Hel rushed back to Heim City in a trail of lightning and fire, not taking a single break along the way.
However, when she finally returned, she realized—there actually wasn't much for her to do.
Still, after some thought, she immediately summoned all the nobles within the city and issued an order: all residents of the Heim territory were to retreat into Heim City.
Given Hel's current influence, not a single noble dared to object. That very day, people began arriving one after another from the outlying lands.
During this lull, Hel took the opportunity to strengthen herself as much as possible.
The old goblins who had turned to ash had not only left her a pile of research-related keywords but also gifted her a variety of other ones.
Among them, the "Elemental Mana Affinity" and "Elemental Magic" keywords were particularly abundant—and their quality was nothing to scoff at. After all, these were the future seeds carefully selected by the goblin scholars.
Each of them had at least fifth-tier strength, and their talents were exceptionally high.
Some hadn't even reached their full potential before death.
As a result, among this batch of orange-quality keywords, a few golden ones even slipped in.
Thanks to their high talent, Hel managed to verify something she had long been curious about—whether elemental affinity had a limit.
In the end, she wasn't quite sure if she had "confirmed" it or not, but the result she got was staggering:
[Elemental Mana Affinity (Pink)]: Elemental mana affinity +200. You are the beloved daughter of the elements—the supreme ruler among mortals. Talent ceiling: Demi-god.
After synthesizing that pink-tier keyword, all her other affinity keywords were consumed.
And since her Elemental Mana Affinity had already reached pink quality, Hel turned her gaze toward the four red "Elemental Magic" keywords in her hand.
Grinding her teeth, she decided to use seventeen duplication attempts to upgrade those as well—just to see how absurd pink-tier Elemental Magic could be.
[Forbidden Elemental Spells (Pink)]: Mana +500%. You command all elemental magic in the mortal realm, including the long-lost pinnacle of mortal power—Forbidden Spells.
"Damn…"
Hel sucked in a sharp breath.
Pink-tier power really was terrifying.
If she focused solely on the elemental path, her future would be wide open—she could likely reach demi-godhood itself.
Unnerved by her own potential, Hel quickly swallowed an Elemental Attribute Mana Crystal to calm herself down.
Earlier, when synthesizing keywords, the 500 hybrid goblins of tier three had also made their final contribution. To wring out every last drop of value from them, Hel had extracted the elemental crystals from their bodies—since elemental-type crystals were quite rare.
The common ones were the usual four: earth, water, fire, and wind.
The rare ones were derivatives of these four.
But elemental attribute crystals?
They embodied all four elements and their derivatives simultaneously—making them both rarer and far more potent.
As she swallowed one, Hel immediately felt a new energy surge through her body.
The faint traces of water-element mana she previously had were instantly devoured and converted by this new power.
Before long, the crystal was fully digested, and Hel slowly opened her eyes.
"The mana of a four-star Intermediate Mage, huh…"
Sensing the energy within her, she roughly calculated: if she finished all 500 elemental crystals she had, she would probably reach the level of a four-star Archmage.
And even at that level, her combat power would likely rival the strength she had when using death attribute magic.
But then she noticed something else—after her elemental attribute mana reached the four-star Archmage level, her physical strength had also increased by 8 points.
"So… different types of mana enhancement increase physical stats separately?"
Hel lowered her head thoughtfully.
After observing many people's status panels, she had already noticed a pattern: whether someone followed the path of a mage or a knight, their physical and magical stats were never drastically different.
Most knights had a base mana value about one-third of their physical stat, while for mages it was the opposite.
That made sense—mental and physical strength are closely linked. A strong mind helps control the body, and a strong body reinforces the mind.
Perhaps when people absorb elemental power, their bodies instinctively strengthen weaker aspects as a form of self-preservation.
Of course, some people deliberately trained their weaker stat—those rare prodigies known as dual cultivators, capable of mastering both martial and magical arts.
But for that, one needed both Mana Affinity and Battle Qi Affinity keywords—an extremely rare combination.
Without such talent, most people wouldn't bother; spending a lifetime for a few points of improvement simply wasn't worth it.
That said, Hel technically could dual-cultivate.
For her, it was just a matter of adding another keyword.
But ever since she transmigrated, she hadn't had a single idle day.
Training like a knight—hours of body tempering and physical drills—was just not her thing.
She much preferred the mage's way: add a keyword, gain power instantly.
Alright, maybe she was just lazy.
She'd rather lie on her maid Anna's lap all afternoon, staring at the sky, than spend hours sweating to build muscles.
But could you really blame her? She was just a 12-year-old girl—fragile, delicate, easily toppled.
Overtraining could even stunt her growth!
Still, Hel had just discovered a new, much easier way to increase her physical strength—by enhancing the three types of mana she currently possessed.
Once all three reached the Great Archmage level, her physical power would naturally rise to match that of a Sky Knight.
And best of all?
It was a path that only required her to eat, eat, and eat—her absolute favorite kind of power-up.