The Wind Seed

"Before becoming a god, I don't need to think too much about it. As long as it isn't one of the two Elemental Powers of Light or Darkness."

After the War of World Destruction, several continents on the Yulan Continent had been sunk beneath the sea, leaving only the Yulan Continent. It was the home ground of the Radiant Church and the Dark Church. No matter which kind of power one cultivated, one might well become a thorn in the other side. As for switching from Light to Darkness or Darkness to Light, unless one was a Saint Realm powerhouse, the other side probably wouldn't want them anyway.

"Of the eleven elements, I can rule out two. That leaves me with only a few to consider."

Carl thought it over carefully. The first thing she ruled out was the Water Element. Although the Azure Dragon, a Water-type Super Divine Beast, was ridiculously powerful, Carl wasn't a Super Divine Beast. She was just an ordinary human, and would have to rely more on the Elemental Power itself.

The Water Element excelled at defense, offering the ultimate in physical and soul defense. But it was extremely weak in terms of offense, making its user a moving target. Naturally, Carl wouldn't choose it.

Aside from the Water Element, what Carl could consider was the ultimate in offense.

Each of the Four Rules had its own strengths. Fate, for example, excelled at soul attacks and defense, making it an expert at manipulating souls.

Then there was the Destruction Lineage, which offered the ultimate in physical attacks and also had considerable insight into soul attacks and defense.

There were also the Life and Death Lineages. In truth, Life and Death were likewise experts at manipulating souls, and the Death Element was on par with the Fate Element.

The Four Rules were simply too profound. More importantly, they were more expensive.

Ordinary Elemental Powers cost a million in the Mall, while the Rule Powers cost a million and a half.

Rules and Laws had no superiority over one another. Setting aside her transmigrator's arrogance, Carl had never thought that she could use her Golden Finger to take the place of one of those four. Nor had she wondered whether she might one day transcend. After all, in all the years of the Coiling Dragon Universe, Linley was the only anomaly. Even if he got another chance, he might not succeed, and with even the slightest change, he might not manage to transcend at all.

All Carl wanted was to live a better life, and the prerequisite for that was becoming stronger.

"From the little I can infer, Rule Powers cost more than Laws. I'm afraid that when I eventually start cultivating on autopilot, Rules will cost fifty percent more than Laws too. That would greatly delay my rise to power, so they're out."

After all, barring special circumstances, a Low-level Deity couldn't beat a Mid-level God. And even if a Mid-level God had already taken the path of Fusion Profound Mysteries used by High-level Gods, they still couldn't beat a High-level God who had directly comprehended Mysteries unless they had fused their Mysteries to a certain degree.

So Carl's plans for the future were very simple: quickly become a Low-level Deity, then a Mid-level God, then a High-level God. As for fusing Mysteries, unless she fused them to the point of becoming a Paragon, there was no reason to think that a High-level God who hadn't fused any Mysteries couldn't fuse five of them.

"For me, the only real options are Wind, Fire, and Earth."

Those three Elemental Powers all had room to grow. Earth might seem powerful, but in practice, it placed greater demands on its user: a powerful bloodline or a treasure that only a Sovereign could possess. That was why Carl ranked it last.

"Wind is the ultimate in physical attacks and speed."

"Fire is the ultimate in soul attacks. Its physical attacks and speed are also quite strong, making it second only to Wind."

After thinking it over for a long while, Carl finally fixed her gaze on the Wind attribute in the Mall.

[Name: Wind Seed]

[Price: 1,000,000 points]

[Effect: Comprehend the power of Wind]

In Carl's memory, Wind was the only power whose physical attacks could rival Destruction. And as the ultimate, it was the strongest. Although Fire Elemental Power was second only to Wind in terms of physical attacks, being second-best didn't mean that Fire-type God-level experts focused on soul attacks.

Once she had made her decision, Carl turned her gaze to her points. Her eyes flickered for a moment before she finally made up her mind.

"Pause their boosts for now. It's only right that I become a Saint Realm powerhouse first."

Only by reaching the Saint Realm could she unlock a Level 2 family and a Level 2 Territory, allowing her to earn points faster and create a virtuous cycle.

Before, she had simply been short on points, and Anlan Kingdom was relatively peaceful, so Carl had plenty of time to wait.

But now, if someone wanted to centralize power, that meant the kingdom might be in for some changes. Becoming a Saint Realm powerhouse would let her remain above the fray.

......

A year later, the situation in Anlan Kingdom was turbulent, just as Carl had expected.

Anlan Kingdom had always been one of the declining kingdoms. After losing the protection of its Saint Realm powerhouse, its standing on the Yulan Continent was only slightly better than that of the Principalities. It was nowhere near that of true kingdoms like Fenlai Kingdom. The difference in strength was immense.

Without the protection of a Saint Realm powerhouse, tensions had already been running high among Anlan Kingdom's internal factions. Now, two of its three provinces were considering declaring independence, while outside forces had never stopped encroaching on the kingdom. Facing troubles both within and without, the Anlan Royal Family made one decision after another that seemed utterly foolish to Carl.

Anlan was already showing signs of collapse.

The situation in Anlan Kingdom was changing, but Spark Town remained much the same. A Level 9 powerhouse ruling over a small town was simply beneath their dignity.

Those who would take an interest in a small town were mostly Level 7 Warriors. At most, they might have just crossed the threshold into being Level 8 Warriors.

As for those Level 9 Warriors, they had long since broken free of national restrictions. Wasn't the root cause of Anlan's current turmoil that some of the Anlan Royal Family's Level 9 powerhouses had gone to other countries?

Most Level 9 Warriors who aspired to reach the Saint Realm would go to factions protected by Saint Realm powerhouses. The vast majority of those who remained in Anlan Kingdom were trapped by their attachment to power.

One night.

Carl watched the clock hanging on the wall. Its hands crept closer to the number at the top. With a click, the hour hand finally settled on twelve.

At that moment, a pale blue panel appeared before Carl's eyes. The last shortfall in her Mall points was filled.

Points: 1,000,013

When her points reached the million mark, Carl saw the seven Elemental Seeds in the Mall, each costing a million points, light up at once.

"Purchase the Wind Seed."

Without the slightest hesitation, Carl Talos had been preparing for this day for a year.

With a thought, her million points dwindled in an instant, leaving only the final 13. At the same time, the blank in the attributes section of her AFK cultivation page was filled.

[Breakthrough: Level 9 (100/100) Attribute (1/1)]