Ignorant and fearless.
Angel looked at this Elemental Sprite, not knowing what to say.
Elemental Creatures have a certain level of intelligence, but the vast majority of Elemental Sprites are quite unintelligent and act purely on instinct. This Fire Butterfly belongs to the unintelligent type. Even if Angel wanted to ask this Fire Butterfly something, he wouldn’t get a response.
However, it’s precisely because Elemental Sprites are unintelligent that Angel could roughly guess that the Elemental Shock the Fire Butterfly launched at him before was probably not intentional, just instinctive.
Fire Elementals generally have a mischievous nature.
When Angel was at Silent Hill, he was captured by Bogura and fell into a short coma. During that coma, the Fire Elementals that Bogura kept in the fireplace would occasionally pull his hair, burning his once golden hair into a mess. These Fire Elementals weren’t really trying to attack Angel; they were just plain mischievous.
In terms of behavior, Fire Elementals are the most classic troublemakers among the Elemental Sprites.
For the absurd attacks from these little troublemakers, Angel can understand it based on their identity; however, there is another thing he doesn’t understand right now.
"How did it discover me?"
Due to intelligence reasons, the Fire Butterfly definitely can’t answer this question. Thinking about it, Angel believes there are actually only two possibilities.
The first possibility is that this Fire Butterfly has a special detection ability; it can spot Angel hidden within an Illusion Technique.
The second possibility is that it’s not the Fire Butterfly that’s special, but rather this side of the Tidal World, this area, or the Elemental Creatures here with a general insight ability.
The first situation might be okay since only the Fire Butterfly can see him; but if it’s the second, doesn’t that mean all the Elemental Creatures he’s encountered have actually seen him?
Angel thought of the Fire Salamander from Koshi he saw earlier; it poked its head out from the Magma, glanced around, then looked in his direction before slowly submerging itself... At that time, Angel vaguely felt something was off. Now that he thinks about it, could it be that this Fire Salamander actually saw him, that’s why it hid?
"There’s really such a possibility." Angel pinched his eyebrows with some distress, thinking he was hiding his figure to gather information; yet if Fire Elementals truly can perceive him, forget gathering information, his own information has probably already been leaked.
Angel sighed: "Forget it, let’s not think about it anymore." Pretend you haven’t been discovered and continue forward. When he encounters Fire Elementals again, he’ll test it out then.
Having determined the next strategy, Angel looked again at the Fire Butterfly resting on the Blue Lantern Flower.
How should he handle this Fire Elemental?
This question’s deeper meaning is: should he release it, or should he capture it?
Before coming to Tidal World, Angel had thoroughly researched information on Elemental Creatures. Elemental Creatures are very useful to a Wizard; not only can they assist in practicing Spell Technique on the elemental side, they can also serve as casting media for quickly releasing powerful attacks. Moreover, if nurtured well, Elemental Creatures themselves are a formidable force.
It could be said that as an Official Wizard, having an Elemental Creature partner is indispensable.
So how does one choose an Elemental Creature suitable for themselves?
Aside from artificially cultivated Elemental Creatures, in terms of choosing naturally occurring Elemental Creatures, the current mainstream view in the Wizards’ Realm has two opinions: The first is to choose Elemental Sprites and start nurturing from the juvenile phase, accompanying them; the second is to choose maturing Elemental Creatures, which already have certain abilities and can directly assist the master in practicing elemental side Spell Technique.
These two choices have their pros and cons. Generally speaking, Wizards on the elemental side will choose to nurture from Elemental Sprites, because self-cultivation makes them more loyal, and one can influence the Elemental Sprite’s future development according to their own desire.
Most importantly, once Elemental Sprites mature, there is a high probability they can give the host an ability: Elementalization.
With the ability of Elementalization, a Wizard can basically ignore the majority of physical attacks.
The advantage of choosing a juvenile Elemental Sprite is very significant, but the downside is also obvious; the cost of nurturing Elemental Sprites is too high, and the nurturing period is too long, often spanning decades or centuries.
Choosing a maturing Elemental Creature has existing abilities, allowing it to have considerable combat strength directly. But there are disadvantages too; a maturing Elemental Creature already has a certain amount of wisdom. They may not want to follow you, and even if they do, their abilities and attributes may not suit you.
If Angel were to choose, he could actually go for either option.
For the juvenile phase, he does not lack Magic Crystals, so he can nurture Elemental Sprites without concern for the cost.
For the maturing phase, he too can choose it, because he doesn’t primarily rely on Elemental Creatures for combat. To him, Elemental Creatures are just a medium to assist in cultivating elemental abilities.
Since both are viable, this Fire Butterfly can indeed be taken as well.
Angel crouched down and gently touched the Fire Butterfly, wanting to sense its internal elemental structure... But at that moment, the Fire Butterfly flapped its wings, and a Fire Tornado went straight for Angel’s face.
An infanthood Fire Butterfly’s Fire Tornado isn’t strong by itself, but here the Fire Elements were too active, causing the AOE of this Fire Tornado to be extremely large.
Angel wasn’t much affected himself, but he accidentally activated the nearby underground Magma Lake.
Torrents of magma surged upwards like an inverted flaming waterfall from the ground.
Angel quickly flew into the air to avoid getting burned.
After the flames slightly calmed down, Angel glanced at this Fire Butterfly with a slightly stern expression. He couldn’t be bothered to make a choice and directly snapped his fingers at the Fire Butterfly.
Off you go.
The Fire Butterfly turned into a blazing arc and fell into the depths of the crevice.
"Let someone else discipline this troublemaker later." Angel dusted his hands and said without hesitation.
As for talent? When he had touched the Fire Butterfly earlier, its internal flame structure was quite ordinary, and Angel truly didn’t find anything especially talented.
Anyway, there are bound to be many more Elemental Creatures and Elemental Sprites here; no need to waste time with a troublemaker.
Without hesitation, Angel turned and left.
In the next few miles, Angel didn’t encounter any more Elemental Creatures; perhaps they all hid within the magma. However, he saw many different kinds of Demonic Materials exposed on the Scorched Earth. These included gemstones, magical ores, and remnants left by Fire Elemental Creatures, like flame feathers and fire-affinity nails.
He didn’t touch any of these things, because there were too many to carry, and most of them were Low-level materials. In the future, he could issue tasks at the Barbarian Cave and let the apprentices come here to collect them.
His priority now is to explore and gather intelligence, everything else comes after.