Hidden genius: Black belly snake

Om Num Num Num. 

Tang Yue sat down under a banyan tree and munched on the lava salamander meat leisurely.

The snakes were standing as a lookout surrounding her, having cast invisibility spells on themselves so that she could feast on the salamander meat and absorb the bloodline in peace.

"Hmmm… Almost done now." She hissed as she eyed the elemental blob silently thrumming next to her. 

It seemed as if Little Plum had once again gained more insights after fighting with these fire-type beasts.

Tang Yue shook her head helplessly and tossed the last chunk of meat into her mouth, preparing for the evolution process to begin.

A series of familiar notifications rang to which she didn't pay any attention and closed her eyes.

She wanted to see if she could also gain more insights into this evolution process and not treat it like a black box that takes an input and then gives an output.

But as Tang Yue waited… nothing really happened. She wasn't forced to morph into her serpentine form and her body wasn't being shredded and rebuilt.

"What the hell?" She hissed and quickly flipped open the notifications to see them in detail.

Ding. 50% Lava Salamander bloodline absorbed

Ding. Bloodline Evolution has been initiated

Ding. Bloodline Evolution not required. No superior attribute was detected

Tang Yue's emerald eyes glanced at the details and then she understood what had happened.

This was in fact the first time something like this had popped out. "I guess this is probably going to happen more and more now." She shrugged.

She was a bit disappointed because she was counting on this evolution to maybe increase her fire elemental affinity by even a bit.

While the mid-grade and the low-grade lava salamanders were indeed not that difficult to deal with, she was sure that things were going to get more difficult now.

Her real problem was the big boss that might potentially reside inside the volcano or other higher grade mutated lava salamanders.

If they completely harden their body and start casting fire magic at a higher level than what her body can handle, she will really be in trouble.

While Tang Yue was pondering about this, Jin Wei quietly morphed into his lamia form and bowed.

"Hmmm?" Tang Yue raised her brows and looked at him questioningly.

"Your highness, I have a suggestion. How about illusion spells?"

"Umm… No, I don't think that will work. While I was fighting with the mid-grade beasts, they had the common sense to put up a barrier to block mental attacks."

"I am sure that the Emperor salamander or whatever which is residing inside those mountains probably knows how to block out mental attacks too."

"Unless my mental strength is several times stronger than theirs, none of my attacks will get through."

Jin Wei listened intently to her and then nodded, but it looked like he was still not done with his idea.

"Your highness. Actually, all these days since we were forced to keep hiding inside the chasm, we worked very hard and came up with a variation of the illusion spell." 

"This was the only weapon in our arsenal so we had no other choice except to push things as much as we could." He explained further.

"Your highness, we are able to combine and link our illusion magic to cast a stronger spell together."

Tang Yue's eyes immediately lit up and she listened to the man with patience. 

She understood the basic concept behind what he was explaining but still, these were merely Emperor realm spirit snakes.

Even if they combine their strengths together… it might still be insufficient.

Tang Yue saw that Jin Wei was calling over some of the snakes to demonstrate but she raised her hands to stop him.

"That won't be necessary Jin Wei." She lightly nodded.

She didn't discourage the elder immediately and praised him first for their efforts. 

In reality, what they had done was indeed praiseworthy. They just needed to be at a higher level for them to actually use it as a powerful weapon.

"Jin Wei. This is really interesting, but I think your current strength might not be enough to overwhelm the salamanders with this attack." 

"Keep trying to hone your skills in this manner and soon when the seals keeping you down are broken, your clan can become truly formidable."

The elder immediately became ecstatic to be praised by Tang Yue and had a big smile on his face.

He then quickly backed away to give Tang Yue her space and not disturb her any further.

Tang Yue chuckled at his nervous behavior and then her focus once again shifted back to the lava salamanders.

Jin Wei's suggestion was not really helpful at the moment but the man had inadvertently reminded her about something.

Right now her biggest problem was the Emperor lava salamander which was probably a high-grade or rare-grade beast at least as strong as the golden titan ape but with good mental strength.

But she also had another problem… In fact, her problem was an entire mountain!

Tang Yue turned to look at the huge active volcano at the center of the cluster of hills.

She wondered just how many lava salamanders resided inside and what their individual strength was.

This was also one of her concerns now. 

She wouldn't even be able to face the Emperor beast with her full strength if these side lackeys come in her way.

Attacking a beast horde and attacking a single powerful beast were two entirely different things.

If she could somehow break their nest and force all the salamanders to scatter around, then she could easily pick them off one by one and face the Emperor beast alone at the end if that even was a possibility.

If the beast was too powerful for her, she could always ignore it for the time being and come back to fight with it later on.

After all, they were all on this island together and none of them were going anywhere any time soon.

"Now… how do I break apart this beast nest…" Tang Yue hissed, her long forked tongue flickering in and out.