Chapter 145: Chapter 140: The Insect Master’s First Step — Insect Selection (2)

As everyone worked together to build the stone house, Yin Yi, who had been sitting on the surrounding wall playing with her phone, suddenly felt the frost-white petals on her head begin to tremble slightly.

Immediately after, the color of her petals began to shift from white, gradually turning into a bluish-white hue.

"Ling~"

Sensing the change in her body, Yin Yi swooped down into Han Ning’s arms, wrapped her vines around his shoulders, and called out a few times.

"Oh? Your body is changing. Could it be that you’ve finished absorbing the cyan light from the Insect Dragon?"

Han Ning examined the change in the color of Yin Yi’s petals and summoned his status panel.

[

Race: Cyan Jade Wood Demon

Gender: Female

Talent: C

Level: Extraordinary II (647/3500)

Talent: Water and Wood Mutual Generation

...

]

[Water and Wood Mutual Generation]:

1. The Cyan Jade Wood Demon gains the ability to melt Ice Crystals, allowing it to convert the Element between Ice and Water, but this requires a short period of time.

2. Through the fusion of Water and Wood, the Cyan Jade Wood Demon’s Soul Technique casting speed is increased by 20%, the amount of Wood Type Element it absorbs is increased by 20%, its range of control over the Wood Element is increased by 20%, and the destructive power of its Wood Type Soul Techniques is increased by 20%.

[

Power: 28.8

Body: 28.2

Agility: 28.3

Spiritual Energy: 197.2

Elemental Affinity (Wood): 163

Ice (Water): 57

]

[For the current Soul Beast, every 4 points of Energy can be exchanged for 1 Body Attribute Point or 0.5 Spiritual Attribute Points.]

’The energy conversion requirement has increased again now that she’s at the Extraordinary Level.’

Han Ning wasn’t surprised by this. He immediately emptied out his own Energy, converted it into Spiritual Attribute Points, and added them to Yin Yi.

He didn’t have much Energy left, and with Yin Yi’s strength growing and her base attributes increasing, even converting all of it wouldn’t add many points.

Next, he turned his attention to the Talent column.

’It looks like a passive enhancement Talent, not something that can be actively cast.’

Since the Talent was passive, Han Ning wasn’t in a hurry to test it out.

’But... if Yin Yi can melt Ice Crystals into water... I wonder if that water is drinkable.’

Deciding to give it a try, he said to Yin Yi in his arms, "Yin Yi, try to condense some Water Element."

"Ling~"

A bluish-white halo appeared above Yin Yi’s head. Droplets of visible mist precipitated from the air, quickly turning into a transparent liquid that hovered above her.

Han Ning opened his mouth, aimed for the ball of liquid, and swallowed it.

He smacked his lips but didn’t taste anything unusual.

He also discovered that the condensed water was different from ordinary water. As soon as the liquid reached his throat, it seemed to dissipate into Water Element, and he felt no sensation of it going down his esophagus.

The ability to manipulate water added a new layer of strategic significance.

Han Ning thought of the simplest and most useful application for everyone.

Controlling the moisture in the soil and the air, then using the nourishing function of Frenzied Growth to increase crop yields.

Pure water doesn’t conduct electricity, so if they encountered an enemy who could manipulate thunder, she could create an insulating Domain.

She could condense water around her body to increase her defense, and so on...

Not to mention the more advanced technique of extracting water from a living creature’s body.

...

「Three days later.」

A rectangular, grayish-white stone house, three meters tall and covering an area of over 300 square meters, appeared on the empty lot next to Building D in the academy’s dormitory area.

During those three days, Han Ning hadn’t trained Egg Pancake’s combat skills. Instead, he had it constantly release Spiritual Energy to condense the Earth Element into grayish-white stone blocks to be used for building the house.

So, even though it hadn’t been fighting wild Soul Beasts, Egg Pancake’s training progress hadn’t fallen behind.

The stone house had no windows; the only light spilling inside came from the main entrance.

Da Yan had lived in caves for a long time, so it had little need for light. As long as it was surrounded by rock, it was content.

A layer of dry leaves was spread across the floor. Da Yan lay among them, preciously guarding the four earthy-yellow turtle eggs in front of it.

"Da Yan, this is your new home from now on," Han Ning said, standing at the entrance of the stone house with a group of other students.

Everyone had fixed brightly colored flowers and leaves to the walls by the entrance, adding a splash of color to the monotonous stone.

Inside the stone house, they had also piled up cans of meat that turtles liked to eat, insect carcasses, and other such things.

Wreaths of flowers on a rectangular house. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Although it looked a bit strange, Da Yan was a Soul Beast and wouldn’t care about such inauspicious omens.

"Wuu~"

After spending three days with them, Da Yan had gradually gotten to know some of the students and was no longer as wary as it had been a few days ago.

Just then, Lü Xiuning walked up to the stone house. He glanced at Da Yan inside, gave it a nod of greeting, then said to Han Ning:

"Lena has deciphered part of the Insect-men’s insect-cultivation techniques. Dean Wu is calling everyone for a meeting, so we should head over."

"Oh? It’s finally translated?" Upon hearing this, Han Ning waved a quick goodbye to Da Yan, then turned and walked with Lü Xiuning toward the meeting room.

...

A projector, perhaps scavenged from one of the academic buildings, sat on a table.

On the projector screen hanging on the wall, a simple, text-filled PowerPoint slide was displayed.

Lena sat at the computer, operating it with a serious expression on her face.

After about five minutes, no fewer than 30 people had gathered in the small meeting room.

The people who came to the meeting were either the leaders of the exploration teams, all of whom possessed considerable strength, or they were key personnel in charge of logistics and R&D.

"Is everyone here? Then let’s begin." Dean Wu glanced around at the crowd and cleared his throat with a light cough.

Lena clicked the mouse button. Two languages appeared on the screen: on the left was a picture of handwritten Insect-man script, taken with a phone camera, and on the right was Lena’s annotated translation.

"The language of the Insect-men is also called Sesmiyan. It’s a relatively simple language. When I say simple, I mean its grammar and pronunciation are simple, making it easy to learn. Overall, it’s a very efficient language for communication."

"All Insect-men use Sesmiyan. We may have to deal with them frequently in the future, so I believe it’s essential that we learn this language."

"This is especially true for all of you here. Your Spiritual Power is stronger than that of ordinary people, and your minds are sharp. You’ll learn Sesmiyan much faster than I did."

"But enough idle talk. Let’s get straight to the point and discuss the first step in the Insect-men’s insect breeding: finding a ’mother insect.’"

"A ’mother insect’ is not exactly the same as a female insect. Take the Flying Flame Fireflies we commanded a few days ago, for example. The ratio is about one to three; for every three female insects, one mother insect will be born."

"Mother insects have stronger physiques than other females and a special internal structure that allows them to carry more Energy, making them well-suited to the task of reproduction."

"All insects on the Insect Continent are bred from mother insects. Every insect colony, large or small, will contain a varying number of them."

"If we want to cultivate a species of insect to help us fight, transport goods, or even to eat, we must find a mother insect. Some mother insects don’t even need to mate with males and can lay eggs on their own."

As Lena spoke, three hand-drawn images of insects appeared on the projector screen.

"These are the three most basic types of insects I copied from the Taman Insect Master’s notebook."

"Within the Yinsaike Family, they serve as food and as the lowest-level combat partners, handling the family’s most basic operations."

"The first type is called the Three-eyed Worm. Both Insect-men and other insects can eat it. It’s rich in Energy, and its food is a plant called Blue Ginseng Grass. Based on my calculations, a single Three-eyed Worm can provide an Entry Level Soul Beast with enough Physical Strength for three hours, let alone a physically weak Insect-man."

Though it’s called a Three-eyed Worm, it actually just has three small black dots on its head. It has a grayish-white, plump body and somewhat resembles a silkworm.

"The second and third types of insects can both be used as combat partners. One focuses on transporting goods; it has a gentle nature and isn’t very strong in combat. The other can’t carry much weight but is agile and aggressive, making it more suited for battle."