Hearing Han Ning’s promise, the expressions on everyone’s faces eased slightly.
The truth was, their encounter with the Insect-men had left them with a lingering fear, forcing them to be extra cautious.
"Han Ning, I have another question," Dean Wu suddenly interjected. "What should we do with Lü Xiuning and the others’ physical bodies?"
Thanks to the timely rescue by the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm and other medics, Lü Xiuning and a dozen or so other teachers and students had been left in a vegetative-like state. Their bodily functions were still normal, but they emitted no Spiritual Fluctuations, making them effectively brain-dead.
They had all seen similar scenes in movies and on TV—someone in a vegetative state miraculously awakens after some special event, against all odds. Because of this, no one truly believed them to be dead. Instead, they clung to a sliver of hope that they could still be saved.
Not to mention, Spiritual Power in this world was practically quantifiable, which suggested there might be an even greater chance of saving Teacher Lü and the others.
As for the others who had died, their bodies were too severely mutilated. Some had been discovered as nothing more than charred husks, their hearts having long stopped and their brains deprived of oxygen for too long. Even the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm was powerless to save them.
The ones who had been "saved" were either still barely breathing or had only been "dead" for a minute or two. Whether they could truly be rescued was a complete long shot; even Han Ning wasn’t confident.
"That is a problem..." Han Ning mused, but couldn’t immediately think of a good solution. "How about this," he finally said, "I’ll have the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm periodically inject weakened flesh-and-blood seeds into their bodies. That should be enough to maintain their basic bodily functions. Once we’ve grown stronger, we can look for an opportunity to cure them."
Cryogenic preservation was another option, but no one had any experience with it. It would be a disaster if they accidentally damaged their comrades’ bodies in the process.
"Sigh, I guess that’s the only way." Everyone sighed.
Next, Han Ning distributed the various rare treasures he had plundered from the Red Centipede Tribe among the group.
He trusted that with Dean Wu overseeing the distribution, those who fought would be treated fairly.
...
Han Ning returned to his temporary dorm, laden with treasures.
Thinking of this dangerous world, Han Ning didn’t hesitate. He immediately took out several large, fiery-red Crystal Stones, absorbed the Energy within, and fed the empty husks to Egg Pancake.
He wanted to use this opportunity to push Egg Pancake’s strength to the absolute limit of the War General Level!
With ample materials on hand, one Crystal Stone after another was converted into pure Energy, stored on the panel, and then exchanged for Attribute Points to be added to Egg Pancake’s Attributes.
FWOOSH~
Surging waves of the Fire Element swirled around the dormitory.
Egg Pancake hadn’t been summoned into the real world; Han Ning had kept it inside his Soul Beast Space.
He had observed that the Soul Beast Space seemed to be more closely connected to the mysterious world that produced Spiritual Energy. A Soul Beast could absorb Spiritual Energy much more efficiently while inside it!
An immense amount of the Fire Element converged into the mysterious Soul Beast Space.
Egg Pancake stood within a chaotic void, bathed in blazing firelight. Its body began to grow, inch by inch.
At the same time, Han Ning keenly felt the burden on his own Spiritual Power slowly increasing.
With every bit of growth in Egg Pancake’s size, the passive drain on his Spiritual Power increased.
The larger a Soul Beast became, the greater the burden it placed on its Beast Master!
War General III, War General IV... the peak of War General IV.
After Han Ning used over a dozen War General Level Crystal Stones to push Egg Pancake’s strength to the limit of War General IV...
A line of text appeared on the panel: [This Soul Beast has entered the High Energy Accumulation phase. Spend 50,000 Energy Points to upgrade the panel and unlock new functions?]
[After the upgrade, you will be able to unlock element compression methods specific to each Soul Beast. A series of new functions will also be added.]
’Fifty thousand points... That’s about the amount of Energy in five War General IV Crystal Stones.’
Looking at the panel’s prompt, Han Ning winced at the cost. But after only a few seconds of hesitation, he gritted his teeth.
’Upgrade it! A craftsman must first sharpen his tools. I’ve survived in this world entirely thanks to this panel, so I have to trust it! Besides, I have plenty of materials right now.’
He redeemed 50,000 Energy Points, focused on the upgrade button on the panel, and silently commanded, "Upgrade!"
After confirming the choice three times on the panel, a dazzling blue light burst forth in front of Han Ning.
Yin Yi, who was nearby, didn’t notice the blue light. Clearly, only he could see it.
The progress bar on the panel shot up rapidly.
10%... 14%... 20%...
...
47%... 50%... 56%...
All the way to 99%.
The blue light flickered for over ten seconds before a panel, looking much like the old one, reappeared before him.
The interface still looked as cheap as ever, like some low-budget production.
Lines of large text scrolled down like a waterfall.
[Panel upgrade successful!]
[After the upgrade, you can freely use Authentication on anything you see. When authenticating an item that contains a large amount of information, additional Energy Points will be required.]
[New function acquired: Talent Inheritance System]
[Talent Inheritance System]: By collecting the flesh-and-blood energy of a Soul Beast from a specific Race, there is a chance to extract the Talents contained within its bloodline.
Talents can only be extracted from Soul Beasts with a Talent rating of C-rank or higher.
The Talent’s information will be stored on the panel as a special form of energy and can be passed on to a designated Soul Beast.
Before inheritance, a compatibility check must be performed. If the compatibility is below 80%, the Talent cannot be inherited.