Crack ~

Su Hao stepped on a dead branch and broke it. He walked on the ground where the snow wasn't thick.

A faint halo shrouded his body.

He had activated "Sprite Commandeering: Protection" on his own initiative to prevent his clothes from being torn by the tree branches.

"Young man, you have experience."

The brawny man named Zhong Yunrui said with a smile, "Your movements are much smoother than those Sprite Cultivators, especially that Luo Cheng…"

He shook his head.

Having interacted with many people, he could tell with one look that Luo Cheng had a sense of superiority as a student of Professor Meng.

It was true that it was very difficult to enroll in Sprite Universities. The difficulty of enrolling in a graduate specialization related to sprites was even higher.

But in the end, he was just a graduate student from the ivory tower.

Middle-level Sprite Cultivator? That was still a Sprite Cultivator!

"Even a big boss like Professor Meng has to ask Captain Lu for his opinion when setting up the camp, and now he actually wants to arrange a defense mission for us…"

"You didn't see the dark look on his face when he heard that you were a mid-level Sprite Cultivator."

It was no wonder that Zhong Yunrui was displeased that an outsider wanted to guide the expert.

Su Hao didn't have a good impression of that person either.

But it wasn't as bad as hating him.

He came here to contract a new sprite, not to cozy up to someone powerful… Moreover, that person wasn't powerful either.

He looked back.

The four Sprite Cultivators had already separated, but they weren't too far away.

Next to him was Big Brother Zhong, protecting him. An elite Sprite Trainer was walking beside Tang Xin and Tang Qiwen too.

Only Luo Cheng had two people on his left and right.

He seemed to be moving slowly.

Favorability -20.

Su Hao walked through the bare woods, his eyes glancing around from time to time.

Old Brother Zhong and his two sprites were on alert in the surroundings, chasing away wild sprites.

One was an Earth Wolf close to elite level.

The other was Elephant General.

This was the first time Su Hao had seen the Elephant General in real life.

It was about two meters tall, with a wider cross-section. It swung its long nose.

It was wearing a suit of armor made of stone, as though it was carved by a master of craftsmanship. The scales of its armor were arranged neatly, and in its right hand was a gray stone war hammer with spikes at the top.

It looked very intimidating.

Facing anyone who didn't admit defeat, he would smash his hammer down on them, causing physical damage to their heads.

Su Hao had originally wanted to find time to spar with Old Brother Zhong's Elephant General.

But after looking at General Elephant's data, for the sake of Reverie Butterfly's small body, he decided not to raise the suggestion.

"If you categorize the elite level into groups, this Elephant General is at least a high elite-level."

Elite level, extraordinary level, monarch level, and so on. It was unlike entry level which had a fine categorization, but the difference in strength between levels was actually even greater.

Su Hao himself was pretty experienced.

The sprites of the main characters in the defence against the convoy attack, Coach Xiong, and President Luo, belonged to the mid-level elite class.

The Sprite Hunters he encountered in the Valley of Sighs belonged to the bottom rung.

It was the kind of elite...who barely broke through.

As for Huang Tianhu's Winged Tiger, it was undoubtedly at the peak of elite level. As long as it took advantage of the opportunity to evolve into a Red Flame Qiongqi, it would be relatively easy to break through to the extraordinary level.

"Although sprites are said to have a high limit as long as they are cultivated well, it is....also true that sprites with high potential make breakthroughs much easier."

If you let a White-Winged Moth attempt to break through to the extraordinary level, that would simply be too difficult!

This was also the reason why he didn't want his sprites to evolve too early.

"Brother Zhong, let the Elephant General withdraw his aura. Otherwise, it will just scare off the sprites."

In the end, the primordial forest couldn't be compared to the New World. Even the strongest sprite that Su Hao had seen up till now was only an intermediate entry-level sprite — it had something to do with the fact that they hadn't gone deeper in yet.

As the Elephant General withdrew its aura, they were harassed by some wild sprites from time to time.

Zhong Yunrui had already commanded the Elephant General to disperse the sprites within a ten-meter radius.

But he didn't expect…

A bent Forest Wolf to dash out of the woods and pounce on Su Hao, who looked relatively weak.

General Elephant raised its sledgehammer before taking a step forward.

An Energy Ball flew out and hit the Forest Wolf which was pouncing over.

With a boom.

Forest Wolf was beaten into a dumbstruck wolf. Through the smoke and dust, he saw the Elephant General wielding a large hammer as it approached. With a howl, it picked up its tail and escaped.

Zhong Yunrui truly had a higher opinion of Reverie Butterfly's reaction speed and attack speed.

"Wow, your sprite's level isn't low, and you have a lot of battle experience, right…"

"You're actually only a high school student? And you even passed the mid-level Sprite Cultivator assessment!"

Facing Luo Cheng who was showing off his superiority, Zhong Yunrui didn't care about him at all.

But the seemingly low-key Su Hao in front of him… made him too uncomfortable!

He thought about the number of years he had taken to become an elite-level Sprite Trainer.

Then, he looked at the beautiful pattern, the perfect cultivation, and the strong battle power of Reverie Butterfly…

"I have to admit defeat."

"Gurgle ~ 〈( ̄) ̄)〈"

With a whoosh, Reverie Butterfly landed on Su Hao's head and looked around warily.

I'll protect this stupid Su Hao, gurgle ~

...

With Brother Zhong and Reverie Butterfly on guard, Su Hao was relieved. He started to observe the sprites around him.

"There are Forest Wolves, Dotted Mushrooms, Dead-Leaf Locusts, Snow Hounds, and other sprites in this area."

"Because they are wild sprites, some of them couldn't evolve, but they managed to break through to entry level under the nourishment of rich spiritual energy over the long years."

"Some are local sprites, and some are New World sprites…"

The same type of sprite, born locally and in the New World, still had subtle differences.

It wasn't difficult for him to differentiate between the two.

I really don't understand. Isn't there still the interface?

Even the "birthplace" was written in detail.

"This area is the habitat of Dotted Mushrooms, many fungi grow here."

"That one… is a ginseng? It looks so old!"

Su Hao approached.

The ginseng moved.

Leaves were pressed against its head as long ginseng roots entangled together like a pair of fair and long legs. It suddenly emerged from the ground and sprinted madly, disappearing in a flash.

Su Hao was rendered speechless.

Its long legs were pretty good-looking, but unfortunately… he saw the head first.

"It's a Ginseng Baby, a unique sprite from the primordial area of Changbai Mountain." Zhong Yunrui sighed.

"And Lingzhi Tai Sui."

Su Hao pointed into the distance.

Under the Lingzhi that looked like a big umbrella, there was a translucent little old man clinging tightly to the branches. When he saw Su Hao, Zhong Yunrui… and the four sprites approaching, he hugged the big umbrella and jumped away.

"Indeed, there are many wild Lingzhi and Ginseng."

Su Hao recorded the data of the sprites and their surroundings.

Listening to the occasional Intelligence Points prompted into his ears, his mood gradually became better.

...

They stayed at the campsite by the foot of the mountain for three days.

In three days, he had almost collected all of the surrounding environment and sprites.

After that.

The research team continued deeper into the primordial area. After two days of intermittent walking, they cleared out an open and flat space in a field of woods and redecorated the camp.

As they went deeper.

Su Hao saw wild elite sprites.

They appeared and disappeared unpredictably.

However, due to the imposing aura of the many powerful sprites, they didn't dare to approach the team.

During their daytime work, five ordinary teams had been combined into two to ensure that they had more power to deal with wild sprites.

At night.

It was time for free activities.

The elite-level Sprite Trainers who weren't arranged to keep watch at night greeted the group and left — they were going to look for sprite contracts.

Su Hao was envious.

As one approached deeper into the place, it was easier for them to find rare and high-end sprites.

He didn't dare to leave the camp alone.

He found Brother Zhong and Brother Huo, whom he was relatively familiar with these few days.

Zhong Yunrui smiled and said, "We wanted to look for you too. I know how useful your eyes are. You can discover sprites that others can't, and even differentiate the strong from the weak at once…"

"So we wanted to ask for your help to pick a suitable sprite."

The three of them hit it off right away.