Facing an unknown and powerful enemy naturally brought despair and fear.

But Dean Wu’s words brought a glimmer of hope to everyone’s hearts.

If they could learn the Insect-men’s techniques, perhaps they could turn the enemy’s strength against them.

Setting aside the idea of using insects to defeat the Insect-men, just being able to control swarms to clear out other vicious Soul Beasts and gather abundant resources would be a huge boon.

"We’ve learned too little in just one afternoon. Those three probably have no means of long-range communication. Otherwise, the other Insect-men would have attacked the academy by now."

"This means we might still have some breathing room. I don’t know when the other Insect-men will find us, or how powerful our opponents will be when they do. All I know is that our top priority must be to increase everyone’s overall strength to face the crisis that may be coming."

A hint of fatigue crept onto Dean Wu’s already weary face. He turned his head toward Han Ning.

"You are all the academy’s strongest fighters right now. Especially you, Han Ning. Your Yin Yi possesses Power far beyond that of any other Soul Beast. I was thinking... should we pool all the academy’s resources to cultivate a single, extraordinarily powerful Soul Beast? Only your Yin Yi fits the bill."

"As its Beast Master, what’s your opinion?"

Han Ning thought for a moment and decided to keep the existence of his panel a secret.

’First of all, from the sound of it, if I agree, Dean Wu will funnel all the academy’s resources to me. So whether I mention the panel or not, I’ll have plenty of Energy. Besides, other than providing me with some extra information, my ability to add points via the panel is of no use to anyone else.’

’Secondly, the real bottleneck for Yin Yi’s growth right now is its Elemental Affinity. Without a large supply of Wood Type Crystal Stones, trying to level it up is just a pipe dream.’

’If Yin Yi evolves successfully, the Elemental Affinity requirement will undoubtedly be even higher.’

’And Elemental Affinity isn’t something you can just brute-force with Energy.’

’Honestly, in the current situation, I can get enough Energy for Yin Yi’s advancement on my own, with enough left over to share with others.’

’Dean Wu is essentially suggesting taking the surplus I already distribute to others and giving it back to me. That’s pointless.’

With that, he said, "Dean Wu, you must know that Yin Yi is the main force in every battle, so it already gets the lion’s share of the resources. That’s more than enough for its growth. I even have some Crystal Stones I haven’t used yet. The academy’s resources should go to the other teachers and students who need them."

"I understand. We’ll stick with the ’one-super, many-strong’ approach," Dean Wu nodded.

"Mr. Wu, what do you think about developing human technology at the same time? Do you think it’s a viable option?" Rajkica, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up.

"You mean...?" Dean Wu gestured for him to continue.

"Things like rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, sniper rifles, high-yield explosives... heavy-firepower weapons."

"I heard what you all went through this afternoon. It got me thinking: if we’d had a few heavy machine guns and some heavy sniper rifles, we could have significantly reduced the casualties."

"I’ve considered the weapons you’re talking about," Dean Wu frowned. "But we lack the blueprints, the technical personnel, and most importantly, the resources to manufacture them. How are we supposed to develop any of that?"

"Forget rocket launchers for now... but you can try to manufacture high-yield explosives, heavy machine guns, and sniper rifles," Rajkica said, taking a hand-soldered circuit board from his pocket.

"In about four or five days, I can build a simple wireless radio communication set. Once that’s done, our field teams will be able to contact the base from within a few hundred kilometers, a huge improvement over the two-kilometer range of our walkie-talkies. You can send people out to find the materials needed for firearms, and if anything happens, they can report back immediately via radio."

"By the 21st century, before we were transported here, communication technology was already highly mature. I’m just missing a few components right now."

"Normally, the range should cover at least several thousand kilometers, but this damn fog reduces the transmission efficiency of radio waves, drastically shortening the distance."

Hearing that the communication device was nearly complete, a faint smile appeared on Dean Wu’s face.

"Excellent. Mr. Rajkica, as long as you can successfully produce a few sets of communication equipment, you won’t even have to ask. I’ll find a way to get people out there collecting any useful resources we can find in the wilderness."

"I’m merely offering a few suggestions. May God protect us." Rajkica made a gesture of prayer.

"Mr. Rajkica, this is the Otherworld. God’s gaze might not reach this place."

"God is omnipotent," Rajkica shrugged.

’I wouldn’t have guessed that for all his expertise, Rajkica was a man of faith.’

’In a dangerous Exotic Realm like this, maybe... having something to believe in isn’t a bad thing.’

Han Ning thought to himself, listening to their conversation from a short distance away.

’Besides cultivating Soul Beasts, developing human technology would be a good supplemental strategy.’

’The Insect-men’s bodies aren’t much tougher than a human’s; they can be wounded by bullets just the same.’

’Just like Rajkica said, if we had a heavy machine gun that could spit out dozens of rounds a second, we wouldn’t have to waste Spiritual Power and rack our brains trying to figure out how to get close.’

’We could just set up a heavy machine gun, aim it at the Insect-men, and let loose.’

’Caught in that storm of Metal, no matter how powerful their Spiritual Sense, they’d still be riddled with holes!’

’Even Soul Beasts below Entry Level III wouldn’t be able to withstand a few bursts from a machine gun.’

’And that’s just a heavy machine gun. If we had a helicopter-mounted autocannon, I doubt even an Entry Level IV Soul Beast could withstand it.’

"Ah, people... we just have too few people. The next time we encounter anyone else transported here, we have to find a way to bring them in as new members. We need to strengthen humanity’s numbers."

Dean Wu sighed softly, then took out a pen and paper.

"But let’s get back on topic. I’ll lay out my proposed plan."

"Starting tomorrow, the new batch of insect corpses will all be given to Tianhe’s Xiaoyu to absorb. It will convert them into Energy-rich fruit, which will then be fed to the other Soul Beasts."

"We will carefully plan the distribution of Crystal Stone Attributes. The goal is to have five more Silver Lotus Wood plants successfully evolve to their second form within a week."

"At the same time, we’ll increase the number of Fourth Mutation Silver Lotus Wood to 100. There should still be some supplies in that train that was washed away by the flood. Since Yue Ming and Xiuning didn’t see it, it’s most likely to the south. We’ll wait for the explorers covering the other two directions to report back."

"Oh, right. There’s also the matter of forming a contract with a second Soul Beast."

Dean Wu stopped writing, looked up, and asked Han Ning,

"Han Ning, do you have any idea at what stage a person can form a contract with a second Soul Beast?"