Chapter 1031 - 858: West Coast Gathering

Duke took out several neatly folded sheets of parchment from his pocket and placed them in Vivian’s hand.

"These are some notes I took from the Six-Ring Tower Library, mainly on the basic guidance methods for Wind Rules, and a few internal studies on the refinement of Wind Elf bloodlines. I’ve tried my best to translate the texts into the common language, with illustrations in some places, so you should be able to understand them. There’s also an analysis on the changes of Rule Power during Plane Ascension; you can take a closer look when you have time."

Vivian lowered her head, carefully unfolding and refolding the parchments, clutching them together with the ring in her hand. When she looked up again, she had regained her usual composure.

She reached out to adjust Duke’s collar that had been blown out of place by the morning breeze, then withdrew her hand and placed it behind her, looking into his eyes, saying, "Take care on your journey."

Duke nodded, saying no more. He took two steps back, and the air around him gently trembled; his whole being transformed into a barely discernible breeze.

In the sound of the wind, a faint trace of his last lingering presence swept past Vivian’s forehead, brushing a few strands of her scattered golden hair, then dissipated among the branches and leaves of the ancient forest.

Vivian stood alone at the fence gate, gently pressing the parchments and ring against her chest, a slight curve forming on her lips.

A moment later, she patted the drowsing flower cat beside her, turned around to enter the house, and closed the wooden door behind her.

...

After returning to the Central Islands, Duke went straight through several Rune Door Restrictions and arrived at his dormitory in Zone 7.

The moment he pushed open the dormitory door, familiar arrangements met his eyes.

The long-cold cup of herbal tea sat on the desk as before, along with several open notebooks filled with marked notes. Outside, the sky over the Central Islands, seemingly forever silver-blue, shed soft light through the crystal windows, spreading a gentle glow across the floor.

Duke first went to the bathroom for a shower, washing away the weariness accumulated from days of flying over the sea.

After changing into clean robes, he sat down at his desk, taking out the two Secret Silver Sealing Boxes from his Space Ring, and placing them side by side on the desk.

The greenish-white Wind Attribute Rule Key and the azure Water Attribute Rule Key each emitted an extremely subtle elemental glow, and even through the walls of the Secret Silver Box, the compressed Rule Power vibrations inside could still be felt.

After checking the dormitory’s Sound Insulation Array and Defense Barrier one last time to ensure everything was correct, Duke tucked the two Sealing Boxes into his pocket, moved his thoughts, and entered the Divine Court.

The Divine Court’s sky remained bright and soft, the small Golden Tree unknowingly had grown several meters tall, while the water surface of the Spring of Life sparkled under the tree’s faint golden glow.

In the center of the spring, the World Tree Seed wrapped in a pale green Light Cocoon still floated quietly, with its life rhythm stronger than a few months ago, yet clearly still a long way from sprouting.

Sitting cross-legged beside the Spring of Life, Duke placed the two Sealing Boxes on the grass before him, taking the one on the left to open the lid.

The Wind Attribute Rule Key rose from the box, hovering above his palm.

Enclosed within the semi-transparent greenish-white crystal lay an endless micro-storm, light constantly flowing, colliding, and splitting across its surface, each flash inducing fine airflow ripples in the surrounding air.

Rather than rushing to touch it with his Spiritual Power, Duke first let four kinds of Rule Power circulate slowly along the crystal surface texture of the Six-element Compound Spiritual Crystal, forming a stable four-colored halo around the Spiritual Sea.

Only then did he condense his Spiritual Power into an extremely fine strand, slowly reaching towards the greenish-white crystal.

As the Spiritual Power tendril touched the Rule Key’s surface, a surge of violent yet free Wind Rules flowed back along the tendril.

Contrary to the fiery explosions of Flame Rules, the impact of Wind Rules lacked high temperature or explosions, manifesting instead as an extreme ripping and flowing.

Countless strands of greenish-white Rule Network sliced his Spiritual Power tendrils like blades, each cut sharp enough to tear ordinary wizards’ Spiritual Power to shreds.

Yet Duke was prepared, the four-colored halo around the Spiritual Sea steadying this wave of impact, filtering, buffering, and guiding the violent Wind Rule Network layer by layer, letting them absorb slowly along the crystal surface texture of the Six-element Compound Spiritual Crystal.

Under the greenish-white glow, new patterns began to emerge on the crystal surface—the Wind Rule Network, intricate and fluent, like countless streams carving their traces on the crystal.

The entire process lasted nearly an hour, and when the last trace of greenish-white light fully fused with the Spiritual Power Crystal, a faint tremor emerged from the crown top of the Skill Tree.

Opening the Skill Tree interface, Duke saw a new entirely greenish-white branch slowly forming beside the fiery red, inky black, pale gold, and earthy yellow branches.

The surface of the branch flowed with endless micro-whirlwinds, each line seemingly etched by the Wind Blade, intricate and sharp.

[Wind Rules: LV1 (1/10000)].

Taking a brief rest, Duke quickly adjusted his state without lingering.

He closed the left hand’s Sealing Box and opened the right one, watching as the azure Water Attribute Rule Key ascended from the box.

The impact from the Water Rules was distinctly different from the prior two, an all-encompassing, pervasive infiltration.