"Could this egg be the legendary Phoenix egg?"
Leilin murmured, his mind momentarily lost in speculation.
Only the immense life force of such an ancient creature could push Red Pupil's Fire Feather Technique to the unprecedented thirteenth level! And give birth to a soul treasure like Fire Source Stone!
The reason he had come to this conclusion was that the moment the crimson light egg emerged, the Fire Feather Technique inside him had accelerated of its own accord, and behind him, a massive, eerie phantom of a black fire phoenix had materialized—an overwhelming surge of desire had suddenly risen from the depths of Leilin's heart.
"Yow!" The black fire phoenix let out a piercing cry and spread its wings, the energy from the crimson light egg being continuously drawn into the black flames.
"Ding! Host's Fire Feather Technique has undergone mutation! Energy increasing rapidly—currently at the peak of the tenth level!"
"Ding! Host's Fire Feather Technique has undergone qualitative change! Entering the eleventh level!"
"Ding! Host has absorbed unknown essences. Atomic spectrum resembles Fire Source Stone. Soul origin strengthened!"
"Ding! Host's mass point density increased. Fire element particle affinity increased!"
The Chip's notifications came in a constant stream, leaving Leilin momentarily dazed.
With the mutated Fire Feather Technique's devouring ability as the foundation, supplemented by the massive energy supplied by what appeared to be a fire phoenix egg, and finally through the Chip's computational modeling, his mutated Fire Feather Technique had actually broken through directly to the eleventh level!
The eighth and ninth levels of the Fire Feather Technique corresponded to the Third-rank Wizard tier, the tenth and eleventh levels to the Morning Star tier, and the twelfth and thirteenth levels to the Fifth-rank Radiant Moon Wizard tier!
Previously, Red Pupil had cultivated the Fire Feather Technique to the thirteenth level, making him a peak Fifth-rank Radiant Moon powerhouse!
And now, the eleventh-level Fire Feather Technique had propelled Leilin straight to the peak of the Morning Star rank!
"This is definitely a fire phoenix egg! What other treasure could advance the Fire Feather Technique's progress and strengthen the soul, other than a true phoenix?"
Leilin's heart surged with excitement. "I've only absorbed a fraction of its energy so far—if I could utilize all of it..."
He glanced at his status panel:
"Leilin Farell. Warlock, Fourth-rank. Bloodline: Jormungandr Great Serpent (Mature). Strength: 50. Agility: 45. Constitution: 65. Spirit: 956.8. Mana: 956 (Mana determined by Spiritual Power synchronization). Soul Power: ???"
"Tremendous soul enhancement! I don't know the exact figure yet, but just what's reflected through Spiritual Power alone is already terrifying!"
Leilin murmured, then checked his elemental affinity ratings.
The red bar representing fire affinity, which held the second position, had risen significantly. Though it still couldn't compare to his Shadow System affinity, it was now impressively high, leaving the third-place element far behind.
"This is actually a good thing. Having Shadow System affinity too high isn't necessarily good—it makes it easier to fully follow the Jormungandr Great Serpent's path and places me deeper under the control of the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents. Now that I've incorporated a substantial amount of fire affinity, I might even be able to forge an entirely new path..."
A sharp gleam flickered repeatedly in Leilin's eyes.
The benefits he had gained from this fire phoenix egg were simply immense.
"This fire phoenix egg is undoubtedly the sole origin of Fire Source Stone! Take it—we're leaving!" Gilbert and Emma gazed at the crimson light egg, their voices trembling with barely contained excitement.
With their knowledge, they could certainly recognize this as the egg of some ancient creature—and one of the most powerful varieties at that!
Living specimens of such powerful ancient creatures had all but vanished from the entire Wizard world for nearly ten thousand years. If the Ouroboros Ring could hatch it...
Gilbert and Emma couldn't help but fall into pleasant reverie.
"However..." Through the connection of the black flames, Leilin could clearly sense the rapid depletion of energy within the light egg. "What a pity..."
A visible look of regret crossed his eyes.
"After Red Pupil's repeated life extractions, combined with my devouring just now, the life fluctuations within this egg have already weakened to an extreme—it's essentially impossible to hatch. It can only be taken out as an exceedingly rare fire-attribute treasure!"
Leilin sighed and reached out to fully claim the fire phoenix egg for himself.
"How dare you..."
A furious roar boomed forth, accompanied by the deafening sound of the earth splitting apart and a piercing phoenix cry. The ground was torn open in a thick layer, the soil and rock even incinerated by flames into nothingness.
Rare rays of sunlight shone down. Leilin, Gilbert, and the others looked up to see a vast section of the earth had been torn away, and Red Pupil himself was hurtling down like a blazing sun wreathed in flames.
"He got here this fast? Jessia and that fire element ruler are both worthless!"
Leilin shook his head without ceasing his actions. "Retreat immediately! I'll hold him off!"