One Year Later, Qin Yuer's Message

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter—the four seasons cycled through.

In the blink of an eye, another year had passed, and the Elite Class welcomed its annual Wilderness Training Assessment. The results would influence academy applications after graduation.

Ruiguang Residential Area, Building 2, Unit 602.

Qin Yuan's face had shed some of its youthful immaturity, gaining a layer of composed steadiness.

He stood tall, well over one meter eighty-five.

His features were handsome and sharp, with finely sculpted contours, a high nose bridge, and slightly thin lips. His sword-like brows slanted toward his temples, and his jet-black eyes brimmed with spirit—piercing and keen, as if they could see through a person's heart.

His bearing was especially striking, blending the sunshine of youth with a faint, elusive nobility.

A year had passed, and Qin Yuan was now eighteen.

What had changed wasn't just his striking appearance, but also his cultivation and strength.

"Ice element is almost at completion, the Spirit Seed Extreme Cold's amplification has risen to 2.5 times, and my Spiritual Power has broken through to the Second Realm."

"More importantly, the Pure Yang Spirit Body has been trained to Minor Achievement, and my Physical Body is comparable to a Great General Grade Demon. The gains are hardly small."

Qin Yuan murmured to himself, sorting through the main harvests of the past year.

Magical cultivation, Spiritual Power, and Physical Body—all three had made tremendous progress under the boost of his cheats.

Beyond these three core aspects of strength, Qin Yuan had also obtained various Spirit-level Magic Artifacts and Spirit-level Magic Tools through the Check-in System.

To put it bluntly, the number of treasures on him was already closing in on half of Zhao Manyan's collection.

"Ice element is about to reach Intermediate Level. I'll need to focus more on it in the coming period."

"As long as I reach Primary Level Completion, I can borrow the Earth Sacred Spring Power to break through to Intermediate Level in one go."

"Mm, I'll break through to Intermediate Level with Ice within a month."

After setting his goal, Qin Yuan stirred his thoughts slightly and silently commanded, "System, check in."

[Ding, detected that the host has checked in for a full year.]

[Ding, check-in successful. Congratulations, host, for obtaining Bone Spike Fierce Wolf Spirit Essence X3.]

"Bone Spike Fierce Wolf, a General Grade Demon."

"A General Grade Demon Spirit Essence averages around twenty million Huaxia Coins. Three of them, that's about sixty million."

"Adding the six Servant Grade Spirit Essences and several Remnant Spirits I got from previous check-ins, just the Demon Spirit Essences and Remnant Spirits alone are worth over a hundred million."

Qin Yuan's thoughts flowed, and he calculated the tally in an instant.

Demon Spirit Essences—whether auctioned for money or lavishly used to strengthen Star Seeds—were both good choices.

The former indirectly enhanced strength, while the latter directly boosted it.

"Beep beep beep~"

Suddenly, the phone on the table vibrated, pulling Qin Yuan back from his wandering thoughts.

He picked up the phone and glanced at the caller ID. His originally calm expression instantly shifted, a look of joy spreading across his face.

His finger lightly tapped, and he answered.

"Beep!"

A face of stunning beauty filled the phone screen, her pure, snow-like eyes brimming with endless tenderness.

"Little Yuan."

A soft, gentle voice came through the phone.

"Sister Yuer..." Qin Yuan's voice trembled slightly, the sharpness and keenness in his eyes gradually softening.

More than a year without seeing each other—both Qin Yuan and Qin Yuer missed the other deeply.

They simply looked at each other like this, long without words.

After a while.

A faint smile tugged at the corner of Qin Yuan's mouth, and he asked, "Sister Yuer, did your seclusion go smoothly this time?"

"Mm."

Qin Yuer nodded slightly, smiling. "Although the timing of the breakthrough was a bit unexpected, I still managed to break through to Archmage very smoothly."

"Your sister is now an Archmage."

"What's more, because of my special constitution, my magic release has somewhat deviated from the Star Seed System."

Due to her 'Calamity' constitution, her breakthrough to Archmage was more difficult and time-consuming than for ordinary mages.

But once she broke through, her strength would undergo earth-shattering changes, impossible to measure by the standards of a typical Archmage.

"All paths lead to magic. Our China's Ancient King is a classic example."

"The Star Seed System isn't necessarily the only way to learn magic; it's just the simplest, easiest, and most widely accepted method."

Qin Yuan smiled.

One could question the Holy City's character, but not its contributions. The Star Seed System had indeed made it easier for humans to learn magic, multiplying the number of mages.

Of course, Qin Yuan only planned to use the Star Seed System as a transitional phase.

Once he grew to become an Archmage, he would try to explore new magical paths and walk a different road of magic.

"Mm." Qin Yuer gave a soft hum, then asked with concern, "Little Yuan, how are things in Bocheng? Are you getting used to it?"

"Sister Yuer, everything's fine with me."

"Oh, right—I also ran into Sister Tang Yue. She's temporarily a teacher at Tianlan Magic High School and has been very good to me."

Qin Yuan said.

"Tang Yue?"

Qin Yuer was slightly taken aback.

She had contacted Qin Yuan as soon as she came out of seclusion, with no time to sort through everything that had happened recently, so she didn't know about 'Tang Yue being in Bocheng.'

But knowing now wasn't too late.

Qin Yuer revealed a hint of a smile and said, "Since Tang Yue is in Bocheng, I can rest easy."

She had asked Zhan Kong for help, but he was a Military mage after all, tasked with guarding Bocheng—he couldn't watch over Qin Yuan every moment.

Now with Tang Yue added, and her often crossing paths with Qin Yuan, that was a good thing.

"Mm, Sister Tang Yue came to Bocheng to investigate the Black Vatican." Qin Yuan didn't hide it, speaking truthfully.

Not only did he already know, but over this past year, Tang Yue had talked with him quite amiably.

Perhaps because of Qin Yuer's connection, Tang Yue assumed Qin Yuan was already aware of the whole story, so she didn't keep the purpose of her visit to Bocheng a secret from him.

"The Black Vatican." Qin Yuer furrowed her brows, a worried look on her face. "Little Yuan, be careful in everything."

"Sister Yuer, don't worry—I have a handle on things." Qin Yuan said.

"Mm... If you sense anything wrong, contact me immediately." Qin Yuer instructed.

"I will."

Qin Yuan gave a light laugh, then shifted the topic and said, "Sister Yuer, there's something I might need your help with?"

"What?"

"Nothing much, just... Ning Xue hopes to ask you for guidance on Ice Element magic."

"Little Yuan, you've got some nerve now, daring to make your sister help you win over a woman."

Qin Yuer said meaningfully.

"Hehe."

Qin Yuan smiled a little sheepishly.

In a certain sense, Qin Yuer and Mu Ning Xue's relationship could be called 'rivals.'

Asking Qin Yuer to teach Mu Ning Xue—he really was bold.

"I can't do anything with you." Qin Yuer rolled her eyes at Qin Yuan in exasperation and said helplessly, "Give Ning Xue my contact info. I'll teach her."

"Thanks, Sister Yuer."

"Heh, how are you going to thank me?"

"Mm... Give Sister Yuer a child."

"Returning kindness with enmity!"

"..."

The two talked for a long time before ending the call, because Qin Yuer still had many things to attend to.

Qin Yuan immediately contacted Mu Ning Xue, explained the situation to her, and forwarded Qin Yuer's contact info.

"They should get along well, right?" Qin Yuan muttered to himself.

Big ice cube, little ice cube.

Tsk, just thinking about it sent a chill—luckily he had a Pure Yang body, unafraid of the cold and full of energy.