashed somewhere in the distant darkness…
Qin Ruo caught the fleeting green pupils from the corner of his eye, and a premonition of impending danger crept over him! Without hesitation, he raised his staff, and chanted loudly, "Aquarampart!"
As he chanted, the water strip moved rhythmically in the air and merged with the emotions of the owner! Branching out into two transparent water strips, it spread out several meters away from Qin Ruo.
The number of green pupils appeared incessantly in the darkness ahead and they were increasing by the minute. One pair, two pairs… ten pairs… twenty pairs… the sound of something speeding through the forest grew more and more frequent. It was as though the whole jungle trembled under the stampede of the pack of Galewind Wolves!
Cold sweat slid down Qin Ruo's forehead…
Damn it!
The Galewind Wolf King supposedly just respawned, so why did the wolf pack give up on their targets and return that quickly? Is the bloody party a group of rookies?
A**holes!
Qin Ruo cursed in his heart, swearing at the party of incompetent a**holes who attracted a large group of Galewind Wolves, and put him on the brink of death. Because, in the jungle, it was impossible for players to escape whether by going offline or taking flight.
He chose to flee the last time and he ended up being torn to pieces by a pack of Galewind Wolves. Since that day, he vowed never to retreat even in the face of tens of thousands of Galewind Wolves. Even though he was unable to kill all of them, at least he could earn some experience, which was still better than being slaughtered like a coward.
"Hopefully, not too many items are dropped this time…"
Qin Ruo glanced at the green Mana Core in his backpack. He then searched for a small bottle of sky-blue MP Potion as he lamented sadly in his heart.
Within seconds, a dozen pairs of Galewind Wolf eyes entered Qin Ruo's sight. A few Galewind Wolves that were running ahead of the group had apparently sensed the adventurer, who was obstructing their path. They let out a burst of excited and resounding howls, speeding up as they closed in!
"Water! Condense!
"Shield!"
The crisis made Qin Ruo to lose his mind. With a tight frown, he utilized a similar approach, and froze the first Galewind Wolf charging at him. His timing was good, and the frozen Galewind Wolf coincidentally got entangled in a row of shrubs. Like an elevated obstacle, the shrubs put it out of action.
However, there was a duration called the cooldown for each action. Tier 1 Elementalism could not be used continuously either (the cooldown for Tier 1 magic was 1 second).
After Qin Ruo quickly identified several openings in front, the water strips that were moving rhythmically in the air swam towards them rapidly with a sonorous chant. "Frostrampart!"
The water strips abruptly cooled down and there was a strong chill in the air! Resembling two Frostramparts with immense weight, they smashed down from the sky! One of the Galewind Wolves failed to dodge the attack and it was severed at the waist. It hissed and twisted around as it continued to howl in pain; at the same time, the trailing Galewind Wolves were impeded by the Frostrampart. They came to a halt one after another, temporarily buying him one to two seconds of time.
"Water! Condense!"
Qin Ruo did not stop what he was doing. Fine water vapors were once again drawn from the air, but no Aquaball formed this time, instead five Aqua Arrows were created. He fiercely shot them towards two Galewind Wolves that were breaking through the final opening.
"Ice! Arrow!"
Five weak and seemingly non-lethal Aqua Arrows suddenly exuded a prodigious chill as Qin Ruo continued to chant. Their speed also increased significantly.
"Owooah…"
"Owooooah…"
All the ice arrows hit their targets, burrowing into the waists of two Galewind Wolves.
In spite of that, Qin Ruo's real intention was to use the ice arrows to buy himself some time. After freezing those few Galewind Wolves, he would deal with the ones on the other side that had broken free from the Frostrampart using Windblade. However, unexpectedly… the Galewind Wolf hit by three of the ice arrows was killed and it fell to the ground, disrupting his plan.
He noticed half a dozen Galewind Wolves sweeping out from the two openings. Seeing that they were about to unleash their next round of Windblades, Qin Ruo cursed inside. He knew he could not wait any longer. He anxiously roared, "Ice! Explode!"
His powerful voice was accompanied by the sound of explosions as the intact Frostrampart in the distance along with the damaged Frostrampart erupted. All of a sudden, countless solid ice shards—propelled by a huge force from the explosions—shot towards dozens of Galewind Wolves in all directions.
Tier 3 AoE magic, Frostburst: It was divided into three steps; condense, shoot, and explode. It took about three seconds to prepare, but with Qin Ruo's intentional arrangement and manipulation, the first two steps were omitted. This, in turn, made it a more frightening and swifter assault!
Of course, the fog in the jungle played a part too. Without aid from the jungle's natural water mist, which improved affinity, there would not have been a triple blast…
Under the shattered solid ice, dozens of Galewind Wolves that were obstructed in the rear were injured at varying degrees. What made Qin Ruo excited and surprised was the fact that a few Galewind Wolves were killed by the Frostburst.
"Awesome!"
A hint of delight flashed across Qin Ruo's eyes.
It seemed like this group of Galewind Wolves had previously survived a tough battle, otherwise, there would not have been this few of them… Hmph, maybe I'm not fated to die!
As he pondered his fate, Qin Ruo was determined to survive in the face of this pack of starving wolves!