Breakthrough — Lightning Element!

"Fan Mo, your reactions were something else — your Release speed caught us all completely off guard. We figured you'd be one of those fresh graduates who turn to jelly the moment they lay eyes on a Demon-Beast."

Li Wenjie walked up and clapped Mo Fan hard on the shoulder.

"Exactly," Feishi said with a wide grin. "We thought it'd be a solid six months before you'd be any real use to us. Who would've guessed your nerves were already this steady? And on top of that you went and saved Caitang — Caitang, honestly, the only proper way to express your gratitude at this point is to offer yourself to him."

Mo Fan had no qualifications or kill record that should have earned him a place on this squad. The Demon-Hunting Squad's minimum recruitment requirements started at double-digit confirmed kills. Had he come in with any other element, an elite unit like theirs would have turned him away at the door — they wouldn't even take a Fire Mage. The City Demon-Hunting Squad fought Demon-Beasts in the heart of a populated city; when ordinary hunters lost to a monster, only they paid with their lives, but when the Demon-Hunting Squad failed to bring one down, the civilians behind them — people with no power to protect themselves — could be caught in the wreckage.

The City Demon-Hunting Squad bore a far heavier burden, and its members had to be the sharpest hunter-mages available.

Given the rarity of Lightning Mages and the raw power of their abilities, the squad had been willing to invest half a year into nurturing a complete greenhorn who didn't know the first thing about real combat. In everyone's eyes, Mo Fan was about as green as they came — he might not even finish casting a single spell without fumbling when he faced a real monster.

No one had expected that, just moments ago, he had completed Lightning Seal in a heartbeat. The speed of his reaction and the precision of his Star Trail Control had left the whole squad looking at him in a whole new light.

No one felt this more acutely than Guo Caitang. She had come down on Mo Fan like a thunderstorm from the start, dressing the rookie down without a shred of mercy — and then the very rookie she had berated had saved her life at the critical moment. The emotions tangling inside her had grown too complicated to sort out in one sitting.

"All right — Li Wenjie, Feishi, you two go check the cafeteria. Once it's clear of threats, the rest is the police's job. Let's hope that girl is still alive." Xu Dahuang said.

"On it!"

Search-and-rescue required a full mobilization; the squad's job was to eliminate the threat and hand the rest off. From here, Feishi and Li Wenjie would work alongside the police to search for the missing Lin Yun'er.

Though after a full week had already passed, the odds of her still being alive were very, very slim.

**Hmmm~~~~~~~~~~~**

Mo Fan was on the verge of leaving when the small Loach Pendant at his chest began to vibrate with a low, resonant hum.

*A Remnant Soul??*

His pulse kicked up. He changed course and made his way quickly to the Giant-Eyed Ape-Rat's corpse.

A faint blue glow had appeared above the creature's body — no brighter than a firefly, barely larger than a candle flame — and answering some silent summons, it drifted slowly toward the pendant hanging at Mo Fan's neck.

The others were occupied elsewhere and none of them noticed. Mo Fan quietly drew the Giant-Eyed Ape-Rat's Remnant Soul into the Loach Pendant.

The Loach Pendant could collect Remnant Souls automatically. It had done the same when he'd killed the Gloom Wolf Beast, absorbing the wolf's soul with the same unhurried efficiency.

The trouble was that genuinely advancing the Loach Pendant seemed to require Spirit Essence — something far purer than an ordinary Remnant Soul. Whether accumulated Remnant Souls could serve as a substitute was still an open question, and something he needed to sit down and research properly once he got home.

He also knew that both the Magic Association and the Hunters' Alliance sold Remnant Souls — roughly ten thousand yuan apiece. If gathering enough of them could raise the Loach Pendant to the next tier, it might well be worth channeling his hunting income into buying them. Either way, the immediate priority was still advancing it to Spirit Grade. At that point, Mo Fan was certain he could push Fire Burst all the way to Fire Burst: Blast within a year.

*Hm?? The Lightning Element Star Motes — something's shifting. Could it be...*

Mo Fan's awareness sharpened inward. Deep inside his Lightning Element Stardust, the Star Motes were stirring with a restless, almost jubilant energy.

The sensation was nearly identical to what he had felt when his Fire Element Star Motes had first awakened — the shift that had elevated Fire Burst: Scorch to Fire Burst: Char Bone.

Which meant Lightning Seal was on the verge of breaking through to the next level.

He had been pouring himself into Meditation on the Lightning Element without the faintest sign of change — and then a single swift, instinctive Release in the heat of battle had set something loose in them. Whether the Star Motes had been stirred by the fight itself, hungry to grow stronger, or whether the freshly absorbed Remnant Soul had provided the final push, he couldn't say.

Fire Burst had already reached Char Bone. He had no idea what Lightning Seal — already formidable at its very first level — would look like when it broke through to the second. The anticipation was almost too much to hold still.

What genuinely surprised Mo Fan was that completing his very first mission had immediately earned him a real commission payment.

The school had paid the City Demon-Hunting Squad two hundred thousand yuan in total to handle the incident. Mo Fan's cut was ten percent. Under normal circumstances, a new recruit would receive little more than a token stipend — any commission for rookies was essentially symbolic. But given that Mo Fan was a rare Lightning Mage, and given his exceptional performance tonight, the squad had decided to treat him as a full member from the start.

Ten percent of two hundred thousand: a clean twenty thousand yuan — nearly half a year of his father's earnings behind the wheel.

Mo Fan didn't touch a single coin of it. He tucked it away carefully, keeping it in reserve for whatever might come.

When he thought about it, this was his first real windfall. The danger was real, yes — but the payout had far exceeded what he'd expected. Money came in much faster through the City Demon-Hunting Squad than it ever would through hunting Demon-Beasts out in the wild. No wonder people fought tooth and nail trying to claw their way into one of these units.

**Mu Clan Estate**

The private swimming pool shimmered deep blue, its surface stirring with soft, unhurried ripples. Mu He had just pulled himself out of the water and was now sprawled on a deck chair beneath a patio umbrella, still dripping. His gaze drifted with casual, unguarded interest toward the female swimming instructor beside him — skin the color of dark wheat, the cut of her swimsuit leaving half of her full figure on conspicuous display.

**Creak... creak... creak~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

He had barely parted his lips to speak when the water in the pool began to film over with pale frost. The surface glazed and locked within moments.

"Don't — I'm going back in after this." Mu He pressed a hand to his temple with a long-suffering grimace. He hadn't even finished the sentence before the entire pool had been transformed into something out of deep winter. He didn't know whether to laugh or groan.

"Uncle He, my father is asking for you." A tall, lean young man stepped forward, his expression unreadably dark.

"Yu'ang." Mu He's tone softened into easy warmth. "Your Ice Element Stardust keeps getting stronger. How is the cultivation coming along?"

"Progress has been slow," the young man called Yu'ang replied.

"Slow." Mu He let out a rueful laugh. "Everyone else is still stuck at Ice Vine's base level — and you've already mastered Ice Vine: Coagulate. At your pace, you'll reach the third stage, Ice Vine: Cover, in under two years. That's large-scale ice propagation across a wide area. Forget one insignificant little Fire Mage student — you alone could freeze an entire battlefield."

"Two years." Yu'ang murmured, as though the words sat badly in his mouth. "Still too long."

"You're never satisfied with your own progress," Mu He said with a small smile and a shake of his head. "The truth is you're already far beyond anyone your age. Yes, there's still a gap between you and Mu Ningxue — but Mu Ningxue is a special case, practically in a class of her own. You know your father Zhuo Yun carries quite a grudge against that particular young man. Settle things with him a year from now, in a clean and natural fashion, and I imagine Zhuo Yun will have a generous gift ready for you."

"I don't even see that clown as worth my time," Yu'ang said flatly.