28: Gifts from the Earth

The sudden, ethereal, yet incredibly clear thought echoed in Lin Feng's mind.

Lin Feng's body stiffened abruptly, his muscles tensed instantly, and his eyes grew wary.

"Who?!"

He growled, his gaze sweeping cautiously across the empty cave.

However, apart from the dripping water and the roar of the waterfall, there was no other response.

It was as if the words just now were merely a hallucination brought on by his heightened Mental Energy.

But Lin Feng knew clearly that it was not a hallucination.

He could feel that the source of that thought was precisely the ancient battle-axe he held in his hand!

"There's a consciousness in the axe?"

An inconceivable thought surfaced in his mind.

In this world, weapons with self-awareness were not nonexistent. But without exception, those were legendary Divine Artifacts, sacred objects, supreme Treasures capable of sparking wars between nations!

And how could this rusty, seemingly ready-to-fall-apart old axe in front of him… Lin Feng suppressed the shock in his heart and tried to touch the battle-axe with his Mental Energy.

As his Mental Energy cautiously probed into the axe's body, he felt as if he had fallen into a chaotic and profound darkness.

In the center of this darkness, he "saw" an extremely faint cluster of light, flickering with an earthy yellow glow, like a candle in the wind.

The thought just now had emanated from this cluster of light.

"No need... to panic... human..."

The ancient thought sounded again, a little clearer than before, but still full of exhaustion.

"I... am the Soul of this battle-axe... I have slept for too long... so long... that I can no longer remember the years..."

"Axe Soul?" Lin Feng silently repeated the term in his mind, trying to digest this subversive information.

"You... are the first... human who could touch my core with 'that' kind of power..." The Axe Soul's thought seemed to carry a hint of curiosity, "Your power... is very peculiar... full of the essence of 'stripping' and 'Analysis'... yet it also carries a hint of... 'vitality'?"

It was clearly referring to Lin Feng's Gathering Skill and his Intermediate Life Affinity talent.

Lin Feng's heart was in turmoil.

This Axe Soul could actually see through the essence of his Gathering Skill!

"What exactly are you?" Lin Feng asked calmly.

"I...?" The Axe Soul was silent for a long time, seemingly recalling something, "I once followed my master... a great Dwarf King... cleaved mountains... severed Dragon heads... My name... is earth shatterer..."

Its thought carried a hint of recollection and endless melancholy.

"But that was... a long, long time ago... In a world-shattering battle... my master fell... and I was shattered... my Divinity lost... leaving only this broken body and a trace of an undying remnant Soul... drifting to this place..."

"Later... a group of Goblins who worshipped the Earth Force discovered me... Though ignorant... they could feel a trace of the remaining Earth Divine Power on me... So, they enshrined me here... attempting to steal power from me..."

Lin Feng finally understood the Origin of this battle-axe.

It turned out to be a former Divine Artifact!

Although it was broken and its Divinity lost, its "foundation" was still far beyond ordinary objects.

No wonder his Gathering Skill was ineffective against it.

Because it itself was an aggregate containing extremely high 'Laws', far beyond what his current Lv3 Gathering Skill could 'Analyze'.

"Then why... did you awaken?" Lin Feng asked.

"It was your power..." A ripple came from the Axe Soul's thought, "Your kind of power... touched my dormant Origin... I can feel... that you... have the same Origin as me... the aura of the Earth..."

The aura of the Earth?

Lin Feng's heart stirred, and he immediately thought of his two Earth Force talent fragments.

..."Young man... I can feel... you are very weak... but your potential... is as unfathomable as the Earth..."

"I... don't have much time left... My Soul fire... is about to extinguish..."

"Before I completely dissipate... I want... to make a deal..."

"A deal?"

"Yes..." The Axe Soul's voice grew even weaker, "I will bestow upon you... my last trace of Origin power... and you... need to promise me... if one day... you can grow strong enough... please... please take my body... back to the Dwarf Sacred Mountain in the Northern Lands... let my... Soul return to its homeland..."

After saying this, the earthy yellow cluster of light seemed to have exhausted all its strength, becoming even dimmer.

Lin Feng fell silent.

He could feel that the Axe Soul was not lying. He could feel the strong homesickness and the sadness of impending dissipation in that thought.

"I promise you."

He made a solemn vow.

"...Very well..."

A hint of relief came from the Axe Soul's thought.

The next second, the earthy yellow cluster of light suddenly burst forth with its last, and most brilliant, radiance!

A pure to the extreme, incomparably profound Earth Origin Force surged madly into Lin Feng's body through his arm!

Ding! You have received a gift from the remnant Soul of 'Heart of the Earth'!

Your talent 'Earth Force' (Rare) has been automatically completed!

You have gained the Rare-Rank talent — Earth Force!

You have gained a large amount of 'Earth Comprehension', and your base attributes have received a permanent boost!

Your 'Strength' attribute is permanently +1.0!

Your 'Physique' attribute is permanently +2.0!

Due to enduring high-intensity Origin energy infusion, your body has been tempered!

The growth potential of your Strength, Physique, and Spirit attributes has received a slight increase!

Boom—!

Lin Feng felt as if his body had merged with the Earth beneath his feet!

He could feel the pulse of the mountains and hear the breath of the rocks!

An unprecedented, profound, and powerful sense of strength filled his limbs and bones!

He hurriedly opened his attribute panel, looking at the explosive increase, and was completely immersed in immense shock!

Name: Lin Feng

Rank: 0

Occupation: Gatherer (F-Rank)

Talents: Intermediate Life Affinity (E-Rank), Elementary Metal Affinity (F-Rank), Earth Force (E-Rank)

Attributes: Strength 10.55, Agility 6.82, Physique 13.31, Spirit 9.31, Intelligence 7.13

...The third talent!

And it was a Rare-Rank talent, directly skipping the fragment Body Integration process!

Earth Force (E-Rank, 0/1000)

Effect:

1. Your Strength attribute is additionally increased by 10%.

2. Your Physique attribute is additionally increased by 10%.

3. When your feet touch the Earth, your damage reduction increases by 10%, and you continuously recover health and stamina.

Percentage increase!

This was simply a Divine Skill!

Just this one point alone caused his actual Strength and Physique to surge again by a large margin!

Not to mention the full 3 points of base attribute increase, and the most crucial... growth potential increase!

This intangible thing, which determines a person's ultimate limit, had also increased!

Lin Feng clenched his fists tightly, feeling the power that seemed capable of shaking mountains, his heart filled with an unprecedented heroic Spirit.

When he looked at the battle-axe in his hand again, the earth shatterer had completely lost all its spiritual aura.

It was still stuck on the altar, but it had become a truly cold, ordinary iron.

The Axe Soul had dissipated.

Ding! You have completed the hidden quest 'Goblin's Secret Treasure Trove'!

You have received quest rewards: All of the Goblin's Treasure, and... the Earth's gift.

Lin Feng bowed deeply to the battle-axe.

"Senior, rest in peace."

"Your promise, I have remembered."

He did not try to pull out the battle-axe again. He knew that this was the Dwarf King's final tombstone.

He collected the Treasure in the cave, then turned, took one last look at the cave that had brought him such an astonishing fortuitous encounter, and resolutely walked back into the rushing waterfall.

When he returned to the forest, night had fallen, and a bright moon hung high in the sky.

He had been reborn.